Thomas "Tommy" Clay Fourshee -- Building Contractor

 

Tommy Fourshee

Thomas “Tommy” Clay Fourshee was born on November 22, 1920 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the first of two children born to Riley Isaac Fourshee and Edna Earl Carr Fourshee His sibling was a sister, Thelma Irene Fourshee, born in 1926 and married Harry Clinton Coleman.  Tommy’s father as well as his grandfather had been carpenters.  The family lived in the Lock E community of Canton on the Cumberland River.

Tommy graduated from Trigg County High School and was inducted into the U.S. Army on September 29, 1942.  He received his initial military training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri and later assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His battalion left for England and he landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, France on August 17. He eventually was in the Battle of the Bulge and was in Prague when the war ended.  Tommy was discharged on December 27, 1945 at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

On April 11, 1946, Tommy married Geneva Nell Mize.  Nell, a native of Trigg County, was born on August 19, 1923, the daughter of John Robert and Verna Hughes Mize.  Tommy and Nell were the parents of three sons, Anthony Darrell Fourshee, born in 1948 and married Linda Kaye Williams and later married Polly A. Rhone, Lisa M. Champion and Jill E. Clark; John Riley Fourshee, born in 1951 and married Vickie Louise Mitchell; and Paul Evans Fourshee, born in 1959.

After the war, Tommy settled with his family in Cadiz. As both his father and grandfather had been carpenters, Tommy chose to work in that field.  Tommy initially worked for contractors at nearby Fort Campbell and at times built window frames for Nunn Brothers Lumber Company.  He set up a workshop to make frames in the basement of his home.  The workshop gradually led to a full time residential construction business and by 1953 he was building homes for a living. He also built several area churches such as the Mt. Pleasant Church and Liberty Point Church.

As his construction business flourished, Tommy began to buy supplies directly from distributors. In order to store these supplies, he built an office and storage space near the Trigg County Schools on Lincoln Street. Tommy described the building as just a shed, a block building and an old barn.  In 1969, Tommy sold his property near the school to the Board of Education and relocated his business to Highway 68, east of Cadiz.  After the relocation, Tommy began to shift his business from an emphasis on residential construction to retail sales and commercial construction. Tommy’s three sons helped in the daily operations of the business. The name of the business was Fourshee Building Contractor and Fourshee Building Supply Company.  Tommy worked at the company until his retirement.

Nell died on October 7, 1975 in Cadiz at the age of 52.  She was buried in the East End Cemetery in Cadiz.   Tommy remarried on September 11, 1976 to Edith Stewart Cameron.  Edith was born on January 24, 1925 in Trigg County and was the daughter of Harry Lee and Effie Piercy Stewart.
Tommy died on April 4, 2010 in Cadiz at the age of 89 and was buried in the East End Cemetery.  Edith died on April 30, 2017 in Cadiz at the age of 92 and she was also buried in the East End Cemetery.

 

Tommy and Nell Fourshee Tombstone

LINEAGE:  (Thomas “Tommy” Clay Fourshee was the son of Riley Isaac and Edna Earl Carr Fourshee and the grandson of Meredith Clay and Eddie Adeline Bridges Carr.  Adeline was the eleventh child of Drewry and Peachie Ann Tart Bridges.  Drewry was the fourth child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges.  William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)