Fugate Wells Redmon ~ Obituary

The funeral service for longtime restaurateur Fugate Wells Redmon of Paris will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Sulphur Well Church of Christ, where he was a member.

Randy Stephens and Tom Cate, both of Sulphur Well Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Sulphur Well Cemetery.

Named as pallbearers are Charles Perry, Mike Wimberley, David Newman, Tommy Thompson, Mike King, George Combs Jr., Jack Lamb and James “Ed” Chamness.

Honorary pallbearers will be Tom Redmon, Bobby Flowers, Quentin Martin, Nader Fares, John Lee, William Patterson and employees at Paris Landing State Park.

Visitation will be 2-8 p.m. today at McEvoy Funeral Home and after 10 a.m. Wednesday at the church.

Redmon, 64, died Sunday, June 28, 2009, at his residence.

His wife, Krista Stanley Redmon, survives. They were married on Aug. 24, 2005.

Born in Henry County on Sept. 10, 1944, he was a son of the late Carl and Alice Wells Redmon.

Redmon formerly owned Redmon’s Barbecue for 32 years and was assistant restaurant manager at Paris Landing State Park.

He also leaves one daughter: Leigh (John) Bentley of Hermitage; two sons: Brett Barrett of Memphis and Curt (Heather) Barrett of Springville; a stepson: Jeremy Hunter of Paris; one brother: Ray Hart of Yacaippa, Calif.; three grandchildren: Patrick and Andrew Bentley, both of Hermitage and Emily Barrett of Springville; and his in-laws: Charles and Linda Stanley.

Restaurateur Fugate Redmon dies

Longtime Henry County restaurateur Fugate Redmon died Sunday at his residence in Paris following a long battle with cancer.

Redmon spent between 35 and 40 years in the restaurant business. He was a third generation owner of the Redmon’s business in Paris.

Paris Bottling Co. was a forerunner to the Redmon Barbecue business. Henry Redmon, Fugate Redmon’s grandfather, started the bottling company with J.P. Hayes. Located on Ruff Street near the City Cemetery, the company bottled drinks and made homemade ice cream for many years.

Around 1944, the business, which ceased bottling, moved to a building on West Wood Street. After Henry Redmon died, Carl Redmon, Fugate’s father, bought an interest in the business.

Carl Redmon saw a great need for more parking and took out the front section of the building and built out to Caldwell Street, the eventual location of Redmon’s Barbecue.

When grocery stores started to cut into Carl Redmon’s ice cream profits, Redmon began to sell hickory-smoked barbecue, which eventually was his main money maker.

Fugate Redmon would later become co-owner and operator of the business. During his years there, he helped cater meals for such persons as Hank Williams Jr., and former Tennessee football coaches Johnny Majors and Phillip Fulmer. He also helped serve functions for politicians such as former Govs. Ned Ray McWherter and Winfield Dunn and legislative members Milton Hamilton and Don Ridgeway. Redmon would eventually gamble on selling Mexican food, which was a successful venture for 15 years.

Redmond later worked as assistant restaurant manager at Paris Landing State Park Inn’s restaurant and was manager of Bad Bob’s Barbecue on East Wood Street. Before becoming manager of Bad Bob’s, Redmon was the kitchen manager of O’Charley’s in Collierville.

Redmon was a member of Sulphur Well Church of Christ. He was a 1963 graduate of Grove High School and attended Union and Murray State universities.

In the community, Redmon was a former member of the Elks Lodge, serving as one of its exalted rulers, a former member of the Paris-Henry County Jaycees, Paris Moose Lodge and Rotary Club.

He coached Little League baseball for many years in Paris and Henry County and was an avid University of Tennessee sports fan.

Redmon had battled cancer since 2004. A gesture of his popularity was witnessed in a number of fundraisers held for him during his illness. County Mayor Brent Greer said holding fundraisers for Redmon was just a return of kindnesses Redmon showed to others.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Reprinted from THE PARIS POST-INTELLIGENCER
Paris, Tennessee
Obituary, June 30, 2009 Edition ~ Used by Permission