Hughie Hackett

Retired Tennessee State Trooper Sergent, Hughie Hackett was discovered deceased at his Boone Drive home in Cookeville on Wednesday evening February 4, 2026. He was pronounced deceased at 6:30 p.m.

His pastor, Eld. Scott Rigsby will officiate at the 1 p.m. Monday afternoon February 9th funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home and a son, Joe Hackett, will deliver the eulogy. Burial will follow beside his wife Georgiana and his parents in the Hackett Family lot at the Sanderson Cemetery in the Pleasant Shade Community officiating

The Hackett family will receive friends at Sanderson in Carthage on Sunday February 8th from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. and again on Monday from 11 a.m. until the 1 p.m. services.

Born Joseph Hugh Hackett Jr. on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1946 in Lebanon, he was the only child of Pleasant Shade Community native, former Smith County Sheriff Joseph Hugh (Joe) Hackett Sr. who died May 14, 1990 at the age of 67, and Riddleton Community native Catherine Bradley (Cat) Hackett who died July 28, 2010 at the age of 87, and who also was a longtime employee of the Smith County Sheriff's Department from 1974 until retiring in 2002.

At the Pleasant Shade Upper Cumberland Presbyterian Church, where the Hackett's were members, Hughie was united in marriage on August 9, 2003 to longtime Lafayette resident, Marilyn Georgiana Jenkins. The ceremony was performed by then church pastor, Eld. Herman "Jake" Collins. Georgiana preceded Hughie in death on May 6, 2024 at the age of 75 following almost twenty-one years of marriage.

Hughie was a member of the 1965 graduating class at Smith County High School and was the forty-third member of the 116-member graduating class to die.

His majors were agriculture and foreign languages. He played football his sophomore and junior year, was a member of the "C" club, the Latin Club of which he was an officer his junior year, was an F.F.A. officer his junior year and on the F.F.A. dairy judging team his sophomore and junior year, and in the Spanish Club his senior year.

His class mates described him as shrewd, crafty and independent. His final thought in the "65 Owl" annual was; "I pray thee, let me have a hair of the dog that bit me last night".

He was sworn in as a Tennessee State Trooper on July 11, 1977 and retired on June 30, 2008 from the Tennessee Highway Patrol with 31 years of service. In his final years as a Trooper, he was assigned to the Governor's detail of then Governor Don Sundquist and then Governor Phil Bredesen.

Prior to becoming a Trooper, he was employed with the Tennessee Department of Transportation in Nashville in the mapping division.

Surviving are his four children; Brian Hackett and wife Ashlee of Carthage, Joe Hackett and wife Ashleigh of Joplin, Missouri, Ken Hackett and wife Ashley of the Hillsboro community in Coffee County, Michelle Nichols and partner Liz Charak of Greer, South Carolina; three grandchildren, Piper Hackett, Harrison Hackett and Charlotte Hackett.

The Hackett family requests memorials to the Sanderson Cemetery Mowing Fund.

Pallbearers: William "Butter" Beasley, Phil Sloan, Jerry Andrews, Vic Donoho and & Hughie's

three sons; Brian, Joe, & Ken.