Wadley Celebrated for Service
Along with Hardeman County Rescue Squad celebrating their 40 years of service to Hardeman County, one of its founders, Kent Wadley is also celebrating 40 years of continuous service to others. On August 20, Hardeman County Mayor Jimmy Sain issued a Proclamation declaring that day as “Kent Wadley Day in Hardeman County” and Bolivar Mayor Julian McTizic presented Kent with a plaque for his home with the same inscription that will be on a monument that will be placed in front of the rescue building, in his honor. Dalton Wadley presented his dad with a plaque from HCRS, recognizing his 40 years of service.
Kent is the only remaining, living, founding member of Hardeman County Rescue Squad. As a senior in high school, in 1982, Kent heard about the possible formation of a Rescue Squad for Hardeman County. He attended one of the first meetings and then joined a group of men and women to try to fill a void in our county, to be able to extricate victims from vehicle crashes and also filling a need to recover drowning victims. Prior to the Rescue Squad existing, you would have to wait for help to arrive from another county. Some victims didn’t have that length of time to wait. He and the others, organized many fundraisers and roadblocks to raise money to purchase the first “Jaws of Life” and other much needed rescue tools for our county.
In Kent’s 40 years, he has always been fully vested in our Rescue Squad. He is always there to offer an abundance of knowledge on how to improve and grow our Squad and he is a respected and valuable member. He has held many different offices in our Squad, including President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Squad Leader, Unit Director and has served on our Board of Directors for many years. He has taken many trainings and classes to better serve our county and state. He is certified in several areas of rescue, including Vehicle Extrication, School Bus Rescue, Trench Rescue, Grain Bin Rescue, Advanced Vehicle Extrication and Advanced Trench Rescue. Kent is also an Instructor with the Tennessee Association of Rescue Squads and has been since 1988, teaching vehicle extrication to others across the state. He is also an Emergency Vehicle Operators Course (EVOC) and Bloodborne Pathogens Instructor. He is also a licensed Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, since 1992, and an Emergency Medical Dispatcher and has worked for Hardeman County EMS in the past.
Kent has also been elected to serve in many offices with our state association, the Tennessee Association of Rescue Squads. He has held the offices of State President, State Vice-President, Region 4 Vice-President and Parliamentarian. He is the first member of our local squad to serve at the state level. Kent is a very respected member of our State Association and Squads across the state often reach out to him for information and advice.
Kent is a Lifetime Member of Hardeman County Rescue Squad and a double Lifetime Member of the Tennessee Association of Rescue Squads. He is married to Dedi Hill Wadley and they have one son, Dalton Wadley and his wife Lillie. He has one brother, Van Wadley and is the son of the late Robert (Bob) and Thomasine Wadley.