(MURFREESBORO) A longtime community leader who passed away years ago was honored Friday when a bridge in Smyrna was named to honor the late State Representative Kent Coleman.
State Representative John Hood told those at the dedication, "It's appropriate that a bridge is named to honor Kent, because he was a bridge builder."
Coleman was a well-known Murfreesboro attorney who help many over his three-plus decades of practice. He was a Smyrna native, a product of that community's public schools and then of Vanderbilt.
The Murfreesboro resident and his wife Cecil were active in their dedication of helping others, as was obvious with Kent's participation on the Christy-Houston board, MTSU Foundation, American Cancer and United Way boards, along with the Cystic Fibrosis Board, a disease that would have slowed others.
He served the residents who lived in Tennessee's 49th district State Senate District during the 103rd through 106th general assembly.
Rev. Dr. John Hinkle, Kent's pastor at Murfreesboro First Presbyterian, told WGNS News, "At the end of his day, he added more to this world than he took away I am honored to have called him a friend."
In fact, current Representative Mike Sparks, the Republican who defeated the Democratic incumbent, referred to Coleman during the dedication ceremony as a "true statesman"
