It was on July 3, 2002 (21 years ago) that I wrote a feature article for this newspaper on Smithville brothers and businessmen, Jerry Lee and Phillip “Fluty” Cantrell. Since that time, very little has changed – except they’ve grown older and wiser and their hair is now turning white with a few more facial wrinkles. The lights on their almost unlit present have somewhat darkened their future – privately and publicly. Some lights have disappeared– and some have appeared.
The brothers have succeeded through steely determination and grit. They have withstood periodic weather and lambasting storms and a “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow. Two of the most indispensable words describing their successes is “preservice or tenacity.”
Consequently, they have been an integral part of the retail sector in Smithville for a combined total of more than 117 years as an oddity and a mainstay in a small and sleepy rural incorporated town where “one-stop shopping” and “out-of-town” corporate department stores continue increasing in inventory, especially in adjoining counties. But what the larger stores don’t offer is the close friendly comradery; one-on-one personal and individual assistance; and a casual conversation about anything from clothes sizes to television deliveries to soap opera spoilers. Also, more than 50 percent of their personal sales are from out-of-town customers. I asked Jerry Lee if he still offered moving services to which he politely said, “No.” Accordingly, this service no longer exists, ending Smithville’s popular moving services.
Jerry Lee Cantrell and Phillip “Fluty” Cantrell are brothers and best friends. They have been in the retail business in DeKalb County for more than 117 years! And, they’re still speaking after all of this time!
They specialize in selling opposite inventories and they work in different buildings less than two miles apart in Smithville, an almost impossible feat in today’s individualistic and whirlwind speedily advancing society.
Jerry Lee has owned and operated Cantrell’s Furniture and Appliances for 47 years. And for the past 60 years, Fluty has been the proprietor of Cantrell’s Men’s and Ladies’ clothing store and the upended surrogate Fluty’s Shoes, downtown Smithville. In all honesty, there’s not much these two rambunctious men haven’t done to each other or with each other throughout their childhood and adolescent and adult years.
Jerry Lee is the older of the Cantrell’s five children who were born to G. Lee and Elmer Dean Cantrell. Entering the world in Detroit, Michigan on December 3 (Marlon’s birthdate), 1941, his early training eventually led him to become the “sitter” of his four younger siblings.
He recalled, “One time, Phillip (Fluty) decided we wanted a swimming pool really bad. We asked Daddy and he told us to go outside and dig one. So, we did. It was probably about a four-foot square hole and it stayed there forever!” If the water was ever refilled or evaporated, no one knows.
Regarding their “growing up” years, Jerry Lee said “Ronnie (their brother) and Phillip would get into fights and I would split them up and try and calm them down. Then, they’d gang-up on me! I was the oldest and a little bigger than they were. When they were older teenagers, one threw a punch at the other and it caught my nose. “It’s still crooked,” while laughingly pointing to his damaged and crooked nose as evidence.
Phillip was born in Detroit on December 14, 1944 following the birth of their brother, the late Ronnie Cantrell and before their sisters, Darlene Cantrell Haas and Regina Cantrell. Today, only Phillip “Fluty” and Jerry Lee survive. He immediately began working at the county highway department for his daddy, who had been elected the DeKalb County Road Supervisor in 1954. Initially, Jerry Lee was in a supervisory position and gradually worked his way to the truck transportation arenas.
On December 22, 1960, the 19-year-old Jerry Lee married the sweet and lovely Jane Moss of Smithville. Following their marriage, they briefly moved into his parent’s house on Keltonburg Road. Soon thereafter, he began working at Ross-Gear in Lebanon (now TRW) but had a difficult time adjusting to the “cooped-up” factory environment. Later, he and Jane moved to Waynesboro for five or six months when Jerry Lee began working for one of six area Puckett-Webb department stores.
Upon returning to Smithville, he and his brother, Ronnie (who was a marine-boating salesman and a resident of McMinnville), owned and operated a grocery store in Keltonburg until the death of their daddy in September, 1963.
Not long afterward and because of his experience in the road supervisory department, his name prominently was mentioned as a candidate for the next Road Supervisor position to succeed his daddy, Lee Cantrell – but, Jerry Lee’s interest in pursuing political office were not focused in this direction.
He did, however, begin working for the newly-elected Road Supervisor, Aubrey Turner, Sr. where he remained for six or seven years. It was also during this time that Jane gave birth to their three children: Shannon, born on April 12, 1964; Stacy, born April 15 (Income Tax Day), 1969; and Scott, born on July 13, 1970.
Jerry Lee transferred to Estes’ Furniture Company in Smithville where he worked for six or seven years followed by a brief employment period with Clifford Pack. The two businesses have since closed.
In 1976, he opened his local furniture store in a small area of the building now occupied by State Farm Insurance next to the Dollar Store off Highway 70.
In 1977, and because of the failing health of his parents, William Henry and his wife, Lula Moss, the five Cantrell siblings moved into their parent’s house and cared for them daily on a 24/7 basis for many years.
Today, Jerry Lee is a widower with “Granny Jane” dying on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville. She was 75 and was born on May 16, 1942. They continued to live on South College Street until he enlarged and renovated the house where his late parents once lived before their deaths. Also, during this same year, Jerry Lee relocated his furniture business to its prior Highway 70 West location adjacent to Gino’s BBQ and B & G Supply in Smithville. Because of the tremendous growth of his retail furniture and appliance trade, he enlarged the original building.
Recently, I asked Jerry Lee why he was always closed on Wednesday and he elaborated that he was in-keeping with the many other local businesses that closed on Wednesdays for years. He said most owners and supervisors would use this day to pick-up items from their wholesale distributors, always located out of town, especially in Nashville.
With three sons, Elmer Dean enrolled four-year-old Fluty in first grade to join his older brothers at the Keltonburg School. Daily, the three older brothers would walk approximately one-fourth mile to school. As a remembrance, there were no kindergarten classes held in the county during this time, so students would immediately enroll in first grade.
In 1961, the young 16-year-old Phillip (nicknamed Fluty) was graduated from Smithville High School. For historical remembrance, this school burned and the newly constructed DeKalb County High School on Highway 70 was completed in 1964. Of note, the same high school is being used today, as is the Smithville Elementary School, which was built in 1959 and I was a member of the first class in 1960.
Following graduation, he joined the local highway department and worked with his daddy for two summers between his grades – driving and pulling weeds on the side of the roads. Later, he worked at the local shirt factory and his salary was $1.25 per hour.
Also in 1961, Fluty enrolled in MTSU in Murfreesboro. Ernest Ray, a former educator, was Fluty’s roommate and while trying to tutor him in his college class subjects, Fluty’s inclinations centered more on “having a good time.” Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Ironically, today, his son Chris Cantrell is a local attorney; his daughter, Dena Ruth Colwell has a bachelor’s degree; and Nick said, “When I began, I’d never had any kind of classes in high school that would have prepared me at MTSU. I signed up for chemistry, algebra and biology and had never taken any related course except basic arithmetic under Miss Jodie Conger and barely did pass that! It was like going from Keltonburg school courses to Harvard University courses. At the time, I was much younger than the other students and didn’t have the educational background either. “I was lost,” he continued. “I wanted to be an engineer.” In 1962, Fluty’s daddy was employed at Ross Gear in Lebanon and knew of several job openings there.
At a DeKalb County basketball game in the old gymnasium on College Street, he met Marilyn Magness and he thought “she was the cutest girl I’ve ever seen!” But what Fluty forgot to tell her was his correct name, so he introduced himself as “Gary Redmon” who just happened to be a longtime friend of the Cantrell family. The 17-year-old Fluty also told Marilyn he was 21-years-old. It was following several dates thar he decided to “fess-up” and tell Marilyn the truth. Phillip Cantrell was Gary Redmon no more! Marilyn was born on March 26, 1946 and the daughter of Tom Magness.
On another note, Fluty said his “daddy had this odd way of finding employees another job.” Working at Ross Gear, “I made about $1.40 an hour and commuted to Lebanon on weekdays and it lasted for about a year. I hated it the entire time – the smell made me sick. It was a kind of burned oil odor,” he confessed.
In keeping with his regular-swinging-door job travels, Fluty again enrolled at MTSU and shared a dormitory room with Danny Love for one semester. Again, deciding that college wasn’t his favorite thing to do, he returned to Ross Gear and stayed until his daddy Lee Cantrell’s death in 1963.
Sadness turned into happiness on June 19, 1964 when Fluty and Marilyn were married (currently 59-years). And similar to Jerry Lee and Jane, they, too, lived for a brief time in his mother’s house. Later they rented a small house on the Keltonburg Road until the owner needed it for additional lodging for some family members.
“The children inherited a little money from daddy’s estate and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. At the time, my father-in-law, Tom Magness, asked me why I didn’t invest in it and open a men’s clothing store, which was the biggest thing going. During this time, there were about five men’s stores in McMinnville.” Fluty said, “I tried to get Jerry Lee to go in with me and I thought a lot about him and I just wanted us to be together, although, in reality, there wasn’t enough money in it to take care of two families.”
Marilyn and Fluty rented a small building from John “Si” Cantrell on North College Street where Tabby’s Salon once was located. In September, (a ladies’ store opened later), they opened their first men’s clothing store. Their total amount invested at the time was about $7,000.00 which he used from his $10,000 inheritance. The name of their first store was “Cantrell’s Men’s Store.”
One day in 1965, Charles Gentry stopped by and said he had a building for me on Market Street, which housed CPA Tom Janey’s former office. During this time, we began adding women’s and girl’s clothing, especially the Bobbie Brook’s line. Painted on either side of the double store-front windows that flanked the entrance door were “Cantrell’s Men’s Store” and “Kampus Kuties.”
From their rented house on Keltonburg Road, Fluty and Marilyn moved into the back storage room of the store and lived there for about six months. During 1966, they began construction of their brick home located on the McMinnville Highway where they continue to reside today.
Fluty remembers many of the local high school football players hanging out at the store following daily practices. He had a Coke machine, air conditioning, and a cool, concrete tile floor.
“Stevie Moore told his mother, Joanna, he was working for me but he wasn’t. He just didn’t want to go to school,” Fluty laughed. Some of the other boys were Gary Driver, Jimmy “Wise Owl” Hendrixson, the late Phillip Gunter and Bruce Wright. Every day following afternoon football practice, they’d all come into the store and lay down on the floor to cool off. Sometimes, I couldn’t get around them to wait on customers.”
According to Fluty, Donnie Elledge was the most dedicated employee that ever worked for him. “He was the absolute best, bar none. He couldn’t stand to miss a sale and he was more involved in it than I was at the time.” When recently asked, Fluty said that he received the name “Fluty” from some word assailant during his high school years. End of conversation.
On June 24, 1966, Fluty and Marilyn "who didn’t have to get married” welcomed their first child, son Chris, and all continued living in the storage room of their store while they were renovating the existing front structure.
With sales increasing and inventory enlarging, they purchased their current Main Street store in 1979, where Baugh’s Department Store once was located. And in 1981, they purchased and renovated the adjoining building that once housed Locke’s 5 & 10 and clothing into this area. Soon thereafter, Fluty’s Shoes opened on West Main Street, immediately across from Fluty’s Clothes.
Fluty’s and Marilyn’s three children are: Chris, a local attorney and Nick, a physical therapist, and Deana (from her paternal grandmother) Ruth Cantrell Colwell, who received her undergraduate degree from MTSU and is a sales representative at Fluty’s stores. Deana Ruth finished; Chris finished; Nick finished; Fluty didn’t! But what a success he and Jerry Lee have become!
In response to their similarities as businessmen, Jerry Lee said, “We know the value of a dollar, and we know how to hold on to part of that dollar.” Both were in full agreement they’re closer now than they were as children – walking to school; feeding the pigs; walking the fields; continuously fighting; and, digging holes in the backyard and filling it again just to have something to do.”
Additionally, each man credits their daddy as having the strongest impact of their lives. Lee Cantrell provided them with lots of guidance; the importance of hard work; and using a “hard fist” for discipline. And, they sincerely credited their wives (Jane and Marilyn) for their continued devotion; guidance; understanding; and support. “If not for them,” Fluty said, “we’d probably be on the other side of the tracts. Not to mention, we weren’t the sweetest little things either.
Jerry Lee fondly added, “William Henry Moss helped me a lot, too, especially his banking ability; farming; and office experience. Miss Lula Moss did too. They both had a big influence on my life.”
Asked how he would like to be remembered, Jerry Lee said, “As a man you can trust, honest, and above-board.” In response, Fluty said, “That I was always fair and helped people.” And they have. Throughout the many years, Jerry Lee has delivered furniture and moved locations for me, while Fluty has been my personal shopper. They are just a phone call away and your needs will kindly be met by the always smiling and appreciative brothers.
Although the Cantrells have been in business in Smithville for more than 117 years combined, they’ve been brothers and friends for more than a millennium of years. That can’t be ordered; delivered; wrapped; repaired; or tied with a humongous red bow.
And for Gary Redmon with the crooked nose, that’s the best gift of all.
