GREENEVILLE — Harold Masengill, a retired feed-store worker, writes “State of Franklin” in the home-state box on every form he fills out, as his grandfather did. At the Greene County courthouse, deputy clerk Louise Cantrell checks the Tennessee box herself when his paperwork comes across the counter, because she would rather not argue. Masengill considers this a favor he does for her, and he told her so at the counter this week.
He prints Franklin in capitals, and the last letters run into the line below the box.
“Granddaddy wrote Franklin on everything, so I do too,” Masengill said. “Louise has to get the form filed, and Tennessee’s the one they’ve got a box for. So I told her go ahead and put Tennessee, I don’t mind. She seemed to appreciate it, though she didn’t say so.”
Cantrell, who keeps old State of Franklin payroll papers in a bottom drawer of her own, did not mention them. She said Masengill has always been agreeable about it.
“Harold usually tells me about his grandfather while I look up the record,” Cantrell said. “He talks the whole time, and I can hear him fine from the file cabinet, so I tell him to stay where he is.”
Masengill folded the receipt into his shirt pocket and said he would see her at tag renewal.