When Mt Juliet City Mayor Ed and his wife Katrina Hagerty moved to Mt Juliet, the population was just 3,000. The landscape looked a little different. “I remember driving seven miles to buy a gallon of milk, downtown to enjoy a nice restaurant, and to Opry Mills to see a movie. Today, those activities and more are available right here in our city!” Ed says
Ed and Katrina met playing racquetball and married on February 14, 1982. Later that year, they made the move to Mt Juliet and haven’t looked back.
“We moved several times that year, from Cookeville to Atlanta to Arlington, Texas, and then an opportunity opened up here in Middle Tennessee.” Katrina
adds, “We looked at Nashville and all the surrounding counties but fell in love with Wilson County.”
Cut to 2020, Mt Juliet has a population of more than 34,000. The Hagerty’s have helped usher in a fair amount of the change seen across the western
city of Wilson County. There’s another big change in store for the Hagerty’s this year as Ed retires from local politics after more than two decades-ten of those as the Mt Juliet City Mayor. “I believe in the great traditions of our country, beginning with George Washington and later codified by the 22nd Amendment that the leader is to serve two full terms.” Hagerty continues, “With that said, it’s definitely a bittersweet decision to step aside. I have other passions to pursue. I love my church, I love teaching Economics, and American Government to 12th-grade students at Heritage Christian Academy, and the grands living three doors away were all important factors. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me next.”
When Hagerty decided to step into local politics, his mission was simple. He wanted to bring decorum to the city. “Most people may not know or remember but our board was dysfunctional with in-fighting, back-biting, and unprofessional behavior. Shortly after taking the chair, a local reporter called
me and said my meetings were boring. My reply was, ‘Mission accomplished!’ My second goal was to upgrade our building standards.” Ed continues, “I
remember asking a friend to give me his first impression of Mt. Juliet. His response was, ‘Oh, that’s easy, it’s the land of metal buildings with brick fronts.’ I knew immediately that could not be how we would be defined. I worked many years to change that, and our buildings are now beautiful with sustainable designs.”
While the Hagerty’s love their city, they really light up when they talk about family. “We have three amazing daughters. Kristina is married to Sam Parnell,
and they have four children: Eli, Kate, Luke, and Ike. They live three doors down from us! Kacy is married to Andrew Callaghan. They have a newborn baby girl, Ezra, and live in Nashville. Kelly is married to Luke Strimaitis, and they live in Mt. Juliet. Kelly is a Registered Nurse and studying at Cumberland University to
become a Nurse Practitioner. We feel blessed that our children live close
enough for frequent family dinners!”
Katrina helped change the way many parents in Middle Tennessee homeschool by starting Heritage Christian Academy in 1997. HCA is a tutorial program where students meet each week to do school and life together. They have grown from just a few dozen students to hundreds. “We have families across the US and even some missionaries in other countries registered with
Heritage,” Katrina says.
As the world came to a halt in late spring 2020 due to the global pandemic, Katrina, along with her daughters, started Homeschoolers Association, a program aimed at helping families who have chosen homeschooling due to the impact of COVID. While Katrina no longer teaches classes at HCA, she’s still involved. Now she focuses more on the administrative duties of the school. “I love helping parents navigate this homeschooling adventure
for their children. Our students have a yearbook, take field trips together, go camping together, attend dances, participate in our STEM and International
Fairs, participate in Spelling and History Bees, attend graduation, and so much more! HCA has been our family’s ministry for many years, and we are blessed to see families grow together as a family unit and in the Lord.”
From the tornadoes in March to Covid-19, Mt Juliet/Wilson County faced a lot of challenges in 2020. Many of us can’t wait for the year to end, but Ed has a different outlook. “I prefer to think we will all look back on 2020 as a time of great personal growth, a time where we were intentional about our family relationships, and a time where we learned to value and cherish our faith walks. For us personally, we were saddened that Katrina’s father passed away in March. Still, we celebrate that our fifth grand was born, and she is a beautiful miracle.”
