I was born in Pikeville,
Kentucky,
and spent the first 24 years of my life there; thus, I am a die-hard
Kentucky
Cats fan! I moved to Tennessee in 1982 and have lived in
different
parts of the State since then. I received my Bachelor of Science
and Master of Education degrees from Carson Newman College. I
have completed additional coursework toward my doctorate at East
Tennessee State University. I began teaching at Bean Station
Elementary
School in Grainger County. I taught 6-8 grades English and
Science
for six years. I taught 7th & 8th
grade Math and
Science at Cosby Elementary and Smokey Mountain Schools for 3 years,
then
Math at Cocke County High School for a year. I taught at SMS for two years. The first year I
taught Literature on Team 3. Last year, I taught Math and
Literature on Team 4. I now teach 4 classes of 5th grade Social
Studies and 1 class of 5th grade Math.
I am married to Randy Grahl, and we live in Newport. Randy is retired from the flooring business. We have two sons. Our oldest, Timothy, lives in Jefferson County. The youngest son, Tyler, graduated from Cosby High School and WyoTech in 2007. He and his fiancee are pictured above.