McLemore leaves senior center after 8 years at helm

Prior to his employment at the senior center, McLemore worked for Wesley Living, a group of retirement communities. He previously worked for the organization in multiple positions, including regional manager, and he was recently hired to manage Wesley’s Jackson, Tennessee facility, of which he said he was very familiar from his earlier job. McLemore’s last day at the senior center was Friday, and the center held a celebration in his honor after senior patrons had gathered for lunch.

Dacia Barger, who is serving as the senior center’s interim executive director until the board officially chooses a permanent replacement, talked about some of McLemore’s memorable quirks, such as always saying the center staff is “making the magic happen” and finishing singing “Santa Baby” if he hears anyone hum it. Continuing that enthusiastic temperament, he was also often heard to exclaim, “Isn’t it neat?” When training someone on how to handle one of his duties, he would always say he was teaching them the task “in case I get hit by a bus,” and Barger said McLemore is also known as a “whistler.”

“When I first started here, on my first day, he said, ‘The way I see it is, I whistle, you hear me coming. If you’re still doing the wrong thing when I enter the room, then you deserve what you’re going to get because you heard me coming,’” Barger said.

Barger, who has worked at the senior center for five years, reflected on all the changes McLemore had overseen there, including some recent facility improvements.

“Mark has been with us for eight years, and we’ve been super blessed,” Barger said. “He has brought the senior center to another level. I had my first meeting with the directors of several other senior centers in the area; it is amazing how healthy and vibrant and energetic and wonderful this senior center is. A lot of that has to do with his vision and his dream of taking it to the next level. Our fitness room is crazy, crazy, awesome (with) state-of-the-art equipment, and it’s going to last us for many years.”

Even after McLemore had made the decision to retire, he never stopped trying to get the senior center every resource it needs, Barger said.

“Let me tell you all, we went to (a recent) director’s meeting, we sat at a table with all of our regulatory (administrators), all the people who are in the chairs that give us money and advocate for us in Frankfort,” she said. “Mark, to his last breath walking out of that office, was advocating for us so big. He’s done that for eight years, and it has showed because he’s made a lot of good things happen.”

“First and foremost, thank you all for giving me the opportunity to be part of your lives the last eight years,” McLemore said to the gathered crowd. “I was very blessed eight years ago to walk through the doors to an organization that … was already pretty strong. (Former director) Eric Kelleher, I thought in my mind could never be replaced, and that was a hesitation I had for even wanting to come into the building and start doing things. But he said, ‘You’ll do fine,’ and what I was able to do because of a collection of folks – the board of directors at the time and now continuing on the support they’ve given – but most importantly, the staff.”

McLemore said that although he will be working daily in Jackson, he will continue residing in Murray since Wesley Living is providing him with a place to stay during the week so he can come home on the weekends. McLemore said he grew up in Akron, Ohio, but his family is from this area, and he attended Murray State in the 1970s. He met his wife, Linda, while they were students there and eventually married in 1978. He said he spent almost 25 years managing various Kentucky state parks before taking his first job with Wesley Living.

“I retired from the state park system about 15 years ago and relocated back here to Murray with Linda and initially I had talked with (the late) Bjarne Hanson, the former transit director, (telling him) ‘All I want to do is to be a part-time bus driver,’” McLemore said. “I just wanted a little part-time retirement job, but in the 90 days it was going to take for me to go to work for them – because I was drawing state retirement and that’s the same that they paid into – that’s when an opportunity for me to go work for Wesley Living came up. I started as a part-time manager there and very quickly got more involved with that organization and was not just the manager in Murray, but was a regional manager for (locations in Kentucky and western Tennessee).”

McLemore said he is proud of the facility improvements and expansion of programs he has been able to implement during his time at the senior center, including an indoor pickleball court, a pool table room and a new fitness equipment room that he said rivals that of any gym. He said the center now has 12,000 square feet available for senior programs. Between Meals on Wheels and the building, the senior center serves more than 500 people every day, which he said is more than any other senior center in Kentucky.

“We’ve got something every senior in this community could benefit from, whether it’s enjoying your lunch, exercising or participating in social events,” McLemore said. “I just encourage anybody to come and visit.”

One of the staff members, Kim Odom, was dressed in black to mourn McLemore’s departure and said he hired and trained her a year-and-a-half ago to drive the city route for Meals on Wheels.

“He’s just a remarkable man,” Odom said. “He is just hands-on and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. He’s a very positive, energetic man and we are definitely going to miss him.”