Fairfield Glade, TN - Clemothene "Clem" Mathis, 89 of Crossville, passed away Nov. 8, 2025 at home in Fairfield Glade.

Clem was born Dec. 29, 1935 in Nashville, GA, son of the late Scranton S. Mathis and Retha Inell Hughes Mathis.

He is survived by his wife, Angela R. Mathis, and son, Stephen C. Sims and daughter-in-law Nichole Lynn Troglin, and six cats.

Clem is now home. He was interred on Nov. 12, 2025 at the Memorial "Westview" Cemetery in Nashville, GA.

Thanks to Lydia and Robert at Crossville Memorial for making the arrangements.

Any donations to the Cumberland County Animal Shelter will be appreciated.

As a child, Clem had a friend with access to a crop duster plane. That is where he learned to fly. He loved it, and his mother never knew. He was in 4-H and had a chicken route where he sold his own eggs. The route got so big that he had to start buying eggs to sell. He also raised one of the largest pigs in the area.

His father, Scranton, took him to the local bank so he could get a loan of $100 for the purchase of said pig. As he got older, he was the lifeguard at Nashville's city pool and he played football. Of course, his grades were good enough to get a scholarship to Georgia Tech. He only stayed there a year before going to UGA.

He said he decided not to be an engineer, but in the early 50s, there were probably not a lot of girls there at Tech. At UGA he got his degree in marketing and there was some Army and or Air Force in there too.

Kappa Sigma gave him many friends forever. After University he taught at Nashville High in calculus or algebra. Then, he opened an insurance agency with his friend Jack Knight at the courthouse.

He sold medical equipment in Macon, GA. He loved talking to the med techs about EKGs when they were hooking him up for one. Then, it was back to insurance, this time with Hartford in Atlanta, then New Orleans, then Memphis. He was a regional director.

He met the owners of Coca-Cola and some banks in Little Rock and opened an agency there with them. Then, he opened his own agency Mathis-McClellan in Little Rock proper a few blocks from the Capital. He had a friend in auto parts at this time who moved to Houston and together they opened a foreign car parts store, The Universal Joint. Governor Bill Clinton helped Clem get the contract to sell Bosch auto products from Germany. During this time period Clem decided to run for the State Senate as a Republican. It did not go so well.

He was selling a lot of insurance to trucking companies and met someone who said "you should see what we're doing in Tennessee." That's how he became interested in the oil and gas business. He no longer had to wear a suit and tie, but wore overalls and boots. His grandfather was a well witcher and Clem had that ability also, but on oil. Then prices fell and since he had moved to Crossville, he got his realtor and contractor's licenses.

He bought his first restaurant at the local mall, Village Green Mall, and for his wife to run, M.C.'s Ice Cream Shop, but he couldn't stop there. He bought the Huddle House in Crossville and two more stores in the mall. Then, Huddle Houses in Newport, Sweetwater, Kingston, White Pine, and Cookeville.

He combined the ice cream shop, the Italian restaurant, and the jewelry store to be the Villa Pizza & Pasta. He loved seeing and talking to the customers and friends at Fairfield Glade.