Former Farragut High School coach, wife found dead in DeKalb County lake

Travis Dorman and Natalie Neysa Alund
USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

SILVER POINT — The Tennessee Highway Patrol has identified a couple found dead in a DeKalb County lake Monday afternoon as Lendon Welch, 84, and Charlotte Welch, 83.

Charlotte and Lendon Welch are pictured here at the Farragut High School Class of 1962's 50th Reunion.

The Knoxville couple were found floating in the water at Floating Mill Campground in a remote area about 70 miles east of Nashville.

Lendon Welch was a former coach at Farragut High School. He coached track, football, baseball and basketball and was inducted into the high school's hall of fame in 2013. A street in front of the school bears his name.

Lendon Welch is pictured here in 2012 at the Farragut High School Class of 1962's 50th Reunion.

When Cookeville district troopers arrived about 4:30 p.m. Monday at the lake off Floating Mill Lane, they spotted the top of a white 2000 Toyota Tacoma in the water, according to THP Lt. Jimmy Neal.

A boat attached to a trailer by a strap floated above and behind the truck, Neal said.

When a wrecker pulled the truck out of the lake, Neal said the transmission was in reverse, and the emergency brake had been partially applied.

The couple were pronounced dead after being loaded into an ambulance by DeKalb County first responders. It wasn't immediately clear whether they were found inside or outside the submerged truck.

A medical examiner is working to determine the causes of death, Lt. Bill Miller said. The investigation is ongoing.

The Welches were in DeKalb County on a fishing trip, according to their neighbors of 35 years, George and Sandy McRae, who said Lendon Welch recently gifted them a bag of frozen fish that he'd caught on a previous trip.

Following their retirement, the Welches spent much of their time outdoors, George McRae said. The former coach mowed yards, painted houses and stunned his neighbors with his ability to know everybody.

"Lendon is known," McRae said. "Any new person that comes on the street, he would be one of the first to go meet them. ... Lendon never met a stranger. He was just someone you could always call on when you needed help.

Charlotte Welch was a homemaker who taught at Blue Grass Elementary School for many years, Sandy McRae said. "She loved that. She just loved the children."

As a cheerleader at Farragut High in 1962, Mona Smith knew Lendon Welch well. She remembers him as an "outstanding" person loved by "the whole community." She said he attended nearly every school reunion after his retirement.

"He was the kind of person that you could go up to and put your arm around and hug him, and he'd hug right back," Smith said. "He was just lovable, and the whole community loved him and his wife as well. We're all just sick over this."

"They were a true couple," she added. "They did so much together and were so much in love. They died together and loved each other, and they died doing what they loved together."

The couple is survived by two children, LeAnn Mowery and Mark Welch.