Fred W. Nall spent more than 40 years as an employee and executive of Ashland Inc., retiring in 1985 as vice president of Ashland Coal. However, Fred Nall’s most positive impact on this community may have come from what he did after his retirement.
Nall died Thursday. Although 90 at the time of his death, he remained active until late in his long life. His funeral was Tuesday.
After his retirement from Ashland Inc., Nall became interested in providing quality care for the elderly and disabled. That led him to build and oversee Woodland Oaks Health Care Facility in Ashland, Oakmont Manor in Flatwoods, Martin County Health Care in Inez, and Middlesboro (Ky.) Health Care. While we don’t know enough about them to judge the quality of the homes in Inez and Middlesboro, both Woodland Oaks and Oakmont Manor are among the best nursing homes in this region and have received recognition from the state for the quality of their care for the elderly and the disabled.
Nall took a deep, personal interest in Alzheimer’s, and because of that interest, he developed a close working relationship with University of Kentucky physician William Markesbery, a respected Alzheimer’s researcher. Ironically, Markesbery died just two days after Nall.
His intense interest in sufferers of Alzheimer’s and their families led Nall to open an Alzheimer’s wing at Woodland Oaks, the first care facility in this region to offer special care for those with the debilitating disease that impacts the mind but not the body.
Nall also was extremely active in his church, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ashland. He served in nearly every leadership position in his church and also in statewide leadership offices for the denomination. He also was on the board of trustees for Lexington Theological Seminary, the main seminary for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Nall also was a former member of the Ashland Board of Education and was on the Advisory Board of Vocational Education, which helped oversee the former Ashland Area Vocational-Technical School, which is now part of Ashland Community and Technical College. While many years have passed since Nall’s time on the Ashland school board, he served during a time when the system developed a statewide reputation for its outstanding academic and athletic programs.
Fred Nall could be gruff and was not the easiest person with whom to work. But he got things done and helped make this a better community in which to live — and to die.
