Our State Leadership  | Bobbie Patray

Bobbie Patray was born in Goodlettsville, TN, in August of 1940. Her Dad, Charles Oakes, was a manager for McClellan’s Dime Stores who traveled around setting up and opening new stores, which meant that she lived in six states and sixteen towns before she started school. During those pre-school years she did some professional performing and stage plays.

When it was time to start school, Dad, Charles and Mother, Jill, moved the family back to Nashville where Bobbie attended the first grade. The following summer Charles took a job with Genesco and moved the family to Starke, Florida, where Bobbie attended elementary school. Junior high found the family in Richmond, Virginia, but high school saw a move back to Starke where Bobbie graduated from Bradford High School in 1957.

Future husband, Ron Patray, was a senior when Bobbie was a freshman at Bradford. When she was a senior, Ron returned from an overseas stint with the Air Force and they started dating. Bobbie attended one semester at Florida State University then returned to Starke where she and Ron were married February 28, 1959….

                     Bobbie Patray has been the President of the Tennessee Chapter

                     of the Eagle Forum and lobbyist at the State Capitol since 1987.

 The Tennessee Eagle Forum Foundation

The Tennessee Eagle Forum Foundation is the educational tool affiliated with the Tennessee Eagle Forum, providing a venue for workshops and conferences aimed at raising awareness and knowledge of critical issues in our country and our community. The Tennessee Eagle Forum Foundation exists to help families by providing educational information on local, state, and national public policy which impacts our communities, so they experience the freedom which comes from effective governing in our beloved state. The foundation hosts several events each year and brings in well-respected speakers and experts on a variety of vital issues.