Nathan Boyd Collett’s 2026 – only three days away now – may be the most important and memorable one of his 27 years. So far. The flow of life and its changes are fast headed his way. He’s excited about it, too. His new year plate is full.
- A new job …. In mid-January, he will be on his own on patrol shifts as the newest Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) trooper in East Tennessee’s District 1. He is assigned to Blount County.
- Expanding his skillset: “I’ll be learning more about interacting with the public. OJT (on-the-job training) is the only way to truly learn this profession,” he says.
- On March 21, he and Maddiegrace Hensley of Knoxville will exchange vows in a wedding in Townsend.
- And the wedding means setting up a new household and probably moving into a new home in Blount County. That’s the plan for now. And probably a new job for Maddiegrace, a kindergarten teacher.
Facing change and challenge is not new for this native of tiny Stoney Fork, KY. Collett has already faced some tough times. Four years of football at Bell
Nathan Collett
County High School were hard, too. Near the end of his senior year, he tore the labrum cartilage. After resting the injury for a week, he returned for two playoff games and played through the pain. “I played about every position possible. One year, I was on the offensive line and was a linebacker and fullback and had to gain weight, and for some reason, I have the ability to do that.”
His team’s best running back injured a knee in his senior year, and Collett was forced into that position. He kicked off, was a starting linebacker and a backup offensive guard. “I was the jack of all trades and the master of none,” he said. “I did what the coach asked me to do.” He led the team in rushing yards, touchdowns scored, tackles, and was second in interceptions.
In October 2019, he was 20 and diagnosed with Stage 4 classic Hodgkin lymphoma. “I had cancerous lymph nodes in my neck, chest, and groin, but primarily in my chest. I found it in the shower after work one day. I had a lymph node in my neck swell up almost to the size of my fist pretty much throughout that day,” he says. “At that age, it’s easy to feel invincible, and to hear news like that, well, it terrifies you, and it scared the hell out of me.”
Doctors told him there is a 90% cure rate for this type of cancer, especially for young people his age. Within a month, he began six months of chemotherapy every other Friday at Tennessee Cancer Specialists in Powell, followed by six months off, checking on progress. Next were weekly radiation treatments at the Tennessee Cancer Outpatient Center in Cumberland Gap. He was still working off and on until COVID struck in 2021, and doctors were concerned about his immune system and recommended that he stop working. His follow-up was a series of routine scans at intervals of three months, six months, and a year, then every three months for a year, then every six months, and now annually. He was officially declared cancer-free on March 10, 2025.
“I grew up back in the holler of Stoney Fork, and that’s about as Appalachia as you can get,” he said. “I think our population was about 31 then. But I loved it there, and my folks are still there.” His father, Dennis, 65, is a retired coal miner who also worked at Pine Mountain State Park after 17 years in the mines. His mother, Jamie, 64, was an R.N. for 43 years, but a second brain cancer surgery has her now living in a long-term care facility. “She’s tough as nails, and she’s the reason I am who I am today. She was a great role model and an example of how to live your life,” he said.
And now he’ll have a new bride who will be the wife of a state trooper. “She’s coming around to it, getting used to it more and more. She knew this was what I wanted to do, but it’s a big adjustment for her,” Collett said. “It’s harder on the people you love, on your family. We signed up for this. They didn’t. But she’s been a trooper about it, and I couldn’t do it without it. She’s helped me study, and she’s pushed me hard too.”
Collett graduated from Bell County High in 2017 and earned an Associate degree in 2020 in Arts and Applied Sciences from Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College in Cumberland, KY.
The water around Stoney Fork must have contained some law enforcement particles. His interest in law enforcement hit him early in life. “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve wanted to be a cop. I didn’t watch the cartoons on our TV on Saturday mornings. I never missed the ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ shows with Chuck Norris,” he says. “Never missed it.”
Collett says he wanted to be a state trooper in Kentucky, but he has tattoos and Kentucky does not hire troopers with tattoos. His older brother, Ben, who is 30 and does not have tattoos, is in his third year as a Kentucky State trooper covering Harlem, Knox, and Bell counties.
THP Trooper Nathan Collett and his older brother,
Ben, a Kentucky State Trooper
Collett applied for a job with the THP in January, and on February 3 last, he tackled the obstacle course and then had his initial interview. His required polygraph test was on February 24, and his physical exam was the next day. His THP Academy class began on June 1, and he graduated nearly three months ago on September 30.
Before the rugged Academy regimen began, he spent a year working himself back into shape after his cancer treatments. “I was in the gym three or four times a week on the weights and ran between 3 and 5 miles every day,” Collett said. “I knew the academy was going to be hard enough mentally and didn’t want to be there out of shape.”
“I was just called to serve,” he says. “We do this job, and we all know and understand the dangers. It’s part of our job to keep things from happening to the people we serve, the communities we serve, even if they are just going to the grocery store or having problems with their family, and maybe helping people ditch a life on drugs.”
Knowing he will soon be patrolling solo without an FTO (Field Training Officer) as a passenger, he’s honest about it. “I’ll admit to being a little nervous, but I’ve had four great FTOs — Cameron Ogle, James Fischer, Brian Millsaps, and Evan Lane. They’ve given me a wealth of knowledge about this job down to the details. They’ve been awesome and put me in a position to do this job well. The professionalism of the THP is incredible, and I’m honored to be a part of that now.”
That said, he added this: “…. The nerves and the excitement combined help you challenge yourself to be the best you can be every day. We have to be prepared every day to give the state and the public the best we have. It’s why we do this job.”
Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California, and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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