2 Children: Dale Willoughby & Kate Willoughby Grigsby.
Don was born to Charles and Dorothy Willoughby and joined his older brother Al on the family farm known at the time as Green Hill Farm. A Grade A dairy was the main farming operation along with raising crops for feed and forage, as well as tobacco. Don attended Mt. Juliet Elementary, Jr. High, and High School. He enjoyed athletics and balanced sports and his farm duties. His involvement in FFA, under the advisement of his father Charles, Cliff Ricketts, Tommy Brewer, and Louis Fletcher, was his main interest throughout high school. He was involved in many competitions in judging, public speaking, state champion Parliamentary Procedure team, and Dairy Proficiency. He received both State Farmer and American Farmer degrees and was elected State Reporter for the 1978-79 year. Graduating from Middle Tennessee State University in 1981 with a B.S. degree in Animal Science and Secondary Education, Don came back to live and work on the family farm. As the family began to grow, he saw the need to go outside of the farm for income and took a job with West Wilson Utility District for a couple of years before becoming an agriculture teacher at the 9th grade level of Mt. Juliet Jr. High in 1986. The program merged back to grades 9 through 12 a few years later. He returned to Middle Tennessee State University receiving a Master’s Degree in Vocational Education in 1990.
During the late 1980’s through the 1990’s Agriculture Education saw a huge curriculum change as fewer students were coming from farm families, and more had interests in other agricultural endeavors. Don was part of the development and implementation of the shift from farming courses to more diverse offerings in mechanics, horticulture, wildlife and forestry, leadership, agribusiness, small and large animal care, and courses that are now offered for college credit. He is a 1987 charter member of Mt. Juliet FFA Alumni continuing to support as Treasurer. He has served on the Wilson County Fair board since 1988, chairing the Country Ham Show since 2004, with a mission of increasing participation of youth and adults to showcase their skills in the art and tradition. He was elected to the board of directors of Wilson County Farm Bureau in 2016. Although the family farm has decreased in size, Don still enjoys working alongside his family raising beef cattle and high-quality square baled and rolled hay for feed and for sale to local livestock producers. Don has two children, Dale Willoughby & Kate Willoughby Grigsby.
