Former Fulton City High School teacher returns for book signing

Harold Wayne “Doc” Arnett, a former Fulton City High School teacher and local preacher, has launched his retirement career as a writer and performer.
Arnett, a songwriter, poet, and author whose work often draws from rural life, family, faith, and the landscapes of Kentucky, has published five books now available on Amazon, several of them with strong ties to western Kentucky.
A book reading and signing, along with original music, will be held at Fulton Winery, located at 400 Nolan Ave., in Fulton, Ky., on Sat., April 18 from 3 - 6 p.m.
This event is free to the public, and books will be available for purchase and to be signed.
A book reading and signing, along with original music, will also be held on the campus of Murray State University, in the Mississippi Room of the Curris Center, on Sun. April 19 from 2 - 4 p.m.
“After my first two years of college, I was a manager trainee at Fred’s Department Store on Lake Street and then worked at Ross Furniture.” Arnett paused and chuckled, “But… it was seven months at Goodyear (Union City) that convinced me to go back to college.” 
After graduating at Murray State, Arnett started his teaching career as an Industrial Arts teacher and girls’ basketball coach at Fulton City High School from 1977-1979. He also served as Youth Minister at Smith Street Church of Christ and then preached at Clinton Church of Christ.” 
“I got back in touch with a few of my former students… Hard to believe it’s been nearly 50 years since I taught here,” he said.
From Fulton, Arnett went to Murray, Ky. and taught at Calloway County High School for five years.
After earning his doctorate at Ohio State, he taught at the university level in northwestern Missouri, then was an alternative school principal in Scott County, Ky. 
Arnett later shifted his education career to administrative work in community colleges in Kansas, finishing with a stint as Vice-President for Academics at Cowley College. 
"Retirement has given me the opportunity to really focus on my creative interests,” Arnett grins, “It’s like being a kid again. I always dreamed of being a singer and just recently got a few songs accepted for play on online radio stations.”
He has several original songs available on platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music, and YouTube. “Never Like Never” is an upbeat honky-tonk song with over 6K views on YouTube
“I’m definitely not making any money at it but I am having fun!” he said.
Writing is another fun outlet for the former teacher. Among Arnett’s books is Red Clay and Green Fields, an autobiography reflecting on growing up in West Kentucky. Red Clay and Cold Water is a picture book built around the lyrics of two original Americana songs about his boyhood farm. His poetry collection An Altar of Light includes poems rooted in farm life, rural people, and local memory, including “Roy Morris, Todd County Sharecropper.”
His other books include Reflections from an Ordinary Life, a collection of spiritual essays shaped in part by the geography and experience of Kentucky, and Tears and Prayers, a volume of spiritual poetry centered on loss, grief, comfort, and hope, with some poems connected to western Kentucky.
“West Kentucky has never really left me,” Arnett said. “A lot of what I write — whether it’s poetry, stories, songs, or reflections — grows out of the people, places, and way of life I knew there. When I talk about ‘going home,’ I’m talking about West Kentucky.”
“I’m really looking forward to being at the Fulton Winery on Sat/, April 18. Hoping to see a few of my former students and other folks I knew when I preached here," he said.
For more information, contact Harold Wayne “Doc” Arnett at docarnett@gmail.com or 816-341-3572.