Popular City Commissioner who suffered stroke expected to return home this week

A popular Corbin City Commissioner, who suffered a debilitating stroke Feb. 21, is expected to leave a Tenn. hospital Thursday where he’s been recovering and rehabilitating for the last 10 weeks and return home.

According to fellow Commissioner Phil Gregory, Bruce Farris is making steady progress on his road to recovery following the stroke and will work with local medical facilities from here on out.

"He’s still got a good attitude about everything … Every day there is some improvement," Gregory said Tuesday. "Everyone is anxious to get him back so he can be right here where he was born and raised; where people can come and talk to him and he can be around things he’s normally around."

Farris has been at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn. since he suffered the stroke. The facility is renowned for its specialty in treatment of cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Most of his time has been spent in the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center – a state-of-the-art rehab facility tailored toward treatment of stroke victims. It is named for the Academy Award winning actress Patricia Neal, a native of Whitley County, who suffered a severe stroke in 1965 and was in a coma for three weeks afterward. She made a full recovery.

Gregory said that friends from Central Baptist Church, where both he and Farris attend, have built a special ramp onto Farris’ home to accommodate his return. Also, he said W.D. Bryant and Son in Corbin has offered to build a ramp at the back of the home. Hometown Bank has helped the family purchase and retrofit a van with special equipment so he can get around more easily. Numerous donations have been taken up at city hall and within the church to help the family as well.

Farris, a certified public accountant, operated an accounting firm on Kentucky Ave. before his stroke. His wife Karen also worked in the office. Gregory is Karen Farris’s uncle. The firm has remained open throughout the ordeal thanks to help from other family and friends.

Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said Tuesday he’s glad to hear Farris is coming home and hopes to see him around city hall sometime in the future.

"We all miss him. We need him to return because he was a real important part of things here," McBurney said. "He was awfully handy at budget time. He is a very good Commissioner."

Farris remains on the ballot for the November General Election. Neither Gregory nor McBurney could speculate about his political future. He is one of six people running for four spots on the Commission.

Farris is in the midst of his third two-year term on the five-member board. He was the most popular of all commissioners among local voters last election, outstripping his opponents by over 200 votes.

"That’s really never even been talked about," Gregory said. "We have hopes everything will be alright."

Farris is the father of two boys, one a student at Eastern Kentucky University and the other a senior at Corbin High School.