Citizen of the Week: Marine puts in extra effort

Published 3:26 pm Friday, February 24, 2017

Pretty much all of Clay Coggins’ job with AutoZone is related to customer service. But a local single mom who has two children and recently went through treatment for ovarian cancer said Coggins went above and beyond recently to help her out of an automotive jam.

Melissa Tousignant likes to think she is a pretty handy woman and can handle a lot of the repairs on her car, but a melted wire which had made it impossible for her to remove proved to be too much. That is when Coggins stepped in.

“With my medical bills, it has been really hard financially, and I can usually handle most things,” Tousignant said. “I thought I could do it myself, but I couldn’t. He worked on it for about 30 minutes, and if he hadn’t helped, my car would still be sitting up there.

“After we were done, I thanked him and told him how much I appreciated it and told him about my cancer treatments,” she said. “That was when he showed me a pink ribbon tattoo he had and that his mother had had breast cancer. He said that every day before he comes to work, he prays that God will help him help someone else and make a difference in their life. For me, he made a huge difference.”

A Chatsworth native, Coggins is more than just a worker at an auto parts store. After graduating from Murray County High School, he served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps where he was an auto mechanic and a machine gunner. He served a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2012. Since leaving the military, he recently completed his associate degree in criminal justice at North Georgia Tech. He is actively involved in his church, A Place to Worship, in Chatsworth, and is currently helping with a remodel project there.

“He is one of the strongest people I have met in a long time,” said Jason Whitley, Coggins’ manager at the Cohutta AutoZone. “He is a hard worker, and I am lucky to have him on my team. His church is doing a remodel right now and he is helping extensively with that, and he is also speaking during their revival coming up. He is just a great all-around guy.”

Tousignant said it was providence that brought the two together. She said that last November she started working on a baby’s blanket in her spare time. There wasn’t anyone in particular she was making the blanket for, she said. Coggins and his wife Bailey are expecting their first child in June.

“I had no idea who I was working on that blanket for,” she said. “When I found out they were expecting, I knew exactly who I had been making it for.”

For his service to our country in the military, his volunteering spirit to his church and his help in going above and beyond to help a stranger in need, The Daily Citizen names Clay Coggins Citizen of the Week.