Andy McFalls

JUNE 4, 1983 – FEBRUARY 10, 2021

Andrew Michael Akers McFalls

Our courageous Andy peacefully departed this life at home on Wednesday, February 10th, 2021 after an almost year-long battle with colorectal cancer.

Andy was born on June 4, 1983 in Abilene Texas on Dyess Air Force Base to Barbara J. Miller McFalls and grew up with his older brother, Robert, and younger brother, Matthew. The family relocated to Kingston, TN in 1985. Growing up, Andy participated in numerous sports, his school band, and cross country. Andy attended school at Roane State Community College and East Tennessee State University, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Social Science in Marketing and Advertising. While in college, he participated in theater and show choir, through which he was given the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall.

In 2006, Andy began a 14-year career at Tennessee Valley Authority as an Assistant Unit Operator and Unit Operator at the Bull Run Fossil Plant. In early 2020, he began a training program at the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant in Soddy Daisy, TN. Andy’s co-workers described him as a genuine and caring master of his craft, who was always ready with a joke and willing to help anyone at a moment’s notice. When Andrew was working no one left the control room without a smile on their face.

In 2007, Andy met his future wife, Katie, while she was studying at the University of Tennessee. They were married in October 2011. Andy and Katie made their home in Knoxville, TN and raised their two daughters, Lillian and Clara. We will be forever grateful to Katie for the patience, love, and support that she gave Andy during their marriage, especially during the last year of his life.

In his spare time, Andy enjoyed playing guitar, biking, listening to music, traveling, as well as making new friends and catching up with old ones. For those that knew Andy, even for a little while, it did not go unnoticed that he was the real deal, a one-of-a-kind guy with a great sense of humor, a tender heart, and an openness to life that touched everyone.

Andy will be missed everyday by his family, friends, and co-workers. As his Uncle Paul reminds us, “when we lose someone we love, we must learn not to live without them, but to live with the love they left behind.” Those missing Andy greatly include his wife Katie, daughters Lily and Clara, grandmother Mary Miller, mother Barb McFalls, brothers Bobby (Amanda) and Matt McFalls, uncle Paul Miller (Mei), mother and father-in-law Louise and John Stevenson, sister and brother-in-law Rachel McKinney (Travis) and Ross Stevenson (Lauren Grace), his nieces and nephews, Noah, Layla, Izzy, Cruz, Hunter, and Charlotte McFalls, Hazel and Beatrice McKinney, Henry and Charlotte Stevenson, and the entire McFalls, Miller, Clark, Rhodes, Stevenson, and Maury families, who are too many to list separately.

Andy was greeted in heaven by his Mamaw Christine McFalls, Grandpa Paul Miller, Grandparents-in-law Frances Maury and Arthur and Verna Stevenson, along with a dear friend, Steve Williamson.

The McFalls family is eternally grateful for the love and support given to Andy throughout his life and especially in this past year. We would especially like to thank his coworkers and staff at TVA Bull Run and Sequoyah, Dr. Ibach and the staff at Tennessee Cancer Specialists, Avalon Hospice, and all the friends, family, and neighbors whose care and unwavering support surrounded our family in love during this difficult year.

A funeral mass will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. A drop-in Celebration of Life will be held for all who wish to attend at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Rd, Oak Ridge, TN 37830 on Saturday, February 20, 2021 between2pm and 4pm. Please come and share your memories and stories of Andy with us. Masks are required and social distancing will be practiced.