James Clifton Eley of Hermitage (69) – passed Oct 9, 2026- Born in Cheatham County, Tn, the son of Janice Clifton and Hughes Eley. Growing up in Ashland City, “Cliff” enjoyed a fun-filled youth, riding his bike to the playground everyday to play baseball with Coach Spangler, sledding down Stratton Hill in the wintertime, and of course cruising the Dairy Dip in the summer. Cliff did well in school, even though he didn’t really have to try. He worked his way through Austin Peay working at the nearby zinc plant, then a few years later went back to the Owen’s School at Vanderbilt to receive his MBA. While at Austin Peay, he served as president of his fraternity, ATO. He lived out all of the fraternity core values, but especially brotherhood. He exemplified trust, love, support, and respect. Later he would also become a Shriner and was guided by their principles of character, patriotism, and charitable service. Cliff was an enigma, a guy that could have made a career on Wall Street yet chose to stay in Nashville and open up the Double E bar, where he and his wife Krista were a team. Cliff was like Sam on Cheers and of course, he did know everyone’s name. If you knew Cliff, he was indeed one of kind. He will be missed.
He is survived by his wife, Krista King Eley; son Jim (Sallie) Eley; grandchildren, Savannah and Luke; brother, Butch (Ginger) Eley; sister, Beverly Eley Fort (Joe); brothers, Chuck (Tammy) Farmer and David (Joy) Farmer; uncle, his namesake, James (Judi) Clifton; aunt Martha Lynn (Darwin) Newton; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be Friday Oct 16 from 11am until the Celebration of Life at 1pm at Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home, 2707 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, TN 37216.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Shriners Children’s Hospital. https://donate.shrinerschildrens.org/campaign/618584/donate?c_src=google&c_src2=q3-2026-brand&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=157828074&gbraid=0AAAAADy9t14a3J8a0i-k7s1RfxFKZtuEh
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This obituary was published by Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home.
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