[2] In 1947, while a student at Vanderbilt, he married Bette Jamison,[3] which connected him to the powerful Middle Tennessee Jamison family, whose interests included a mattress factory near downtown Franklin, Tennessee.
They were joined by the relatively small Republican Caucus, which proposed the election of former lieutenant governor Jared Maddux, who had previously served as lieutenant governor during Clement's first administration.
The remaining member, Senator Charles O'Brien of Crossville, was in seclusion and could not be reached by either side.
Clement, sensing victory, sent his sister Anna Belle, who also served as his chief of staff, to visit O'Brien's home and persuade him to support Gorrell.
Gorrell died in March 1994 as a result of a choking incident at a restaurant in Brentwood, Tennessee.