David Patton, Palmer Historian
2009
Due to time constraints, Mr. Patton regrets that he cannot personally respond to every comment and inquiry. Like most small town historians, he is an unpaid community volunteer and makes no claim of “knowing everything” about local history. For a detailed account of Grundy County history, he recommends that you consult your copy of the Grundy County Heritage Book.
However, if you have information you would like to share, you may write him at
50 Dogwood St.; Palmer, TN 37365, and he will attempt to respond through this page as time and circumstances allow. Your courtesy and understanding will be appreciated. Ms. Susan Sissom and other volunteers will be assisting Mr. Patton in transmitting this material, but have no personal knowledge as to the veracity of its contents.
AUGUST 2009
Health Care Debate of 1994
Fifteen years ago President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton led a major effort to reform the health care system and provide coverage to all Americans. That effort failed with Mr. Clinton’s participation being blamed for its demise.
Here we are in a new century and the health care system is still in shambles. Will President Barack Obama’s efforts fail like the Clinton’s? The fierce debate is raging in Washington right now with most of experts believing that some type of reform will be Passed.
Dr. Byron Harbolt is shown in this 1990 photo at his Cathedral Canyon Clinic in Altamont. 2101 will mark 50 years as a Grundy County physician, and this “angel of mercy” continues to treat the poor and needy as part of his Christian ministry.
Genora Levan Nickerson
Mrs. Nickerson was in Palmer back in the spring to attend the funeral of her brother Jarvis L. Levan.
Genora grew up on Burnt Orchard Hill in Palmer as a daughter of the late Ben and Bessie Nolan Levan and lives to day in Zephyr Hills, Florida.
Thanks for sending us your CD, “There’s a yodel in My Heart”. We enjoyed it along with Crandel and Ethleen Sitz McNabb on our visit to their Dunlap home. Let us hear from you soon Genora and keep checking our website.
Former Residents Visit Hometown
This has been an exciting summer for our history work in Palmer.
"One of the great pleasures of my history work is keeping former residents in touch," Mr. Patton said. "The McNabbs and Mrs. Shipley have been an invaluable source of information on Palmer's early days, and I cherish their friendship."
In early July, Crandel and Ethleen McNabb came calling, and we paid a return visit to their Dunlap, TN, home later that month. Mr. McNabb, 96, is a 1935 Grundy County High School graduate and also drove the Palmer to Tracy City school bus during his years as a student. After unloading his passengers he recalls having to drive to a garage about a mile away, walk back to school to attend classes, then walk back to the bus in the afternoon and drive to the school to pick up his fellow students for the drive home to Palmer. An education was hard to come by in the Great Depression and only the toughest managed to persevere.
Mr. McNabb became a well-know auto body repairman and many will remember him from his days at Varnell Chevrolet in Tracy City. He was also the auto mechanics teacher for the 1967-68 term at GCHS. He and his sister Charlotte Pattie are the only survivors of the Tom and Florence Knight McNabb family.
Mrs. Mc Nabb will be 93 on September 30 and is a 1935 GCHS graduate. She, her brother, Lewis Sitz and their sister Frances Gratigny are the only survivors of the Virgil and Maggie Levan Sitz family. A 1935 GCHS graduate, she began her teaching career at Palmer Elementary in the late 1940’s and retired from the Marion County School System.
The McNabbs will celebrate their 73rd anniversary this month. They were married by Pastor Crawford at the Methodist (now Palmer United Methodist) parsonage on August 29, 1936, with Dola Ivey and Ethleen’s sister Heelen serving as witnesses. Always cordial and happy to hear from Grundy County friends, they may be reached at 2778 Kelly Cross Road, Dunlap, TN 37327.
On July 31 Sara Swann Shipley of Johnson City visited and was accompanied by a delightful couple, Dick and Carolyn Johnson of Elizabethton, TN.
Mrs. Shipley, 92, is a 1935 GCHS graduate. She and her late brother Hampton Swann grew up in Palmer as the children of Raymond D. and Hattie Hampton Swann. Mr. Swann was the supply manager for Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company and Mrs. Swann, one of the most beloved citizens in Palmer history, was related to E.L. Hampton who founded the company.
Leaving Palmer after high school, she met her future husband R. Bruce Shipley of west Tennessee while both were students at the University of Tennessee. He became an electrical engineer and the couple traveled around the world. Mr. Shipley is deceased and her nearest descendant is a nephew, Lee Swann.
While here Mrs. Shipley visited her childhood church, Palmer United Methodist, where she recalled that Sunday School Superintendent Joseph S. (Uncle Joe) Geary would let the children ring the church bell. We also accompanied the group to Palmer Elementary School where she noted that the auditorium was on the opposite side of the school from where it is located today. Our next stop was the Swann family home place where resident Donna Shadrick Lecroy kindly allowed us to visit the home and grounds at will. Before returning home Mrs. Shipley enjoyed a visit with Mrs. Evelyn Taylor in Monteagle. Those of my generation will remember Mrs. Taylor as a teacher at Grundy County High School.
It’s always wonderful to make new friends and my gracious co-host, town librarian Miss Susan Faye Sissom, and I welcomed Glenn James and Forrest Parmley from Nashville are back to Palmer for a July visit.
Talk about nice guys! Forrest is a retired pharmacist and former president of the Tennessee Pharmaceutical association. He’s a son of the late Ingram and Rebecca Cannon Parmley and as a boy lived on Section House Road along the railroad tracks in the house where Hazel Hornbuckle lives today. Forrest lost his father in an accident at Palmer Big Mine in the 1940’s. His mother was a member of Palmer Elementary’s first graduating class of 1928.
Glenn is a retired Nashville barber. His father, the late Jesse James was a coal miner and barber with a shop in the old train depot after Mr. Homer Heard moved to Manchester, TN. Glenn’s mother, Opal Hobbs James, 95, and his sister Linda, a retired R.N., also live in Nashville.
As Glenn looked out at the now changed landscape, he reminisced about the old Palmer Theatre.
“My Granny didn’t believe in picture shows”, he said. Harriet Roberts London had a birthday party for her son Jack and took us to the Palmer Theatre afterward. I was really enjoying the coming attractions. It was my first time there, and I thought the attractions were the movie we came to see. Later I saw the famous cowboy star Lash LaRue when he made a personal appearance there. He was the one who did the tricks with a whip.”
While visiting with Glenn and Forrest in walked Becky Ivey Teague, 86, of Chattanooga and her son Jerrell for an unexpected visit to the Coal Miner’s Museum. Becky and her sister Dola are the only survivors of the Jim and Clara Ruth Poe Ivey family. Mr. Jim Ivey is thought to be the first man to bring his family from Tracy City to help found what would become the new coalmining town of Palmer. The Ivey sisters are dear friends and we appreciate their help on our history research so much. As you can see, the month of July was a trip down memory lane for me and for our guests. Regardless of how far we may roam, memories of our childhood home always tug at our hearts. A sincere thank you to Janice McNabb McAnally, Janelle Layne Taylor, and Wanda Hampton Meeks for their assistance on this story.
Crandel McNabb, Scoutmaster
Crandel McNabb was a Scoutmaster in Marion County TN and earned every award a volunteer scouter can obtain including the Silver Beaver and God & Country awards. A longtime elder in the Church of Christ, he was honored with the God and Service Award presented by the Churches of Christ in Abilene, TX.
Tom McNabb, Barber
Mr. Tom McNabb, a well-known Palmer miner and barber, lived where Harold James lives today.
A generous and accomodating man, during the Great Depression he would often accept milk, butter or garden vegetables for a haircut instead of cash. One person gave him a gallon of shelled peas for his services.
The customer shown is though to be Ed Layne, son of the late Clell Layne. In the early days before beauty shops he would occasionally cut women's hair.
Old Sayings & Figures of Speech in Grundy County, TN
If you dream of snakes it means you have enemies.
We’d never heard this before until recently when a woman said she had dreamed of snakes the night before then said, “Mama always said if you dreamed of snakes, it meant you had enemies.”
I’m going to boil some roeshun ears for supper.
I guess this is a variation of “roasting ears”, don’t you? You seldom hear this anymore. Most peopoel just say “We’re having corn” or “We’re having corn on the cob.” I’m guessing that Miss Charlotte up in Elkhart, IN, way remembers “roeshun ears”.
You’ve fell away, haven’t you?
I hadn’t heard this in so long that it shocked me when 95-year-old Ethel Mae Gifford Cantrell asked me this recently. It means you’ve lost weight. People used to also say, “He’s fell away to nothing.”
He just talks to hear himself talk.
This was said about someone who was trying to be a bully or maybe a person bragging on themselves to impress others.
It wasn’t worth much punkin.
Of course, it was “pumpkin”, but most in these parts did and still do say “punkin”. People would say this about something a person had cooked and it meant that they really didn’t like it although they could eat it to keep from hurting the person’s feeling. This was said about almost anything that people used that they weren’t satisfied with. We wonder why the “pumpkin” was used as an expression of dissatisfaction.
We’d like to gift you.
I’ll be 62 on October 12 and had never heard this until last month. Obviously, it means we’d love to give you a certain gift or do something nice for you. The person who said this to me is a warm and caring individual and I really appreciate their concern for me.
“Oh, I forgot what I was going to say.” Then another person would say, “Then, it must have been a lie.”
I’d never heard the “It must have been a lie” part until recently. It’s frustrating to be talking with someone, get distracted, and forget what you were going to say, but it happens to all of us.
Palmer News
It’s August and the summer is slipping away isn’t it? August was named for the Roman emperor Augustus. To make August equal to July, the Roman Senate took one day from February and added it to July.
Isn’t it amazing that we’re still using the name “August” like the ancient Romans did? About all those of us in the South know about August is that it’s the hottest month of the year. Sure beats the lonely snow and gloomy weather of winter though doesn’t it?
Happy 45th birthday to John Rogers who celebrated August 2. He’s a son of the late James “Burr” Rogers and Mary Ruth Mayes Rogers who still lives here. John has spent his entire teaching career at Swiss Memorial Elementary, which reminds us of the late Frances Conry’s incredible record of 45 consecutive years teaching at Palmer Elementary.
Diana Henry, where are you? She’s one of our favorite people, and we’ve not heard from her in a while. Her dad James is the only survivor of the Dock Henry family and many of you will remember Diana’s uncles, Howard, Red and Gene.
We enjoyed meeting and chatting with Mrs. Nicole Sweeney a few weeks ago at Palmer Elementary. She’s the 7th grade teacher and her husband Brent is the school’s custodian. They came to Grundy County from Michigan about 2-3 years ago and live in Gruetli-Laager.
It was also nice chatting with John Ross Jones up at the school recently. He began his teaching career here last year and we’re glad he’s back this year. He’s a member of the famous Henry Roberts family of teachers and many will remember his grandmother Kat Roberts Jones who was a teacher.
It’s rocking chair time. John Doug Shrum retired from the Grundy County Highway Department this month and was a longtime TVA worker before that. He’s a son of Tootsie Cannon Smith and the late John Shrum and says he may take up golf.
Speaking of golf, Jimmy Long says he’s taken up the sport in recent years and enjoys it. He was a good high school athlete and also a good softball player after that . He’s a son of Joyce Sweeton Long and the late Jim Long and athletic ability comes from both sides of his family.
Rev. J. Darrell Turner was the guest preacher for Palmer Church of God homecoming services July 18. Bonnie Finch Layne was among the special singers. Darrell’s grandfather, Henry Clay Turner, is one of the Palmer Big Mine crew in the latest book by the Grundy County Historical Society, “Pictures of Our Past”.
Our July rainfall was 8 3/8” and in July 1999 we had 6.2”. July 2009 was the coolest that 86-year-old Howard Lewis, myself and many others in Palmer can remember.
Happy 18th anniversary on August 3 to Hershel and Georgia Tate Disheroon of Griffith’s Creek. The attend First Baptist Church of Palmer. He’s a brother of the late Wet Duck Disheroon and she’s a sister of Clifford Tate of Coalmont who died recently.
On sick call: We hadn’t run into Kent Layne in a long time until a couple of weeks ago. “I had pneumonia last year and still haven’t gotten over it”, he said. Kent’s a son of the late Joe Layne who ran the ESSO station for years in Gruetli-Laager. He’ll turn 73 soon, so “Happy Birthday, Kent”.
When’s the last time you heard of anyone having “pleurisy”? Rick McDaniel of Fredonia Mountain near Dunlap goes to Tracy City each Saturday with his aluminum recycling truck and said when it hit him, it felt like “someone had stuck a sword in my side”. Wanda Hampton Meeks had a overnight hospital stay with pleurisy in one lung and pneumonia in the other.
Betty Creighton Coffelt recovering fast from double knee replacement and A.C. Cannon is doing well after gallstone surgery.
Keith McBee and Taylor Creighton both have had sinus surgery recently. So many people in this part of the country suffer greatly from this affliction and we hope new treatments continue to be developed.
Tony Summers has been suffering from kidney stones and his sister Faye Smith is suffering complications from a car accident. Tony and his wife Lana came over this month from Dunlap area and brought Ethel Mae Gifford Cantrell some tomatoes and corn. The Robert Summers and Russ Gifford families were Palmer neighbors for years.
Tim Shrum, son of Tootsie Cannon Smith and the late John Shrum, was suffering from the ancient affliction of “gout” when we talked with him.
While that is bad enough it was 18 years ago that Tim stared the Grim Reaper in the face. “I’ve been cancer free for 18 years,” he said. “I had lived a bad life, but the Lord had to put me flat on my back and looking up before he could get my attention. I had cancer in six different places and a knot popped up on my neck the size of a baseball. It was the same kind of cancer that killed Jackie Kennedy Onassis in less than three months.”
Tim gives the almighty God all the praise for saving his life and giving him a chance to change his life and do the right thing. Just this year he attended his 1969 GCHS class reunion and is still able to work and make a living. He attends Bivens Chapel Congregational Methodist Church. What an inspiring store he has!
It was nice talking with Jack Summers, Leon “Gabby” Tate and Seann Lewis recently as they were doing some carpenter work at Gabby’s house. Seann is the 8th grade teacher at Palmer Elementary and is married to Gabby’s granddaughter. The couple came here from the Cleveland Ohio, area.
We also enjoyed talking with Joyce Nolan recently. She’s a daughter of the late Marshall Nolan and like all the Nolans we’ve ever known, she’s a friendly person and never meets a stranger.
“I’ve heard of Dutter Morrison all my life, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen you.” That’s what Ricky Layne said to James “Dutter” Morrison this summer when Dutter introduced himself at Scott’s Grocery over on Hwy. 399. Dutter’s been in Arizona and other places away from Palmer for many years, but has now moved back home. He’s the oldest son of the late Pat Morrison.
Tina Harrison Meeks and Polly Phipps visited their brother Hershel Harrison Jr. in Merritt Island, FL, this summer. Other Florida visitors were the Billy Carl and Becky Guffey and Dennis and Judy Morrison Kelley families who vacationed in Panama City.
Whew! As you can see, we’ve had a lot going on here “where the good people live.” We’ll try to catch our breath and be back with you in the wonderful month of September. Happy Labor Day!
