Dad’s “formal” education ended with the third grade. He didn’t quit at that tender age by choice. His father decided he was needed at home more than he was down at the one-room schoolhouse beside Sugar Creek. more

At times I hold the self-proclaimed title of The King of Useless Information. One such example comes with Mother’s Day. The individual who was the ramrod for the creation of the holiday was Anna Jarvis. The interesting part of the story is that not long after her holiday created momentum, she turned against the holiday requesting it be rescinded because of its commercialism. While this story has very little to do directly with Tennessee history, I can’t help but share some of my useless knowledge. more

My Mother wasn’t too smart. Now, I know that is a harsh thing to say. But the facts are irrefutable! more

With time ticking away and deadline quickly approaching, I struggled to find a muse for this week’s story. Thank goodness for Google as a search of "on this date in history” turned up a quote from Tennessee’s Andrew Johnson. On May 9, 1865, President Johnson declared the Civil War “may be regarded as virtually at an end.” This opened the rabbit hole and away I went. more

Working in newspaper business and political area, you come across a huge assortment of folks. The longer you’re in the business you see multiple generations of folks have a tendency to follow in their forefather’s footsteps. In the April 25, 2023 edition of The Banner, local students bore witness to The Tennessee Civil Court of Appeals. One of the justices on the panel was Frank Clement, Jr. son of former Tennessee Governor Frank G. Clement. A few years back while I was a member of the McKenzie City Council, I had the privilege to welcome the former governor’s other son, Bob Clement, to town. more

I met Henry Walter “Hamper” McBee in 1965. He was a mid-thirty, fast talking, skinny guy wearing an out-of-place black vest and sporting a huge, oversized handlebar mustache. He was sitting on a table in Tubby’s Drive Inn singing a song he’d written about a local highway patrolman named Bill Malone. more

The K-25 Plant in Oak Ridge housed the gaseous diffusion apparatus used to partially enrich uranium before it was sent to the nearby Y-12 Plant. K-25 comes from Kellex Corporation, the contractor that designed and built the plant, and uranium-235, often shortened to 25. The plant was a mile-long, U-shaped building making it the world’s largest roofed building at the time. more

I have always wanted to meet the girl that broke Don Gibson’s heart. She musta been extra special for sure! Beautiful, of course, maybe even striking! Thoughtful, kind, loving, smart, a good dancer and probably didn’t have to make her own clothes…I assume she was from Shelby, North Carolina, like Don. And I’m guessing it was one of those “first love” deals. more

You ever ponder on why, when and where you were put on earth. Is it the luck of the draw? A mystic cosmos ordering by some natural selection process! Or simply someone had to fill that hole. Maybe a higher power… more

McKENZIE (April 4) — Lynn Watkins, director of McKenzie Special School District, is retiring on June 30. During the April 4 meeting of the Board of Education, Watkins offered to serve as a consultant to the yet-to-be-selected director of schools, whose term of office begins July 1. more

The four production facility sites were located in valleys away from the town. Site managers believed the valleys provided additional security along with containment in case of accidental explosions. The Y-12 area, home of the electromagnetic plant, was closest to Oak Ridge, one ridge away to the south. Farther to the south and west lay both the X-10 area, which contained the experimental plutonium pile and separation facilities, and K-25, the site of the gaseous diffusion plant and later the S-50 thermal diffusion plant. more

Eight months after the United States entered World War II, the federal government launched the Manhattan Project. The Manhattan Project was the codename for the research and development undertaken to produce the first nuclear weapons. In September 1942, United States Army General Leslie R. Groves was assigned to manage the project. Groves approved three locations for this new clandestine project: Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico. more

The first wedding I ever attended was in 1962. I was fifteen. And about the only thing I remember was there must have been a bad storm….or the church hadn’t paid its electric bill. It was pretty dark in the sanctuary, and this was in the middle of the afternoon! more

The roots of bluegrass music run deep in the heritage of America. The traditional sound we have become accustomed to was developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region. Much of the style has been accredited to Bill Monroe who is known as the “Father of Bluegrass.” Part of Monroe’s sound came from a member of his band the Blue Grass Boys, Lester Flatt. more

Billy Cunningham was the first to call. Billy and I played baseball together in college an eon and a half ago. He was a switch hitting catcher. And a good one. “Kes, I think you have been hacked!” more

The major league baseball season opens this week. Many “purists” are upset with three big changes to the game this year. The bases (not counting home plate) have been enlarged. A pitch clock has been instituted. And the shift of additional fielders to one side of the diamond has been eliminated. more

Dale Kelley, our father, had a dream and a vision for a lake to be built in Carroll County, Tennessee. Dad’s dream was for the lake to generate pride for Carroll Countians through residential growth, economic development, and recreation. more

Throughout history, women have faced diversity. It has taken women of a special nature to tear down the walls blocking their path and have had to shatter many a glass ceiling. One such woman from Tennessee history is Martha Craig Daughtrey. She is one of the leaders in firsts for women across the state. From being the first female U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville to the first Tennessee State Supreme Court Justice. more

Tennessee’s history is filled with numerous trailblazers. Yet, one individual not only blazed a trail in history, but she also blazed a trail outside our atmosphere. In 1978, she was one of the females selected as part of the first group of astronauts to include women. She went on to log over 720 hours in space. more

Sometimes I think I have lived my life backwards. Spring break is a perfect example. We’d never heard of “such a thing” in 1962. We thought it was mandatory to go to school every weekday from January 3rd until school ended in late May. If it didn’t snow a foot or two, or the boiler blew up, we were in the classroom studying Chaucer or heating some chemical compound with a Bunsen burner or conjugating verbs or following some guy named Byrd to the North Pole... more