On August 9, Johnson City lost one its crown jewels, 79-year-old Chester “Chet” Willis, who was born in Washington County and moved away for several years before returning to the city. He retired from the City of Johnson City’s Department of Services and Water Department, became a member of the Cemetery Survey Team of Northeast Tennessee and had recently worked for the Oak Hill Cemetery Friends and Volunteers.

Alan Bridwell introduced me to Chet about a year ago. We drove to the cemetery one afternoon and found the kind unassuming gentleman going about his work of maintaining and restoring the historic old graveyard. He faithfully opened the gates each day at sunrise and closed them at sunset. His impressive contributions to Oak Hill can best be noted from an excerpt of comments made by Bridwell at his friend’s funeral:

“I have known Chet Willis for the past three years. I met him while wandering around Oak Hill Cemetery one afternoon looking for a gravesite. I saw a gentleman with a cowboy hat working around a gravestone. I asked him if he had ever seen the grave of Ted Laws, the noted artist who painted railroad scenes. He walked over to a white pickup truck, pulled out a large cemetery registry and took me right to the grave that I had been trying to find for several weeks. This was the beginning of a rewarding friendship.

“Let me describe Oak Hill Cemetery before Chet Willis started working there. It is a very old cemetery in Johnson City with burials starting around 1870, shortly after the town was incorporated. It includes the graves of Henry Johnson and several founders of Johnson City. Over time it was essentially abandoned and frequently vandalized. Weeds and vines had overtaken the perimeter fences and many people likely did not even realize that a large city cemetery was located there.  A small colony of homeless people was actually living in a lower portion of the property. 

“Chet basically adopted the cemetery to clean and restore it. He repaired over 100 gravestones that had either been vandalized or deteriorated with age and cleaned around 2,700 gravesites. In addition, he transcribed and created a detailed registry of all people buried there and developed a grave numbering system complete with stenciled markers denoting each row of graves. This was a tedious and painstaking task to accomplish. 

“One day in October 2007, I found Chet very downhearted after some kids had knocked over and damaged about 20 markers that he had earlier spent days repairing. Later that week, I saw him back at the cemetery quietly repairing the damaged graves.

“I once asked Chet why he worked so hard at Oak Hill, knowing that he had no family member buried there or other obvious connection to the graveyard. He said that his reward was seeing more people visit the cemetery, put flowers on graves and express gratitude for finding an ancestor’s grave with the registry he developed. Chet never sought publicity; he simply saw work that needed to be done and set out to make a difference by getting it done.”

“Chet was a spiritual man. His Bible was evident and close by his chair in his living room. As Chet was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment, he would hold up his hand for prayer and pray for strength to go through the next phase. There is no doubt to me that his work in the cemeteries was an inspired work that gave him a spiritual lift.”

Alan ended his eulogy appropriately with a quote from 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” The passing of Chester Willis left some very large shoes to fill at Oak Hill Cemetery. 

Paul Gill, a former resident of Johnson City, sent me a package chocked full of documentation about his family history that has numerous links to the city’s past. One story in particular caught my attention; it deals with the 93^rdbirthday of Tenna Sherfey Leighton, Paul’s aunt, on August 17, 1957. She was born on August 17, 1864, eight months before the Civil War ended. 

This was a memorable occasion for the 1410 East Unaka Avenue resident. While opening her many congratulatory cards that arrived in the mailbox that week, she was astonished to find one with a return address of “The White House, Washington.” The sender of the correspondence was Mamie Eisenhower, wife of the 34^thpresident of the United States. The First Lady penned the letter just prior to her entering a DC hospital.

Mrs. Eisenhower congratulated the elderly citizen on her milestone: “Dear Mrs. Leighton: It is a pleasure for me to extend warm and cordial congratulations on your approaching birthday on August 17. May peace and happiness be yours in abundance in the years to come.”

The president’s wife learned of Tenna’s accomplishment from Sherfey Hodges, a great-nephew of hers and retired Naval officer. He wrote Mrs. Eisenhower and made the request of her. Mrs. Leighton was so delighted with the letter that she took it to her church, the First Church of the Brethren, and showed it to her pastor, the Rev. B.J. Wampler, who, in turn, read it to his congregation.

Not to overlook this act of kindness by Mrs. Eisenhower, Mrs. Leighton sent a “thank you” note to the White House. When asked what she wrote, she responded: “I thanked her and sent her my best wishes and I enclosed a pretty ‘Get Well’ card too.” Tenna, a stanch Republican, always admired Mrs. Eisenhower, a fact she insisted had nothing to do with her political affiliation. “She is a fine woman,” she said, “and I respect her, regardless of politics.”

The elderly lady lived alone in the home that she had occupied since 1940, cooking her own meals, doing the daily cleaning and washing all but heavy articles. She canned tomatoes, peaches, corn, beans, apples and prunes.

The Sherfey family once lived on a farm along what in now Austin Springs Road. Her father named her “Tennessee” because her mother had the privilege of naming their first child, “Virginia,” the home state of the mother.

The family later moved closer to Johnson City. “Tennessee” had many fascinating memories of the days when the city was a village and the population was sparse. She recalled that it a grand occasion to come to town, riding behind her mother on a horse. They brought butter and eggs with them to sell, after which they would use the money to buy groceries before returning home.

During the 1896-97 school year, a grownup Tenna taught third grade at Martha Wilder School on Myrtle Avenue, then considered to be the newest and finest of educational institutions in the area. She married Charles D. Leighton in 1898 and went with him to live on a farm near Lawrenceburg, TN. In 1919, the family relocated to California. They returned to Johnson City after the death of her husband.

“Tennessee” was an avid reader of newspapers and magazines. She commented that her favorite book was the Bible. She kept records in the back of it that showed where she had read it from cover to cover 24 times.  

The 93-year-old’s special birthday came and went with little fanfare, which is the way she wanted it. Her many well wishes extended from as nearby as her household and as far away as Washington, DC. The hardy Johnson Citian lived another 12 years, departing this life at the age of 105.  

Old newspapers are a treasure trove of history ranging from significant unforgettable happenings to interesting trivial tidbits. Such was the case of a Saturday, August 14, 1937 Johnson City Chronicle.

As was common then, the front page was reserved for mostly world news and events. The chief story dealt with U.S. battleships speeding to Shanghai where 4,000 Americans were endangered by fighting between the Japanese and Chinese.

An examination of the newspaper’s “funny page” is a journey back to the golden age of comic strips: “Blondie,” still looking as youthful today in the Johnson City Press as when she was a flapper girl, was married to Dagwood Bumstead, a man with a predilection for overeating, couch sleeping, colliding with the mailman, feuding with his boss and leaping for the moving trolley to catch a ride to work.

Other strips were “Popeye” who could transform himself into a muscleman by chunking down a can of raw spinach; “Moon Mullins,” an interesting character with big eyes and a derby hat who stumbled into countless life confrontations; “Alley Oop,” an odd-looking caveman citizen of Moo who wore fur shorts, rode a dinosaur and often traveled the ages in a time machine; “Tim Tyler’s Luck,” the world of an orphan boy who acquired an older sidekick named Spud and traveled the world; “Tillie the Toiler,” adventures of a young working girl; and “Little Annie Rooney,” a takeoff of “Little Orphan Annie,” a young orphaned girl who journeyed about with her companion dog, Zero. 

A glance over the sports page reveals a story about a crucial Appalachian League series opening between the Elizabethton Red Sox and the Johnson City Soldiers. That was before the city’s affiliation with the Cardinals. The contest was at Keystone Field, an early name for what later became Cardinal Park.

Another article dealt with Carl Hubbell winning his 16^th game of the season for the New York Giants and Hank Greenberg pounding a home run for Detroit. The Chicago Cubs were shown to have a 6.5 lead in the National League and the Yankees up by 13.5 in the American.

For those interested in taking in a motion picture, the choices included the Sevier Theatre’s (113 Spring Street’) 15-cent double-feature starring Hugh Herbert in “That Man’s Here Again” and Fred Scott in “Romance Rides the Range.” The latter flick was likely aimed at adult audiences because no self-respecting youngster would waste his or her allowance money to see romance on the range unless, of course, it dealt with an alluring cowboy’s love for his faithful palomino.

Three other downtown theatres provided definite juvenile fare with real shoot-em-up action: Buck Jones in “Empty Saddles” at the State (248 E. Main), Hoot Gibson in “The Painted Stallion” at the Tennessee (146 W. Main) and Bob Steele in “Brand of the Outlaws” at the Liberty  (221 E. Main). Johnson City’s fourth movie house, the Majestic (239 E. Main), never catered to low budget westerns, showing instead Alice Faye and Don Ameche in the musical comedy “You Can’t Have Everything.”

Another entertainment attraction was the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus appearing on Aug. 17 at the Main Street Circus Grounds, the current location of the Municipal Building. The major live attraction was Hoot Gibson.

One advertisement was for a 9.5-hour Sunday excursion on the Tweetsie Railroad to Boone, Linville Gap, Roan Mountain, and Linville at a cost of one dollar. Light refreshments were sold on board “at nominal city prices.”

A glance back to life 71 years ago shows how much the city has changed and how much it has remained the same. 

Mildred Kozsuch, local author of “Historical Reminiscences of Carter County Tennessee,” The Overmountain Press, sent me an informative clipping from the July 9, 1937 edition of the Johnson City Beacon titled “Only One Building Linking City with Stage-Road Days.”

The article lamented the fact that only one downtown building remained as a reminder of the old Civil War era Stage Road (now Market Street) that loped through the city. The two-story building was located at 144 E. Market Street (southwest corner at Roan) made of hand-made brick that had been formed and burned locally. Sadly, it was demolished several years ago. In 1937, it was the site of a barbershop; today, it houses the popular Taste Buds restaurant.

Some early store owners at that spot were Bob and John Rankin; John W. Hunter; Selden Nelson; Christian and Crockett; Christian, Hoss and Hodge; and Hoss, Hodge and Company. In later years, it served as a grocery store, barbershop and bookshop. The upstairs ranged from a storage facility to a beauty parlor.

John Rankin and his descendents lived in a hand-made brick home, built shortly after the Civil War, in the southeast corner of the intersection. Dr. J.C. King whose wife was a daughter of Rankin later occupied the home. The site eventually became a music studio operated by teachers Hunter L. Rhea and Mary L. Lyle. Afterward, it became the Spinning Wheel Tea Room.

The dirt Stage Road became a popular travel route of covered wagons, horsemen and even troupes and artillery that passed through the diminutive Johnson City, referred to then as “Brush Creek Flats.” The Tipton Jobe home (at Tipton and Jobe streets) was alleged to be the first one in Johnson City. City founder, Henry Johnson, built a store on the old Stage Road. In 1937, the Square Drug Company (101 W. Market) occupied the site. Older residents will remember that location as being on the east side of the Skippers Shop.

The next store, that of T.A. Faw, was on the artery at the railroad where the Southern Café (101 E. Market, later Byrd’s Restaurant) was located. Eventually, a newsstand and an upstairs rooming hotel opened there. The Faw home and spring was situated at Market and Roan where the John Sevier Hotel would be built.

Those establishments were about the only ones on the old highway at that time. Farther “out in the country” on the northwest side of Watauga Avenue and Market Street was “the old Methodist camp meeting ground, beside the Harrington Spring, then marked by a filling station and the swimming pool, plus a few residences.” Locals will remember the station as becoming Collins’ ESSO Service Center and the pool having multiple names – Watauga, Sur Joi and Carver.

Businesses flourished along old Stage Road with its nucleus on Fountain Square. The thoroughfare became the principal business street of the village for many years north of Johnson’s railroad depot (between Main and Market streets).

The article concluded by saying that the pedestrian foot log across Brush Creek at about the present location of McClure Street was replaced by a footbridge. However, passing vehicles had to ford the creek.

On one side of the road, a Hale family ran a large handsome livery stable. Opposite it was Eli McNees Blacksmith Shop (future site of the Arcade Building). Their residence was near the rear of the old Tennessee Theatre. A loom house was said to be close to it.

I wish to thank Mildred Kozsuch for sharing such an interesting article with Press readers. 

In early 2005, I wrote two articles concerning Johnson City’s charming “Lady of the Fountain.” This bronze statue stood in Fountain Square atop a water fountain between 1909 and 1937 and at Roosevelt (Memorial) Stadium for about six additional years.

In 1943, the Lady began a 40-year residency in a garden at the Zollicoffer family home in Henderson, NC. On Sept. 20, 1983, it made a heralded return to the city. I recently received correspondence from Carol Grissom, Senior Objects Conservator of the Smithsonian Institute, who shed new light on our prized artifact that represents a large chunk of Johnson City’s history.

Ms. Grissom stated that while writing a book, Zinc Sculpture in America: 1850-1950, she located the two Johnson City Press articles on my website: “I immediately recognized it as a statue sold as the ‘Greek Water Carrier.’ The Lenoir City foundry mentioned in your article may have made the cast iron fountain base, but I can guarantee that the statue was made in New York.”

Carol was delighted to learn that Johnson City possesses a rare essentially intact statue. She hopes to make a trip here soon to examine it. Ms. Grissom’s forthcoming publication contains this entry: “Greek Water Carrier with an urn held in both hands above her head and drapery flaring outward from her shoulders on each side. Water issued from the mouth of the urn and ran down the figure. This elegant figure was sculptured by Alan George Newman (1875–1940) and copyrighted in 1905 by the J.L. Mott Iron Works (118-120 Fifth Avenue, NY).”

According to Carol: “This company was known mostly for bathroom fixtures, but had a fairly active production of ornamental cast-iron fountains during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” She attached a Mott advertisement from a 1909 edition of “The Monumental News,” a sculpture journal that operated between 1889 and 1938. The publication carries a picture of a “Greek Water Carrier,” which appears to be identical to our “Lady.”

Ms. Grissom further avowed: “The firm probably did not actually make the zinc statues, but instead subcontracted them to M.J. Seelig & Co., a zinc foundry in Williamsburg, New York, an area now part of Brooklyn and fashionable among young people and artists. Mr. Newman was probably best known for his statue of a Spanish-American Soldier, available from several foundries in bronze but also sold by Mott in zinc. The ‘Greek Water Carrier’ is one of the few statues introduced in the twentieth century, as generally the company sold replicas of the same statues from about 1875 onward.”

Only three “Carrier” statues, including the one in Johnson City, are believed to be in existence today. Milton Hershey, founder of the Hershey chocolate empire, purchased one in 1913 for the front of his home. It was subsequently moved from Hershey, PA to nearby Harrisburg. The magnate also procured a Spanish-American Soldier statue. The cast zinc sculpture, known as “Rebecca Fountain,” was painted gray and installed on a concrete pedestal. Today, it sits on a concrete block with the portion below the knees missing.

A second statue once stood at the National Park Seminary, a school for young women established in 1894 in Silver Spring, MD. It stood atop a low pedestal in a garden between a sorority house known as Chiopi and the Chapel.  It was stolen in 1996, prompting a reward for its return.

Ms. Grissom offered some concluding comments: “As far as I know, your city’s statue is the only one of its kind that remains in public hands intact, discounting the damaged one in Hershey Park. Your ‘Lady’ is also important from an art historical standpoint because a known artist modeled it. In many ways, your copy is unique. Personally, I find it a rather charming statue and something of a period piece, evocative of the early 20th century.”

Let me extend a heartfelt “thank you” from Johnson Citians to Ms. Grissom for sharing the Lady of the Fountain’s birthright with us. 

Mrs. Joann Conner believes her 104-year-old mother, Pansy Oliver Torbett, may be the oldest living person in Sullivan County. 

“My mother,” said Joann, “was born in 1903 in a log house that stood along (old) Jonesboro (Jonesborough) Road in Piney Flats. This old stagecoach road stretched between Abingdon and Jonesboro, passing through the Rocky Mount estate. “Between 1910 and 1915, the David and Cordelia Smalling Oliver family rode to Johnson City on a farm wagon to attend the carnival. Chairs were placed on the wagon for adults; kids sat on the floor. 

“On the way back most all the kids slept, while the adults talked softly. Mom remembers fording the river and how the moon shimmered in the water as the horses splashed across it. “Sometimes while traveling to Johnson City, they crossed over on a ferry that was located near the current Austin Springs Bridge. People drove their horses up to the riverbank and rang a bell for service. A lady came out of a shed and skillfully operated the ferry; this always impressed my mother.”

Pansy started school at the nearby small two-room Locust Grove School. The Oliver sisters were fortunate to have ponies to ride to school. On rainy, snowy or very cold days, they rode a covered buggy harnessed to a pony. After graduating from Mary Hughes Institute in 1920, Pansy attended the Normal School in Johnson City and boarded at a house at Unaka and Boone. She rode the train to and from Johnson City on weekends and the streetcar to and from the campus each weekday. After obtaining a teaching certificate, Pansy taught at Chinquapin Grove (grammar) School, often walking to and from work.

When the Oliver family moved to a new brick house in 1923, they were fearful that their furniture might get damaged during the move on the old horse-drawn farm wagon, resulting in family members carrying some items on foot. Joann said that the nine-room dwelling was built at a cost of $5000 using lumber harvested from trees on the farm. Telephone service was added about 1930, electricity in 1939 and an indoor bathroom in 1940 using water that gravity flowed from a cistern located on a hill next to the barn.

An event occurred around 1914 that Pansy’s mother attributes to bringing her daughter and her future husband together. The family was on their way to Piney Flats to sell eggs and shop. Pansy held a basket of eggs on her lap. Clifford Torbett and his father were riding with them. Suddenly, a motorcycle came over the hill making a loud noise. It scared the horses and caused them to run frantically off the dirt road until the wagon eventually hit a stump. The only damage was a broken harness; even the eggs survived the mishap. Mr. Oliver repaired the harness with his belt and they continued their journey.

Pansy and Clifford eventually began “courting.” When the lad visited his sweetheart, he sat on one side of the parlor while she sat on the other. When they walked to church, they were always on opposite sides of the road. The couple married in 1925. “Church was always the center of mother’s life,” said Mrs. Conner. “After serving in Popular Ridge Christian Church, Union Church and Dunkard Church, she joined Edgefield United Methodist Church where she played piano and organ.”

The good-natured Mrs. Torbett was asked to what she attributes her longevity. Her quick and witty reply was “staying out of doctors’ offices.” She continued by saying to “work hard, stay active and take care of yourself.”