Class Notes

Pamela Brackbill, age 65, of Alma, passed away Monday, June 15, 2020 at the Masonic Pathways in Alma. Pam was born October 4, 1954 in Salem County, NJ, the daughter of Gordon and Patricia (Runda) Thomson. She married Rev. R. Thomas Brackbill on June 26, 1976 in Jamesburg, NJ. Pam was an elementary music teacher for many years. She was an active member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters working as a match specialist. She is survived by her family: Rev. Tom Brackbill, Karen (Stephen Riddle) Brackbill, David (Megan) Brackbill, Daniel Brackbill, Elizabeth Smith and Craig (Angela) Thomson. Pam was preceded in death by her parents and brother-in-law, Al Smith. A private memorial will be held, but the family encourages Pam’s friends to submit their favorite memory of her. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of the Lux-Moody-Wolfel Funeral Home, Alma. To view Pam’s obituary or to leave a message or memory for the family, please visit www.luxfuneralhomes.com.

60, a resident of Albuquerque, NM went to be with the Lord on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at Ladera Nursing home in Albuquerque. Bev was born on October 1, 1952 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Roland and Martha Branham. She was a Registered Nurse who worked with Hogares Group Home. She loved her cat Oscar and enjoyed talking about the Bible. Beverly also received a Bachelors Degree in Art from Maryville College in 1976. She will be greatly missed by her loving family and by those whose hearts she touched. She is survived by her loving brothers and sister, Roland H. Branham and wife Alta, Robert “Bobby” H. Branham and wife Morayma, and Shirley Branham; nieces and nephews, Kaici Branham, Justine Branham, Brisa Mireles, Miguel Mireles, Brenda Mireles and husband Mario Avitia, Daniel “Danny” Mireles, Whitney Balderrama-Branham, Shawn Forte, Dewey Pollock, Steven Martinez and Miquella Martinez; great-niece, Andrea Avitia; many other loving family members and friends from Cincinnati, OH. Beverly will be greatly missed by her loving family and by those whose hearts she touched. A memorial service was held at Terrazas Funeral Chapels on Friday, November 30, 2012 with Pastor, Paul Temple reciting.

who owns Brown’s and Hardware store is an old-time country store with newfangled ideas. While the groceries are fresh and up to date, the same can’t be said for the items for sale in the hardware section of the store. “We have old fuses and stuff that you just can’t find at Walmart,” said Jonathan Kent. Much of the hardware in stock was designed to fit plumbing and electrical fixtures from the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the store’s customers travel from North Carolina and Virginia to purchase hard-to-find items. That includes apple butter kettles and two-man apple peelers and all sorts of unusual gadgets. While the inside of the hardware section of the store looks like it is still the 1950s, the store’s roof is definitely 21st century. Row after row of new solar panels crowd the roof of the hardware section and the nearby warehouse. The panels have been installed over the past three weeks by one man, Josh Guy of Mountaineer Electric of Vilas, N.C. Guy finished the installation Tuesday. The panels should be connected to the grid by the end of this week. As a result of Guy’s installation and the vision of store owner Sutton Brown, the old-timey store now has bragging rights in Carter County. Its solar panels can generate 44 kilowatts of electricity from the sun. That is remarkable because when the system is connected to the grid this week, Ken Markland of the Elizabethton Electric Department said Brown’s output will be three times larger than Security Federal Bank, which produces 15 kilowatts from its panels. Guy said the installation of the wiring for the panels was difficult because the store and other electric customers were on an old 120/240 volt three-phase delta line, but Markland said it was not a problem for Elizabethton Electric engineers, and they worked with Guy on the connections. Markland said the system will have its own meter to measure how much power the panels are producing. The readings from that meter will be subtracted from the amount of electricity the store consumed each month. If the store used more electricity than the panels produced, the electric bill will be the reduced figure. If the panels produced more electricity than Brown’s consumed, the store will not have to pay anything for that month and credit will be applied to the next month’s bill. At the end of the year, the meter readings will be added up and if there is a credit of more than $200, Markland said Brown will receive a refund check. Guy said there are grants available for the installation of solar panels. He said Brown’s was unable to qualify for a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture because Hampton was not considered rural enough at the time of the grant application. He said that has now changed and the USDA now considers Hampton to be rural, and its grants can be awarded to homes and businesses in the Hampton area. Markland said that even with grants and Tennessee Valley Authority incentives, solar panels have a long return on investment, but that is not the main concern of most people installing them. “It is not really a business investment. You can’t use them to make a profit, but they can reduce your carbon footprint,” Markland said. That means that Brown’s can have a big impact on the market for 1930s implements, while its carbon footprint leaves a small impact on the environment. (Article on Facebook, sent in by Ed Best) http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/120868/old-time-country-store-goes-solar

George “Sutton” Brown, Jr. passed away April 9, 2023, in Hampton, TN. Sutton was born on December 15, 1953 in Elizabethton to the late George and Mary Emma Brown.

Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Beverly Brown, of the home; two sons, Taylor Brown and Benjamin Brown, both of Hampton; brother, Lynn Brown, of Elizabethton; niece, Laura Brown, of Bowie, Maryland; nephew, Whitman Brown, of Falls Church, VA and several cousins, great nieces and nephews also survive.

He graduated from Elizabethton High School in 1972 and continued his education at Maryville College in Maryville, TN where he played on the tennis team and enjoyed many intramural sports. Sutton graduated with a degree in accounting in 1976. After graduation, he joined his father, George Sr. in the family business “Brown’s Grocery and Hardware” in Hampton. He worked at Brown’s for nearly 50 years and became the third generation of the Brown family to work there. He made many friends and enjoyed his career. Brown’s will not be the same without him.

Sutton joined the Hampton Volunteer Fire Department and became an integral part of the Hampton Community. In his spare time, Sutton enjoyed raft guiding on the Nolichucky River, sailing on Watauga Lake, playing tennis, mountain bike riding and cross-country skiing.

Sutton married Beverly Taylor in 1988 and they had two children, Taylor and Benjamin. He was very proud of his sons and enjoyed doing outdoor activities with them; especially hiking and family camping trips.

Equal Justice Award Honors Legal Legacy of Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan, BA’76

Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan, BA’76, was honored by Tennessee’s 21st Judicial District Office of the Public Defender with the establishment of the Vanessa Pettigrew Bryan Equal Justice Award. The award is given to a recipient in recognition of a commitment to the relentless pursuit of justice. Vanessa retired as Public Defender of the 21st Judicial District in November 2020 after a career that spanned 35 years in the judicial system.

She was the first Magistrate in Williamson County, Tennessee. She joined the Public Defender’s Office when it was created by the Tennessee state government in 1989. While in office, she traveled a four-county circuit to represent indigent clients in Hickman, Lewis, Perry, and Williamson counties. Her district included the wealthiest and poorest counties in the state of Tennessee.

She was elected to two eight-year terms as the Public Defender in 2006 and 2014, winning both times with a 70 percent margin of victory over her opponents.
While in office, she was instrumental in the creation of misdemeanor and felony Recovery Courts as well as a Mental Health Court and a Veteran’s Court. She was on the Board of Directors for two Recovery Courts and served on the team for more than 20 years.

retired from teaching in June 2019 after a 42 year career and is currently pursuing volunteer opportunities in Blount County.

is the author of the Kim Claypoole mystery series which is largely set in the Great Smoky Mountains. Her protagonist is a Maryville College graduate and frequently wears her MC Scottie Dog t-shirt. The first book in the series, Small Town Trouble was released in paperback and eBook in 2013. Book two, Deep Trouble is scheduled for release was released in May 2014and is now available everywhere in ebook (all formats) and paperback!

Sally Eileen Gillespie, 66, of Arlington, Va., passed away peacefully, Sunday, May 30, 2021, after a long hospitalization. She was the cherished sister of Bonnie F. O’Neill of Arlington, Robert W. Gillespie Jr. (Laurette) of Woodbridge, Va., Mark Gillespie of Indianapolis, Ind., and the late Margaret Yawkey (Thomas) of State College; daughter of the late Robert W. Gillespie Sr. and Margaret “Peggy” O’Neill Gillespie of McMurray; treasured aunt (and Mom #2) of Brenna K. Carlson (Dale) of Ellicott City, Md.; beloved aunt of Jennifer Gillespie Nguyen (Thong) of Pinehurst, N.C., Robert M. Gillespie (Donel) of Manassas, Va., Zachary Gillespie (Dina) of Columbus, Ohio, Brian Yawkey (Jessica) and Shaun Yawkey of Laurel, Md.; loving great-aunt of Alexander, Elizabeth and William Nguyen, Samantha (SEG 2), Robby and Marek Gillespie, and Joe, Noah, and George Gillespie; special cousin of Joyce Linza (Angelo) of Pittsburgh. Sally was a 1972 graduate of Peters Township High School in McMurrary, a 1976 graduate of Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn., and received an M.B.A. in 1982 from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. At the time of her death, she was an IT project manager for SiriusXM Radio in Washington, D.C. She was a long-time member of the Washington National Cathedral Choral Society. Sally loved family, friends, music, traveling and reading. She leaves behind many dear friends and broken-hearted family who will miss her beautiful spirit. A memorial service to celebrate Sally’s life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, August 28, in the Everly Wheatley Funeral Home in Alexandria, Va. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Planned Parenthood Federation of America at plannedparenthood.org or 1-800-430-4907); or the Washington National Cathedral at cathedral.org or 1-800-231-6491.

Mark Richard Hall, age 68, of Maryville, passed away Friday, June 3, 2022. He was born on February 23, 1954 and was a resident of Maryville, Tennessee. It is impossible to summarize the life of someone who had us all convinced that he was invincible-from getting lost and surviving a January night in the Smokies with his cousin as a boy to being the first person to paddle a canoe over Abrams Falls to the almost 20 years he doggedly fought a chronic form of lymphoma/leukemia. Born in Champaign, Illinois on February 23, 1954 to Marian Jean Hall (Speer) and Ralph Franklin Hall, the family relocated to La Harpe, Illinois and eventually to Oak Ridge, Tennessee where Mark graduated from high school in 1972. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Maryville College in 1976 before earning a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Tennessee Veterinary School in 1980 where he met his first wife, Peggy Jackson. After veterinary school, the family moved to Baraboo, Wisconsin before returning to Tennessee in 1985 to open a veterinary practice in Sevierville. In 1992, Mark purchased Blount Veterinary Clinic in Maryville, TN which he headed until his death and through which he met his second wife, Jamie Lewis. Mark is survived by his children Aimee Hall of Rockville, Maryland and Erik Hall of Denver, Colorado, daughter-in-law Cara Hall (Turski) and his beloved granddaughter Eloise Hall. He is also survived by his sisters Katy Hall and Marilyn Hall; his brothers-in-law Peter Garst and Christopher Lewis; his nieces and nephews Jared Garst, Emma Garst, Acer Lewis, and Mica Lewis. Mark was an active member of Rotary International for nearly four decades with the Sevierville and Maryville-Alcoa chapters. An Eagle Scout, Mark led Erik to becoming an Eagle Scout while serving as an assistant Scoutmaster in Boy Scouts of America troops 81 and 87. Mark was an avid whitewater paddler from his early teen years with the East Tennessee Whitewater Club, often taking his kids rafting on the Nantahala and paddling alongside them until they were old enough to paddle themselves. In his later years, he was an avid motorcyclist, riding near and far at every opportunity. Mark loved traveling — venturing to Yugoslavia in 1975 to compete with the US whitewater team, traveling whenever he could around the US and more recently falling in love with Scotland and New Zealand. He was an avid family historian, planning trips to visit family homesteads in Montana and Kansas, or towns linked to Hall family history, and visiting his many cousins. Like his beloved Uncle Dick Speer, Mark was a repository for much of the Hall and Speer family history. When he wasn’t traveling, Mark could often be found hiking in the Smokies or attending Scottish Highland Games.

On June 21, 2022, Laura Louise Hutchens passed away after a valiant battle with cancer. She is preceded in death by her father, C. Oary Hutchens, and mother, Nellie Fife Hutchens. Also, cousin Susan Keller Perry, whom she loved as a sister.

She is survived by brother, Ronald O. Hutchens (Martha); niece, Kimberly Hutchens McElyea (Todd); nephew, Charles R. Hutchens; niece, Amy Hutchens Reed (Bradley). She was also a much loved “Aunt Boo” to grand nephews and niece, Micah, William, Laura, and Alexander McElyea; Brandon and Lucas Reed. Also, beloved, life long friends Phyllis Garner and Nanette Mabe.

Laura graduated from Maryville High School in 1972. She went on to earn her B.A. in English from Maryville College and Masters of Library Science from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. She began her career with the Blount County Public Library in 1980, and served the library until her retirement as the Assistant Director in 2016. She was a superb soprano vocalist, being offered an audition with the New York Metropolitan Opera, and a proficient pianist. She will be greatly missed by all of her family, friends, and family of co-workers at the Blount County Library.

John S. “Rusty” Nash, Jr., age 74, of Glasgow, KY, passed away Wednesday, March 15, 2023, at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, KY. He was born June 18, 1948, in Madison, the son of Ruth (Lohr) and John S. Nash, Sr. He married Ann Elizabeth Fowler in Thompson, Ohio on August 31, 1973.

John was a 1966 graduate of Madison High School.  He received an Associate Degree at Lakeland Community College and a Bachelor’s Degree at Maryville College.  He worked as an insurance agent, was a published author, teacher, District Executive for BSA, laborer, and a small business owner.

Active in his community, John was involved with youth wrestling programs, scouting, Rotary and Kiwanis.  His favorite activities were with his family.  This included supporting his two boys in sports, scouts, church, and any other activities they were interested in.  He also enjoyed hunting, fishing, golfing, and writing.  The thing he loved most was helping people, and that started with doing his best to provide a good life and foundation for his wife and children and making sure that family came first.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Elizabeth (Fowler) Nash; sons, Stephen (Kim) Nash, Matthew (Susanne Firestone) Nash; grandchildren, Chandler, Nathaniel, Alexander, Gracie, Luke, Michael, Logan; sisters, Debbie Reese, Eva Longer, Melissa Parish, Ethel Nash; brothers, George Nash.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers, Ed and Andrew Nash.

Shada Overton ’76 successfully defended her dissertation on July 23, 2018 to be conferred with a Doctorate in Business Admininstration specializing in Criminal Justice. Her intent is to continue teaching on the college level, as she has been for over 30 years, and now she will also be able to teach upper level Criminal Justice and Business courses.

Ed Peterson ’76 is retired now after a career in youth ministry and Christian education. After post-graduate work at Columbia Seminary, the Presbyterian School for Christian Education, and degree and certification work at Princeton Seminary, Ed had a long career serving churches as a youth minister and Christian Educator. He just published a two-volume book about his great grandfather, John Moore Lancaster, and the Civil War, called, “When Glory Comes Late, True Stories of a Civil War Soldier, by Sunbury Press. All royalties will be donated to the Gary Sinise Foundation for Veteran care.

Retired early in 2009. Living on Lake Lanier in the North Georgia mountains with my three dogs and am the volunteer Executive Director of the Good Shepherd Clinic in Dawsonville, Georgia.

Penny and her parents travelled worldwide on many fascinating trips including to Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. She was incredibly creative, knowledgeable in art, history, geography and current events. She loved her family and was an avid reader; Penny was passionate and indulgent to her dogs Darby, Suzie and Missy. Penny had an infectious smile and contagious laugh. She cheered up those around her. Penny is survived by her mother Zoe Putnam and brother Michael Putnam of Dawsonville, and brother Bobby (Barbara) of Vail, CO and many nieces and nephews who she adored. She was preceded in death by her father, Bob Putnam in 2004. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, any donations be made to either Grace Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 201, Dawsonville, GA 30534 or Good Shepherd Clinic of Dawson County, 45 Medical Center Dr., Dawsonville, GA 30534.

passed away on August 3, 2013. She left behind Husband, Roger, sons Andrew of St. Cloud Florida and Daniel of Miramar Florida and her Father, Rev. James Marvin of Lakeland Florida. Bonny was a teacher at Miramar High School.