| Sources |
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 19 Feb 1982.
Ernest M. Trotter obituary
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Chattanoogan.com, 9 Oct 2002.
Andy Trotter Has Enjoyed Long Love Affair With Wife, Cars And Church
by John Shearer
Andy and Hazel Trotter stand outside their Lookout Mountain home.
- photo by John Shearer
Retired automobile dealer Andy Trotter of Lookout Mountain has enjoyed a long, fruitful and healthy life. If comparing his life to that of a car, one could say he “still runs smoothly and has not lost his paint job.”
“I don’t have many gray hairs,” he quipped recently from his Stonedge residence.
Now 90, Mr. Trotter has been around cars about as long as anyone still living. His connection began when his father, a county judge, brought home the family’s first car, a 1916 Ford, when he was a small child near Sevierville, Tenn. And today, he serves as honorary chairman of Trotter Buick.
Although he never considered himself a grease monkey, as many car lovers are, he has always been enamored with automobiles. “I never worked on them but I liked to drive them,” he said. “I liked cars from the beginning.”
Because of his interest, being an automobile dealer proved to be a perfect vocation. “I liked the people relationships, and it was a good way to make money,” he said. “Everybody loves automobiles.”
Mr. Trotter was born in Sevier County and reared on an ancestral family farm that was later flooded to make way for TVA’s Douglas Dam. The Douglases were some other landowners in that area, and Mr. Trotter thinks the reason it was not named Trotter Dam during the Franklin Roosevelt administration was political. “We were Republicans and that was a Democratic era,” he said with a smile.
Although the land has been under water for decades, he is still reminded of it daily because of a large Gordon Wetmore painting of the estate hanging in his den.
While living on the farm, he learned some important lessons, including from having to walk to both school and church, he said.
When he was older, he began working at the famed Mountain View Hotel in Gatlinburg, which has since been torn down. He vividly remembers carrying the bags for former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt during a visit. But the woman who made the biggest impression was a 16-year-old girl from Knoxville named Hazel.
Her parents had a cottage in Gatlinburg, and she was performing in a play at the hotel when they were introduced. “I followed up on that,” Mr. Trotter said. “We have been married 63 years. We still hold hands. She has been wonderful to me.”
One of Mr. Trotter’s older brothers operated a service station, so Mr. Trotter and another older brother, Amos, who was seven years his senior, decided to try that line of work as he grew older. They went on to own service stations in Gatlinburg and Maryville, Tenn.
But Mr. Trotter had another dream – to own an automobile dealership. Through the Knoxville Buick dealer, they were able to get a franchise to open a dealership in Maryville. Mr. Trotter at the time was not completely familiar with the marketability of Buicks and remembers asking the Knoxville dealer if he thought many people would buy them. “He said, ‘They are buying them now,’ ’’ Mr. Trotter said.
So, in 1940, they opened Amos & Andy Buick Co. in Maryville. Mr. Trotter said the name had nothing to do with the popular Amos and Andy radio show, even though some people over the years thought it did.
They eventually sold the Gatlinburg service station and opened an oil company in Maryville.
But Mr. Trotter soon came to the conclusion that they wanted to move to Chattanooga. Opportunities for greater sales might be available here, and they were also aware of the good educational opportunities at schools like GPS, Baylor and McCallie for their four children.
The decision to locate in Chattanooga was made after a conversation with Chattanooga Buick dealer V.W. McKinney. “I saw V.W. McKinney at a meeting and he said he was going to get out of the business,” Mr. Trotter said.
So they ended up buying that dealership and relocating Amos & Andy Buick to the western side of South Broad Street, where a Mexican Restaurant is now. They later moved across the street and a little closer to town.
Mr. Trotter said moving to Chattanooga was a great decision. The family business later expanded, with Mr. Trotter operating Andy Trotter Pontiac and Amos and Amos’ son, Mack, operating Amos & Andy Buick.
One of Mr. Trotter’s many regular customers at the Pontiac dealership was Coca-Cola bottler Cartter Lupton. A modest man, he usually wanted the standard model Pontiacs without air conditioning until Mr. Trotter convinced him of the advantages of air conditioning, Mr. Trotter remembered.
Mr. Trotter has loved being in Chattanooga and has felt blessed to be here. But it has not been a perfect journey. In 1961, while the family was trying to dock their boat on their Lake Chickamauga property, their 14-year-old son, Patrick, was struck by lightning and died.
Their church, First Presbyterian Church, was quite helpful during that time, and it has remained a big part of their lives. Their three other children include Drew Trotter of Charlottesville, Va.; Andrea Johnson of Atlanta; and Polly Long.
In looking at his life, Mr. Trotter said he has no regrets. “I’m pleased,” he said. “I just hope the Lord is pleased with it.”
Added Mrs. Trotter, “We’ve been very, very fortunate. God has been good to us.”
- [S112] Census, 1920.
Name: Andy Trotter
Residence: , Sevier, Tennessee
Estimated Birth Year: 1913
Age: 7
Birthplace: Tennessee
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Gender: Male
Race: White
Marital Status: Single
Father's Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
Film Number: 1821762
Digital Folder Number: 4390948
Image Number: 00312
Sheet Number: 5
Household Gender Age
Parent Willie Trotter M 42y
Parent Liza Jane Trotter F 42y
James Trotter M 16y
Amos Trotter M 14y
Martha Trotter F 13y
Earnest Trotter M 11y
Lula Trotter F 9y
Andy Trotter M 7y
Lucile Trotter F 3y
- [S1] U. S. Social Security Death Index, 408-09-6445.
Issued in Tennessee, residing in Hamilton County, Tennessee
- [S87] Death Certificate.
Name Date of Death / Age County of Death County / State of Residence Marital Status Gender Race File #
TROTTER ANDREW H 01-18-2004 / 91 HAMILTON HAMILTON / TN MARRIED M WHITE 2512
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Chattanoogan.com, 20 Jan 2004.
Andrew Hugh "Andy" Trotter died on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004, in Chattanooga, with his loving wife at his side and his family gathered around him.
Mr. Trotter was born in 1912 in Sevier County, Tenn. With his brother, Amos, he co-founded the Amos and Andy Buick Co. in 1940 in Maryville, Tenn., moving it to Chattanooga in 1956.
In 1959 he started Andy Trotter Pontiac of which he was president for 30 years. He retired as chairman of the board of Trotter Buick/Suzuki two years ago at the age of 90.
He was a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, where he served as an elder for 42 years. He also served his country in the U.S. Army, seeing duty in Germany in World War II.
Mr. Trotter was preceded in death by his son, Patrick; his parents, William and Eliza Trotter; three brothers; and two sisters.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Hazel Trotter; two daughters, Mrs. Andrea Johnson of Atlanta and Mrs. Polly Long of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; his son, Mr. Andrew Trotter Jr. of Charlottesville, Va.; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He also is survived by one sister, Mrs. Lucille Jones of Lexington, Ky.
Visitation with the family and funeral services will be held at First Presbyterian Church on Wednesday at 12:30 and 2 p.m., respectively.
Interment will follow with the family only at Forest Hills Cemetery.
Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to the Center for Christian Study, 128 Chancellor St., Charlottesville, VA 22901, or Regent College, 5800 University Blvd., Vancouver, B.C., Canada V6T 2E4.
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