Doug Ottinger^{[1, 2]}

• Name	Doug Ottinger
  Gender	Male
  Person ID	I102145	Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest
  Last Modified	9 Sep 2013

  
  

  Father	James D. Ottinger,   d. Bef 30 Dec 2001
  Mother	Cora Ethylene Freshour,   b. Abt 1929,   d. 30 Dec 2001, Parrottsville, Cocke County, Tennessee  (Age ~ 72 years)
  Family ID	F31135	Group Sheet

  
  

• Sources

  [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 30 Dec 2001. Cora Ethylene Ottinger obituary [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 9 Apr 2005. It had been many months since I last drove out to Mariner Health Care Center located in a quite pear-shaded niche not far behind Rusty Wallace Ford. The first person who greeted us was Judy Clevenger, who told me some months ago she was working at Mariner when I bumped into Judy at the Amoco BP. She still works there on Sundays. Lu Shep Baldwin, who works for our company, Jones Media Inc., to promote the Newspaper in Education program and I visited Mariner to seek sponsorship for Newport Plain Talks to be given to local students starting this fall. She is a retired teacher–from North Carolina, and, like some of you (Richard Harwood), savored the Tar Heel’s victory. Mariner Administrator Doug Ottinger walked up a greeted us in the lobby. We had met a few times at the Newport Kiwanis Club and, perhaps, a chamber of commerce Business After Hours event at the skilled nursing facility. But it was the first time Doug and I chatted. One of the things that popped into my mind, as we sat in his office, was the connection there might be between Mr. Ottinger and the fellow who helped make this facility a reality over 25 years ago. I’m talking about my late friend, educator and first Cocke County executive, Bill Blazer. Yes, Doug was one of his students. So after 30 years the clock springs forward and this locally schooled and talented fellow is leading the facility created by one of his former teachers and Parrottsville neighbors. Many of you know Doug’s parents, the late James and Ethylene (Freshour) Ottinger. Like Bill, she was a veteran teacher starting in a one-room schoolhouse. You probably knew her uncle, Guy Freshour and his son, the former superintendent of schools, Everett Freshour. James clipped your hair as you shared stories with him when he worked in Newport across from Ace Hardware. There’s a lot more to this story and will prompt me to return to Mariner to visit with Doug and the able staff. Just Plain Talk