| Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 29 Mar 1987.
Otha Arvilee Clinton obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 24 Apr 2016.
Upland Chronicles: Reva Lee Clinton marks 100th birthday
CARROLL MCMAHAN
Arranging silk and dried flowers, creating landscape oil paintings and writing in her distinctive cursive style are among the pastimes that have filled a century full of memories for Reva Lee Loveday Clinton. The feisty centenarian is celebrating the amazing milestone this month. A Sevier County native and resident most of her life, she has witnessed a lot of history.
Born April 27, 1916, Reva Lee is one of six daughters of Claude Otis Loveday and Mary Ellen Terry Loveday. Her sisters were Geneva, Trula (married Clarence Connatser), Joy (married Roy Sims), Savannah and Marjorie. She and her sisters were raised on a farm in the Walnut Grove Community, where they attended school and church.
Reva Lee remembers one of her teachers, Rev. Walter Ogle, urging her to concentrate on her studies during class. “He tried to make me study,” she said. “But I liked to write.” She chuckles when she reminisces about how practicing her penmanship paid off later in life, when she was asked to write in cursive the names on all the diplomas for the graduating seniors at Sevier County High School.
She transferred to Sevierville Elementary School for her eighth grade term, but in order to attend classes, Reva Lee and her sister, Joy, stayed with relatives in town. She continued to board in town throughout high school years.
After graduating from Sevier County High School, Reva Lee went to work on the production line at the Hosiery Mill in Sevierville. “Some of the girls I worked with got mad at me because I always made production,” Reva Lee recalled. “Every week that you made production they gave you a free pair of hose, and I have always loved to wear nice hose.”
On Oct. 2, 1940, she married Herbert Williams, a young man she had met a birthday party. The following year their daughter, Barbara, was born. After the United States entered World War II, Herbert enlisted in the Navy, but he was discharged about six months later after sustaining injuries in an accident on board a ship.
When he returned, Herbert moved his wife and baby to Portland, Oregon, where he found a job working in the shipyards. Later, they moved to Lakeview, Oregon, and Herbert drove a truck, hauling timber for a lumber company. But Herbert wanted to return to Sevier County and managed to secure enough gas ration stamps for the trip by telling government agents it was a hardship case because he was needed to help on the farm.
Soon after they returned to Sevier County, their crumbling marriage ended in divorce. When the war was over, Arvilee Clinton returned home after serving in the Army and started dating Reva Lee. They had known each other since they were children attending church and school together. Arvilee and Reva Lee married Nov. 14, 1946, and together they raised Barbara.
While Arvilee farmed and served on the Sevier County Commission, Reva Lee worked at Bush Brothers and a few other places before going to work for Gatlinburg businessman Sam Stalcup. “Mr. Stalcup owned several craft shops, but I worked most of the time at the Rebel Corner,” Reva Lee said.
While working at the Rebel Corner, Reva Lee was given the opportunity to arrange silk and dried flowers for permanent arrangements. “My mother used to enjoy arranging garden flowers, and I always wanted to help her,” she said. “I’ve been doing it ever since.” She also made corsages, bridal bouquets, funeral arrangements and centerpieces for various occasions. She made some of her pieces with fresh flowers.
Reva Lee joined the Harrisburg Home Demonstration Club and taught flower arranging to her fellow members. For years she provided floral arrangements for the altar at Walnut Grove Baptist Church, where she is a life-long member.
Sadly, Arvilee Clinton died March 29, 1987, at age 67. He and Reva Lee had enjoyed over 40 years of happiness. As a widow, Reva Lee decided it was time to learn to drive. “Once I started driving a car I went everywhere I wanted to go,” she said. By this time her daughter Barbara had married William Bohannon, a national park employee, and they were moving around the United States.
After retirement, Reva Lee started taking a painting class at the Senior Citizens Center. While visiting her daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters, Jane and Belinda, she also attended art classes at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. In the ensuing years, she entered many of her paintings in the Sevier County Fair and won several ribbons.
On her first trip as a passenger on an airplane, which was destined for Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the pilot had to turn the aircraft around and return to Denver due to a bird strike. “I wasn’t scared until we landed back in Denver, and I saw all the ambulances and fire trucks waiting on us to land,” she commented. “It didn’t scare me so much that I didn’t keep on flying when I wanted to.”
In conversation with Reva Lee, one would never even think she is a centenarian. She is alert, she remembers things from deep in the past, and she cracks a joke or two. She is the last surviving among her sisters, but her memory enables Reva Lee to reminisce and laugh about the good old days and share with the young a lifetime of wisdom.
Carroll McMahan is special projects facilitator for the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce and serves as Sevier County historian.
The Upland Chronicles series celebrates the heritage and past of Sevier County. If you have suggestions for future topics, would like to submit a column or have comments, contact Carroll McMahan at 453-6411 or cmcmahan@scoc.org; or Ron Rader at 604-9161 or ron@ronraderproperties.com.
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name: Reva A Loveday
Event: Census
Event Date: 1930
Event Place: District 04, Sevier, Tennessee
Gender: Female
Age: 13
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Birthplace: Tennessee
Estimated Birth Year: 1917
Immigration Year:
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Father's Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
Enumeration District Number: 0004
Family Number: 122
Sheet Number and Letter: 7A
Line Number: 29
NARA Publication: T626, roll 2271
Film Number: 2342005
Digital Folder Number: 4547919
Image Number: 00648
Household Gender Age
Parent Claud O Loveday M 42
Parent Mary E Loveday F 44
Geneva Loveday F 19
Trula M Loveday F 17
Reva A Loveday F 13
Joy F Loveday F 12
Marjorie L Loveday F 7
- [S112] Census, 1940.
name: Reva Lee Loveday
titles & terms:
event: Census
event year: 1940
event place: Sevierville, Civil District 5, Sevier, Tennessee, United States
gender: Female
age: 23
marital status: Single
race (original):
race (standardized): White
relationship to head of household (original):
relationship to head of household (standardized): Sister
birthplace: Tennessee
estimated birth year: 1917
residence in 1935: Same Place
enumeration district number: 78-6
family number: 137
sheet number and letter: 7B
line number: 50
nara publication number: T627
nara roll number: 3933
digital folder number: 005461375
image number: 00160
Household Gender Age Birthplace
head V Leroy Simms M 21 Tennessee
wife F Joy Simms F 22 Tennessee
sister Reva Lee Loveday F 23 Tennessee
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
26411 HERBERT WILLIAMS REVA LEE LOVEDAY
- [S129] The Official Marriage Records of Sevier County Tennessee 1914-1944, Volume II, Smoky Mountain Historical Society, (Copyright 2008), ISBN 1-890150-00-4.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Herbert Williams
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 02 Oct 1940
Event Place Sevier, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Age 22
Birth Year (Estimated) 1918
Spouse's Name Reva Lee Loveday
Spouse's Gender Female
Spouse's Age 24
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1916
"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-30173-13260-91?cc=1619127 : accessed 26 April 2016), Sevier > Marriage registers, 1937-1941, vol 25-26 > image 573 of 681; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties.
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