| Sources |
- [S113] Manes Funeral Home, (http://www.manesfuneralhome.com), 25 May 2009.
Carroll Eugene "Gene" Cutshaw obituary
- [S84] E-Mail, Tommy Cutshaw [soaring_1_eagle@yahoo.com], 6 Feb 2010.
- [S99] Farrar Funeral Home, (http://www.farrarfuneralhome.com), 15 May 2011.
Frank A. Prosise obituary
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 14 Oct 2011.
Roads diverge among tree-lined roads covered with yellow leaves
(c)2011 NPT PHOTO BY DAVID POPIEL
Thomas and Vesta Cutshaw visit with Junior Williams, center, who is 91 and a veteran of World War II. The Cutshaw nephews were removing trees from the Williams' yard to improve septic tank line drainage. You will be reading more about Junior in my next column.
Author: David Popiel
Source: The Newport Plain Talk
Fall has been moving in slowly since the equinox in late September, and our hometown may feel its first frost this week, perhaps before the new moon on the 26th and surely before Halloween.
You may recall the visit made to Tim and Jan Pack's home last spring to learn about the kittens who fell out of the sky, well, actually a maple tree in the front yard near City Park. I wrote about "Little Walter" and his sister. Last week on a visit to the gas utility office where Jan works she informed me that "he" is a she. That's right, Little Walter came into heat this fall and is now correctly identified as a female with a new name: "Skyler."
Mid week at the Plain Talk parking lot, Frank Bell had arrived to renew his Plain Talk subscription. He retired as long-time Webb Baptist Church pastor the fall of 2010, and it's been longer than this since I've chatted with him. We taught school together at Cosby High School in 1972-73 but he lasted longer than me. I was surprised to hear he turned 79 recently and his wife, Una, continues to overcome health problems. We lamented getting older and dealing with a failing memory and mental/physical performance so we laughed again at two short anecdotes he shared. I leave out the names to protect the innocent. This one young lady was almost in tears and full of consternation when Rev. Bell started talking to her, but he had to smile when learning that she was upset about turning 30. Another young person said, "they cried because of a B" at Carson Newman College. "I would have cried too," said Frank, but with joy on getting a B during his college studies almost 60 years ago.
Have you noticed the thinning number of vehicles at what used to be Mooney Ramsey's car lot on Cosby Highway across from the Bryant Town center? It seemed to me the used car lot was closing so I made it a point to bump into Brian Ramsey at his White Pine car lot. Yes, he has closed the Newport lot because he was not selling enough vehicles. It is a combination of problems that consumers have: lack of jobs and more difficult time getting financing. He said that car dealers that can offer financing, such as Car Max, have an advantage and thus the smaller lots may be vanishing. I asked him if he knew what was going on with the construction around I-81. Brian said the interchange is finally getting rebuilt and improved. You may have noticed the Shell station was bulldozed. You will be reading more about this in the Plain Talk. And to update you on the Tractor Supply store at the Western Plaza, I saw workers stocking goods this week.
Late on an early Oct. Thursday morning I decided to check out the new Dollar General store that had opened days ago near Parrottsville off Highway 321. You saw a photo here when Hommel was doing construction on the project. I got as far as the Wilma II drive-in and hit backed-up traffic. Because I did know the less traveled route, Warford Road, I took it to H&H Motors and parked. After walking back towards Newport, I realized it would have been closer to park at the closed Wilma's and walk north. A kind motorist gave me a hitch back to my vehicle in exchange for the back road route information. My plan was to get photos for the news department, as I was already on the scene. I also bumped into a few people you might know. Debbie Phillips of Cosby was helping stop traffic for the Department of Transportation. I'm supposing it took more than an hour to clean up the mess, a pile of crushed vehicles that came off the tractor-trailer and fell onto Paul Teague's property. Betty Gentry brought out her cute Chinese pug, Spanky, to see what was happening. Spanky was glad to see me and get his photo made. At the crash scene I chatted with Trooper Mike Hood and minutes later Drew Ramsey of Raceway Wrecker arrived, not to clean up, to check on the truck driver who had left Ramsey's junkyard with the load of crushed cars. For those who were stuck in traffic, it should remind us to keep snacks, beverages, and something to do for those rare times we are stranded on the road.
Phone calls provide me with a chance to meet new folks and share some events, such as I witnessed recently before we rode the temperature higher by that week's end. Thomas Cutshaw, who I've known for year through his parents of Cutshaw's TV repair, Highway 25E, called to tell me that many teenagers are good and dependable. To see such youth at work, I traveled to Indian Creek Road, West 363, past Resthaven cemetery, past the Church of God and Brimer's Chapel until I arrived at Junior Williams Road. Have you been there? The times I have driven past the county road sign, I often wondered "Just who is Junior Williams?" At 91, he is very much alive though he came close to death as a young man during World War II. He was inside his mobile home, when I arrived to see Thomas and a group of his nephews cutting down maple trees. There was a good reason for this. Not many days ago, Junior's bathroom toilet began backing up and flooding the hall. A call to Goode septic tank pumping folks got the tank cleaned and the lines reamed of maple tree roots. But the workers warned there would be problems again if the trees were not removed. Charles Ray, Junior's son-in-law, was operating the chainsaw, just after Daniel Cutshaw had climbed the second maple still standing to tie a rope up in high limbs. The rest of the nephews, Briston Reed, Brandon Webb, and Bryson Reed, took a tight hold on the rope to pull the tree away from the home as Charles cut it down. D. D. Waddell was standing by to supervise and I also saw Thomas's wife, Vesta, who was on the porch. They are friends of the Williams family and Thomas spends some time each week sitting with Junior, who also is provided at-home nursing care thanks to the Veteran's Administration.
Those who live along Highway 411 or around Reidtown know Vesta because she delivers your Newport Plain Talk and does a good job. "I love it," she said of delivering 255 papers in six hours three times per week. "My customers are the best. They love Plain Talk coupons." Look for Vesta in her 1989 Tracker. For those who don't know her, she is the daughter of the late Frank and Margie Prosise. He hailed from Clinton but Vesta was born at Valentine-Shults Clinic about 48 years ago. Frank worked at the old Arapahoe Chemical plant east of Newport doing janitorial chores. She has two sisters: Kathy Riley of Corn Hollow, Rankin; and Robin Prosise, of Reidtown; and brother Randy Prosise, a railroad worker from White Pine. They are also members of Bewley's Chapel United Methodist Church at Mosheim where he is a lay speaker. The church does important community work such as its shoe ministry. Thomas said that Mike and Melissa Chambers, who formerly operated the Citgo station west of Newport, and now an Exxon station/store in Sevier, are members of the Greene County church. It must be a good place to worship for folks to drive so far.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
RENNER JOHNNY W VESTA P NOT GIVEN COCKE 01-24-1987 00355
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
CUTSHAW THOMAS A VESTA C PROSISE SEVIER 08-17-2003 44297
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1963 - (61 years)
, d. 15 May 2011, White Pine, Jefferson County, Tennessee 
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