Sources |
- [S4] Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee), 24 Jul 2010.
Mary Langston Hillard obituary
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 4 Oct 2013.
End of an era in Newport for Stephanie's Hallmark that closed
©2013 NPT PHOTO BY DAVID POPIEL
Stephanie Hillard, at left, and Linda Moyers finish packing the last items from the Newport Hallmark shop, which closed on Sept. 30 at Western Plaza.
Author: David Popiel
The first weekend festivals begin this month in Newport and it seems days are dryer in our hometown and shorter giving growers like the Hick families less time to roll in the fat orange pumpkins.
Quietly, with few customers coming by, Stephanie’s Hallmark closed at Western Plaza on Monday. Stephanie Hillard and husband Joe, helped by employee Linda Moyers, packed up the last boxes of greeting cards and assorted gifts and prepared to close the doors for the last time. “I don’t know what I’m going to do this Christmas,” she said. For every year it was a time to introduce new Hallmark ornaments, Christmas cards, and gifts. She explained that her parents in England are elderly and her retirement gives her flexibility to travel to see them more often. Her career with Hallmark began in the early 1980s in Morristown where she lives. By 1994 she was at the Hallmark store in Newport in the mid 1990s where the former Walmart center was in Newport Plaza. Sonny and Rita Denton operated that store. From there she moved to Western Plaza. “I’ve enjoyed the people here, truly, truly have enjoyed them.” You may have known some of the other Hallmark employees: Carolyn Bryant, and Peggy Cody. Linda Moyers, who is married to Keith Moyers, started at Hallmark in 2007. She used to manage the Sears catalog store in East Broadway center in the early 1970s. Some of the familiar folks who worked with her then were Loraine Jenkins, Argil Britt and Jim Etherton. I am sure there were others. We will miss the unique Hallmark store created by Stephanie and serving us for a couple of decades.
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