| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 13, 45.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 29 Apr 2010.
Making the grade: Inaugural class inducted in Education Hall of Fame
By ELLEN BROWN
GATLINBURG — The first class of the Sevier County Education Hall of Fame was inducted Tuesday evening during the 16th annual Teacher of the Year Banquet, hosted by Sevier County Bank at Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg.
“We were looking for something to enhance (the banquet),” Sevier County Bank President R.B. Summitt said. “This first class is very special — it was difficult to pick.”
Summitt said that school support staff and administration employees were chosen to be honored along with teachers, since they are also considered “educators.” Inductees are those who “have made a significant contribution to the education of Sevier County students.”
A selection committee chose the following members of the Education Hall of Fame: Grady Floyd and Freda Hodges, Support Staff; Eleanor Hayes, Bill Smith, Chan Huskey and Johnnie Ballard, Administration; Mary B. McMahan, Reba Hood, Norma Blair, Emma Atchley, Julia P. Householder, Ruby Shields, Leroy Helton and Bill Williams, Teachers.
Forty-five other school employees were recognized as Sevier County Teachers of the Year at the banquet, including Karen Kelley of Pigeon Forge High School, Secondary Teacher of the Year; Debbie West of Seymour Middle School, Middle Grades Teacher of the Year; and Cheryl Deaton of Pigeon Forge Primary School, Primary Grades Teacher of the Year.
Kelley and Deaton have also been named finalists in the state’s Field Service Center Region cycle, which takes them a step further to becoming Tennessee Teacher of the Year.
“Every day in these classrooms, magic happens,” Summitt said. “Every person can think of a teacher or an educator who has made a difference in their life.”
Sevier County Schools Directoir Jack Parton thanked the Summitt family and Sevier County Bank for continuing to sponsor the awards banquet.
“They’re fine people but they’re also very humble people,” Parton said. “They don’t take credit for a lot of the things that they do.”
As for his fellow educators, Parton said, “These are the best of the best. We’re the people who are going to be teaching the next doctors, the next president. This is the most profound profession there is.”
ebrown@themountainpress.com
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1961 - (63 years)
(Age 72 years)