| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 364.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 12 Feb 2006.
What happened to the hat lady?
By: David Popiel Source: The Newport Plain Talk <http://cocke.xtn.net> 02-12-2006
There are many happy hearts along the highways in our hometown and it doesn't take long to find them, if you search the hillsides.
Years ago when you visited Wal-Mart you probably saw a happy, smiling check-out clerk who stood out from all the rest because of the colorful and unusual hats she wore.
I took her photo and mentioned Mary Lynne Powers, but wondered what happened to her since fall of 2002-didn't you? A Wal-Mart employee, Benna Kaye Bradshaw, told me to give her a call to find out what happened. So, in early February on one of the few sunny warm days, I traveled about as far as your can east on Hwy. 25/70 and still be in Cocke County to the home of Norman and Mary Powers.
One thing I found out quickly was that she is a niece to my old friend and "newsman" the late Iliff McMahan Sr., which makes her a first cousin to Mayor McMahan.
Mary's mother was Mary Margaret McMahan Seay-married to Ois Seay of the famous Tois, Ois, Mois and many-more Seays of Del Rio. Mary was resting and came out in a wheelchair and had lost lots of weight but looked younger than her years, yet she can barely walk. And that's the startling story.
On Thanksgiving 2002, she was struggling with the flu and collapsed at work. From that time it was one hospital and doctor after another to find out why she became bed-ridden. Doctors decided she suffered from post-flu syndrome, which attacked her nerves and muscles. It has only been in the past year that she has been able to get out of her wheelchair with assistance.
And she can hold a hymnal to sing in the choir at Harned's Chapel Church. Her friends Mike and Debbie Johnson got her involved in the church. She and Norm are most interesting people, and I am sad that it took an illness report for me to contact them. You have seen Norm many times officiating at the area fair demolition derbies. He is a story in himself, as a former top sprint and midget racecar driver from Toledo, Ohio.
How they met is interesting too. Mary Lynne was born in Pasadena, Texas, because Ois worked for Shell Oil but they returned to East Tenn. and lived near Jefferson City. She has an older brother, Creed Seay, of Piedmont. An active person, she worked at Appalachian Electric, after graduating from the second class of the new consolidated Jefferson Co. High School in 1977.
She also worked with County Clerk Rick Farrar and at First Tenn. Bank. She had a son during her first marriage-Stephen Higginbotham, who is a soldier at the Newport National Guard Armory. They had lived in Florida for years but she returned in 1984 to stay in the county.
I've always been curious as to how people find Cocke County and ask them, when it's clear they don't have the right talk or name to be from these mountains. Norm Powers (or Power, if you choose, he said) had worked as a crane operator for Dana Corporation and also ran his own construction/salvage business.
His real interest has been racing, which he pursued with passion as a young man stepping into a stock car in 1950 at Detroit Motor City. It didn't take long to find out we both knew a lot of the same drivers from that era, because these folks, like L.D. Ottinger, raced from Florida to Michigan. Yep. He knew and had met Red Farmer, who at 73, is still racing. He was in his 20s at Hialeah Speedway in Miami when I watched him in the late 50s. After racing from 1950-1986, Norm retired and moved to this area in 1989, when he promoted demolition derbies at the Jefferson Co. Fair-Tennessee Slammers & Bangers. In the 1990s, Mary Lynne was working a commercial fair booth and decided to watch the cars crash and collided with Norm. They married in 1995 and moved to the old Cecil Ellison house not two miles east of Wolf Creek Bridge. The old frame house burned several years ago-"It was like a death in the family...We lost everything." So, they brought in a doublewide and remain neighbors to Jack Spratt and mother, Georgia Spratt, Paula Bearden, Keith and Faye Burgin. They had a good life enjoying trips to Daytona Beach where Mary Lynne got to flag one of the Goody's races. She's proud of her photo with Jeff Gordon on the wall alongside other racing memorabilia. They are idle now except some trips to church and about town. "I've always had faith in God. This has happened for a reason, but I know that I will get better," she said. Doctors can only say that over time she may regain her full health and range of activities.
She credits Norm for his patience and persistent in supporting her through the three-year illness. They speak highly of Jefferson City physician Dr. Dewayne Darby and are thankful for their friends in the mountains. "I can do it," she said, saying goodbye for now. In plain talk, illness often takes us away from our day-to-day activities and friends, but those who love us stick close through good time and bad.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name Bride's First Name Bride's Maiden Name County Date of Marriage File #
POWER NORMAN L MARY L SEAY SEVIER 03-18-1995 13776
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