| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 157, 227.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 22 Jul 2011.
Just Plain Talk: Be careful of what you pray for, you may get it
Author: David Popiel
At Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, pastor Alvin Watts offered the grace for our meal and made a mention to the Lord for the need of some rain. His prayer request was answered in our hometown about 5 a.m. on Wednesday with an immense downpour, almost three inches, some of which turned to steam the past searing days.
On a routine visit to Dr. Ken Johnson last week, we talked a little about how more elderly get sick when the weather is either too hot or too cold. He is doing better after surgery and we will talk about this and 25 years at Newport Internal Medicine in an upcoming series he and I have been working on. Many of you have been thinking or talking about the tragic death of the young bicyclist, Katie Richardson, of Vermont, as she worked for a Hartford rafting company this summer. She was killed when struck by a vehicle driven by Dan Ford on July 12 on Highway 73 not far from Highway 321. About two weeks before this, Dr. Johnson and his family were rafting and he met Katie, who served as their river guide. Then, four days before her death he revisited Hartford to raft with son, Will. Katie saw them and remembered Dr. Johnson, who was impressed with her zeal for life. Early last week, I bumped into Dan Ford and his wife at Lowe's and told him how sorry I was about the highway calamity and came away understanding more of the double tragedy.
There's a couple of other interesting things I'm working on after quick visits to local businesses such as Ace Antiques in the Bettye Ann Bewley center off East Broadway. Bea Brady had called to remind me about an unusual plant she'd seen. Later, I saw Harold Keys downtown and he updated me on what he has been doing with his years in retirement and shared a most interesting story of "what comes around, goes around" when you take time to help those in need. Harold likes to help the elderly. Our meeting reminded me that Arvis Keys is his brother and at another chance meeting at Lowe's with Gregg Fodness, I learned that Arvis had bought the Triple Creek Campground at the Fodness auction. Imogene Turner at Ace Antiques is one of many businesses participating in our early-August People's Choice Awards section. Unfortunately, she has a serious back problem and will undergo surgery and have to close the business a few weeks in late August. You will read more about all this soon. Last week here you saw the photo of Glenda Graham, but the rest of the story got continued until today. Several weeks ago, On June 24, Glenda Graham had to be wheeled into the Plain Talk and she uses oxygen too. Her daughter, Angela (Frix) Workman of Dandridge brought Glenda to visit us, as her late husband was Plain Talk sports editor in the 1990s. She thanked Duay O'Neil, me and others for kindness. After Tim's death she could no longer "pass his door" and so moved into a friend's residence at Phenix, Alabama, where she plans to reside for some time. I learned more about Tim's interest in Parrots and that his pet parrot had died in January, a couple months before Tim's death. Glenda and Timothy were brought together by a former NPT reporter, Katie Thomason. Glenda had been living in Dandridge in the early 1990s. She published the Jefferson County Journal.
Those who grew up in the World War II era and aftermath will certainly recall buying food and merchandise on the tab. I still recall when James and Mary Bryant sold their market off Cosby Highway and one of the things they did was to try to collect the hundreds of dollars still owed to them. They and many other store operators routinely extended credit. Most of the time they got their money back, sometimes not. And, like one Cocke County former business operator, money was paid back after 53 years. The story literally walked into my office in mid July when I saw Bob Self seated in our lobby. He said he had an interesting story and presented a letter from Earl Gilbert, who now lives in DeKalb, Illinois. The letter also contained a check for $40 for final payment of a debt that Earl had owed from about 1958 when Bob operated the Texaco Super Service off East Broadway on the corner lot where you see Food City East. I will quote from the letter and hope that Earl doesn't minded, for it is a great tribute to his honesty and determination to pay what he owes. Bob's visit also gave me a chance to chat with him and get to know a little more about his work years in Newport and his life.
In his letter, Earl states: "I've been wanting to do this for so long. It's a debt that's 53 years old. But I was having some hard times down there then and you let me have a tire on credit and had one of your hands put it on for me." Earl was unemployed at the time and may have been drawing some unemployment insurance from Cleveland, Ohio, where many Cocke Countians had gone to work. Earl said that Bob was gracious for extending the credit in a time of need. Earl recalls the nearly-new station near the Super Dollar market and did recall it was a Texaco station. Bob explained that when the station opened in December 1955 it was a Sinclair station and Paul Cody was the local oil company distributor. Fisher Oil built the station and owned the distributorship. But after six months, the station's brand changed to Texaco and that suited Bob just fine, as it was a well-known and important brand of petroleum products.
Earl offered his apology to Bob for taking so long to pay for the tire and service and asked his forgiveness. It took Earl some searching to locate an old telephone book to find an address. Bob and his wife, the former Betty Lamb, now live in Del Rio. Using the 2001 Smoky Mountain phone book, he called Bob. Earl still has relatives in the county and hopes to visit next year. "Any way, my conscience is clear now, and I'll stop and get this in the box. My family is all gone now except a few nephews and nieces in Newport & White Pine, but I pray for a great homecoming day when life is over down here. May God bless you both."
Those raised in the county, growing up in Newport of the 1940s through the 1960s will remember the many services stations lining the major Highway 25/70, a time there was no interstate. Bob was about 25 years old when he began operating the station and entered business at a prime time in rural America. Gasoline was selling for about 29 cents per gallon and 32 cents for high test. Born in 1930, Bob was already 11 when World War II began and, of course, was thrilled with motoring America. After high school, he spent time in the Army during the Korean War, as did the late Marson Gentry and many of you. When the war ended, he returned to Newport and married Betty in 1954. Fortunately, he was prepared to go to Korea after getting training and vaccinations but the war ended in 1953 and he did not see combat. The station then started his retail business career and he did not mind 18-hour days. Some of the men who made the Super Service a success included Finley Holt, Harold Taylor, Paul Woods, and Carroll Taylor. He also worked a lot of youth who washed cars. I'm guessing there were no car washes, as we know them today. Many of you, like, me worked at service stations pumping gas. Bob and I smiled to recall a time when two men might go out and greet a motorist, pump gas, clean the windshield, check the tires' air pressure, open the hood and check oil and water. My summer stint in Miami was at a Cities Service station, if I recall correctly. There were Esso, Pure Oil, and Standard Oil station around, too. Bob said that most gas sales were only for a dollar or two. It was important to sell oil, fan belts, and look for repair work. "I was paying the wash boys $4 per day. We washed a lot of cars. The gas pumpers made $10 a day. I still see some of my old employees."
When Bob mentioned that his wife was a Lamb, I recalled a fellow who was a real Plain Talk fan years ago, Doak Lamb. He worked for Stokely Van Camp and lived near the Slab Café. He was a brother to Betty, whose parents were Ike and Bertha. Bob and Betty have two daughters and each had a son. Robin Elkins is a music teacher at Newport Grammar School. Patty Heasley is a teacher in Greensboro, NC and has a son, Bob. Robin's son unfortunately died about three years ago.
By 1970, Bob was ready to leave the gas station business and sold it to Joey Ball, who was operating it successfully for many years. It was common to extend credit those years, as plastic cards were not mainstream yet. "I got to know more people than you could imagine," said Bob. "If you got one customer in a family you soon got the rest," if you did a good job on service, prices and offering credit, too. People almost always paid what they owed. In the early 1970s Bob opened his auto parts store along the railroad tracks near the train depot. "Seventy-five percent of what I sold in auto parts was on credit." He only had one helper who was reluctant to do sales at first. But within months, Betty was a natural.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 20 Aug 2011.
Just Plain Talk: August heat weakens as Summer days wind down
...
We have been visiting with Bob and Betty Self of Del Rio. For more than 30 years, Bob has served as a director for Newport Federal Bank, starting when it was a savings & loan. How did he get involved with the local bank? "Clyde Driskill, Sr. came to the auto parts store and invited me to join the board," said Bob. Of course, Bob said that he didn't know anything much about banking but did respect Driskill and other board members such as former chairman Charles Rhyne, Jr. "I guess you know as many people in the county as anyone," Driskill told Bob, he repeated to me. His first assignment was to the loan committee and he has been active ever since, though he fully retired from business in 1998. "I was glad to get out" of the auto parts business, he said. Self's Auto Parts store ceased to exist and the inventory was sold to Barry Nease Sr. and Jim Williams, who were operating a popular auto parts store at the West End of Newport. He and Betty live on a farm not far from Highway 107. Just turn left at the end of the road and travel towards Round Mountain until you see Poplar Cove Way. Today, especially with all the rain, Bob spends a lot of time mowing more than two acres and enjoys the quiet and shadow of the mountains.
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Bob Self
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Civil District 1, Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Sex: Male
Age: 12
Marital Status: Single
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Son
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1928
Last Place of Residence: Same House
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace
Hatt Self Head Male 55 Tennessee
Alice Self Wife Female 46 Tennessee
Etta Self Daughter Female 22 Tennessee
Louise Self Daughter Female 19 Tennessee
Margie Self Daughter Female 16 Tennessee
Marve Self Son Male 16 Tennessee
Bob Self Son Male 12 Tennessee
Maxine Self Daughter Female 14 Tennessee
Lorene Self Daughter Female 8 Tennessee
Edith Self Daughter Female 5 Tennessee
Eunice Self Granddaughter Female 7 Tennessee
Keith Self Grandson Male 5 Tennessee
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