knoxcotn

knoxcotn-digest Sunday, March 25 2001 Volume 01 : Number 137

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Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 11:22:52 -0500

From: "Billie R. McNamara" <knox@tngenweb.org>

Subject: [KnoxCoTN] 25 Mar 2001 Sunday Afternoon Rocking

Comments about the content of these messages can be sent to

unicorn@sun-spot.com

Sunday Afternoon Rocking

It Takes a Heap of Living (from the "Sunday Afternoon Rocking" series)

Today my daughter and I pitched in to "be family". As surely as the barn

raisings of the past, so it is when family begins a project, our

traditional framework says it is time to "pitch in". A step-daughter and

her husband have built a new home, and we are helping with wallpaper. They

are excited, this young couple, and rightfully so. Their new home will be

lovely. It sparkles and shines in its crisp newness. It seems poignant

with expectation of good times and family affairs, celebrations and events

a future together promises. And because this couple is young, and standing

in the threshold of life, they stand "looking in" and "ahead", happy with

expectations, but without the framework of one who has lived. And so I

doubt they see what I see, what my husband sees when we look around us at

the sparkling interior.

Somehow our gaze ventures beyond that which is "there", that which is

lovely indeed, and what we "see" simply can only be seen by eyes that have

seen before. I think Edgar Guest said it best when he penned the lines,

"It takes a heap o' living to make a house a home."

A house simply isn't a home until it is inhabited not just by people, but

by memories. There have to be some walls echoing laughter, some floors

paced with worries, a window one has stared out of in pain. There have to

be some worn spots and some scratches and some scars. There have to be

some things less than perfect to make a place "perfectly a home". If "it

takes a heap of living to make a house a home", it is because it "takes a

heap of living to make a life a life". Somehow a house, once it has become

a home, is the badge of honor that proves a life has been lived and still

stands proudly bearing the scars of having lived it. The very fact that

the house still stands is proof of the firm foundations upon which it was

built, and that in as symbolic a way as a physical one.

I peer at a door frame and see tiny pencil marks matching a yet unborn

child's growth. I glance at a place a patio might be poured and imagine a

child's handprints in the concrete, preserved forever that an older child

or adult will gaze one day and say, "Those were mine". I peek into at a

proposed nursery and see tiny finger smudges on a wall, a crayon mark or

two that a mother finds it difficult to paint over, both in reality and in

emotion. I imagine a gang of noisy young folks merrily clamoring in a

basement room. I see bright eyes dancing as they peer over a counter top

at freshly made cookies, and I imagine squeals of delight out on the lawn

as a child holds up a brightly colored Easter egg. I think that one day

this young couple will be where my husband and I are now, and a young lady

will bring a young man through that wide front door one day to meet her

folks…and their lives will change forever…again.

Perhaps my step-daughter will one day hear tradition calling, "It is time

to pitch in", and she too will be there for her young adult children,

delighting in their youth, their expectations on the thresh hold of

life. And I suspect…she will see in the newness of their life together the

portent of all the things to come that she will by that time have

known. She will smile at their delight in life, she will enjoy knowing the

pleasures they will find as adults carving a place for a family, and she

will sadly know in her life all the pain they will face as they begin

theirs. She will come armed with a paint brush or a roll of wall paper,

and the hands that she puts to work helping this youthful couple will be a

bit roughened, but adept. The heart that she uses for eyes will be a bit

weary, perhaps a bit toughened, and yet in some curious way, a bit more

tender. She will glance at a door frame of a new home, and see tiny pencil

marks matching a yet unborn child's growth…

"It takes a heap o' living to make a house a home." And isn't that a large

part of what life is all about? We bear the scars and the scratches and

the worn spots, and our "house becomes a home". We stand as proof that

foundations made it possible to survive the storms of life and our house is

even more beautiful than the day it was shining in its newness. How wonderful.

Just a thought,

jan

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Thanks, jan)

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Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 12:34:10 EST

From: Tenc@aol.com

Subject: [KnoxCoTN] Knox Co TN area phone directories: Big Valley

- --part1_37.128f9ff5.27ef8612_boundary

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

This is from the June 1916 directory of the Peoples Telephone and Telegraph

Company, Knox Co and surrounding areas. The names only appear; no address, no

telephone number. You are instructed to call County Operator and ask for the

party and exchange wanted. Conversations on these lines are limited to five

minutes.

Big Valley Exchange, Lost Creek, Tenn.

Albright, Daniel

Anderson A J

Anderson, D F

Avis, R S

Ayers, John

Baker & Ousley

Beeler, Joseph

Beeler, P L

Beeler, W H

Bradfute, Dr H A C

Brantley, S R

Bridges, E L

Bridges, Jacob

Bridges, M L

Bridges, Norvil

Bridges, Rice

Bridges, Sampson

Bridges, & Whited - mdse

Butcher, E E

Butcher, J H

Cardwell, Tom

Carpenter Charlie

Chitwood, D H

Davis, Dr W S

Day, Jerry

Delapp, M B

Dossett, J H

Dossett, W H

Dykes, Otis

Elison, Bennie

Ellison, J F

Ellison M W

Ellison W H

Evans, Levi

Farris, M L

Fletcher, W A - store

Foust, G R

Foust J V

Fox, Geo. F - Store

George, Berney

Gilbert, J T

Grant, N B

Graves, Grant

Granves, J A

Graves, Richard

Graves, W C

Gray, J G

Graves, Eli

Graves, P H

Hatmaker, F C

Hatmaker, Silas

Heatherly, Frank

Heatherly, G W

Heatherly, Wess

Helms, J A

Henegar, Robt

Hill, A G

Hill, Barton

Hill & Bledsoe

Hill, Edgbert

Hill, E L

Hil, E Q

Hill, Ferrin

Hill, Harvey

Hill, Henry G

Hill, Isaac

Hill, James

Hill & Monroe - Store

Hill, Newton

Hill, Sam A

Hopper, Thomas

Hundley, B F

Hutson Dr J M

Indian River Mill Co.

Irwin, H C

Irwin, Miller

Irwin, Horace M

Hirwin, Rev J G

Irwin, Mrs Mary

Irwin, Rice

Jones, R S

Keller, A N

Keller, W L

Kidwell, J L

Lay, Alf

Langley & Son

Lett, A M

Lett, John

Lett, Mrs. Susan

Longmire, Dr. A H

Longmire, E

Longmire, James S

Longmire & Loy - Mdse

Longmire, Sherman

Loy & Branum

Loy, Geo

Loy, James

Loy, J C

Loy, Lee

Loy, Mack

Loy, Wm

Loy, W M

Lynch, S

Malone, J F

Malone, J B

Malone, W M

McBee, W T

McCoy, J M

McNew, James

Meridith, Stokley

Miller, A J

Miller, Jno F

Mitchell, J B - Store

Mitchell, J F

Mitchell, John Sen.

Morton, Garfield

Nelson & Bridges - store

Nelson, J L

Nelson, J M D

Norton, E

Oaks, Isaac

Oaks, Rosey

Odom, W H

Ousley, A S

Ousley, Dr. J M

Ousley, B C

Ousley, J C

Petree, Jno. W

Rice, J R

Russell, Milton

Rutherford, J P

Rutherford, L A

Seymour, C - Store

Sharp A R - Store

Sharp, B H

Sharp, C C

Sharp, Delia

Sharp, E

Sharp, E A

Sharp, J Crit

Charp, J D

Sharp, Ludlow

Sharp, L M

Sharp, McHenry

Sharp, T H

Sharp, W G

Sharp, W M

Sharp, Worth

Sharp, W R

Snoderly, Gains

Snoderly, Geo.

Snoderly, J B

Snoderly, Millard

Snoderly, S P

Snoderly, W D

Southern, Abe

Southern, Wm

Stooksbury, Bert

Stooksbury, Caney R

Stooksbury, Cas

Stooksbury, Chas

Stooksbury, Eli

Stooksbury, E M

Stooksbury, Henry

Stooksbury, John

Stooksbury, L G

Stooksbury, Sherman

Stooksbury, W H

Stout, Wm

Troxler, Brown

Troxler, P Lee

Turner, D S

Turner, Jas. A

Turner, John W

Walker, S A

Warwick, E M

Warwick, Freeman

Warwick, W D

Watkins, Earnest

Watson, B F

Weaver, Albert - Store

Weaver, C B

Weaver, Elvin

Weaver, John

Weaver, J B

Weaver, M B

Weaver, W H

White, Daniel

White, J E

whited, J M

Willoughly, Dr. Jas.

Wilson, Alvis

Wilson, Asbury

Wilson, C

Wilson, Dr C P

Wilson, Edgbert

Wilson, I A

Wilson, J M

Wilson, J R

Wilson, Harvey

Wilson, Lewis

Witt, Geo.

Witt, J E

Witt, J L

witt, J L