Old Fashioned Values, Expert Knowledge, Genuine Understanding

Salute 05.03.09

Evelyn Pollard

Evelyn Pollard was born in 1927 in Cleveland, Tennessee. She had one brother and one sister. When she was 2, the family relocated to Knoxville. She attended and graduated from Old Knoxville High School.

In May of 1946, she went on a blind date. That September, they were married. The enjoyed 62 years of marriage before her husband passed away September 11, 2008. Together they had 4 kids, 9 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.

Ms. Pollard fills her spare time with various volunteer activities. In 1964 she began volunteering at Children’s Hospital. Throughout the years she has helped in just about every area including, the gift shop, radiology, the information desk, the gift cart and for various fundraisers. Over the past 45 years, she only stopped working for her husband’s illness.

Evelyn was one of the first co-chairs of the fantasy of trees and has also served diligently with them ever since.

She loves to garden, read (she is in 2 book clubs), walk, and goes swimming every week in the summer with a group of women. She has taught children’s Sunday school at her church where she is very active. She is very involved with the community events in her condo complex.

Evelyn loves to stay busy and that lifestyle has made her very well preserved.

Salute 05/24/2009

Ralph Martin DeLozier

Ralph was born in Chattanooga, TN on March 10, 1922. The family moved to Christiana, TN near Murfreesboro where his dad opened a general store.  He graduated from Christiana High School and enlisted in the Navy; they sent him to school at MTSU to get dual degrees in Mechanical Design Engineering and Industrial Arts.  Next he went to Charlottesville, VA to attend the University of Virginia. During World War II, he was sent to the Pacific.  He was a commissioned office with the rank of Lieutenant JG.  He eventually commanded a LT boat in the Pacific during the war.  After his active discharge, he returned to Virginia to marry Mildred Bingler, having courted her mostly through letters. They were married for 54 years before Mildred passed away in 2005.

He has two children, three grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

After graduation, Ralph went to work for Union Carbide in Oak Ridge. The city was closed to civilians then, so he lived in a flat top.  He worked there for over 37 years at all three of the plants, X-10, Y-12 & K-25 as a Nuclear Mechanical Design Engineer.  He holds several patents on his designs.  Some of his accomplishments include designing the first mechanical hands, the Uranium Enrichment Project, the Breeder Reactor, and the Centrifuge project.

He moved his family to Fountain City in 1951 where he lived for 53 years. Ralph is a devout Christian and has been the spiritual leader of his family. While attending Fountain City Christian Church, where he was an elder, he oversaw the design and building of the church building.  Ralph was very active in his community and was named Fountain City Man of the Year.  He sang in the Senior Choir at Central Baptist Fountain City and was active in their senior activities.

He was an avid woodworker and handyman; building much of the furniture in their house and remodeled much of it as well.  He even built a houseboat on the driveway and used it on Norris Lake for many years.  He once designed a boat that would come apart and one section fit inside the other section so that it could be hauled in the back of a station wagon and launched anywhere.  He was an avid fisherman, skier, scuba diver and liked to golf with his friends.  He was also a square dancer for many years.  He always had a fair sized garden and yard. He would share his produce with many people.

Ralph loves the Vols.  He has held season tickets to football, Lady Vols basketball, and Men’s basketball for many years.  He was an active member of the Lady Vols’ booster club.

Although quiet, Ralph was always the punster and had a good joke to tell. He now is in the Ben Atchley Veteran’s Home.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago.

He has been an inspiration to his family and still gets in a pun every now and then.  He stressed an obligation to our country and has only missed voting in one election.  He stressed a relationship with God, hard work, dedication and family values.

Note from his daughter:

I am so blessed to have a father with such a wonderful and fruitful life.  I have learned much from him, not the least of which is to love everyone for who they are.  I thank God everyday for the parents that he allowed me to have.  I am honored to be able to share just a small portion of his life with you.

Salute 06/14/2009

Jane Marquiss (Marcus)

Jane was born and raised in Chicago, IL. She attended Monticello University in southern Illinois and received a degree in interior design from the University of Chicago. 10 days after graduation she married Jack and they spent 57 wonderful years together.

Choosing a career was easy. She had never been one to play with dolls, but had always loved her Lincoln Logs. So, she, along with 350 men, took the exam to be licensed as a building contractor. She was one of the first women to attain that license in the state of Tennessee.

Jane spent 47 years building homes in Knoxville and the surrounding areas including, Tellico, Oak Ridge, Gatlinburg and Clinton. She retired when she was 77.

Jane has lived in the same house in South Clinton for the past 44 years and said she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. She is blessed with 1 daughter, 3 grandchildren and soon to be 4 great-grandchildren.

Though she lost her husband to a serious illness a few years ago, at almost 82 years old she has never been really sick. A couple of weeks ago, her doctor decided to do some x-rays just a routine check. What they discovered was stage 4 cancer. They gave her 6 – 8 months to live, though she believes she will beat that. Jane will tell that this hasn’t slowed her down a bit. She has a “piece that passes all understanding” and is ready and willing to embark on the journey God has laid before her. She just hopes that anyone else in her situation receives the strength she has been given to get through it all.

When asked about hobbies she said never really had time because she worked so much. Every morning she got in truck and headed to the lumber yard where she had a cup of coffee and spent some time with the other contractors.  She did enjoy hunting, fishing, snow and water skiing.  When she was 50 she crossed the continental divide on horseback. While she doesn’t do those things anymore, she loves to work on her house and keep it fixed up.

She is so grateful for the life she has lived and has no regrets.