2004 POWELL FAMILY NEWS AND REUNIONS
TRAVELING OVER A
NEW ROUTE TO THE REUNION
The 21st annual reunion will
be held Labor Day Weekend, September 3-6, 2004 at NORRIS DAM STATE PARK, Lake City, Tennessee with
the big picnic on SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2004 AT NOON.
The Powell family consists of the
descendants of Joseph and Mary Ann Summers Powell of the Pine Orchard
Community, Morgan County, Tennessee.
Their children were Charlie, Ernest, Frankie, John, Levi, Rube and
Vesta. Rhodes and Nancy Hodges Powell
were the parents of Joseph Powell. The
reunion has expanded to the descendants of Rhodes’
other children; Martha, William, Garrett Stanton, Louise, Mary, and Rhodes,
Jr. We also have descendants of some 10
“other Powell’s” attending who are working on their genealogy
and everyone is sharing information.
As you notice, we have a change in
location this year which is further north.
The people from the North have had to travel the longest distance so it
is now reversed and the people from the South will be traveling the longest
distance.
Norris Dam State
Park is
located on the shores of Norris Lake at the site of Norris Dam, the first of a series of dams
built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, completed in 1936. The park contains more than 4,000 acres. The park is located 20 miles North of
Knoxville and is accessible from I-75.
The park has no
vacancies in their cabins. They are
completely booked for that weekend. The
park does have 2 camping areas with 40 sites in the east section and 50 sites
in the west section of the park. They do
not take reservations for the camping sites.
They are on a first-come, first-served basis. They do have boat rentals at the marina
865-494-8138.
Our get-together on
Sunday, the 5th will be in the park office complex at the West
entrance to the park, in the “Craft Room” which is air conditioned
and large enough to accommodate our group, complete with standard size banquet
tables and chairs. The chairs are
stackable type chairs. If you want a
more comfortable type chair, you are welcome to bring folding chairs. We should have enough tables for our food and
drinks and space for everyone to sit and eat their meal. If you think you might get cold in the air
conditioning, you might want to bring a sweater or jacket. An air conditioned location is what most
have wanted since the weather has been so hot on Labor Day weekend for the past
several years. There is an electrical
outlet for our sound system. Restrooms
are in the adjoining area between our room and the swimming pool area,
handicapped accessible. There is a
picnic area with picnic tables near this building for those who wish to eat
outside weather permitting.
For those of you who
need directions to this area of the park, take Exit #128
– Lake City – from I-75 Hwy 441 to the West Entrance to
the park office complex, 2.8 miles on the left.
Follow the signs for
the swimming pool which will be on the left and you will be turning up a hill
to the left.
There is a great emphasis
on historical interpretation at Norris, with the W.G. Lenoir Pioneer Museum, an 18th century Rice grist mill, and Crosby threshing barn. Meal is
ground daily during the summer months and knowledgeable people are available to
answer your questions. A gift shop is
located in the mill featuring authentic Tennessee crafts. Hours 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. There is no
admission charge to these attractions.
The park has 19 rustic
(oldest) cabins and 10 3-bedroom deluxe
(newest) cabins. The rustic cabins are
on the East side of the dam (East entrance).
I will be in #15 in the rustic cabin section. The deluxe cabins are on the West side of the
dam next to the office complex. You are
welcome to come see my cabin as a “sample” any time on Saturday or
Sunday afternoon. There is about $20.00
difference in the type. I will be
arriving on Friday afternoon and leave on Monday morning. If you are coming from the West side of the
dam, bear to the left after crossing the dam and follow signs to the rustic
cabins. You will be going up a hill to
this area. I think these cabins are
reserved very far in advance so if we decide to have the reunion here again
next year, make a reservation before you leave as you can make a reservation a
year in advance.
There is an
Olympic-sized swimming pool adjoining the building for our Sunday
get-together. It will be open Labor Day
Weekend and lifeguards will be on duty.
Admission is $3.00 per person.
There is no restaurant
in the park. See list below of nearby
restaurants. For those coming for the
weekend and like hiking, there are 18 different walking trails in the
park. Maps are available at the park
office.
For those of you
receiving the newsletter via E-mail, there is a map of the park on their
website which is www.tnstateparks.com/norris If
you would like a more detailed map, please let me know and I will send you
one. If you want further information
about the park, you can call 865-426-7461 or 1-800-543-9335.
Listed below is the
information concerning the motels and restaurants near the park.
EXIT #122 –
Norris-Clinton – Hwy 61 to Hwy 441 - Approximately 4 miles to the East
Entrance of the park – follow signs inside park (opposite side of
park/dam for our Sunday get-together).
There is a visitor center at this exit.
MOTELS
Best Western Clinton – 865-457-2311 or
1-800-937-8376 –
Continental breakfast and pool.
Comfort Inn Clinton
– 865-457-2255 or
1-800-424-6423 –
Continental breakfast and pool.
Holiday Inn Express Clinton – 865-457-2233 or
1-800-465-4329 – Continental breakfast
and pool.
Super 8 Motel Clinton
– 865-457-0565 or
1-800-800-8000 –
Continental breakfast and pool.
RESTAURANTS
Arby’s, Burger
King, *Golden Girls Restaurant (country cooking – nice), Hardee’s,
*Harrison’s (nice), Krystal, McDonald’s,
Shoney’s, Subway, Waffle House, Wendy’s.
*Locally owned but
good
Exit #128 – Lake City – Hwy 441.
2.8 miles to the West entrance to the park and to the park office
complex.
No motels or
restaurants.
Exit #129 – Lake City – Go to Exit #128 to the West entrance of Norris Dam State
Park.
MOTELS
Days Inn Lake City – 865-426-2816 or
1-800-329-7466 –
Continental breakfast and pool.
RESTAURANTS
Burger King, Cracker
Barrel, KFC, McDonald’s, Subway.
Another important change that everyone
needs to keep in mind is that the first UT football game will also be on Sunday, September 5, at 8:00 PM. They will be playing UNLV. This change from Saturday to Sunday is at the
request of ESPN which means that traffic through Knoxville will be heavy all day as people start arriving early the morning of a game. Here are the best routes to avoid Knoxville traffic and road construction.
Those of you traveling from the North should not have a problem with
traffic as you will not be traveling through Knoxville. If you are traveling from
the East, be sure to take I-640 West to I-75 and
you will not be going through Knoxville but I-40 West goes through the middle of Knoxville. If you are coming from
the South on I-75, take Exit 81 – Oak
Ridge/Lenoir City. You want
to go toward Oak
Ridge on Hwy. 95 which will take you through Oak Ridge toward Clinton to Hwy. 61. This will bring you to I-75 North Exit
122. If you are coming from the West on
I-40, tale Exit 356 – Oak Ridge/Lenoir City. You want to go toward Oak Ridge on Hwy. 95 which will take you
through Oak Ridge toward Clinton to Hwy. 61. This will bring you to I-75 North Exit 122.
Cheryl Norman is interested in compiling
a Powell Family Cookbook. Sharon Moss
presented this idea in 1997 but we had such few responses that it was not
pursued. So let’s try again. Bring your favorite recipes to the reunion
this year or if you do not have time to get them copied for Cheryl, you can
send them to her after the reunion. You
can send them via E-mail to cherylnorman420@hotmail.com
or you can mail them via USPS to Cheryl Norman, 127 Howard Ave, Harriman, TN 37748. This would give her time to
have the cookbook ready for the reunion in 2005.
Larry and Sondra Johnson are building a
new house in Arizona and will be moving soon.
As of 8/15/2004, his
father Charles V. Johnson will have this address: 23402 North 84th St., Scottsdale, AZ 85255-3525. Phone #480-513-3875. Larry wanted to get him moved and settled in
a residential care facility before their move to their new house.
Thanks to Becka (Powell) Clanton,
daughter of Tom Powell and sister to Gordy, Scot and Tigger for sending me
information about her family. Becka
lives with her husband Norman and children Ashlie and little Norman in Cartersville, GA. Her husband Norman runs
the shipping department of Williams Brothers, a very successful lumber
company. They depend on him a lot as he
is a very hard worker and they want to give him his own store. Becka is a Deputy Clerk for Bartow County
Juvenile Court. She works with a great
group of people and the Judge is an amazing woman who knows her stuff. Becka is not in school right now as she has
taken some time off for the children but she is going for Medical Transcription
(a very demanding field) and she has a 4.0 GPA.
Ashlie swims on the Water Polo team, swims with the high school team and
summer rec. She just competed at
District Level and competed at State Level this summer. Ashlie is going into the 10th
grade, driving and got a new car, “watch out world”!!!! She hopes to go to UGA on a swim and dive
scholarship. She carries a 3.7 GPA. Little Norman is playing football. His
team placed second last season and he swims rec. and just completed at District
Level. Norman is going into the 5th grade with straight
A’s. We hope to see Becka and her
family at the reunion. They have missed
a few years.
We have a family member in active duty in
the military – Army, David Powell who is the son of Gordy and Sheila
Powell, grandson of Tom Powell. Tom
suggested that we send him cards on special occasions including his birthday of
October 31. David is in the US Army,
stationed in Korea. David was at the reunion
last year and joined the Army about a month after that. If there are other family members in the
military in active duty, send me their names and addresses so I can distribute
the information for sending them cards also.
David Powell
Charlie Co. 307 SIG BN
Unit #15380
Box #370
APO AP 96260-5380
J. R. Darby, husband of Norma Delozier,
went into the U S Army in July, 1942. He
became a gunner on a B-24 bomber. Early
in 1943, he was sent to the China-Burma-India area. On his 49th bombing mission, he
was wounded, was in a hospital at Kunming, China where he received his purple heart (to go with his distinguished
flying cross, air medal and others).
After recovery, he went on to complete 93 missions. On October 27,2003, he recalled it was 60 years since he was wounded. That week the newspaper ran a story about a
B-24 being at the airport (Chattanooga). The last day it was
there, his daughters called to tell him they were taking him to see the
plane. Imagine his surprise and joy when
they presented him a ticket to ride on the B-24. The children and grandchildren put together
$400.00 for a 45-minute ride. They all
thought he deserved it. We missed J.R. and Norma, Jim and Nancy
Seagroves, and The Stipanov family at the reunion last year. I understand they are all planning to attend
this year. J.R. and Norma have both had
sickness this past year and are doing better now.
Bring a covered dish, cameras,
camcorders, family records and genealogy information to share, musical instruments,
old pictures and recipes for the cookbook.
I will have drinks consisting of 2 gallons tea (1 gallon sweet tea), 3
gallons lemonade, regular coffee, 1 gallon fruit punch and endless ice water
for Sunday. If you prefer soft drinks,
you are welcome to bring your choice for your family. We have plenty of supplies from before.
The “other Powell’s”
that have attended our reunions are Arthur M. Bohanan and wife Betty of New
Market, TN, descendants of Catherine Powell.
He told us last year that he has traced his family to be related to
Dolly Parton. Maybe he can invite Dolly
to our reunion this year!!!! John and
Willie Davis of Kingston/Crossville, TN.
Willie is a Powell descendant.
Willie makes good chicken and dumplings.
We hope she will bring some to the reunion this year. I understand she has brothers who are
musicians and singers. Maybe she can
persuade them to come this year as they have their reunion on Saturday, the day
before ours. Ron and Susan Powell Kirby
of Knoxville and Susan’s brother Roy L. Powell of Soddy Daisy, TN. Janet Powell King and her daughter Kay King
Klein of Knoxville. Rusty Munger and his
great uncle Lowry Powell of Chattanooga. Avery Powell and wife Pat
of Dandridge, TN. Ora Powell and her mother
Eva Brown Powell of Chattanooga. Drenda Powell Voiles and husband Jimmy and
Drenda’s mother, Reba Powell of Chattanooga. Frank Powell of Knoxville has not been to the reunion but he sent me a copy of the research
he has done. He always attends the
Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration in Shelbyville, TN which ends on Saturday night before our reunion. He formerly had Tennessee Walking horses
himself. Maybe he can make it to the
reunion this year since it is closer to Knoxville.
I may have located information about Ambrose
Powell this weekend. I found a listing
for an Ambrose Powell in the Asheville, NC phone directory and called and spoke with his wife Gail. They have a lot of information and are
sending me a copy of what they have.
They have traced their lineage back to Myles or Miles Standish who came
over on the Mayflower. It would be
wonderful if they could come to the reunion this year and all of you could
exchange information.
We hope all of you “other
Powell’s” can attend this year as we had 5 different sets attending
last year in addition to our family. In
our family I know that Dan Cooley, Buddy
Lorimer, and Tom Powell have researched genealogy and have a lot of
information. Bring all of the
information you have. All of these will
receive a newsletter in addition to others who have made inquiries from our
newspapers and web site. The reunion
notice went to some 60 different newspapers including Tennessee, the Tennessee side of Kentucky and North
Carolina
We have had several of our family members
with illness, hospitalization, rehab therapy, home health therapy, accidents
and surgery this past year. These are
the ones I have heard about Mary Cate, Martha Lou Cole, J.R. and Norma Darby,
Leila Belle Doerflein, Helen Hayes, Brenda Kuhn, Sharon Moss, Cheryl Norman,
Jess and Norma Powell, Louise Powell, Patsy Powell, Tom Powell, Nancy Vinson,
Edna Stone Bardill, James Cagle, Frankie Howard, Buddy Lorimer, Lewis
Hatfield. We pray that all of you will
have good health and improve daily
Our sympathy goes out to those who have
lost loved ones. Our losses included
Viola Powell Cagle – sympathy to Jimmy and David Cagle and brothers Jess,
Henry, Lawrence, Otis, Everett, and George Powell, Jr.
Patty Powell – sympathy to Terry and their twin daughters Suzanne and
Ginger, Walter and Mona and Stanley Powell.
Jim Polly – sympathy to Saundra Hearne Polly and Nellie Williams,
mother-in-law. Linda Hearne Starkey
– sympathy to Mike Starkey, Nellie Williams – mother, brother Mark
Hearne and sisters Phyllis Robbins and Saundra Polly. Liz Kendrick Kozee – sympathy to Tani
Loyd daughter, brother Tom Kendrick and sisters Edna Waldo and Loretta
Cox. Sympathy to Louise Summers Powell
who lost her brother Sam Summers.
Sympathy to Rusty Munger who lost his brother Robert Powell Munger as a
result of a motorcycle accident.
Lloyd Powell and I discussed the subject
of having a church service and we decided not to have one this year with the
change in location and people not sure of finding the new location and how much
travel time to allow. We will discuss
this on Sunday for next year. Lloyd is
bringing a sound system so we will have that to discuss things so everyone can
hear. We want all of you musicians to
bring your musical instruments for our “talents” in the afternoon
after the meal. If you play/sing in a
group, invite them to the reunion. In
the past we have enjoyed Hutch and Marilyn along with Forrest and Lucas,
Walter, Tigger, Tammy, Dennis, Jess and Henry.
Walter’s cousins are good musicians and singers; Donnie and
Jackie, Lyle and Iretta, Jason and Cheryl.
I talked with Dennis Howard last week as
he and Brenda have missed the reunion the past 2 years. They like to travel. In fact, they may be going on vacation again
this year at the same time as our reunion.
He did tell me that Brenda is starting a new job with a company in
Ooltewah, TN that manufactures bicycles and they had built the one that Lance
Armstrong rode to win the tour de France.
According to Cheryl, Tom Powell is
bringing a book of Powell History to the reunion, one that he has
compiled. She says he has had it printed
and bound but that it still needs more organizing, an index completed and
photos added. Anxious to see what this
includes.
We need a volunteer(s) to take care of
the name badges and sign-in book. I have
the name badges and sharpies. I also
have a book already divided into blocks for a sign-in book. I made this for the Pine Orchard School
Reunion in June and there are still plenty of spaces for our reunion. This will help me keep everything together in
one place.
For those of you who are single, you are
welcome. This is not just for
families. We want to see you if you are
single, divorced or widowed. If your
immediate family relatives are unable to attend, please come on. We haven’t seen some of you in a few
years and miss you. If you have ever
attended, you can rest assured that you are asked about each year that you
don’t come back. We welcome all
age groups; newborn, toddlers, small children, teenagers, young adults,
middle-aged on up to senior adults. We
have one person with a perfect attendance record and she is one of our
“oldest Powell’s”, Mary Cate who will be 89 years old in
November. We hope she will be strong
enough to attend this year as she has been looking forward to it since last
year’s reunion.
I know there is road construction going
on in Tennessee and probably other states that you may travel through. The toll free numbers that you may call ahead
of time for road construction delays are TENNESSEE – 1-800-858-6349 and KENTUCKY – 1-800-459-7623. Georgia does not have a toll free number for road construction. Hopefully they will stop construction during
that weekend but traffic is slowed down through construction zones
We will be selling chances on a quilt
again this year. It is called Velvet
Dreams. It has appliqué work with
velvet/satin embellishments. The Craft
Room for our reunion is $81.94 including tax.
We are saving postage money by using the E-mail addresses. Prince Powell has volunteered to sell the
chances but she will need a helper so we need another volunteer. We will have
several door prizes again this year.
Cheryl has already told me she has several to bring and I have several
things. If any of you have new items that you would like to
bring for door prizes, you are welcome to do this. I find things on closeout or buy-one-get-one
free. People enjoy winning something
even it is small. If you do not have any
door prizes to contribute this year, try to plan to bring some next year. Thanks to all of you who brought door prizes
last year
I want to express my thanks to Tammy
Powell for printing the name/address mailing labels for me to use in mailing
the newsletter to those who do not have E-mail.
If you are receiving this newsletter via USPS and have an E-mail
address, please let me know so I will have it for future Powell-related
correspondence. If you have someone in
your family who does not receive the newsletter, please send me their
information to include in our directory which I hope to have current copies at
the reunion. I also want to thank Cheryl
Norman for sending the thank-you notes after the reunion last year.
Our information is located on the following web