Selina Pendergrass Woods

Jane was notified of  Selina’s death on July 29th by Selina's sister Jean.

Selina has not been well for some months.  She fell in the fall of 2021 breaking her hip.   Her health has gone downhill since then.   She has been in and out of rehab facilities several times as a result of falls, seizures, and recently pneumonia.

If anyone wants to send her husband William Woods a card, his address is 41 Wildwood Street, Winchester MA 01890.

Our condolences go out to William and Selina's family.

Best regards to all of you, dear classmates.

Click on the image of Selina's obituary to view a larger, readable version.

Jack Ferrell

The Monzas

Our classmate, Jack Ferrell, passed away Thursday, June 22nd in Knoxville.  We will remember Jack for his beautiful voice in the Madrigalians and as bass player and vocalist with  Kingsport’s own Monzas.   There was a graveside service in Knoxville on Monday, July 3 2023 at Highland Memorial Cemetery on Kingston Pike at 3:00.

Thank you,

Jerry McIntosh


Click on the image of Jack's obituary to view a larger, readable version; click on the photo of the Monzas to see a larger version.

FYI, in the photo, Jack is at top rear and Jerry McIntosh is at lower left.

Katie Taggart Driskell

Katie welcomes the class to her lake house during our 2015 reunion.

We are sad to let you know that Katie passed away on June 6th.

She will be missed. She was a joy to be around - always happy … always willing to lend a hand and a hug.

Katie was a member of our class reunion planning team and was a big part of planning each of our past reunions.

Her family received friends on June 10th at East Tennessee Funeral Home, 2630 Highway 75 in Blountville. Her funeral service was followed by a private graveside service.

Our best to you and to Katie’s family.

Tom “Pinky” Gannaway

We have learned that Tom Gannaway passed away recently.

Tom was a member of our class, attending DB with us through our sophomore year.  He transferred to Baylor School in Chattanooga and completed his junior and senior years there.

Until recently he lived in the Sacramento CA area.  He recently returned to the Kingsport area and was in touch with classmates.

Jane found an obituary for Pinky, shown to the right.  Click on it to view a more readable version

As Rusty and Chip commented in their notes, Pinky was a good friend and he will be missed.  In our pre-DB days, I remember him as an active player in Fairacres / Linville St / Watauga St neighborhood activities such as football games in the vacant lot next to Bob Reagan's home on Belmeade, and softball games in the back yard at Bill & George Hutchins' home on Watauga.  I smile at the memory of stopping by the grape vines in the back yard of the Gannaway family's Watauga St home in the summer and sampling the yummy sweet grapes that thrived there.

I cherish these good memories and many others from Pinky and our class ... and miss all of those who are no longer with us.

As Barbara  Coughenour would remind us, "God Bless us every one!!"

Bernell Crussell

We were sorry to learn that classmate Bernell Crussell passed away on July 2, 2022.

She lived in Jonesborough and worked in Kingsport for most of her life after graduating from DB with us.

Her obituary from the Kingsport Times and Hamlett Dobson is attached.  The photo is from the Hamlett Dobson web site; I do not know when it was taken.

Theona Cable Moorehouse

Theona is the wife of classmate Cris Moorehouse.  She attended everything with Cris over the past years and continued to attend First Friday even after Cris died in 2015.  - Jane Harris
[See Barbara’s note about Cris' death here.]


Theona Cable Moorehouse, 83, passed away Wed, April 13, 2022. She was affectionately known as “Gran” to her nieces, nephews and next generations who adored her; she and Cris spent countless hours with them celebrating milestones, making grand adventures and being an integral part of their lives.  After their mother’s death in 1971, Theona became a mentor to her three youngest sisters and provided them with a world of experiences they would not have had otherwise.

She and Cris retired from Eastman Chemical and spent their retirement years traveling the world, settling down back at home in their favorite place, Kingsport.  They were active in Habitat for Humanity builds and board work, Appalachian Trail maintenance and volunteered with Meals on Wheels delivering food to those in need.  Theona was a member of the Julius Dugger - John Carter Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Theona and Cris were faithful and dedicated members of First Broad Street United Methodist Church for decades.  After Cris’s death, Theona moved with her sister, Connie, and her husband to Athens, Alabama where she joined Gooch Lane Church of Christ.  She enjoyed life in Alabama and loved her beautiful home and yard.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Crispen Sydney Moorehouse; her parents, W.R. and Pauline Stout Cable, and sisters, Marie Buckingham, Wilma Yap and Trilla Mottern. 

Theona is survived by her brother, Lowell Cable; sisters, Joan Anderson (Ward), Connie Latner (Donnie) and Sherri Lawson (Tim); brother-in-law Evan Moorehouse (Laverne); and sister-in-law, Sue Cumbow (David); several nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, great-great nieces and great-great nephews; as well as lifelong friends Nancy Mallicote and Jody Craft.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at Mountain Home National Cemetery with Dr. Wm. Randall Frye officiating.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to Gooch Lane Church of Christ, PO Box 281, Madison, AL 35758.

Click here to view Theona's obituary at Hamlet-Dobson Funeral Home's web site.

Jerry Gulley

Jerry died Christmas Eve in Daytona Beach, FL, where he had been hospitalized for the past month.

Jerry worked and retired from the machine shop at Eastman. His speed shop on Fort Henry Drive has been a fixture in the local racing culture for decades.

Jerry's obituary, provided to us by Jane Harris, can be downloaded here.

Christine McConnell Barker

Christine McConnell Barker passed away on October 18th, 2021 after a brief illness. A strikingly beautiful and charming woman, she was as brilliant as she was beautiful. She graduated with honors in both marketing and nursing, all while doing the lioness' share of child-rearing and domestic work. After her first degree, she went to a firm to get a job with her marketing degree and was told they weren't hiring secretaries, which was not the exciting financial career she had envisioned. So she pursued the challenging and noble, but more traditional field of nursing, and naturally excelled at that as well. She worked at Indian Path Hospital, then at Tennessee Eastman Chemical Company for most of her career, where she enjoyed her work and made many close friends in the process.

She was a devoted and loving wife to Wayne Barker, missing him profoundly after his death 9 months prior to hers. She was the kind of mother who raised two strong daughters, emphasizing the importance of a career and the ability to be financially independent, while modeling a love of reading and music. She loved travel and cats, going all over the world with Wayne, but always feeling bad leaving the cats at home. She was a giver, perpetually baking for friends, driving distant relatives with no close family to appointments, and volunteering at the local animal shelter. She was also an avid gardener, somehow becoming a Master Gardener between work and kids, and using those skills volunteering in the Exchange Place gardens as well as at home.

Because she cared so much and was paying attention, Christine was very involved in her children's lives and often had strong but subtly delivered opinions. And the thing is, she was usually right. So if she's rearranging the harps and trying to get everyone to wear belts with their flowing robes in the afterlife now, I hope they're going with it. She's probably right. And no doubt, Wayne is at her side, supporting her agenda and blissfully happy to have her back with him.

Christine is deeply missed by her daughters, Cathie Burgin and Cynthia Cox; her granddaughter, Sarah Cox; her step-granddaughter Abby Hardt; her sons-in-law Jack Burgin and Duncan Cox; her brother Walton McConnell and brother-in-law Tom Palmer and their families; and many more whom she touched with her wit, warm smile, and caring friendship.

Befitting their long and happy lives together, a memorial service for both Christine and Wayne Barker will be held at Hamlett Dobson funeral home on Tuesday, March 15th at 2:00 to celebrate their lives and share memories of them. Please wear a mask if you plan to attend.

Cris Moorehouse

Our classmate and friend Cris Moorehouse died early this morning.  I am enclosing his obituary below.

We will definitely miss this big man, his heart and his helping hands.

God bless us everyone!

BC


Crispen Sydney Moorehouse, 73, died on Sunday, December 7, 2015 at Holston Valley after a brief illness.

Cris was born June 25, 1942 in Kingsport, where he was raised and lived most of his life. He retired from Eastman Chemical Company in 1996. Cris was a Vietnam veteran and was active in Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 979, as well as the Tennessee State Council Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc., and a member of American Legion Hammond Post #3. He was a member of First Broad Street United Methodist Church and the Pairs and Spares Sunday School class. Cris participated in the Dobyns-Bennett Class of 1960 First Friday Lunch.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Glen and Myrtle Moorehouse.

Cris is survived by his wife, Theona Cable Moorehouse; his brother, Evan and wife Laverne; his sister, Sue and husband David Cumbow, and their families; Theona’s sisters, Marie Buckingham, Joan Anderson, Connie Latner, and Sherri Hale; and Theona’s brother, Lowell Cable, and their families.

Graveside services will be conducted at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, December 9 at Mountain Home National Cemetery with Military Rites by American Legion Post 3/265. Those attending the service are asked to meet at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, 117 E. Charlement Ave., Kingsport, at 9:45 a.m. for procession to the graveside.

A memorial service will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9 at First Broad Street United Methodist Church, 100 E. Church Circle, Kingsport, with Rev. Joe Green officiating. The V.V.A. Chapter 979 will conduct honors prior to the memorial service. The family will receive friends after the service at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to First Broad Street United Methodist Church, 100 E. Church Circle Kingsport, Tennessee.