80th Birthday Party Invitation

Posted on August 11, 2022November 6, 2023

What:	80^th Birthday Celebration Reunion
When:	Thursday & Friday, September 29 & 30, 2022
Where:	Kingsport, Tennessee
Why:	Because we deserve a CELEBRATION!

A group of your classmates have spent the last few weeks scouring Kingsport for locations to give us an opportunity to enjoy friendships from 62+ years ago; explore several venues that have changed significantly over those years; and review some of the history of our hometown. Most of all we want to have fun remembering and have FUN.

Times and events are listed in the following section. Detail will be sent (email or snail mail) to those who respond they will attend.

The Committee needs your check to cover the cost of the Thursday dinner and a commitment for which events you will attend by Thursday SEPTEMBER 15^th.

Please download, print and return the 80th Birthday Reply Form with your check to Jane Harris, 600 Rambling Road, Kingsport TN 37663. Make your check out to DB Class of 1960. Click here to download the reply form.

Planned Times and Events

Thursday 29^th

3:00 – 5:00 Bus (nice comfortable one) tour with immediate past city manager, Jeff Fleming. Jeff is a Kingsport native, a DB Grad, and a true cheerleader for Kingsport. He will share highlights of our history, show us the significant changes (including the new City Hall) – not just downtown – over past years. He also hopes to gather some of our memories. No cost to you but we need to know if you will attend to ensure space on bus.

6:00 – 9:30 Get reacquainted hour with food and drink. Cash Bar. Dinner at 7:00 – the location is the Press Room located behind the Food City, Farmer’s Market, and Carousel off Center Street across from Domtar (old Mead Paper) Plant. Enjoy food, drink, and good fellowship at this popular venue. Cost $25 per person.

Friday 30^th

10:00 – 12:30 Bays Mountain adventure. We will enjoy a barge ride on the lake, walk across the dam, and enjoy any of the displays and museum we want. There is a $5 entry fee per vehicle to be paid as you enter. No other cost to you but we need to know if you will attend to arrange barge ride on the lake.

1:00 – 3:00 We have reserved a room for lunch at the Chop House on Eastman Road. This will give us a time to again enjoy visiting and some tasty food. Everyone will pay for their own food.

4:00 – 5:30 Tour of the new DB on Center Street – we will be able to tour the STEM section as well as other highlights of the school. No cost to you; but we need to know if you plan to attend so they can arrange adequate tour guides.

This will end our formal events. You are encouraged to plan dinner with friends or family. We can provide a list of local restaurants if needed.

Your Planning Committee

Vivian Eversole Brown, Carolyn Rice Cameron, Barbara Williams Coughenour, Phyllis Fugate, Jim Gee, Jane Beck Harris, Margaret Ketron Colley, Kathy Morse Parham, Ralph Suit, and Diana Woodard Agett. Bill Cobb is also part of our team as he is currently handling our Google Group communications.

Potential Class 80th Birthday Party & Reunion!!

Posted on July 12, 2022September 7, 2022

At our First Friday gathering this month the group voted to have an 80th Birthday reunion this fall. We are proposing a dinner one evening and a bus tour of downtown Kingsport with our immediate past city manager, Jeff Fleming, to hear about recent changes in the downtown area as well as history of the area. He wants to solicit our memories to add to his knowledge of Kingsport’s history. I bet each of you have a couple of memories of something fun about downtown back in the day!

We found one location we liked – Fusion - a very good restaurant that has moved into the Ridgefields Country Club building. We thought it might be good memory wise as well as food wise but - it has limited space so may not work – depending on interest in attending.

We need your input to help us with our planning. We are thinking late September or October would be a good time to gather. We are considering a Thursday evening with the downtown tour either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

Please send an email to Jane Harris at jharris@chartertn.net if you think you would be interested in attending. We realize this will only be tentative interest in attending since no date has been selected. However, your interest will help us select a location. A response needed by July 28th. If there are dates that will NOT work for you, include this information as well. We will move forward with plans and let you know a date and accept actual reservations by late August. We will try our best to accommodate everyone but know that may be impossible.

[Editor's note: Responses about holding a reunion for our 80th are running 4:1 in favor of having one. Please respond to Jane if you have an opinion.]

Margaret Ketron Colley and Diana Aggett Woodard will be contacting the classmates who do not have an email address – believe it or not there are 12 of us with no email.

Our committee so far - let one of us know if you want to join us in planning the party!

Jane Beck Harris	Phyllis Fugate
Sondra Dotson Bridwell	Jim Gee
Vivian Eversole Brown	Carolyn Rice Cameron
Margaret Ketron Colley	Diana Aggett Woodard

Bernell Crussell

Posted on July 2, 2022November 6, 2023

May & June, 2022 First Friday Report

Posted on June 7, 2022June 7, 2022

Thanks to Bill McConnell for the photos and to Jane Beck Harris for identifying attendees and getting the info to us so we can stay up-to-date on who is participating in First Fridays!!

June First Friday Gathering

Attendees at First Friday June starting at left – Jim Gee, Ben Harris, Jane Beck Harris, Phyllis Fugate, Vivian Eversole Brown, Margaret Ketron Colley, Sondra Dotson Bridwell, Bill McConnell, Linda Lambert Robinson, and Ray Robinson.

This is the smallest group we have had in a while but we still had a great time. The Class of 60 Beach Babes are on their annual outing so that may have cut our numbers a bit. We always wish them lots of fun and sun.

May First Friday Gathering

Attendees at First Friday May starting at left – Mickey Deason, Rita Bookhardt Deason, Phyllis Fugate, Jay Dorton, Jim Gee, Ben Harris, Jane Beck Harris, Bill McConnell, Margaret Ketron Colley, Patty Bray Farris, Barbara Williams Coughenour, Vivian Eversole Brown, Kathy Morse Parham, and Carolyn Rice Cameron.

This was our largest group since we resumed meeting post-Covid.

The second photo of the May gathering (below) was taken from the opposite end of the table. Names are the same with addition of Sondra Dotson Bridwell at the far end of the table.

First Friday May 2022 - Photo 2

Monthly “First Friday” Luncheon

Posted on June 6, 2022December 1, 2025

Theona Cable Moorehouse

Posted on April 13, 2022April 30, 2022

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.

April First Friday Report from Jane

Posted on April 1, 2022April 2, 2022

From many of the Kingsport First Friday Group – we have missed seeing everyone who is not in these photos! We were so happy to have several of our group who have been in recovery mode over the past months back with us….present today were Jimmy Gee, Jerry Beck, Jane Beck Harris, Ben Harris, Rita Bookhardt Deason, Mickey Deason, Diana Woodard Aggett, Bill McConnell, Kathy Morse Parham, Sondra Dotson Bridwell, Margaret Ketron Colley, Vivian Eversole Brown, Barbara Williams Coughenour, Phyllis Fugate, Linda Lamberth Robinson, and Ray Robinson.

A special treat for classmate Linda Leeper Brittelli was initiated by Barbara who remembered it was Linda’s birthday – we called her and sang for her!

It was great catching up and we hope to see even more in town classmates next month for First Friday – May 6^th – at O’Charley’s. If you live out of town and want to drive to Kingsport for a nice spring trip – we welcome any classmates in town for the day. We gather between 12 and 12:15 the First Friday of each month in the back room at O’Charley’s.

Jane Harris
jharris@chartertn.net
423-239-9477

D-B is Tennessee’s 4-A State Basketball Champ!!

Posted on March 20, 2022November 6, 2023

The Indians won their first state basketball title since 1945 with a 69-60 victory over Bearden.

D-B Championship team, cheerleaders and fans after the victory over Bearden.

Classmate Chip Hammett summarized the team’s efforts in the championship series nicely: “The semi-final game and the final game both went into overtime. D-B beat Bartlett (Memphis) and then Bearden (Knoxville) in two very exciting games for the Tennessee State Championship. The Indians are back on top like when we left in 1960.”

The Times News March 22nd edition included a good editorial on the victory stating: "This was a tremendous victory for the best D-B team in the memory of most folks alive today." See the editorial here.

MaxPreps also has a good article on DB’s basketball program and the significance of the championship to the program. Click here to see the article.

St. Patty’s Day Update from Jane

Posted on March 17, 2022March 17, 2022

Hey DB Class of 1960

Here are updates on a few things.

For a lot of years we have relied on Sue Shaulis Thomas and Barbara Williams Coughenour to take care of most of our communications and record keeping.

It has been wonderful to keep up with each other through the internet and otherwise over the years. We can’t let our great group of classmates lose touch – but it can happen as we age and have little blips here and there! So - everyone must take a little responsibility and try to stay in touch. When your contact information changes please let us know.

Recent moves and illnesses have disrupted our communication chain. Sue and Rich moved to Colorado to be closer to their son. Barbara had a stroke several weeks ago and is now recovering at home – doing well, continuing with a course of Physical Therapy and improving with help from friends and family. She was at First Friday this month!

Barbara (bcoughenour@gmail.com or 423-367-4293) is still the main google communicator with Ben Harris (harris1@chartertn.net or 423-239-0526) and Bill Cobb (bcobb10b@gmail.com or 678-634-7274) filling in during her recent illness and recovery. Bill is handling our Google Group updates and Ben is updating the local First Friday list. Bill and Ben will be doing those announcements for a while.

Margaret Ketron Colley and Jane Beck Harris have taken responsibility for our bank account - $1,412 which is leftover from past reunions and is used as seed money for planning for new reunions, subsidize the cost of reunions and other things deemed worthy by the local First Friday group.

Jane Beck Harris is also the keeper of the address (email and snail mail) changes so please send them to her. (jharris@chartertn.net or 423-239-9477) She could benefit from an individual to be her back-up. Need to be able to use excel – nothing fancy just keeping data. And you can be a Kingsport resident or live nearly anywhere if you can communicate via email. Check your information and send any updates to Jane.

Katie Taggart Driskell maintains a comprehensive listing of our deceased classmates so contact her if you hear of a death. (ktdriskell@gmail.com or 423-343-3668) Send obits to Bill Cobb so he can distribute them to all classmates via the Google Group and our web site. (bcobb10b@gmail.com or 678-634-7274)

- Jane Harris

Jerry Gulley

Posted on December 24, 2021March 19, 2022