Former Golden Eagles Pose for A Photo at the University of Tennessee during the 1984-1985 season.
Five former Rhea County Golden Eagle football players took a time out during their 1984-1985 season at the University of Tennessee to pose for a portrait on the practice field with their Assistant Coach from U.T. Dennis Terrell, who happens to also be a former Golden Eagles football coach. The players pictured are (front row L-R) Charles Benton Class of 1983 and Jesse Messimer Class of 1984, (middle kneeling) David Johnson Class of 1984. (Back Row L-R) Steve Douglas Class of 1982 and his brother David Douglas Class of 1981. Players Charles Benton, Jesse Messimer and Steve Douglas were all starters during the season. David Douglas #78 went on to play pro football with the NFL. He passed away in 2018 after a three-year battle with brain cancer. Charles Benton # 20 passed away suddenly in 2019.
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
Assistant 911 Director Darlene Monroe says her Co-Workers were family
Grandview resident Darlene Monroe started a new job in October of 1989 as a police dispatcher for the City of Spring City Police Department. She had no way of knowing that this new job would take her on a 34-year journey in a field that would touch the lives of thousands of people. This job can be a stressful one, but it also is a good feeling to go home at night and know you were able to give someone emergency assistance.
When Darlene began working at Spring City Dispatch in 1989, the local 911 system was very manual in comparison to today’s system. When you answered an emergency call, you had the task of having to literally talk a person through the process of getting all the important information from them about their location, phone number, as well as getting the details of their emergency. There were times that getting all the information needed could be difficult especially if you had a caller who was very young, mentally disabled, or injured to the point that they were incapable of providing you with all the details needed to send help out to their location. All this changed in February of 1992 when the new Rhea County Centralized dispatching center was implemented in Evensville. All countywide dispatchers from the Spring City Police Department, Dayton Police Department and Rhea County Sheriff’s Department all came together for the first time under one roof working as one team of dispatchers. There was one huge difference, now they were equipped with the most modern technology available in telecommunications. The 911 system used today combines modern computer technology along with GPS data systems, so that now when a person calls in an emergency, the 911 system immediately pulls up their phone number and location. Leaving only the task of logging in the details of the call and dispatching the proper emergency assistance immediately.
A few years after Central Dispatch for the county was established, Darlene was promoted to the Assistant 911 Director. Her new duties not only consisted of assisting the 911 Director, but she was also preforming various clerical duties relating to the hiring and training of new dispatchers. Even after her promotion, she could still be heard on the radio dispatching for when an employee was out sick, or a major call was going down. Over the course of her career, Darlene was the assistant for three 911 directors, Al West the original founding director, Charles Riggs which replaced Al West after his retirement, and for the current Director Shane Clark.
During her retirement reception on September 8, 2023, Darlene was recognized by Bo Kaylor the Chairman of the 911 Board as one of the top Assistant Directors in the state of Tennessee. She was presented with a plaque by Bo Kaylor and Shane Clark honoring her many years of dedicated service. “I know I’ve learned a lot from Darlene in my 18 years as director”, Clark stated. Rhea County Executive Jim Vincent stated, “On behalf of Rhea County, I’d like to thank you for giving so much of your life to serve our citizens”.
As Darlene addressed and spoke of her appreciation to all of the attendees of the celebration, she stated, “I was privileged to have been able to work with so many men and women from various departments throughout the county for all these years, we’ve become more like family than co-workers”.
Many members of the various departments throughout the county were on hand to wish Darlene a happy retirement. Darlene’s last official day will be September 15, 2023.
The video below contains Chairman Bo Kaylor’s presentation to Darlene Monroe.
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
Fire truck Driver on Duty 24 Hours Beginning June 16, 1958.
Beginning on Monday June 16, 1958, the Dayton Fire Department, for the first time, had a full-time paid firefighter on duty 24 hours a day. At the time, the fire department was located in the City Hall building, which was located on West Main Street, next to the old post office. The photo above shows the building as it appeared when it was constructed in the early 1930s. It would go on to be used until 1977. They hired the two new drivers according to Commissioner George Barnard, the head of the fire and police departments, with the schedule of working 24 hours on and 24 hours off. They hired a third man to act as a relief for the two firemen and also to relieve the three-man police force. They provided sleeping quarters at the fire hall for the driver. They installed a telephone at the fire hall and the siren was to be used to announce the general area of the fire to alert the volunteer firefighters. Commissioner Barnard announced the selection of Bill Keylon and Robert Morgan out of 12 applications for the new full-time firefighter positions in the town of Dayton.. W.O. Patton accepted the position as the fire and police department relief man. The very first mention of a fire department in Dayton came in 1892 seven years after Dayton got its first charter in 1885. The Howe Pump and Engine Company sent a correspondence to the Mayor of Dayton, informing him that the new horse-drawn hand cart fire engine had been shipped and would arrive in a few days. The new City Hall, Police and Fire building on Main Street was used until 1977 when the new Police and Fire complex was built on Market Street. They added a station in the Industrial Park back in approx 2010-2012. Today Dayton Fire Chief Justin Jackson supervises an Asst. Fire Chief and twelve full-time firemen along with a crew of approx. 20 paid on call volunteer firefighters. The department has three pumper trucks, two aerial ladder trucks, and one rescue truck. Commissioner George Barnard, who in 1958 was very supportive of the new fire department, tragically died in a house fire on south Market Street in 1960.
For Addition Information on Related Subjects See the Links Below.
If I were to pick out pick out my most favorite photos in my collection, this one would rate right up there in the top. This photo shows the city gates, as they were referred to. I’ve often heard local citizens talk about the gates which were located at the edge of town where the city limits start. On the north end, the gates were located near the present-day 11th Ave & 27 bypass area. The south city gates shown here were located on south Market Street, just below the entrance to the Food City parking lot. While the exact date of this photo is unknown, the two ladies shown in this photo are (left to right) Maxine Monday and Nellie Sedman. The two became sisters-in-law when Maxine Monday married Nellie’s brother, Jesse Sedman, in January 1947. Nellie married Robert Abel, the son of John R. Abel Jr., a descendant of Cain Abel. In 1807, Cain Abel settled here and began farming. Currently, I have not found any documentation of when the construction or removal dates were for the city gates.
(Photo Courtesy of the Abel Family Collection)
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
The feature photo above shows the dairy barn located on the Abel farm in south Dayton. While the exact date of construction is unknown, we do know that it was built by John R. Abel, Jr., the grandson of Cain Abel who settled here in 1807 and began farming this property. When the railroad came through Smith Crossroads, the track was laid right through the Abel family’s farm. Throughout the years, the descendants have been parting with portions of the property for the sake of progress.
In January of 1954, engineers employed by the Tennessee Highway Department began studying the survey for a bypass route which would take US HWY 27 traffic around the Market Street bottleneck. The proposed new route would leave the present highway south of Dayton and cross the Abel farm and move through the suburbs of the city toward Bryan Hill., veering back towards the present route and rejoining it near the north gates of the city. During this time of 1954, Dayton had two sets of stone gates welcoming people into the town. The gates were located on US HWY 27, which is now known as Market Street. Each gate marked the locations of the city limits along the highway. The northern gate was located near the present-day 11th Ave crossing and the southern gates were located just south of the current day Food City Shopping Center near the car wash. (2023).
The talk of this bypass had been in the works for several years due to the fact that Market Street, the main throughfare through Dayton and traffic, was hindered with the parked cars in downtown and the pedestrians crossing the streets. The new US HWY 27 bypass was completed in 1960.
Cain Abel was the first Abel to settle here, his property stretched from Richland Creek down to the vicinity of where 84 Lumber is today. There are small portions of land in south Dayton that are still owned by descendants of the Abel family. The most recent portion of Abel property sold was near the Hwy 27 and Hiwassee Highway Bypass. According to management of the Food City, they will in the future be constructing a new Food City grocery store facility at that location.
This view of the remnants of the barn was taken from across Hwy 27, when it burned to the ground in the early 1970’s. The photo shows its location to be where the present-day Food City is located.This is a current day aerial view of the shopping center where the old Abel barn was located. It was situated about where the current day Food City is located in this photo.
Other Related Articles Can Be Seen at The Links Below
Motion Picture Theater Construstion Halted, Home Store Later Finishes Construction
A March 16, 1950, issue of the Dayton Herald Newspaper held an announcement by W.C. Woodlee, manager of the current theater on Market Street. The announcement was for the plans of construction of a new 1000 seat capacity theater to be located at the corner of 2nd and Market Street. Another photo in the Dayton Herald Newspaper on June 22, 1950, showed the construction of the steel support beams. It was during construction that the hostilities began in Korea and caused the construction to be halted. The partially constructed skeleton sat abandoned for two years. After being deemed an eye sore the skeleton was sold to the Home Stores of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Construction resumed and the plans called for a brand-new supermarket with office spaces on the second floor. The building was eventually finished and from that day forward has been the home to various businesses throughout the years. Mainstage Music currently occupies the building.
Pictured Left to Right is Dayton Fireman Paul Patton, Dayton Policemen Bill Dilday, Luther Ray and Charles Robinette. (Photo Courtesy of the Ray Family)
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
It was just after midnight at the Rhea County Jail on February 28, 1982, and things were going along normally. Sgt. Bruce Owens was sitting in the dispatcher’s office for a few minutes to relieve the dispatcher on duty, who needed to go to the back cell block area; the dispatcher also served as the jailer.
Dispatcher Jim Lowe entered the cell block area to release an inmate who had been serving time on the weekends for DUI. As Lowe opened the cell door, another inmate later identified as 32 years old James Allen Smith, who was being held in the same cell, stuck a Bic cigarette lighter in Lowe’s back and said it was a gun and marched Lowe to the front of the jail.
Sgt. Owens, who was sitting in the dispatcher’s office at the front of the jail in the hallway leading from the cell block areas, encountered Smith in his escapee attempt. Sgt Owens attempted to subdue Smith and during the scuffle Smith was trying to get ahold of Sgt. Owen’s pistol when the pistol discharged even before it was all the way out of the holster.
During the struggle, Dispatcher Lowe managed to get to the rear parking lot of the jail and call for help on one of the radios in a patrol car. As Smith exited the rear of the jail, he encountered deputy Charles Walling, Dayton Police officers Ed Byron and Charles Suttles who had responded to the call for help.
Officer Suttles managed to retreat behind a patrol car, but Smith was able to take Walling and Byron hostage. Smith took the officers and left the jail heading north in a patrol car driven by Officer Byron, while Smith held a gun on him and Walling.
The captured officers radioed back for all other patrol cars to stay back, or Smith would shoot them. Smith had forced Byron to drive to Jackson Island where he handcuffed Byron and Walling in the back of the car, then shot out the radio and fled the area.
Officers Byron and Walling managed to free themselves and commandeered a vehicle from a nearby fisherman. Soon after, word reached the jail that the two officers taken hostage was freed and safe, however a massive manhunt began to search for Smith.
According to Sheriff Henderson, Smith was spotted a couple of times but managed to elude the police. “He was raised in the area and knows the terrain”, Henderson said.
After combing the hills and farmland of eastern Rhea County for a second day, authorities reduced their search. The district attorney’s office filed new charges against Smith, who already had agreed to a 30-year sentence for the charges he was held on prior to the escape.
Sgt. Owen’s, 47, who was shot in the abdomen remained in critical condition at Erlanger Hospital. The bullet destroyed his kidneys and spine.
The Shreveport Police Department in Louisiana encountered James Allen Smith on Friday afternoon March 5, 1982, after he robbed a drug store. When Officer Donald Norwood confronted Smith, he was shot by Smith once in the leg and in the arm.
Officer Norwood managed to follow Smith to a residence about 10 blocks away. Officers surrounded the home and after about a 45-minute standoff, a single shot was heard from inside the house. When officers entered the home, they found that Smith had shot himself in the head.
Smith’s body was identified after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation forwarded medical and personal files on Smith to Louisiana.
Smith’s body was returned home, and his family laid him to rest in the Ewing Cemetery in Wolf Creek, Tennessee.
For the next 12 and a half years, Owens battled with the Rhea County Government about financial assistance with his medical bills. The county at the time had no provisions for financial security to any officer, hurt or killed in the line of duty.
Just prior to being shot Sgt. Bruce Owens who is shown in the photo holding a Commendation he was awarded for his actions in single-handedly apprehending two escapees from the Chattanooga Community Services Center, who were holding a Correctional Officer hostage.
Sgt. Owens remained confined to a wheelchair, never walking again. He lived out the remainder of his life at the Rhea County Nursing Home. He passed away on December 30, 1994, and was buried in the Spring City Memorial Gardens Cemetery.
The following video was made 5 years after Sgt. Owens was shot. Hear Sgt. Owens in his own words as he describes the night he was shot and left paralyzed. Hear the county commissioners in their own words as they abandon Sgt. Owens in his financial struggle.
Rhea County Commissioners
1982
The following were duly elected and serving Rhea County Commissioners in 1982 at the time when Deputy Bruce Owens was shot in the line of duty.
Cindy Cary-Chairman
Dan Wade- County Executive
Jimmy Wilkey- County Clerk
Bobby Aikman
Burch Bridgeman
Bobby Burton
James Byerly
Joe Davis
Gene Dunn
William B. Ewing
Austin Hardaway
Buck Hardy
Colonel Harris
Donald Keylon
Howard Nixon
Johnny Roddy
Howard Sims
James E. Tallent
William E. Thedford
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
(Curly Fox Photo Courtesy of Cunnyngham Studio Archives)
Rhea County Resident Curly Fox Champion Fiddler
Curly Fox was once described as more than just another Grand Ole Opry old-timer; he was probably the most influential fiddler in country music history, and one of the most popular entertainers of his time.
The fiddler, who got his nickname from his long wavy hair, has played in the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., the Opry’s historic Ryman Auditorium and the present-day Grand Ole Opry House.
The most popular Curly Fox tunes have been “Listen to the Mockingbird,” “Black Mountain Rag,” and “Old Gray Mule”.
Famed violinist Fritz Kreisler, after hearing Fox’s fiddling during the “Mockingbird,” said, “What a waste of talent.”
The son of a barber, Armin L. Fox known as Curly Fox was born in Graysville, Tennessee, and with the help of his father he was playing in old time medicine shows by the time he was 13. He played with legendary old time string bands like the Skillet Lickers, The Roane County Ramblers, and the Carolina Tar Heels. During the Depression, Fox led his own band, the Tennessee Firecrackers, on WSB in Atlanta.
Curly met Texas Ruby Owens when he joined the Opry in the late 1930s. In 1939, they married, forming one of the most popular husband and wife teams in country music.
Fox and Texas Ruby had an NBC radio show from 1940 to 1944, which originated from WLW in Cincinnati. It was one of the first country music network shows.
In 1946, at the request of king and queen of Greece, President Harry S. Truman asked Curly and Texas Ruby to give a command performance.
In 1948, Curly and Ruby moved to Houston, Texas, where they remained for over a decade, working in radio and television.
In 1960, the pair returned to work on the Grand Ole Opry, but Ruby often fell ill, and Fox frequently performed solo.
An album was recorded together for Starday Records in 1963, but 72 hours after the recording session ended, while Fox was appearing on the Opry, a fire broke out in the couple’s home and Ruby was killed. It was grim month in Opry history, as Ruby was the fifth Grand Ole Opry star to die that month, following Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Jack Anglin.
After her death, Fox played solo for several years, but eventually moved to Chicago to live with family. In his olden age, he sporadically performed live; he returned to Graysville in the mid-1970s, performing with a local bluegrass outfit before retiring.
Curly Fox died in November 1995, at the age of 85, he was laid to rest in the Pleasant View Cemetery in Graysville, Tennessee.
When Dr. Archie Morgan wasn’t pulling teeth, he was known to pull your leg while clowning around. Dr. Morgan, shown in the feature photo above, began his career in dentistry around 1948. Beginning in 1979, he launched his clown act. During the 1984 Strawberry Festival Parade, the children voted Morgan as one of the top five clowns in the Best Children’s category. The second contest that Morgan participated in as a clown was in the white face category at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Clown Festival, where he took the first-place award. Morgan’s rise to clown dom began with an infatuation for Emmett Kelly, a former clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Morgan also had a penchant for stuffed clowns. He had between 15 and 20 of the stuffed variety hidden away in his office in a closet. He would often use them to entertain children who came into his dentist’s office for treatment and were showing signs of fear and anxiety. Once a little girl grasped one and wouldn’t let go. “I didn’t have the heart to ask for it back”, Morgan later said. Archie Morgan was a member of the Dayton Masonic Lodge #512 and the Scottish Rite, as well as a member of the clown unit with the Alhambra Shrine. Sadly, Archie passed away on December 4, 1992, and was laid to rest in the Buttram Cemetery.
Copyright All Rights Reserved -Yesterday In Dayton
Please Consider using The Social Media Buttons Below To Share This Story So Others May See It.
