| Sources |
- [S75] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume II, 1955-1973, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 19 Aug 1972.
Roy McMahan obituary
- [S76] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume III, 1974-1986, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 14 Jul 1976.
Columbus "Lum" McMahan obituary
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 30 Oct 1990.
Murphy Andrew Shular obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 21 Jun 2004.
This Father's Day, one Sevierville woman remembers the special relationship her father had with a man who called her father an inspiration.
Mary Jane Seagle, the daughter of Charles Shular, said that her father had a heart transplant performed by Dr. Bill Frist, the same man who would go on to become a Republican senator from Tennessee and the nation's Senate Majority Leader. Sen. Frist performed the procedure at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville on July 17, 1993.
"He personally carried the new heart over to the hospital and put it in my daddy," said Seagle. "He saved my daddy's life."
Seagle said her father lived approximately 10 years after the transplant. He died on his birthday this year, Jan. 9.
Seagle said that over the years after the transplant, Frist was in contact, always calling and telling her father when he was in town campaigning or had personal business.
"He would send Christmas cards every year, cards when he had the anniversary of transplant, and would send birthday cards every year," Seagle said of Frist. "It was considered a new life. He kept calling and would talk to daddy, and they became good friends.
"Before he went into the Senate, he told daddy he wanted to get out of the doctor profession because he said he would get tired of it," Seagle added.
Two weeks before her father passed away, Seagle said Frist was in Knoxville and heard her father was in the hospital to have his leg amputated because of high sugar.
Frist made a surprise visit to see her father, along with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
"He hadn't had any reaction for two to three days, but when he saw (Frist), his face lit up," said Seagle of her father. "(My father) knew him, but sometimes he didn't know us. Frist was a real inspiration to him, and he stood by him all along."
Seagle added there was going to be a reunion for all of Frist's heart transplant patients recently, and her father was planning to attend but was not able to because of the hospital visit.
As her father and Frist became friends, Seagle said he supported Frist throughout his campaign.
"He was Frist all the way," said Seagle. "Sen. Frist was honest with you. He never told you things he really didn't know. A lot of doctors don't do that, but he did. Daddy thought he was number one."
When asked, aside from his encounters with Frist, what she remembered special about her father, Seagle wasted no time.
"He was a farmer all his life," she said. "He was raised on a farm, raised tobacco, and had cattle, horses and pigs."
Shular was actually born in Ohio, to M. A. and Ruby Shular, who were originally from Sevierville but moved back because of better work and to purchase the farm they lived on, according to Seagle.
Seagle said her father was also a military veteran, serving in the Korean War, and was buried with full military honors.
"Daddy was always a fighter," said Seagle.
* jkindred@themountainpress.com
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 9 Jan 2004.
Charles Hugh Shular
January 09, 1933 - January 09, 2004
Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
Resided In: Sevierville Tennessee USA
Visitation: January 11, 2004
Service: January 11, 2004
Cemetery: Smoky Mountain Memory Gardens
Charles Hugh Shular, 71, of Sevierville died Friday Jan. 9, 2004.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Murphy (M.A.) and Ruby Shular; son and daughter-in-law; Frankie and Mary Shular; son-in-law, David Gibson; brother, Bob Shular
Survivors:
Wife; Molly Shular
Daughter and son-in-law; Mary Jane and Smiley Seagle
Daughter; Nancy Gibson
Grandchildren; Melissa McCarter and husband Brian, Stephanie Baker and husband Joey, Rodney Seagle and wife Jeniffer, Scott and Amy Gibson, Timothy and Daniel Shular
Great grandchildren; Carrie Jane Ogle, Dalton McCarter, Frankie and Emily Baker, Babe Gibson
Sister and brother-in-law; Pat and Bill Justus
Brothers and sisters-in-law; Larry Joe and Nancy Shular, and Delmar and Bety Shular
Uncle; Bill Roy Parton
Funeral service 7 PM Sunday in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home. Rev. Jim Kelly, Rev. Ernie Coleman and Rev. Randy Lemming officiating. Family and friends will meet 11 AM Monday at Smoky Mt. Memory Gardens for interment. Grandchildren will serve as pallbearers. Special friends will serve as honorary pallbearers. The family will receive friends 5-7 PM Sunday at Atchley Funeral Home in Sevierville. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Antioch Baptist Church Building Fund, 619 Whites School Rd., Sevierville, Tn. 37876. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
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