| Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 3 Jan 1987.
Stella Emert Huff obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 5 Jan 2004.
Though she grew up in Knoxville, from a very early age the farm was where Suttles found her haven from the trials of a hearing impairment from which not even her parents realized she suffered. The Emert farm was also the place where Suttles experienced a romance with Roy Suttles, the man to whom she has been married for 53 years. "When I was a little girl I loved to sit on the hay wagon while the men would fork the hay onto it," said Suttles, recalling how she would sit watching, letting the hay they were forking fall down over and pile up around her. She also vividly remembers a day when she sat watching her grandmother and aunt milking cows and thought, "I wish I could live here some day." Little did she know at the time that during the summer of her 16th year, the farm would bring her together with the man whom she would marry and eventually realize her dream of living on the farm. "In 1946 when I was 16 and visiting my grandparents, Grandma sent me to the field to take the workers a drink of water," said Suttles. "My grandfather had hired a man and two boys to help him cut tobacco because he was ill. "Well the boys kept talking to me, and my grandpa sent me to the house. He said, 'I'm paying these boys to help me work, not talk to you,'" she said, adding that four years later, she married one of those boys and in 1988, they moved into a log house they built on the farm. In reminiscing about her childhood and the fact that she is the sixth generation of Emerts to live on the farm, Suttles shakes her head in amazement at how fast the years have flown. However, when asked her age, the lady who is now nearly deaf but never expresses self-pity, laughs and says, "I'm 39 going on 74." Outgoing, quick-witted and multi-talented, even at 73, Suttles is quite capable of enjoying a good walk up the mountain on her farm, especially when she has company. On her mountain, Suttles is in her glory, chatting happily as she talks about the location of a long-gone homestead, the place where a homeless man was allowed to live in a log cabin on the creek or tells how her son designed the roadway on which she walks. Upon reaching the place where the road ends, there is only one thing that causes her a brief moment of wistfulness. Looking around her, Suttles stops and asks her companion, "Can you hear the birds? "I'm 73 years old and I can climb a mountain, but I can't hear the birds," she says. Then, with a shrug of her shoulders and a smile, she explains how she was hearing impaired as a child but didn't actually know until the age of 30 that she had a hearing loss. "They told me there were no aids that could help me," said Suttles, who at the time worked as an operator and a clerk for South Central Bell telephone company. Although she had to be retrained to work in engineering, Suttles worked a total of 31 years for the company, retiring in 1981. Eventually doctors at The University of Tennessee did develop aids that could help her hear better. Unfortunately, she can now hear only 10 percent, even with the aids, because her hearing was further damaged in 1994 by the severe stress of seeing her log home burn to the ground. "Lightning struck it during the night, and it caught fire. I didn't have my aids in and I didn't know the house was on fire. He had to come back in and get me," she said, explaining how Roy saved her life. Although thinking of the photographs and family treasures she lost in the fire can make her as wistful as not being able to hear the birds, for Suttles the feeling is always fleeting. Her strong belief that God has blessed her in many ways just won't allow her to be anything but happy - just as quickly as she becomes melancholy, Suttles will smile and launch into an amusing story or focus on the many things she can do. Among her accomplishments are her artistic ability to paint a mural of a cattle-dotted farm on her bathroom walls and the pictures of scenery and flowers that fill her home. She also uses her ample sense of humor to turn the rocks she loves to collect into whatever animal, insect, fruit or vegetable their shapes resemble. She also learned recently about communicating with friends through e-mail. For years she sold her numerous crafts at area flea markets. She now enjoys giving her painted rocks to children or friends and recently spent months painting 100 crushed soda cans into a Christmas ornament choir for a Kingsport church. She has also won numerous awards and ribbons for her flower arrangements, but her real passion is identifying and cultivating native Tennessee wildflowers. Suttles said she discovered her favorite hobby after becoming a member of the Mountain Vista Garden Club in South Knoxville 43 years ago and has cultivated it even further during her five years as a member of the Sevierville Garden Club. "I lived around them all my life, walked over them all my life and didn't know what they were until I got into the garden club," said Suttles, bragging a little about how in recent years she won the Collectors Award at the Knoxville Flower Show for a collection of five wildflowers found in her woods. She was also honored by being asked years ago to paint a building mural of blooming dogwood trees for the Dogwood Arts Festival in Knoxville. While her life has not been without adversity, Suttles will be the first to say neither her disability nor her losses have kept her from living a busy, full and very rich life or from finding numerous ways in which she can give to others. cgrimm@themountainpress.com
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 26 Jun 1999.
Retta Large Suttles obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 4 Jan 2006.
Surgery opens sounds of the world and an opportunity to help for Sevierville woman
By: CANDICE GRIMM, Staff Writer January 04, 2006
At midnight on New Year's Eve, Imogene Suttles of Sevierville went out onto her front porch to listen for fireworks in the neighborhood.
"I didn't hear anything, but I think it was because I was the only one in the neighborhood who was up that late," said Suttles.
Her interest in hearing the fireworks rather than seeing them stems from the fact that until she underwent a cochlear implant procedure on Sept. 20, 2005, Suttles had no hope of ever hearing much of anything.
Since she was a small child, Suttles was hearing impaired to the point that she was often ridiculed, punished for "disobeying" or being "rude" to visitors, or for failing in school because no one - not even she - realized that she could not hear.
"I had worked at the telephone company for about five years when I was moved to a desk that faced another desk. That's when I realized I couldn't hear what the girl across from me was saying," said Suttles.
"I went to a doctor who told me I had a permanent hearing loss. I was 32 years old, and when I got out to the car and told my husband Roy, I cried," she said.
Suttles was referred to a doctor at The University of Tennessee who initially told her there were no hearing aids that could correct the nerve damage that had caused her loss of hearing. Three years later a hearing aid was developed that could improve her hearing by about 10 percent, and although the aids helped for awhile, over the past 15 years Suttles became completely deaf.
She maintains, however, that by becoming an expert lip reader, learning American sign language, and being married to a man who cheerfully "intercepted" for her when she didn't hear what others were saying to her, "a lot of people didn't know my hearing was so bad. I've lived a normal life even though I couldn't hear."
While others may not have caught on, Suttles knew she was missing a lot.
"I sat in Sunday school thousands of hours over the years, and I didn't hear a word that was said, but when everyone else laughed, I laughed. If everyone was crying, I cried," said Suttles.
In recent years, she gradually realized that the sounds she had once heard - albeit faintly - were no longer a part of her world. Because she longed to hear her beloved cats meow and the singing of birds, she finally agreed to undergo surgery for the cochlear implant, although she was only offered a 50 percent chance of success. She also didn't know how much of the $70,000 bill her insurance would pay.
Her insurance covered the entire cost and, said Suttles, "I knew the surgery would be a success because of my prayer. I prayed that if I survived the surgery, and could hear, I would do something to help others."
On Nov. 20, Suttles' doctor hooked up the speech processor to the unit he had implanted under the scalp behind her right ear.
"When Roy and I left the doctor's office and walked across the enclosed catwalk over the street, I heard this terrible noise. I was so scared - I didn't know if the walk was coming down or what - but I didn't want to act like a fool, so I kind of looked sideways at Roy, and when he looked at me, he started to laugh. Then I started laughing, and we laughed until we cried - the first sound I had heard was the clicking of a girl's high heels on the floor, and it was the loudest sound I had ever heard."
On the way home in the car, Suttles read aloud every street sign, just to hear how her own voice sounded. During the drive she also heard a noise she could not identify, and Roy could not hear. She laughed with glee when she realized that what she heard was herself, chewing her gum.
Upon reaching home, she began a diary of "firsts" - bacon frying, the clock on the bedroom wall ticking out the seconds, the crackling of a fire, and yes, the meowing of her kitties.
She also began immediately to make good on her promise to God. After seeing an article in The Mountain Press she found her answer. Eunice Eledge, director of volunteer services at Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center and Nursing Home, was encouraging people to send card favors to about 50 residents of the nursing home and 35 hospital patients who never receive mail or visitors. Suttles was now on her way to helping others.
Being artistic, she developed six designs that are sure to cheer up the lonely and the sick. By adding bright little messages she has collected over the years, adding a drawing, a lace angel, a "penny from Heaven," or a "prayer rock," Suttles created a variety of note cards that can be adapted for use for any individual on any holiday, or any ordinary day.
So far, she has made 486 favors, and while her husband jokes about not being able to get her out of the house to help him on the farm, he knows there is no stopping her now. She is already designing next year's Thanksgiving and Christmas cards.
A downstairs bedroom is the repository for all her materials. Paper, recycled greeting and get-well cards, colored pencils, stamp pads and ink are teamed with sheets of messages ready to be cut apart, lace for the angels, and, oh, yes - lots and lots of those little prayer rocks Roy has most cheerfully gathered for her use.
For information on how to participate in creating card favors for Fort Sanders Sevier patients, contact Mary Bundren at 429-6228, assistant to Eunice Eledge.
* cgrimm@themountainpress.com
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Imogene Huff
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1940
Event Place: Ward 23, Knoxville, Civil District 8, Knox, Tennessee, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 9
Marital Status: Single
Race (Original): White
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Daughter
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Birthplace: Tennessee
Birth Year (Estimated): 1931
Last Place of Residence: Same Place
District: 97-114
Family Number: 29
Sheet Number and Letter: 2B
Line Number: 56
Affiliate Publication Number: T627
Affiliate Film Number: 3959
Digital Folder Number: 005461331
Image Number: 00183
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head John H Huff M 33 Tennessee
Wife Stella J Huff F 36 Tennessee
Daughter Imogene Huff F 9 Tennessee
Daughter Betty Lou Huff F 7 Tennessee
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 20 Mar 2015.
May 26, 1930 - March 20, 2015
Resided in Sevierville, TN
Imogene Huff Suttles, age 84, of Sevierville, went to be with the Lord on Friday evening, March 20, 2015. Imogene was born May 26, 1930 in Knoxville. She attended Rule High School and graduated from the class of 1948. She was a faithful member of Meridian Baptist Church in South Knoxville for over 58 years. She worked at South Central Bell Telephone Company and retired in 1980 with 31 years of service. Imogene spent countless hours cultivating her wildflower gardens. She was a member of the Sevierville Garden Club and Mountain Vista Garden Club in Knoxville. She was a 50 year member of Acacia-May Chapter #24 Order of the Eastern Star and a member of The Telephone Pioneers.
She was preceded in death by her parents John H. Huff and Stella Emert Huff, and sister, Betty Myers
Survivors include her husband of 65 years, Roy Suttles, son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Mary Suttles. Additionally, she also leaves behind many cherished brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Imogene had many lifelong friends and dear neighbors. They cannot be thanked enough for all their love and support. She will be especially missed by her special friends, Cheri Hagmeier and Linda Nichols.
The family extends a heartfelt thanks to the staff at Sevier County Healthcare Center.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Walden's Creek Cemetery Funds, care of Barbara Helton, 2929 North Clearfork Road, Sevierville, TN 37862
The family will receive friends 5-7 PM Monday with a funeral service to follow at 7 PM in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home with Rev. Dana Fachman officiating. Family and friends will meet 2 PM Tuesday in Laurel Grove Cemetery for interment. Arrangements by Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville.
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