| Sources |
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 24 Sep 2013.
Mrs. Aline Dodd Guzman, age 85, of Newport, passed away September 22, 2013, at LeConte Medical Center.
She was a founding member of the Cosby Business Association.
She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd.
She was preceded in death by her parents Charlie Pleasant Dodd and Zela Bradford Dodd, brothers Alfred Dodd and Bill Dodd, and sister Hazel Knox.
She is survived by her husband Louis Guzman of the home; children Robert Guzman and Arnold (Donna) Guzman, all of Newport; Linda (Jerry Lane) Guzman, Michael (Alma) Guzman, and Joseph (Carmen) Guzman, all of Michigan; Maria (Curtis Owen) Guzman of Hartford; and Alicia Guzman of Jackson, Wyoming; eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
The funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, September 27, 2013, at the Church of the Good Shepherd with Father Bob Hofstetter officiating. The casket will lie in state at the church from 10:00—11:00 a.m. prior to the service. Interment will be in Union Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6:00—8:00 p.m. Thursday evening followed by a wake service at 8:00 p.m. at Costner-Maloy Funeral Home.
Arrangements by Costner-Maloy: www.costnermaloyfuneralhome.com.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 24 Sep 2013.
Aline Guzman, leading Cosby businesswoman, dies at 85
ALINE GUZMAN
Author: Duay O'Neil
COSBY—The daughter of sharecroppers whose restaurant became internationally known has died.
Aline Guzman, 85, died Monday, Sept. 22, at LeConte Medical Center.
Born in 1928 in Lepanto, Ark., she was the daughter of the late Allen and Zela Dodd. At the time, her father was a sharecropper growing cotton.
When she was a child, the family moved to northeast Arkansas and then, during World War II, to Pontiac, Mich., where her father went to work for General Motors and her mother also found employment in a wartime factory making amphibious tanks.
It was in Pontiac that she met her future husband, Louis Guzman, after he had served in the Navy.
In 1947, the couple married and spent their honeymoon in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria where rooms went for $12 per night.
It wasn’t until the 1970s that the Guzmans moved to Cocke County. In 1974, the family came to Newport in the footsteps of her older sister. Initially only Guzman and four of the couple’s seven children moved to Tennessee. Meanwhile her husband remained in Michigan working as a tool designer. He joined the family in 1990 following his retirement.
In the early Tennessee days, Guzman oversaw the building of the family’s home on English Mountain, putting in a road and well, and developing her idea of opening a restaurant.
Turning a former merchandise warehouse into an eatery was a family project. Later a friend added a gift shop and following that an enclosed porch was added.
In selecting a name for the restaurant, Guzman, in a later interview, said La Hacienda was her ?rst choice, but after someone asked, “Is that Chinese?”, she settled on The Front Porch.
The restaurant menu combined the Tex-Mex recipes of her husband’s heritage with the Southern style cooking Guzman grew up with. Styling itself as “the World’s only Mexican-Bluegrass Restaurant,” under Guzman’s management it garnered rave reviews, being voted “Knoxville’s Best Mexican Restaurant” in the early 1980s, even though it was 50 miles from downtown Knoxville.
It was also featured on Tennessee Crossroads, telecast by Nashville Public Television.
“When we opened in 1980, the locals thought it was
a roadhouse and wouldn’t stop,” she later recalled.
However, word of the restaurant’s excellence spread and it quickly became a favorite with locals, Park workers, rafting guides, and tourists.
Often featured in newspapers, magazines, and television programs, the restaurant’s fame eventually stretched as far away as India.
Guzman credited her mother-in-law, Julieta Federico, whom she called “a fabulous cook,” with teaching her all the Mexican dishes.
Operated by Aline, her daughter Maria, and daughter-in-law Donna, The Front Porch was open three days a week. Its interior featured many art objects brought from abroad by son Robert.
At least one day a week was spent in Knoxville shopping for special ingredients. Still other ingredients were shipped in. Initially the restaurant closed for six weeks during winter.
During this time, Guzman became a founding member of the Cosby Business Association.
In July of 2006, while in Mexico visiting her husband’s relatives, Guzman was feted with a ?esta in honor of her birthday. That night she developed a severe migraine, the ?rst indication of a critical health problem.
Upon her arrival in Charlotte, N.C., the semi-conscious Guzman was driven back to Tennessee and immediately own by Lifestar to UT Medical Center.
Tests showed bleeding on the brain. Placed in a medically induced coma, she suffered a shut-down of her lungs and failure of her only kidney.
For four months, family members remained by her bedside as she hovered between life and death. She also received the last rites of the Catholic Church.
Eventually Guzman was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and became the ?rst Tennessee patient to receive the anti-cancer drug Velkaid, a new and experimental drug.
Against all odds, Guzman began to recover, even overcoming a stroke the following February. Eventually she returned to her restaurant, greeting customers and cooking her famous specialties.
Funeral services for Guzman will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Costner-Maloy Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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