| Sources |
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 2 Mar 2014.
Lamb—Ayres wedding set for May 17
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name Euladene Stokely
Event Type Census
Event Date 1940
Event Place Civil District 1, Cocke, 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
Birth Year (Estimated) 1931
HOUSEHOLD
ROLE
GENDER
AGE
BIRTHPLACE
Tom J Stokely Head M 32 Tennessee
Vista Stokely Wife F 31
Imogene Stokely Daughter F 11
Euladene Stokely Daughter F 9
Barbra Anne Stokely Daughter F 6
- [S113] Manes Funeral Home, (http://www.manesfuneralhome.com), 18 Jan 2016.
(September 18, 1930 - January 18, 2016)
Eula Stokely Lamb, a long-time teacher in Cocke County, died peacefully on Monday, January 18 at her home, surrounded by her family. She had battled Lewy Body Dementia courageously for several years. Eula Dene Stokely was born September 1930 in Del Rio, the second daughter of Vista Murray and Thomas J. Stokely. Her parents were long-time farmers, merchants, and community leaders in Del Rio, and she was surrounded by Stokely cousins. She grew up close to her two sisters, Imogene and Barbara Ann, and the three girls worked fields, milked cows, and “made garden” as if they were boys. She graduated from Cocke County High School in 1947, and attended Hiawassee College in Madisonville for a year before returning to teach the lower grades at Harmony Grove School, alongside Mrs. Mary Bell Smith. Together they launched the first hot lunch program. She returned to Hiwassee, earning an Associate’s degree, and then came back to teach in the Del Rio community for a number of years. While teaching her first year at Harmony Grove, she eyed a dark haired, good-looking young man named Kevin Lamb. They wed September 5, 1954 and were married 61 years. He pre-deceased her November 29, 2015. She was the mother of three children: daughter Teresa Levey and her husband Dr. Robert Levey of Knoxville, TN; son Kevin W. Lamb and wife Donna of Newport; son, Dr. Russell Lamb and wife Jennifer of Hilton Head Island, SC; grandchildren Brandy Helton, Cory Helton and Lindsey, Katie Lamb and Maddie Lamb all of Knoxville, TN; Thomas Lamb and Caroline Lamb of Hilton Head Island, SC; and great grandchildren Ella Helton and Ava Faulkner. She is also survived by her sisters, Imogene Puckett of Loudon, TN and Barbara Ann Phillips of Simpsonville, SC and a host of nieces and nephews. “Mrs. Lamb,” as she was known to generations of kindergarten and first-grade students, resumed teaching in 1965 after the birth of her third child. She taught a number of years at Del Rio elementary, before transferring to Northport Elementary School in 1969. She was one of the original faculty members at Northwest Elementary school, and taught there until her retirement in 1996. Her life was enriched by many wonderful friendships from Northwest Elementary. She applied love and discipline in equal measure. She handed out hugs freely, and over the years all children became “good little boys and girls” in her memory. Discipline was applied gently and always with love. At Christmas there were two presents for each child, wrapped. She delighted in teaching multiple generations of the same family. She was a member of First United Methodist Church in Newport, Tennessee for more than forty years, the Frances Wiley circle, and a long-time member of the Christian Fellowship Class. As long as possible she attended Sunday school, circle, and church services regularly. When her health made it impossible to attend church in recent years, she and her late-husband were blessed with countless visits from the members of the Christian Fellowship Sunday School class and the Frances Wiley Circle who brought food and conversation regularly and brightened many days. She was a member of the Alpha Delta Kappa Sorority and enjoyed attending meetings as long as possible. She was a dedicated mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She had a ready laugh for the antics of her grandchildren. Her grandchildren all have fond memories of “mammaw” sprawled on the floor playing dolls, blocks, cars, or guns. Over the last several months Kevin and Eula Lamb were lovingly cared for by Velma Fox, Teresa Proffitt, Ruth Anne Ramsey and Debbie Brown. The family wish to thank them all for their dedication over the past several months. In lieu of flowers the family request memorials be made to the First United Methodist Church of Newport Tennessee or the Cole Neuroscience Center at UT Medical Center (from which she received excellent treatment in recent years). The family will receive friends from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at the First United Methodist Church with funeral services following at 7:00 pm with Rev. Dr. James Bennington officiating. Burial will be held 2 p.m. Thursday, January 21, 2016 in Union Cemetery. Family and friends may sign the guest register on line at: www.manesfuneralhome.com. Arrangements by Manes Funeral Home.
EULOGY:I wanted to write a perfect Eulogy for mother today. I took my usual approach – I studied up on eulogies. I took an analytical approach. Then I sat down and just couldn’t do it. I understand the assignment in the abstract, but in practice, I keep getting stuck at, “Let me tell you about my mom.”
So I asked friends for advice, some of whom have gone through the same thing recently. And I got some good advice, don’t expect to make it perfect. And I realized that’s why I was stuck. I wanted to tell you everything about mom. I’d love to tell you every wonderful thing I know about my mom, every time I saw my mother wrap her arms around a little boy or girl and tell them “I love you sweetheart. Be a good little girl.” Or all the times I called at the end of my wits and mom would listen, and advise, and then tell us not to worry, it would be ok, everything would come out all right. And the times I saw my mom throw her arms around dad, “her man”. And don’t you forget it! Eula Dene Stokely Lamb – wife, mother teacher, friend. I can’t tell you every good thing. I can’t write the perfect eulogy. I’ll fall short, I know. But it isn’t necessary for me to recount every good thing here. Mother’s life is her Eulogy. I hope everyone here has some of the special memories I do. But let me try to hit a high spot or two. First, Mom was wife. Mom and dad knew each other all their lives, but only started courting after she was grown and as he was finishing high school. Yes, mother was one of the original Cougars. We have the picture from Harmony Grove School to prove that dad married his teacher. But what a marriage it turned out to be. 61 years. It was love, right until the end. I remember when dad was on the road driving a truck, he’d come home late on a Thursday evening and mom would throw her arms around him and lay one on. These past two or three years as mom’s mind and reason left her, the memories were sometimes all they had left. Mother never wanted dad to be out of her sight. It drove me nuts, until I realized that with dad at her side she felt truly safe, and without him she couldn’t. They sat on the couch side by side and held hands, and watched reruns of the Waltons or Family Feud. And she still laid one on him from time to time. As dad lay dying in November a few weeks ago, my mom, not fully aware of the world around her anymore, realized that something was not right. She told us, I need to go to Kay. She mustered up all her strength to stand up at his bed, and in the clearest voice she had found in weeks, she told him, “If you can’t stay here with me, you go on ahead, and I’ll be there soon. I’ll see you on Sunday.” And so last Sunday, about 4 minutes before midnight, she made good. After all she never told him which Sunday. Out of that love came a family. First, she was blessed with a daughter, who became over the course of many years, and a couple of minor squabbles, in the end her trusted friend. And a few years later her middle child, for whom mother always shared a special space, knowing how difficult the middle child had it. And then accidently, a baby boy. Each of us could tell our own stories about mom, and I can’t recount even a fraction here. But I know, as certain as I draw breath tonight, that mom loved each of us the same, and tried, hard, to make each of us know that. I saw her stand by my sister, my brother, and me, in disappointment, grief, celebration and joy. And she gloried in each grandchild, their accomplishments and their victories. If we each felt we had a special place in mom’s heart maybe it was because we did. It was a large heart – there was room. Mom was so proud of my sister’s accomplishments – her house was filled with every news clipping, every story she could find. She relished it. She was proud of all my brother gave back to his church, his community, and his family. For me, I know she was exasperated with my inability to hold a steady job and stay in one place, and sometimes would say, “What do you do?”
A couple of stories. My niece Brandy tells the story about the time mammaw took Brandy and her brother to the beach, just them and mammaw, and Aunt Ima to chaperone. They ate pizza for breakfast and stayed up late. Probably 25 years later Brandy and Cory can still remember Little Ceaser’s Pizza for breakfast. Cory has his own memories of mamma spoiling him in the summer when he worked for his Pappaw in the hardware store. For Maddie and Katie, mammaw and papaw were there for the ball games, homecoming courts, and the school pickups, and every birthday and proudly college graduations. Many days mammaw and papaw picked up Katie and Maddie from Newport Grammar. When they got to Mammaw’s house, they were ready to play “beauty shop.” Mammaw would tell them to go get her “beauty supplies.” After an hour of Maddie playing beautician and Katie fixing her hair, they would do the big reveal. Usually mom had green eye shadow and red lipstick. Pappaw would brag and mammaw would tell them how good she looked. Thomas and Caroline relished her visits – mother sprawled on her stomach, age 75, building towers of blocks and then wiping them out gleefully with an imaginary cannon. Caroline announced, age 3, after mammaw and papaw had gone home - “Mommy I can read!” And so she could -- her mammaw had taught her on the Dick and Jane books. One personal remembrance. When Jennifer and I were first married living in graduate student housing at the University of Maryland – and very, very broke -- mom and dad came to visit. We naturally let them take the bed and we slept on the floor in the living room. In the middle of the night we heard mom banging around the bedroom and I went to investigate – nothing to worry about, she lost her way to the bathroom. A few weeks later as the weather got colder Jennifer met me at the door jumping out of her skin. “Guess what I found in my coat pocket? A $20 bill!” And a couple of weeks later, I put on a pair of corduroys, and there was another $20. Mom had gone through our closets hiding money to be a special “surprise.” She cackled when she told that story. Let me say, too, that mother’s love of family extended, especially, to in-laws. She loved Robert, Donna and Jennifer, truly like her own children. I learned early never to go to mother with a complaint about Jennifer – there was no doubt who’s side she would be on. She was likewise devoted to Donna – and reminded Kevin regularly. She was as proud of Robert as if he had been her own. And mother was devoted to her extended family. Her sisters Imogene and Barbara Ann had grown up with her on the farm. And yes, because my grandfather had no sons, he worked them like the sons he had not had. I’d like to tell you that mother loved that, but she HATED it. She always told us she’d had enough of farm life before the age of 18 to last forever -- But the bond with my Aunt Ima and Aunt Bobby stayed forever. In the 1990s and into the 2000s mother and her sisters took an annual trip, often chauffeured by my dad. How mother loved those times together. And for my cousins, well, Aunt Eula loved you all. And you know that your pictures adorned the house right alongside her own children. And I haven’t even talked about mom the teacher yet….. Over the past few days my sister and brother and I have enjoyed so much hearing from some of mom’s former students and her fellow teachers at Northwest Elementary. Former students reminded us of the words of encouragement, pats on the back, a little extra love. Mother’s friend Kim Derrick wrote such a wonderful tribute to mom’s patience as a teacher, and guidance to her early on. One student said “I think of her every time I tie my shoes….she taught me how!” I once asked mother about her philosophy of teaching. “You have to love kids to be a good teacher. If you don’t love them, they know, and they don’t want to learn for you.” And in case there is any doubt for any of her former students who are here, mother did love you. In the past few years she read about your lives and she remembered you all, “He was a good little boy. She was a good little girl.” Speaking for myself, I can think of no finer memorial to my mother than to hug your child today. Better yet, find a child no one else has hugged for a long time. Bend down and look them eye to eye like Mrs. Lamb would, and tell them, “I love you!” Now that would please mother. The final pillar in mom’s life was this place, First United Methodist Church, Newport Tennessee. My parents didn’t golf or go to the country club or dance. They worked all week, and on Sunday, Church! I used to wonder why in the world mom spent so much time working on church things. Now I know. It was all of You. The past few years I have watched, in awe both up close and afar, as you all earned the stars in your crown. On behalf of my brother and sister, and myself, thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. It meant more to mom and dad than they could ever put into words, and more to us than we could ever repay. Especially the past few years, you sustained them both, and us. Likewise, our family want to say a very, very heartfelt thank you to the ladies who have cared so graciously and sweetly for mom the past several months. Ruthanne Ramsey, Velma Fox, Teresa Proffit and Debbie Brown quite simply for our family have been saints. They held mom’s hand when she was agitated or confused, and as long as they could they dressed her up in her finest. They stroked her brow, brushed her hair, warmed her shoulders with a hug. And one final thought. These past few years as I watched mom fading away, I have asked God so many times, WHY? Why did my sweet, saintly mom have to endure this hell? And there were days when it was hell for her – the confusion, the sense of forgetting and becoming disconnected. Days when she knew her mind was coming unhinged. I don’t know if God has fully answered that question for me, but I know that the idea of Heaven weighs on my mind. If mom has been through hell these last few years, I believe there must be a prize called heaven. Heaven -- a place where mother’s mind is whole again – and where she will be healed of the fear and confusion of the past few years. And for me one other thing as well. I think of that time when the cool of the evening sets in and all the day’s work is done – the fields all plowed, the cattle fed, the garden laid by – and class is finished, the chairs on the tables. I can see my grandmother in front of a table groaning with one of those feasts for which she was famous in our family – every good thing to eat, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, fried chicken, green beans, cream corn, fried okra, biscuits and corn bread. And as mammaw looks out the window, across the field, there comes a good looking, dark haired boy and a girl with a great big smile across face. I can see mammaw’s eyes brighten and sparkle, that impish grin on her face. “Tom, come on to supper. Eula Dene is home.” Mother is home.
- [S147] Find a Grave, (Memorial: 157211379).
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Thos Stokely
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 23 Dec 1927
Event Place Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender Male
Age 21
Birth Year (Estimated) 1906
Spouse's Name Vesta Murray
Spouse's Gender Female
Spouse's Age 18
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1909
Page 419
"Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12323-58465-29?cc=1619127 : accessed 26 January 2016), Cocke > Marriage registers, 1924-1928, vol 18-19 > image 598 of 684; citing Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville and county clerk offices from various counties.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name: Kevin Lamb
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 05 Sep 1954
Event Place: Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Age:
Birth Year (Estimated):
Father's Name:
Father's Titles and Terms:
Mother's Name:
Mother's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Name: Eula Dean Stokely
Spouse's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Age:
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated):
Spouse's Father's Name:
Spouse's Father's Titles and Terms:
Spouse's Mother's Name:
Spouse's Mother's Titles and Terms:
Reference ID: 165
GS Film number: 1669919
Digital Folder Number: 004485980
Image Number: 01429
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