| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 12, 184, 256.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 27 Aug 2006.
Share birthday joy with these boys
(c)2006 NPT PHOTO BY DAVID POPIEL Frank Strickler is at home on the farm-the former Allen farm off Epley Road where he lives with his wife Bernice. The old chicken house can be seen in background at left and across Cosby Highway, his apartment complex.
By: David Popiel
Source: The Newport Plain Talk
08-27-2006
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August slid by like a slow frog in a summer pond in our hometown still counting a few more fogs before the month ends.
I'll talk about two men you know because they have been hanging around the street corners in our town so much they are as common as dragon flies in late Summer. They share more than a birthday too. Both are active and life-long contributors to Cocke County. I'm talking about Frank Strickler and Lonnie Jones.
On Monday, August 28, they celebrate another birthday, though they are separated by two decades. Last Thursday, I managed to zip by to see Frank, once assured that the pet German shepherd was fenced in.
Frank turns 83 but looks like a much younger man with clear eyes and memory of a life well lived. He noted that Dan Burnett also celebrates on Aug. 28. And, maybe some of you do too. Frank's real name is Henry, and his father was Frank W. Strickler, of Indiana. He married Gypsy Fox of Edwina. That's a story in itself. Her brother, Arthur, was a preacher and happened to be in Arkansas. Frank was a rice farmer who also happened to be there. They married and had four children, including Henry Frank. His sisters, Madge, Sue, and Mildred are all deceased.
Perhaps the best thing that young Frank did was to grow up here and marry the former Bernice Allen, daughter of John B. Allen. I believe he was a Cosby chicken farmer. Frank served gallantly in WW II but doesn't talk much about it. He enlisted in Feb. 1943 and went to England and was among the brave soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach during the allied invasion of France. He served as a combat engineer, and, as the war ended, was in Germany-earning five bronze stars. His career has been varied. "I've always had two or three jobs," he said. These included American Can, Knoxville Journal and operating the Three-Way Shell in 1963. He and nephew Charles Sweeten later ran a tire recapping business into the 1980s. His other job for years was operating a commercial egg house off Cosby Hwy. Collecting 4,000 eggs kept him busy before and after work. You can still see the old building on their property, which includes a large pond. Frank and Bernice live off Epley Road and have since 1962 on a farm sold to them by her father.
The Strickler children are also hard workers like the parents. They are: Meschelyn Barrett, Stokely Memorial Librarian; Marlan, who manages family property; and Melanie, a psychologist in the Asheville school system. I also found out that he gets credit for building the dragstrip just down Epley Road. He was farming the land, raising cattle. In 1973, he paid Shan Bush to build the race strip and sold it about 1978. He has no time to sit around, and no matter what work he's done, farming has always been the thing he loves. Oh, the other connection to Lonnie-Frank went to school with Lonnie's mother, Beatrice. He recalled her to be a wonderful, happy-go-lucky person.
You can know someone and not know them, especially if you did not grow up with the person-in their neighborhood. Take Lonnie Jones, operations officer at Newport Federal Bank. He was raised on the hill just behind the Plain Talk-Jones Hill, but no relation to the Plain Talk's owner, John M. Jones, Sr. It was Mill Street then but grammar school teacher Elizabeth Thomas petitioned to get its name changed to Jefferson. She got her wish. If you remember Newport Post Master Bill Roberts, you might also remember Lonnie's Dad, Ralph Jones, who was a postal clerk. He retired at age 55 and needed something to do so he and Allen Hale tended the gate at the Merchants & Planters bank parking lot. At 89, Ralph still gardens at his home near City Park and spends time with his nephew Tyler Dunn. Lonnie's mother was Beatrice "Bea" Cassell Jones. Most of her life she was a housewife but did work for a time at the old downtown Roses five & dime. She raised Lonnie and sister, Barbara, who is married to phone company employee Charles Dunn. Most of Lonnie's life has been in banking after a brief stint during high school years with McNabb's clothing. On May 29, 1961, he walked out of high school and into M&P Bank. Fellow schoolmate Don Jones had to pick up Lonnie's grade card because he was in such a hurry to start work. In 1999, Lonnie retired but is not one to loaf. Richard Harwood, bank president, called and asked him to join Newport Federal, and he did-now marking 45 years in banking. Lonnie said there are great similarities between the comfortable banking atmosphere of the old M&P and Newport Federal, which is what keeps him coming to work. After all, he turns 63 Monday, Aug. 28, and could decide to watch the morning glory vines stretch out into fall.
By the way, last Tuesday at Kiwanis Don Jones announced that his "brother," David Jones, 53, had died and was revived. It seems he suffered what might have been a fatal heart attack. But the good news-he was at work at the cardiac unit of a St. Peterburg, Florida, hospital, when he collapsed.
In plain talk, it's good to share a birth date with someone because all our days are numbered and limited.
- [S112] Census, 1930.
Name: Henery F Strickler
Titles and Terms:
Event Type: Census
Event Year: 1930
Event Place: Newport, Cocke, Tennessee, United States
District: 0012
Gender: Male
Age: 6
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Race (Original): White
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Relationship to Head of Household (Original): Son
Birth Year (Estimated): 1924
Birthplace: Arkansas
Immigration Year:
Father's Birthplace: Illinois
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
Sheet Number and Letter: 12A
Household ID: 277
Line Number: 1
Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Affiliate Publication Number: T626
Affiliate Film Number: 2238
GS Film number: 2341972
Digital Folder Number: 004548152
Image Number: 00251
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Frank W Strickler M 44 Illinois
Wife Gypsie Strickler F 42 Tennessee
Daughter Madge Strickler F 18 Arkansas
Daughter Mildred Strickler F 17 Arkansas
Daughter Emma S Strickler F 12 Arkansas
Son Henery F Strickler M 6 Arkansas
- [S113] Manes Funeral Home, (http://www.manesfuneralhome.com), 1 Jan 2014.
(August 28, 1923 - January 1, 2014)
U.S. Veteran Henry Frank Strickler, age 90, died early Wednesday morning, January 1, 2014, at his home after a period of declining health. He was born August 28, 1923 in Hunter, Arkansas, the only son and youngest child of Henry Frank and Gipsie (Fox) Strickler. When he was a young child, the family returned to his mother’s native Cocke County where he grew to maturity and spent the rest of his life. He attended Newport Grammar and Cocke County High Schools and was a member of the CCHS Class of 1942. He was a World War II veteran, serving in the United States Army 752nd Engineer Parts Supply Company. He was at Normandy Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, and other areas of Northern France and Central Europe during this time. Upon his discharge from the military in 1945, he returned to Newport and soon began a long career as a Newport businessman. At different times, he was co-owner of 3-Way Shell and Cocke County Tire with his nephew, Charles Sweeten, Changing Times, and, with Dan Burnett, the English Mountain Dragway. Following his retirement from business, he devoted his energies to raising Black Angus and Limousin cattle and German Shepherd dogs. A member of the local American Legion and VFW, he remained vitally interested in the care and maintenance of the Cocke County Memorial Building. For over 80 years, he was a member of Second Baptist (now Lincoln Avenue) Baptist Church. At the time of his death, he was a member of Memorial Baptist Church. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a son, Frankie Strickler and three sisters: Madge Strickler Sweeten, Emma Sue Strickler Ball, and Mildred Strickler Hall. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Bernice Allen Strickler of Newport; children Meschelyn (Ronnie) Barrett of Newport; Melanie Strickler of Asheville, NC; and Marlan Strickler of Newport; four grandchildren: Traci Barrett of Dandridge; Ron (Alexis) Barrett of Newport and Victoria Barrett, all of Newport; and Hayden Strickler of Asheville, NC; three great-granddaughters Alex Barrett of Santa Monica, CA and Kyndall and Cooper Barrett, both of Newport; brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jimmy and Jean Allen and sister-in-law Dorothy Allen, all of Newport; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins. The family will receive friends from 11:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 4, 2014, at Manes Funeral Home Chapel with the funeral services following at 1:00 p.m. Rev. Alvin Watts and Rev. Harold Ball will officiate. Interment in Union Cemetery will follow the services. Memorial gifts may be made to Stokely Memorial Library, 383 East Broadway, Newport, TN, 37821 or to Memorial Baptist Church, in care of Newport Presbyterian Church, 399 Hedrick Drive, Newport, TN 37821. Online condolences may be left at www.manesfuneralhome.com. Manes Funeral Home in charge.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 2 Jan 2014.
Frank Strickler, longtime Newport businessman, dies at 90
Author: Duay O'Neil
NEWPORT-Funeral services for Frank Strickler, longtime Newport businessman, are scheduled for Saturday, January 4, 2014, at Manes Funeral Home.
Strickler died at his Newport home early New Year’s Day following a period of declining health. He was 90.
Born August 28, 1923 in Hunter, Arkansas, he was the youngest child and only son of Frank and Gipsie (Fox) Strickler. His mother was a daughter of a Confederate soldier, Ezekiel Fox, and his wife, the former Nancy Netherton, and the granddaughter of Cocke County Sheriff James and Luraney (Thomas) Netherton, who resided in the Edwina community.
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