| Sources |
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 3 Mar 2008.
Just Plain Talk - Another chance for life
- [S124] Brown Funeral Home, Newport, Tennessee, (http://www.newportfunerals.com), 17 Oct 2008.
Lucy Messer obituary
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 27 Apr 2012.
Just Plain Talk: Week begins with Overholt's closing and ends in tragedies
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 4 May 2012.
Just Plain Talk: May more like July, good reason to motor around
Chester Suggs is as familiar as the NAPA signs at Mister Automotive, a Suggs family business. Chester was also a partner at the now-closed Overholt'sm Hardware store. He has been at the parts store since they opened it in 1978 off West Broadway. He is married to Sue (Messer) Suggs and they have two sons: Russell and Derek. Chester, 64, is the youngest of the three boys and had worked at Wall Tube before going into retail auto parts sales. Sue Suggs was active at Overholt's Hardware as a clerk for many years.
Author: David Popiel
The first week in May brought temperatures about 87 degrees and it seems like summer in our hometown, especially with the amount of construction along the railroad and highways to stall traffic.
Norfolk Southern Railway has been doing an immense amount of work in Cocke County, fixing crossings, replacing ties, and other repairs. You may have seen the small city of worker housing cars on a siding in the industrial park just past the Newport Utilities administration building. Tennessee Department of Transportation workers were also on the job in hot weather fixing a number of crushed highway surfaces along Broadway in Newport. Despite the necessary interruptions, I managed to drive along Asheville Highway to get some photos of buildings related to my Overholt's Hardware closing story.
Overholt's Hardware name retired
"It's been a good experience over the years," said Willis Suggs, who you know as co-owner with his son, Steven, of Mister Automotive. That business has become another landmark in Newport and was always located near Douglas Avenue. Going back further in time, it housed an International tractor dealership. The background work that brought the Overholt's Hardware partners together occurred elsewhere. I'll talk more about the families and their connections, which is of great interest to me. Willis Suggs is married to Louise (Willis) and he is also a brother to Chester, who still works at Mister Automotive, and there's brother James Suggs, pastor of Cave Hill Baptist Church. The other siblings are Eula Dean Lane, Iva Janiece Reece, and Viola Mae Crawford. They are the six children of Iliff Suggs, who was a preacher and ran a country store east of Newport. Willis pinpointed it to just east of where Doby Reed ran his motorcycle shop. For you newcomers, this is a mile or so east of the new bridge over the French Broad River. I can't recall the country store but it operated from the mid 1960s. Iliff was married to the former Mable Mann, of Hartford and also kin to the Romines. Dad Iliff was raised at Netty Mountain at Manning's Chapel so that begged my question, "Was he kin to the late Plain Talk columnist Mack Suggs?" Yes, a first cousin to Iliff, who died in 1991.
As a young man, Willis Suggs worked for his father and gained valuable retail sales skills and started knowing more citizens. There is also a natural connection to auto parts sales, because Willis was a mechanic at the Crowder garage, built and owned by Charlie Crowder and still standing, yet I can't remember it being open as a business. A "wagon peddler" wanted Willis Suggs to sell auto parts. Rather than work for someone else, Willis bought the business and by the early 1970s, Lee Willis was on the road with him. They traveled in multiple states including the Carolinas and Georgia. Lee gave me more specifics about those early years. Willis Suggs and Don Wallace of Tampa, Florida, operated the peddler parts business. Don invited Lee to join them because he saw how sharp Lee was with math. At the time Lee was a tomato grower during that crops boom in the 1970s. James Suggs worked a territory, and Lee worked the Tri Cities, Greeneville, Asheville area delivering auto parts to garages and service stations. The men knew what parts sold best and helped businesses stock the right inventory. The old Crowder garage was the warehouse for the peddlers. As Lee said to me, they were far ahead of the times in delivering immediate product to small retailers in the South.
By 1978 the three men had opened Mister Automotive at its current location where they continued their traveling sales from the warehouse space at the rear of this building. A Dandridge woman by the name of French owned the former tractor sales building and liked Willis and Lee so much she allowed them to make payments until they could take over the property. For those who don't know Lee's family, his brothers and sisters are Walter, Hubert Jr., Glenda Allen, Francis Meeker, and Margaret Suggs, who is married to James Suggs, brother to Willis and Chester Suggs. Yes, it's complicated to me, too, as these are close families.
Bryants in a building mode
During the 1950s the Bryant brothers were in expansion mode in downtown Newport. They built the building that used to house James Furniture and Giles Auto Parts. Early in the 1950s, they also built what would become Overholt's Hardware store and rented to the Overholts. Lee said that Charlie and Ophas Bryant set their rent at several hundred dollars and some change, figuring to pay the construction loan off in, say, 20 years. Before they built, the site was a used car lot operated by a Kyker. Lee was just a toddler at the time but says his Dad often visited to trade cars. When Willis, Lee, and Chester decided to buy Overholts they purchased the stock, name, and secured a rental agreement from the Bryants. Lee said when they were dealing with the Bryants the men said they would have to go up on the rent. Lee said he figured they meant a big jump but the Bryants merely rounded off the change to the next even dollar. Lee recollects it may have been $353.40 and was rounded to $354. Don't hold him to the exact dollar amounts. This was about 1984. They continued paying rent until Charlie was killed while crossing Cosby Highway and an estate auction required the sale of the Overholt property. Lee and partners did not want to bid directly for fear of having someone run up the bid. They got astute land seller and developer Larry Webb to bid for them. Looking back at the years of active business, "We had good, loyal customers and thank them very much. But times were changing," said Lee Willis.
Last week, Lee told me there are many cans of paint, stains, plus assorted hardware, which will be sold, perhaps in bulk, if anyone would contact him or Willis. They want to clean out the store for sale soon. While cleaning and helping, Hubert's son, Matthew, found stuck behind old shelves, a bill from Overholt Motors. A set of tires was sold, 600-by-16 inch for $18 each. These low prices caused Lee to remember buying his first battery from Jim Overholt. It was about 1964 and Lee had bought, or his Dad did, a 1950 Ford. Lee was working with ASCS manager Bill Huff to measure tobacco that summer and needed a dependable car. Jim showed Lee two batteries for sale, for Lee had asked to buy but admitted he had no money to pay for either one and needed credit. The first thing Jim did was ask who his father was. "Hubert Willis," said Lee. That was enough to satisfy Jim but he did limit the credit. The premium battery was $13, as Lee remembers, and Jim let Lee take the $8 battery until his first paycheck from the ag stabilization and conservation office came through.
People who know the Suggs and Willis families know they are close but may not know why. "We have been friends since childhood," said Lee. Iliff Suggs pastored the church at Deep Gap near Del Rio. Both Lee and Willis attended as boys and became friends.
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Abt 1948 - (~ 76 years)
, d. 30 Jan 1990 (Age ~ 67 years)