| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 28.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 28 May 2010.
If you could put some time in a capsule
The girls show their time capsules filled with memories and significant items in their lives. From left are Betty McMillan, Kathy Williams, and Judy Butler. Of course the jars are recycled, once having held a big helping of party mix.
Author: David Popiel
The thunderclouds disappeared in late May giving farmers time to cut and bale hay about our hometown, but others of us had thoughts of barbecue and boating for Memorial Day weekend.
If you could hide away special memories of time and place and revisit these many years hence, what things would you save to cherish later? I happened on a story this year that concerns this old idea that you know as the Time Capsule, putting things from our time or past times into a jar and open a decade or 100 years later and travel back in time.
Betty McMillan, Plain Talk advertising manager, who has worked with me for over 30 years at the newspaper, comes up with a lot of neat things to do. She told me of how she and friends had buried their time capsules. I thought this would interest you, because you know the lovely trio of ladies. During recent years, Betty has gotten closer in her friendships with Kathy Williams and Judy Butler. They often travel on outings; such as the time last October when they were on Chestnut Mountain and discovered a rockslide had blocked I-40 and that suddenly changed their travel route.
During the winter, Betty was thinking about the time capsule she buried 15 years ago at a different home. It contains many personal items and hopefully will be discovered and opened many years from now. She presented the idea to Judy and Kathy urging them to quickly devour the party mix in large jars she gave them so the jars could be the 2010 time capsules. By April each had filled up with party mix and decided on the items with unique meaning they could place in their jars. Each of the girls knows exactly what each other put in their capsules. They identified and explained why the selection of some items but others remain their secret. All three of the gallon plastic jars are bound with silver duct tape, pressed closely together, as the friends are in life, wrapped inside a large plastic bag, closed, buried under earth, sealed with a mound of small rocks marking the spot at a secret location.
An American flag holds a lot of meaning and emotion for Betty, who placed one in her jar. "I'm extremely patriotic. It means everything to me." Her father and two brothers served in the military and the flag is a "thank you" to all veterans. A small photo of Iris Dale Glenn Fox is nestled next to the flag. A sister to Dan and Paul Freeman, she meant a great deal to Betty. Along with the photo is her obituary notice. "I want her to know she is always a part of my life," said Betty. And there are family photos: one of daughter Darby (Wood) Hutchison and a John Deere mower toy. Things that reflect on what she likes to do and tell more about who she is. I must not forget the photo of her late parents, Dale and Nelle McMillan, on a motorcycle. He was an avid motorcyclist.
Kathy told of some of her choices and why she picked what she did. Those who know her know she loves Halloween. So, there are several scary things, spiders, bats, rats and the like-not real corpses but rubber. No food or bodies to decompose are allowed in the time capsules. "What treasures to let go," was her real tough decision, she confided. Halloween photos of the grandchildren in costumes fit perfectly. I've always admired her father when he served on the Newport Police Dept. Mermel "Tiny" Valentine and her Webb family side have roots in Cosby so she added Great Smoky Mountain theme items. A 75th park anniversary pin, a real black bear tooth, pebbles from Cosby Creek, and photos of her many mountain ancestors. She stuffed her jar full, put in a note "To Whom It May Concern" and further advised that there will be other projects for the girls: "We're going down with our walkers." When Kathy is not preparing goodies for her next time capsule, you can find her working at US Title Loans.
For more than 30 years Judy Butler worked for the Cocke County Board of Education as finance director, so blame her if you didn't get your money's worth of schooling. Perhaps you knew her parents, the late Ruble and Virginia Thomas. The time capsule project was a first for her too and she included her four grandchildren's photos: Jacob, Elijah, Jojo, and Johnna Beth. Did you yell and scream for Elvis, well, she did and remains a fan. She placed some Elvis memorabilia including a rock from Graceland in her jar. She loves the Lady Vols and Bruce Pearl's Vols and they're inside the jar too. Judy wanted to remember the I-40 slide and put a Plain Talk clipping in the mix. "It's a neat idea. I hope I'm here."
Even if the girls are a no-show on June 1, 2020, someone will, no doubt, dig up the capsules and remember some of the same things they hold dear. But, Betty assures me all three will be present to toss aside the rocks and dig into the past for a laugh or perhaps a sweet tear too.
In plain talk, sometimes it's good to put things we hold dear out of sight and review them years later for a refresher course on life.
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, d. 9 Jul 1982, Knox County, Tennessee