By Ray Collett

Hello Readers...
Last week I mentioned that I would like to have some email from our readers and share with us your memories of Rockwood and let us know where you are living, how your life has been, share different things with us...I will copy them exactly as they are written if you want me to. Our first one this week is from Gail Roddy....who knows, we might have someone from Rockwood living right around the corner...

HI RAY. MY NAME IS GAIL RODDY. I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL IN 1960. I NOW LIVE IN WICHITA FALLS, TX. I HAVE BEEN IN NURSING FOR 38 YEARS. I GRADUATED LVN SCHOOL IN 1971, AND THEN GRADUATED FROM MIDWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY IN 1983. I HAVE BEEN A RN SINCE 1983. . I WAS MARRIED TO BOB BYRNE WHO LIVED IN TEXAS. I HAVE 2 SONS ONE IS 46 AND ONE IS 44 YRS OLD. . MY FRIENDS WERE PHYLLIS HAMILTON, CAROLYN MILLICAN, AND RUDY LONG. MY LAST HUSBAND WAS JOE BOYD.
I MISS ROCKWOOD VERY MUCH. MY SISTER IS BARBARA RODDY YOUNG, AND BROTHER WAYNE RODDY WIFE IS DIANE WHO STILL LIVE IN ROCKWOOD. MY OTHER BROTHER IS CHARLES RODDY'S WIFE LINDA RUTH NASH AND LIVES IN ROSSVILLE, GEORGIA. WHEN I WAS A TEENAGE WE USE TO HIKE UP TO BIG ROCK, AND TO THE FIRE TOWER. THE SPRINGS HAD ICE COLD WATER. MY DADDY USED TO WORK AT THE FURNACE AND I REMEMBER THE SKY LOOKED BRIGHT RED WHEN THEY DUMPED THEIR CARS. IN THE MORNING OUR PORCH LOOKED LOOKED LIKE WHITE ASH. BOY THERE MUST OF BEEN A LOT OF AIR POLLUTION BACK THEN. WE USED TO TRADE AT MC CULLEY'S STORE. WE USED TO WALK EVERY WHERE WE WENT. WE WENT TO TOWN EVERY WEEK. THE TOWN WAS BUSY AT THAT TIME. I STILL ENJOY LOOKING AT ROCKWOOD MEMORIES. I USED TO COULDN'T WAIT TILL I GREW UP AND LEFT. NOW I WISH I WAS YOUNG AGAIN, AND LIVE THE OLD MEMORIES AGAIN.

Dear Ray,

My name is Doris Mcuistion Williams. I was born in Spring City in 1937, but my parents, Lyde and Ralph McC. took my baby sister and me to Chicago when I was 3 years old, for better job opps. They always said we'd move back someday but times were pretty good up there and I was 12 years old before they decided to try TN again and it was Rockwood we moved back to. I was then in the 7th grade in Rockwood grade school and just loved it, and made friends with all the kids my age, Bunny Hinds, Patsy Morgan, Judy Ables and was just crushed when my parents decided that Chicago was a better place to earn a living after all. I didn't keep in very good touch with my friends, having gotten caught up in the old friendships in my Chgo. school, but a few years ago, having obtained a computer and was playing around with it, I contacted the online reunion site for Rockwood HS. My 94 yr old Dad lives in Kingston and we come down there 2 or 3 times a year. Anyhow, long story short, Wayne and Ernie and Bunny began emailing me and it was as if we'd kept contact all these many years. My husband, Harry, and I came down for one of the reunions on the lake a few years ago and I was just thrilled to see all the old friends from so long ago. My dad came, too and enjoyed the picnic. Bunny and I picked right up where we left off and we communicate all the time now, and it has just added such a wonderful dimension to my life and spirit!! We'll be coming down again in a couple of weeks and I just know we'll have a great visit! Thanks for inviting me to share my story, Doris McCuistion Williams
Thanks Gail and Doris, I hope more readers will follow and share their times with us...
I stopped by the "Star Barber Shop" the other day and my barber Kenny McNally was his usual jolly self. Kenny goes to the nursing home in Rockwood and gives free haircuts to the residents there. He has been doing this for fifteen or twenty years, along with his trusted helper J. B. Young. J.B. from Daysville is Kenny's third helper on this venture. Kenny has been cutting hair for 48 years in Rockwood making him one of our town's oldest continuous business. Does anyone know who has had a business longest in Rockwood? Kenny started out under Roscoe Leffew down on Front St. I believe and later opened his own business. In his spare time Kenny has quite a garden too. And like most barbers, he is full of good stories and advise. I told him about getting a haircut a few times with the old hand operated "squeezing" type scissors. He told me how his electricity was out one day and he had to rely on those things. No wonder barbers had such strong grips back then. And he used to give shaves, honing his straight razor with the old razor "strop"...later on most barbers switched to the disposable bic razors. Kenny was giving our city councilman, Gene East, a haircut when I was visiting Gene at the nursing home. Gene is in rehab at "The Bridge" for a while after suffering a stroke. He is progressing right along and should be his old self soon...I hope so, we miss him at the City. I just wanted to pass along what a fine service Kenny does all free of charge to the nursing home residents....
That winds it up for this week...keep the emails coming
Until next week........Ray