Tennessee, U.S., Delayed Birth Records, 1869-1909
Dorothy Buchanan
Solway Baptist member
Dorothy Buchanan, 73, of Oak Ridge, died Sunday, Feb. 3, 2002, at Methodist Medical Center after a lengthy illness.
She was born Dec. 19, 1928, in Paducah, Ky., the daughter of Vester and Mable Stoner, who are deceased. She had been a resident of Oak Ridge since she came here with her family in 1945.
Mrs. Buchanan was a member of Solway Missionary Baptist Church and the wife of the church's pastor, the Rev. Ray Buchanan. She was a Sunday school teacher for several years at the church and she also sang in the church choir.
In earlier years, she had worked for the J.C. Penney Co. Mrs. Buchanan enjoyed her flower gardens, the wildlife in her yard, and reading. She also loved visiting with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her family said.
In addition to her husband of 56 years, Mrs. Buchanan is survived by her daughter, Carolyn Sharpe and her husband Sam, of Knoxville; two sons, Robert Buchanan and his wife Bridget, of Oak Ridge, and Michael Ray Buchanan and his wife Deborah and son Daniel, all of Conroe, Texas; one sister, Betty Ball and her husband Junior, of Greeneville; and one brother, Terry Stoner of California.
She is also survived by her grandchildren, Lisa Greene, Scott McLain, Jeff McLain, Kim Nash and Robbie Buchanan; and her great-grandchildren, Tyler Green, Mikey Jo Green, Dillon Nash, Ashlynn McLain, Shawn McLain and Hannah McLain.
The funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, at Solway Missionary Baptist Church with the Rev. Bill Dean, pastor of Tekoa Baptist Church, and the Rev. Dean Buchanan, officiating.
Burial will follow at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.
The family requests any memorials be in the form of donations to Solway Missionary Baptist Church, Missionary Fund, 9013 Solway Ferry Road, Knoxville, TN 37931.
The family will receive friends from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday at the church.
Mynatt Funeral Home in Knoxville is handling the arrangements.
Evely V. Palmer
Former Oak Ridge resident
Evely V. Palmer, 86, of White Township, N.J., died Dec. 29, 2001, at the Care Center of Lopat-Cong in New Jersey.
Born Nov. 16, 1915, in Portland, Maine, she was the daughter of Hans R. and Elizabeth Pearson Pufahl, who are deceased.
She was a former resident of Oak Ridge. Her husband, Richard S. Palmer, died in 1998.
Mrs. Palmer is survived by her son, Kimberly R. Palmer, and his wife and two children, all of Oxford, N.J.; and her niece, Heidi Thoma of Clinton.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her brother, Albert Pufahl; her sister, Lisa Thulstrup; and her brother-in-law, Ted Thulstrup.
The body was cremated and no services were held.
Noto-Wynkoop Funeral Home in Phillipsburg, N.J., handled the arrangements.
Margaret Marie Hart Sharp
Former Oak Ridge resident
Margaret Marie Hart Sharp, 88, of Murphy, N.C., formerly of Oak Ridge, died Friday, Feb. 1, 2002, at Murphy Medical Center Nursing Home.
Mrs. Sharp is survived by her son, Wayne Sharp of Columbia, Tenn.; three daughters, Faye Kilgore and Lois Scruggs, both of Knoxville, and Norma Jones of Blairsville, Ga.; one sister, Ruby Miller of Jacksonville, Fla.; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
The funeral was held Monday morning, Feb. 4, in the chapel of Croley Funeral Home in Williamsburg, Ky., with the Rev. Jimmy White officiating.
Burial followed at King Cemetery in Rockholds, Ky.
Janet Thompson Meservey
Former Oak Ridge community activist
Janet Thompson Meservey, 88, a resident of Columbia, Md., for the past three years and of Oak Ridge for almost 54 years, died Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003. She had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Born Sept. 9, 1914, in Randolph, Vt., she was the daughter of an American Baptist minister. She became a homemaker and tireless volunteer for those less fortunate, according to her family.
Mrs. Meservey studied at the University of Vermont in Burlington and at Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy. After graduation, she worked at Travelers' Insurance Co. in Hartford, Conn.
She met her husband, Albert "A.B." Benson Meservey, at UVM. They were married in December 1939 in Memphis, where Mr. Meservey was teaching and doing postgraduate study in biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Medical School.
Like many other young women during the Great Depression, she had to leave her job once she was married. The young couple later hitchhiked back to New England and had to spend a night in a jail cell in Chilhowee, Va., because there was no other room available in town.
They moved to Oak Ridge in 1946 where the family said Mr. Meservey worked as a nuclear research chemist and Mrs. Meservey dedicated herself to raising their two children and living out her faith by helping poverty-stricken and otherwise disadvantaged people in Anderson County communities.
She began and chaired a women's project at the United Church, Chapel on the Hill, that provided lunches, textbooks and other school supplies to rural school pupils and cooperated with the county welfare department in helping impoverished rural families get on their feet.
She was active in bringing the message of Planned Parenthood to East Tennessee, taught swimming to young and old as a Red Cross volunteer and was a Democratic Party delegate to the state party convention. She attended graduate classes in special education, and taught school as a substitute teacher for a year.
As a civil rights activist, she worked to overcome racial barriers to equal public accommodations in Oak Ridge. She also marched in protests against the Vietnam War.
Having inherited a passion for music, Mrs. Meservey sang in college glee clubs and church choirs, often as a soloist. She and her husband were enthusiastic square dancers and liked to water-ski well into their 60s. From the age of 58 until her mid-70s, she was a Master swimmer, competing in events all around the country and winning numerous awards.
After Mr. Meservey retired, the two of them took trips with their travel trailer, visiting distant national parks where they hiked and swam to their hearts' content. Not until Alzheimer's began to affect her in her late 70s did Mrs. Meservey begin to lose her zest for adventure.
Even after the couple moved into assisted living at the end of 1999, Mrs. Meservey's love of music and dancing and her concern for others continued to shine through. She will be greatly missed by those who knew her, her family said.
Mrs. Meservey is survived by her daughter, Signe Schield of Amherst, Mass.; her son, Ronald Meservey and his wife, Rose Marie, of Columbia, Md.; her sister, Charlotte Johnston and her husband, William, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband; her parents, the Rev. John Harrison Thompson and Helen Moses Thompson of Westborough, Mass.; her sister, Margaret Tobey of Westborough; and her brother, John Thompson of Springfield, Vt.
A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. Her ashes will be interred there along with those of her husband.
Memorial donations may be made to the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN 37830; Covenant Homecare & Hospice, 700 S. Illinois Ave., Oak Ridge, TN 37830; or the Alzheimer's Association, Eastern Tennessee Chapter, 600 Henley St., Suite 50, Knoxville, TN 37902.
Jack C. Bailey
Retired ORGDP physicist
Jack C. Bailey, 76, of Oak Ridge, died this morning, Feb. 5, 1999, at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
Mr. Bailey, a physicist, began his employment at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant in 1944 as part of the Manhattan Project. He retired in 1985.
The son of Aubrey and Nellie Wagnon Bailey, Mr. Bailey was a graduate of the University of Georgia and held a master's degree in physics. He was named to Phi Beta Kappa at the university.
From 1959 to 1960, he served as academic dean of LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga.
He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church.
Mr. Bailey is survived by his wife of 47 years, Georgia Burleson Bailey; four daughters, Elaine Augustine and her husband, Pat, of Florence, Ala., Phyllis Green and Karen Nolt and her husband, John, all of Knoxville, and Bet Leffew and her husband, Duane, of Clinton; and his sister, Mary Nell Corley and her husband, Bill, of Winter Haven, Fla.
He is also survived by several grandchildren, Chris Augustine and his wife, Jessica, of Apex, N.C., John Augustine of Birmingham, Ala., Brady Augustine of Miami, Fla., Leah Augustine of LaGrange, Ga., Jeremy Green of San Francisco, Kari Leffew and Kelsey Leffew, both of Clinton, and Jenna Nolt and Ben Nolt, both of Knoxville; and by one great-grandchild, Taylor Augustine of Alabama.
The funeral will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, in the chapel of Weatherford Mortuary with the Rev. Michael Johnson officiating.
A graveside service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7, at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the mortuary.
Dick Wesley McLendon
Edgemoor Baptist member
Dick Wesley McLendon, 87, of Powell, died Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999, at his home.
Mr. McLendon was a member of Edgemoor Baptist Church of Claxton.
He was an electrician who retired in 1965 after 30 years with Sargent Electric in Pittsburgh, Pa. After retirement, he worked until four years ago as a security guard for Pinkerton Security.
He was born in Mendenhall, Miss., on Aug. 15, 1911, the son of Gus and Tiny Louise Brown McLendon.
Mr. McLendon was a 32nd-degree Mason and a member of Masonic Lodge No. 509 in Pittsburgh.
His wife, Mildred McLendon, died June 22, 1981.
He is survived by five sons, Randy G. McLendon of Oak Ridge, John McLendon of Spokane, Wash., Dr. Richard McLendon of Mississippi, and Gary McLendon and Wesley McLendon, both of Mendenhall; and two daughters, Gussie Lou Pintler of Sacramento, Calif., and Elaine Curtis of Louisville, Ky.
Mr. McLendon is also survived by two sisters, Elizabeth Toney of Mendenhall and Addie May Tice of D'Lo, Miss.; and by 16 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren.
The funeral will be held at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, in the chapel of Weatherford Mortuary.
A graveside service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9, at Oak Ridge Memorial Park.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the mortuary.
