Shopper Blog: Married 75 years, Knoxville High sweethearts get surprise celebration where they met
NORTH KNOXVILLE
Married 75 years, Knoxville High sweethearts get surprise celebration where they met
Carol Z. Shane, Shopper News
When David Booth and Zenobia “Zib” Lowrey met at Knoxville High School in the 1940s, David says “Cupid hit me pretty hard.” Zib felt the same.
Fortunately, the place of their meeting is not only still standing, it’s thriving as Knoxville High School Senior Living condominiums. Which gave their daughter-in-law, Alana Booth, a terrific idea: why not fete the Booths at their old alma mater in the month of their 75th anniversary, and then arrange for them to spend the night? And make the whole thing a surprise?
That’s exactly what happened.
On Sunday afternoon, June 12, family and friends including old friends Dale and Janet Brummett and the Booths’ two sons, Randy and Larry, and daughter Kitty Bracken, their spouses and children, their children’s children, and their children’s children’s children gathered at Knoxville High Senior Living to surprise the couple. Bracken was charged with getting them to the party.
“I had already made arrangements; I told them that we were going out to eat and spend the night in Townsend,” she said. “We travel a lot and go out to cabins, so spending the night somewhere was not unusual. When we pulled up to Knoxville High mom said, ‘is there a restaurant here?’ and I said, ‘Yes there is!’ They didn’t have a clue.”
Alana Booth, married to Randy, started putting things in place a month ago. “I had thought about it for a couple of years knowing their 75th was coming. I knew we had to do something really special. And then this just came to mind; it’s beautiful, they have great memories here. I thought it would be something that they would never forget and neither would we.”
David and Zib — soon to be 95 and 94, respectively — have shared many adventures with many people.
“We met on a cruise to the Bahamas in 1966,” said Janet Brummett. “We’ve been friends just like family for years; our children love them and we love them too.”
Great-granddaughter Emma Wilkinson, Kitty’s granddaughter, said, “I’ve got to tell you: it’s great to have great-grandparents. I’ve spent so many good times with them. I just consider it a blessing from God that they’re still in my life. Somebody up there like us!”
Emma’s mother, Melissa Wilkinson, took up the baton — a skill passed down from former majorette Zib to Kitty to Melissa. “My grandmother made all my costumes by hand. They were at every contest, literally everything.”
The couple thoroughly enjoyed their day, evening and morning at their old school.
“I graduated in ’46 and she didn’t get out until ’47, so I had to wait a whole year before we got married,” said David, who made a career in dry cleaning while Zib worked as an LPN. Their celebration and stay was “all about old memories and it was a huge surprise and we enjoyed every bit of it.”
So, is David still the most handsome boy at Knox High? Zib gave an enthusiastic yes. And is Zib still the prettiest girl in the school? “Yep,” said David. “And we’ve been married so long, she’s the boss.”
Alana said, “I still can’t believe we pulled this off.”
BEARDEN
Veteran's health and fitness center aims to coach and inspire
John Shearer, Shopper News
In recent years, Christian Koshaba has been helping clients do everything from lifting weights to taking part in other forms of exercising and stretching through his health and fitness gym business.
Since relocating to Knoxville from his former Chicago area home, he feels like he has lifted a weight off his own shoulder, too, after realizing he has come to the right community.
“It’s been a very welcoming community,” he said. “It appreciates veterans and is based in the Bible Belt. It’s a perfect fit for me.”
Since mid-March, Koshaba has been operating what he calls a transformative health and fitness center — Three60fit — at 4028 Papermill Drive not far from the South College campus.
After having a more formal opening over Memorial Day weekend complete with an intense Murph Challenge full of physical activity for veterans, he is quite pleased at how business has been going so far.
“Everything is going great,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It has been quite an eventful past few weeks. I am loaded with clients. It has been a little chaotic.”
He said the business combines the fundamentals of exercise science, the latest proven workout trends, personalized attention, and progressive coaching. And it is all done through a holistic approach, he added.
For Koshaba, who grew up in the Chicago area and is admittedly a longtime Cubs baseball fan and Bears football supporter, his current work grew out of his Air Force service in 2006-2010. Doing defense-related work related to the C-17 plane and based in Alaska, he also became interested in physical training and being a training and fitness leader.
After leaving the Air Force, he enrolled at the University of Illinois-Chicago on the GI Bill with plans to study exercise science. Through an entrepreneurial program that was part of his schooling, he came up with an idea for a fitness center, and he won first place in the competition.
With some investment help from one of his clients in his blossoming physical training business he already had going, he started his first fitness center in 2015. A proud veteran, he later also helped locate an American Legion post in his gym.
His geographic horizons started expanding when he and his wife-to-be, Nicolette, decided to get married in the Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area four years ago.
“We absolutely fell in love with the people, environment and nature,” he said.
They now have a daughter, Scarlett, who will soon be 3, and he has another daughter, Keria, from a previous marriage.
After some careful thought and prayer when COVID-19 slowed down small businesses like his, they decided to move to the Knoxville area. He initially saw clients here from his two-car garage either in person or via Zoom before finding his current facility.
At his studio, he has a variety of fitness classes and training sessions, and even offers a class called Bibles and Biceps, which involves exercising followed by a Bible study. But he said he never tries to push his Christian beliefs on people and instead works to lead by example.
He also wants to make his business a veteran-friendly place and is making his facility the gym headquarters for the Team Red, White & Blue nonprofit sports and fitness group for veterans.
Also in his facility, he said, are the Ink & Iron Collective tattoo facility run by tattoo artist Cynthia Whitt, and an office for microblading tattoo services provided by his wife.
Koshaba said he knows he is running more than just a business, and that is what is most rewarding for him.
“I feel like it’s a ministry for me,” he said.
NORTH KNOXVILLE
Family's Alzheimer battle inspires Knoxville bicyclist's ride across South Carolina
Carol Z. Shane, Shopper News
East Knoxville resident Mark Kiser has been an avid cycler most of his life. “A friend of mine got me into this in 1969 when I got a ten-speed. But I have been cycling for quite a long time — just for fitness. It’s fun to do and it’s a beautiful area we live in.”
Next month, Kiser is going to ride a lot farther than he usually does — a total of 252 miles — when he goes to South Carolina to join the Ride to End Alzheimer’s, sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Association.
“I first became aware of Alzheimer’s disease because of my grandmother Hattie Petrea — my mom’s mom. She was in her late 60s when we knew something was going on. And this was in a time when not as much was known about Alzheimer’s.”
After the diagnosis, “she lived with it until she was 80 and passed away in 1990. I saw my grandfather Vyron, who was older than her, take care of her until she needed a much higher level of care than he could provide. It’s one of the things I admire about him. He just accepted it.
“My mom had Alzheimer’s — she passed away in 2020 — and Dad still lives with Alzheimer’s. I have a lot of friends and family who also have to deal with this. I look ahead in my own life and think ‘Well, what’s this going to be like? Is there going to be a cure? What’s my prognosis going to be?”
Though he was born in Charlotte and spent much of his youth there, his parents moved the family to South Carolina when Kiser was in his junior year of high school. His father, Jim, is now in skilled nursing, under the care of Lutheran Homes of South Carolina.
So Kiser is headed down to the Palmetto State.
“It starts on July 8 in Simpsonville, south of Greenville, and ends in Charleston. Three days, 252 miles. At this point there are 371 cyclists doing this.” Though he’s ridden for MS and diabetes charities and others before, this is his first year riding for Alzheimer’s.
Kiser was well known as one of the announcers on WUOT radio for 21 years, and had a second career as a speech pathologist in Knox County Schools. He and his wife, Nickie, have a grown son and daughter, Matthew and Linnet.
He’s already raised over $1,700 and hopes that people will sign on to sponsor his ride in whatever amount they can.
“I ride because I’m inspired by the strength of the more than 6 million Americans living with this disease, and over 11 million family members and friends who provide them with care,” Kiser writes on the Alzheimer’s Association website.
“I want to help speed up scientific progress toward better treatments and prevention. Right now, there is no shortage of ideas in Alzheimer's research — only dollars. That’s why I am asking for your support. Please think of the people in your life affected by Alzheimer’s, and those who may be in future.”
Visit act.alz.org/site/SPageServer/?pagename=ride_homepage and click “donate” to find Kiser’s page. To make a general donation toward Alzheimer’s research, visit alzfdn.org.
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FARRAGUT
Cheer camp draws 97 little cheerleaders
Nancy Anderson, Shopper News
It was organized chaos and joyous screams as 97 little cheerleaders from kindergarten to fifth grade gathered at Farragut High School June 15 for a cheerleading camp led by 25 Farragut High School cheerleaders Wednesday.
“We’ll break the kids up into little groups according to age and the cheerleaders will teach them a cheer and a dance they can then show their parents at a little show we’re having at the end of the camp,” said coach Nicole Pendleton.
“This is a great opportunity for the squad to exercise their leadership skills and give back to the community."
The cheerleaders did a great job of keeping each little girl occupied and on target, but some of the littlest ones were much like herding kittens. The cheerleaders took it all in stride and good humor with giggles all around.
Most of the kids come from Farragut feeder schools, but a few are relatives of current cheerleaders visiting from out of state.
Many of the little girls attend cheerleading gyms like Diamonds All-Star Cheerleading and Premier Athletics, where they learn all aspects of cheerleading including stunts, at only 5 years old.
The girls learned sideline cheers so they can cheer along with the high school cheerleaders during games. Little Savannah P. said she loves to cheer along with them at games; it makes her feel like one of the team.
In addition to learning cheers, the campers made popsicle pompoms with streamers or other crafts Farragut related or cheer related.
Pendleton has an extensive background in cheer and education.
“I cheered my whole life and I’ve coached on and off for 22 years. I’d say this is my 17th consecutive year. I’ve coached in Florida and at Knox County Schools.”
Pendleton is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a B.S. in social science education and the University of Tennessee with an M.A. in teacher education – social science education.
She was the graduate assistant cheer coach while at the University of Tennessee.
“I love being a cheer coach. Cheer is so important to morale during the games. The players hear the crowd and we love pumping up that spirit with flags, signs, cheers, stunts. It’s very athletic and even dangerous, but as we learned during the pandemic, games are less fun without cheerleaders.
“When the fans get frustrated, we can help deflect that energy and keep the fans involved in the game in a motivating and positive way rather than in an unsportsmanlike manner.
“Some of these girls will go on to cheer in college, even winning scholarships. It’s a lifelong love.”
Info: www.knoxschools.org/Page/5114
OPINION
A wild child makes a comeback
Leslie Snow, Shopper News
My father used to refer to me as “an accident,” but my mother thought it sounded derogatory. She preferred “a gift from God” or a “happy surprise.” All I know is that by the time I arrived in the fall of 1963, my parents were ready to be done raising small children.
My three older sisters were out of diapers and involved in school, or at least preschool, and my mother was planning to return to work full time. My birth was an unexpected but happy bump in the road that was met with a loving shrug of the shoulders and a “now we move on” sort of attitude.
I think that’s why I was a slightly feral child. I was, for the most part, left to my own devices as part of a busy family that was complete before I was even born. I had a full-time nanny named Jean whom I loved dearly and who did her best to keep track of me. I had a group of neighborhood girls, in addition to my sisters, who were all older than I and were interested in things I couldn’t comprehend, like boys, school dances, and dating.
So I was a free baby. A bit wild and a bit lonely but free to explore the world in my wooded backyard as I saw fit. My hair was always matted. My face was stained from the wild blackberries I liked to pick in the summertime. And my knees were always scraped from trying, and failing, to jump across the creek that ran through our backyard.
I remember the little girl I used to be with fondness and compassion. I understand her wild ways. I know why her imagination blossomed and why she preferred to disappear into the woods to find buried treasure or imaginary friends rather than play with dolls by herself.
Lately, that little girl has been trying to make a comeback. I’m surprised to see her again. I thought she was gone forever. I thought all the adult things in my life, like mortgages and car payments, had suffocated her, buried her under a pile of grownup responsibilities. But when I look in the mirror now, I see her again.
I’m not sure why, but I’ve returned to those wild ways. I’ve returned to the forest and to berry picking. My hair isn’t matted any more, but my knees are scraped from digging through the brush to reach pieces of driftwood that happen to catch my eye. My body is covered in insect bites. My face is tanned from the hours I spend running through the woods with my Great Dane Buttercup trotting beside me.
Maybe stress has prompted the return of my inner child. Maybe all the adult responsibilities in my life have weighed me down and taken their toll. My body longs to be exhausted from running. My mind yearns for the freedom I felt when the only rule I had to follow was “be home by dinnertime.”
I once thought that the people we used to be faded out of existence when we grew up, that one version of ourselves replaced another. But it turns out, our younger selves are still there, buried deep in our minds. And given the right conditions or the right stresses, they come to the surface to give us what we need.
Even with my cuts and scrapes and my mud-stained clothes, I’m happy to see my feral inner child again. I’ve missed her. I’ve missed being wild and free.
Leslie Snow may be reached at snow column@aol.com.
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