An open case remembered

THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES NEWS

Jarrett Hughes’ mother Charlotte Erwin and stepfather Eddie Erwin release a dove in memory of Hughes. Dale Street residents gathered Tuesday evening to remember Hughes, who was killed Aug. 3, 2011, when two men burst through the back door of 937 Dale St. and shot Hughes while his mother slept in another room. Hughes’ murder remains unsolved. The Kingsport Police Department is offering $1,000 for information that leads to arrests and convictions in the case in addition to the $1,000 reward raised by Hughes’ family and community.

A Tribute to Jarrett "Jay" Hughes on Tuesday, August 28th

CLICK ON THE POSTER TO MAKE IT LARGER

Alumni Board Announces Scholarship Winners

The Sons And Daughters of Douglass, Inc. announces its 2012 scholarship winners. Each recipient received an award of $500.00. The winners are:

•Sierra Evans from Kingsport, TN will be attending UT Chattanooga

•Todd Paige Gilmore from Johnson City, TN, attending Tusculum University

•Courtney Alexander from Woodbridge, VA, attending Highpoint University

•Kelsie Dulaney from Kingsport, TN, attending N.E. State Community College

•Justin Long from Kingsport, TN, attending Carson Newman


From Alumni President Virginia Hankins

As President, I would like to congratulate each recipient and wish them all the best for this school year. I would also like to thank those of you who support our fund raisers to make it possible for us to help our young people reach their Educational goal.

If you have not had the opportunity to participate in the giving process, don't feel left out. The Sons and Daughters of Douglass are sponsoring a Golf Outing on October 6th and we are looking for people to support us financially. There will be an article coming out soon with the details.

You do not have to play golf to donate.

- Virginia Hankins

Ceremony to honor Jarrett ‘Jay’ Hughes

• KINGSPORT — A ceremony in memory of Jarrett “Jay” Hughes will be held Tuesday beginning at 7 p.m. in Kingsport’s Dale Street Park. A bench will be dedicated during the ceremony, and 25 doves will be released.

The public is invited.

Organizers ask that people attending the ceremony bring a purple balloon. The ceremony is being sponsored by New Vision Youth, and the bench was donated by the city of Kingsport, New Vision Youth and South Central Kingsport Development.

Food City will provide refreshments and a cake.

For more information contact Johnnie Mae Swagerty at 429-7553.

On Aug. 3, 2011, two men burst into 937 Dale St. and shot 24-year-old Hughes while his mother slept in another room. The case is still under investigation by the Kingsport Police Department.

‘Gentlemen to Gents’ pageant planned

Last Year's "Gentlemen to Gents" Contestants

• KINGSPORT — Applications are now available for the “Gentlemen to Gents” Male Pageant that will be held Saturday, Oct. 20. The applications can be picked up at the Civic Auditorium in the Kingsport Parks and Recreation Office any business day from 9 to 5 p.m., and also at the Taylor-Hampton Insurance Agency, 700 E. Center St.

There is a $25 entry fee for contestants. Contestants will compete in several categories, and the age categories range from infants to 50 years old and older.

Categories include Mr. New Vision, Mr. Wise Man, Mr. Gentleman and Mr. Cutie Pie.

Other categories include Mr. Handsome, Mr. Smiles, Mr. Best Dressed and People’s Choice. All participants will get a trophy and a gift pack. Proceeds go to Kingsport Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Kingsport Senior Center and the Lamplighter Theater.

The pageant is sponsored by New Vision Youth, Taylor-Hampton Insurance Agency, Kingsport Parks and Recreation Community Services Division, and Moon’s Tuxedo.

For more information contact Johnnie Mae Swagerty at 429-7553 or Mary Taylor 246-3810.

Upcoming Douglass Board Meeting This Saturday

From President Jenny Hankins:


Dear Fellow Alumni,

It has been a rough summer, but it is time to roll our sleeves up and get busy with some fundraisers.

As you may or may not remember we are having a golf outing on October 6, 2012. Just like the pancake breakfast we all need to participate. Our funds are depreciating and we need to replenish them.

I need all of you to bring to the next meeting names of at least two places you do business with. We need to get sponsors for the golf tournament. You might want to drop a hint to the business that you will be contacting them for a sponsorship.

I have scheduled a meeting for August 25, 2012

Please everyone make an effort to attend. We need to hit the floor running. I will also have letters or flyers for you to give out.

The meeting this Saturday is also a covered dish meeting. Please make plans to attend on the 25th at 1:00 PM in the Eastman Conference Room at V.O. Dobbins.

Thanks for your help,


JennyH.

Bass player Vic Simon was a Kingsport success story

THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

Contact Vince Staten at vincestaten@timesnews.net or via mail in care of this newspaper. Voicemail may be left at 723-1483. His blog can be found at vincestaten.blogspot.com.

We agreed to meet at the Jan Mar. I was going to write a column about his upcoming performance at Fun Fest. When he arrived, he walked up, stuck out his hand. “Vic Simon,” he said.

“Vic Danger?” I asked with a smile. And we both laughed.

Vic Danger was his stage name, but Kingsport native Victor Simon was a danger only to a bass guitar. Now that was something he could really tear up.

But in his real life, Vic was a sweetheart, a success story who really did want to give back, especially to his hometown.

Victor Simon died in Nashville over the weekend. He was only 59. But what he had packed into those 59 years.

He played bass for Harry Belafonte, for the Drifters and Mary Wells and jazz legend Larry Coryell. He had his own line of signature bass guitars for Waterstone and signature amps for Madison Amp.

He even played at the wedding of President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna in 2008.
Vic had performed in Kingsport twice in recent years, at Rhythm in Riverview in 2008 and 2011.

Fun Fest Director Lucy Fleming remembers, “After the show was over, he took the time to speak to his fans. He was telling this little guy to mind his momma and stay in school. He was so excited to play this show at V.O. Dobbins Park and to a hometown crowd that really embraced his talent.”

Calvin Sneed, a friend since childhood, said, “One of the things Victor and I talked about a lot was his love of children, and where he felt the children in Kingsport were going with their lives. During the two visits he made to play at Rhythm in Riverview and in phone conversations we’ve had over the years, he told me he was so worried about the kids not getting a good education. During both times he played at home, I can remember him talking about that to the kids who were down front of the stage, and it always caught my ear. He really pushed getting an education and staying off the streets. He remembered the difficult life he had as a child, and how he kept pushing and pushing to be the best he could be. He wanted the kids to push like that and always strive to be better.”

Victor was a trailblazer in Kingsport, the first black member of the Sevier band. He liked to tell the story. He was in the seventh grade at Sevier in the mid-1960s when his older brother talked him into going out for football. “My cousin Tony Horton came running over with his helmet off and a big cut on his lip. He said, ‘You coming out for football?’ I took one look at him and I said, ‘No, I’m going out for band.’ ”

Being in the Sevier band launched his musical career. But he never forgot Kingsport.

“I want young people here to know what they are capable of doing. I feel like I’m highly favored by God. He has thoroughly blessed me. I know the power.

"Get in there and Jesus will get your back.”

Election Day Surprise

Please see the editorial suggestion on the upcoming presidential election from Doug Releford. It is posted at the RIVERVIEW FEATURES - OPINIONS - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR link. It is very timely and important for all voters.

Editor

Victor Simon Services

Funeral arrangements are announced for our brother and friend, Victor Simon. They are posted at the PASSINGS AND OBITUARIES link.

The complete obituary is forthcoming.

Happy Birthday, Connie Ruffin!

Clockwise...Ronald, Faye, Cassius, and Connie Ruffin - 1955


Just got this from Ronald Ruffin. Don't forget to wish Connie a happy birthday anyway:


IF YOU SEE CONSTANCE ESTELLA RUFFIN ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 21st, PLEASE WISH HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY. MY BABY SISTER IS STILL THE CENTER OF ATTENTION.


Love you,
YOUR BIG BROTHER
Ronald

The Community Mourns: Victor Simon

We mourn the passing of Vic Danger, our brother Victor Simon.

Below is a link to up close and personal pictures of Victor at his last performance, Rhythm in Riverview 2011 in the Douglass Ballfield in Kingsport.

Click here to see a slideshow of pictures from Vic's last concert, which was held in Riverview.

May he rest in peace.

A reminder that these pictures are for individual viewing only. They are copyrighted and cannot be copied for exhibition, without permission.

Logo Labor of Love Launches Kingsport Lad

DOUGLASS DESCENDANT DESIGNS THE CORA COX ACADEMY LOGO

"It makes me feel good, because I designed the logo for the school I'm going to."

17-year-old Octavious Logan of Kingsport has a bright future ahead of him.

He likes to draw, and recently in a contest to select the new logo for the renamed Cora Cox Academy, his was picked.

"I've always loved to doodle and sketch things," he says. "I had watched my older brother Kenny draw things when I was little, and I was like 'teach me to draw.' He told me 'I can't teach you drawing, you have to learn it for yourself. So then, I had to prove to myself that I had the talent. Back then, I didn't know if I did, so I just picked out a couple of things that I wanted to draw. I'd just look at it and have another piece of paper beside that one, and I'd just sketch it out."

"That's how I learned how to draw."

Cora Cox Academy principal Dr. Carolyn Kennedy was aware of Octavious' artistic talents, and felt he needed encouragement to develop his ability to draw into something more worthwhile.

"A good teacher has to be alert and watch for things in their students," she says. "They have to be able to spot development in a child and act on it as soon as they see it, in most cases without the child really noticing what you're doing. We noticed that Octavious had the ability to recreate onto paper what he was seeing in his mind."

When the announcement was made by the Kingsport Board of Education to change the name of the New Horizons Alternative School to the Cora Cox Academy last year, Dr. Kennedy decided a new school logo would be needed to display the school's new identity in a positive way. She says, she saw the opportunity, not only to see what Octavius was capable of, but to perhaps notice potential talent in other students.

"Many of our students have trouble adapting to change," she explained. "So, to sort of get our students through the name change, I decided to try and give them some ownership in the name-changing process. In May when I spoke to the student body, and gave them the opportunity to come up with suggestions for a logo. There were 13 different submissions from the students, and also one from a teacher, and we put them all on the bulletin board, to let the students decide which one they liked."

Octavious admits to not knowing anything about Cora Cox, but says she must have been a special teacher to have a school named after her.

"I started out on just a single piece of paper," he says. I started with a pen, doodling out the two 'C's, the 'A' and the pencil, but I couldn't get it right. I started thinking about it, and how it actually looked, and then switched to a pencil, and then it just came out."

Octavious' drawing won, hands down.

"He actually submitted two drawings," Dr. Kennedy remembers. "I think what everybody like about his entry is, it embodies our school purpose, which is graduation for all our students. I fuss at them constantly, that I expect to see them graduate. Our kids can now graduate with a full diploma here at Cora Cox, they don't have to go to Dobyns-Bennett to graduate. When you walk into my office, you see hanging on my door, is a cap and gown."

"What may have brought you here beforehand, how far you need to catch up... your goal is to walk that stage at graduation, and then to succeed beyond that point," she says.

"Our job as teachers is to help you get there."

The drawing by Octavious embodied that, and more.

"With it being 'the Cora Cox Academy,' says Dr. Kennedy, "his drawing had the 'A' in the center, and the two 'C's' on either side, and then the cap and gown. I think that made a difference, because the kids see that all the time, and it must have made an impression on their minds. We modified the image just a little bit, to give it more character."

"They kept the 'A' the same," Octavious says, "and they kept the cap in the same place, but changed the position of it. They also kept the string (the tassle) hanging off of the cap, and the two 'C's' are farther apart. The pencil is now coming through one of the 'C's' in front of the 'A' and they took the scribble off the pencil."

"Yeah, they changed it a little bit, but I'm still proud of it.'

He's not the only one.

Herman Lathers is Octavious' grandfather. He graduated Douglass High School at the Rosenwald building two blocks away in 1939, in the class with Charlie Canty, Kathleen Stafford, William Walton and Gallie Hendricks. They were the only five seniors that year.

Mr. Logan had not seen the logo that his grandson had drawn.

"My boy did that?" he asked, as we approached the new sign outside the school. "Well, I be dog. That is really wonderful. He told me about it, but I didn't think too much of it, 'cause I didn't understand what it was. He asked me about Cora Cox, and I what I remembered of her. He told me about this 'logo' thing again, and then you told me about it 2 minutes ago, and there it is."

"Isn't that something?" he beamed with pride. "I'm trying to keep him schooled, get him into history and into college somewhere. How 'bout that? He just might turn out to be something.. might make president of the United States."

Octavious has always been interested in drawing and music, "but my art expresses how I feel," he says. "I'm a loving character, I'm not hateful or anything, and that comes out in my artwork. I love God, I love to pray, I pray all or most of the time. God goes with me, everywhere I go."

He plans on attending college next year, and majoring in art.

"Mrs. (Donna) Ashby, the guidance counselor here at school, has been talking to me and trying to find some schools that would be good for me," he says. "One of them is the Art Institute of Atlanta and I have been chit-chatting with them. They want to wait until I get out, and I think I've got a foot in the door there. We also contacted MTSU (in Mufreesboro) just the other day."

"He's got such a bright future," says Dr. Kennedy. "We're proud of him and all of our students, and we expect big things from him. We expect the same from all of our students. Hopefully, they can look at Octavius and say, 'we can do it, too.'

"All of my artwork means something, everything I draw means something to me," Octavious says.

"It's telling something about me."

Kingsport dedicates Cora Cox Academy

THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

By RICK WAGNER
rwagner@timesnews.net

AT LEFT, Dr. Carolyn Kennedy and Kingsport City Schools Superintendent Dr. Lyle Ailshie unveil a plaque renaming the school Cora Cox Academy. BELOW CENTER, Cox is shown with two of her students, in a contributed photo from 1957, when she was teaching at Douglass School. BELOW LEFT, a friend of Mrs. Cox, Leola Newton Campbell remembers and recites Cox's favorite poem during the dedication of the Cora Cox Academy on Friday, August 10, 2012. BELOW RIGHT, Calvin Sneed gives the keynote address for the renaming dedication of Kingsport's Alternative School.

KINGSPORT — Cora Rogers Cox was remembered as a consummate educator Friday afternoon during the dedication of a Kingsport school renamed in her honor.

Thirty years and a week after her death on Aug. 3, 1982, school officials, students and community members gathered for the renaming ceremony and to remember Cox’s education legacy of some four decades.

Click here to see pictures from the Cora Cox Academy dedication. The pictures were taken by your Douglass website editor and Donna Morrisette.

Kingsport City Schools held an open house and re-naming ceremony for Cora Cox Academy, the former New Horizons Alternative School at 520 Myrtle St. in the former Lee School building.

That’s not far from the site of the torn-down Douglass School, where Cox taught from 1944 into the 1960s. Cora Cox Academy will house the KCS alternative education program for students in grades 6-12.

Superintendent Lyle Ailshie said Cox’s “singular focus was on the success of her students,” and she would be perfectly suited for the system’s 2012 vision of a world-class education focused on individual students.

Cox’s service to Kingsport stretched from the end of World War II to the middle of Ronald Reagan’s first term and included integration of the city schools in the mid-1960s. Before that, starting in 1940, she taught in her native Arkansas and Nashville before then-Douglass Principal V.O. Dobbins Sr. offered her a job in 1944.

“She had a passion, talent and determination for helping students see possibilities in themselves that they had never before imagined,” read a plaque unveiled Friday afternoon at the school.

And Mayor Dennis Phillips pointed out that Cox helped start the first autism program in the city school system.

She was twice chosen as Kingsport’s Teacher of the Year. In 1977, Cox was named Outstanding Alumna at East Tennessee State University, where she got her master’s degree, was a Tennessee Teacher of the Year, and was one of the four finalists for National Teacher of the Year.

“Cora Cox had a real long reach,” said Calvin Sneed, a career television broadcaster who was a student of Cox in second grade at Douglass School.

Former students at the ceremony also included Kingsport Board of Education President Randy Montgomery, as well as some teachers who taught with Cox.

She taught at Douglass from 1944 to 1964, when she helped start special education classes and, in 1966, the Head Start program in the former Douglass building. She also taught at Robinson Middle, Sevier Middle and Johnson Elementary.

Sneed, who grew up in Riverview, said Cox reached out to autistic students.

“Cora Cox was the kind of teacher that would step in that box with them,” Sneed said, adding that she got special training and education for helping those with autism.

Leola Newton Campbell was a fellow teacher who met Cox in 1953 when their families attended St. James Presbyterian Church.

After it closed because of a dwindling congregation, she recalled how their two families in 1963 became the first blacks in the then-all-white First Presbyterian Church at the invitation of the minister there.

Campbell, who Sneed introduced as the first African-American licensed practical nurse at Holston Valley Community Hospital, said Cox’s favorite hymns were “This is My Father’s Word” and “Oh Master, Let Me Walk with Thee.”

Campbell said Cox loved to dance and tell stories, and had an infectious smile, faith and determination.

Principal Carolyn Kennedy said the city’s alternative school program began in 1980 in a single classroom behind the auto body shop at Dobyns-Bennett High School.

The school has grown from 18 students at the start of 2011-12 to 48 at the start of 2012-13 Monday.

Kennedy said the alternative school has transformed from strictly a place for those with disciplinary or behavior issues to those who need or thrive in the smaller classes of 10 to 11 students and more personalized attention.

Kennedy said some students need help with credit recovery, often via online learning, or speeding up their earning of a diploma so they can get jobs to help their families.

“We believe that success is within the reach of every student,” Kennedy said.
She said some students sent there for disciplinary reasons request to stay and finish out their high school days there.

Octavious Logan drew the prototype of what students and faculty chose as the new logo for Cora Cox Academy. Kennedy said the school colors of blue and gold are the same as the old Douglass colors.

For more information on the alternative school’s programs contact Kennedy at 378-2185.

Cora Rogers Cox History - From Arkansas to Tennessee: "A Teacher with Compassion, Conviction... and a Wonderful Sense of Humor"

Mrs. Fraulene Williams-Rogers, was married for 28 years to Francis Rogers, Cora Cox's older brother. He passed away 2 weeks after his sister did, in August, 1982. In the picture at left, she is visiting at a party in Kingsport in the 1950's, standing next to Douglass School teacher W. C. Scroggins. Today in 2012, Mrs. Williams-Rogers is 91 years young, and still lives above the funeral home in Camden, Arkansas that her husband started years ago.. in fact, Mrs. Williams-Rogers still works in a small office downstairs in the funeral home! She is four years younger than her sister-in-law Cora Rogers, and has fond, vivid memories of her as they were growing up. She shares some of those memories with the Douglass website.

PICTURES FROM THE DOUGLASS ALUMNI COLLECTION AND FROM WILLIE RAYMOND HARDY, CAMDEN, ARKANSAS... GREAT NEPHEW OF CORA ROGERS COX

"Cora was a smart, young lady, a loveable person. Her main goal was trying to get an education during our time back in the 30's. They were hard times back then. When she was in school in Buena Vista (a small farming community, about 17 miles west of Camden), some of the black schools back then, only went to the 8th grade, so the children had to come all the way to Camden to finish the 12th grade. I think the house burned or something, and she and her mother and the family moved up here to Camden anyway and she finished high school."

CLICK ON MAPS TO MAKE THEM LARGER

Map of Arkansas Map, with Camden circled; Map of Camden area (Camden in upper right corner, Buena Vista, AR in lower left corner

Close up of Buena Vista, Arkansas; Google street level view of Buena Vista intersection, U.S. 79 westbound at Oauchita County Roads 5 and 130

"She was always interested in getting a good education.. I think she was interested more, in improving her lot in life. Times were hard down on the farm where she was born. One summer, she went to beauty school here and had a degree in that, at that time. I think that helped her to make extra money while she was in college. One of her older sisters used to tell about how she used to wrap up canned goods when she'd come home on the weekends from college and her sister would let her take it back home with her."

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM LARGER

Mrs. Ada B. Rogers

"Ada B. Rogers was her mother.. all the children were crazy about her. "Mama Ada B" they called her. She was an influential person in that she taught you what you needed to know, to survive. She was a wonderful mother-in-law to me the 28 years I was married to her son Francis. A very sweet person. Nobody went hungry in her house.. even if you didn't live there, like a neighbor or somebody.. didn't matter if you were black or white, if you were hungry, she fed you. She didn't work.. she was a housewife, raising kids and keeping the home straight. She died just a few days before her 100th birthday. Her father died in July of 1953."

"I remember they had a little grocery store in Kingsport at one time. When my husband Francis was stationed at Fort Knox (outside Louisville, KY), we used to go over to Kingsport to visit on the weekends, 'cause that was closer than coming all the way back down to Camden. We'd leave on Friday night and come back Sunday."

Mrs. Fraulene Williams-Rogers; W.C. Scoggins (teacher at Douglass); Mrs. Scoggins; Linda Lee Cox and Cora Cox at an anniversary party at the Cox residence on Dunbar Street

"We'd always have a good time whenever we'd come to Kingsport and see John and Cora. I remember one time in February, they were having a basketball tournament at the school, Douglass School.. Since I loved to barbeque, Cora said 'I want you to cook some, would you cook some barbeque?' I said 'it's wintertime,' and she said 'I got a little grill and we'll put it in the fireplace.' I said O-K.. I think she may have had a couple of slabs. I cooked the barbeque, in fact, I always did the cooking whenever I was there. I had cooked some greens and those 2 slabs of ribs. Well, there was 5 of us. So people started coming in, her friends.. they were coming over to her house 'we smell the barbeque.' She'd told everybody about it. I didn't get any barbeque. I told her, says 'is that what you wanted me to do, was cook for your friends?' She laughed about it and she said 'Sis.. I'm not gonna tell anybody about you cooking tomorrow,' and I said 'don't you send anybody over here. If anyone come, keep 'em out.' We laughed about that, but we had a lot of fun."

John and Cora Cox - 1952

"I came there when they (she and John Cox) had their 25th wedding anniversary. Her husband John, you know he died here. My husband and the funeral home, brought his body back to Kingsport. They were visiting and he was going fishing that Monday morning with some of the men, and he got up, I think it was about 5 o'clock I think it was, and he got up to start getting ready so they could go fishing, and he set down and passed, right on the side of the bed."

"Cora called us from Buena Vista and told us that he'd passed, so my husband went and picked him up.. he'd been in the funeral home business 30 years. She made plans, and told her brother she wanted him to take the body to Kingsport. He said, that would be fine. Me, my husband and Cora would be in the ambulance and the body would be in the hearse. In the hearse, there was a little cutout space there when you open the door just behind the passenger door. She got in back there, and I said 'Cora, you gonna sit back there?' and she said 'yeah.' She set back there all the way to Kingsport, 700 and some miles. She sure did. She set right there beside that casket, and she never came up in that front seat with me and my husband.. she set right back there with John. She didn't want to leave his side."

"I think about Cora often.. we had good times back then, and even when she moved to Kingsport."

"She would send copies of things that she was involved in, in Kingsport, things going on in the neighborhood. Her students just loved her, and that doesn't surprise me. I think she might have taught her first students here in Arkansas.. I'm not sure of where it was."

Willie Raymond Hardy, former Arkansas State Representative (D), District 5, Camden

"I think she liked to teach the children 'cause she liked to watch 'em learn, to figure out things for themselves. Her great nephew, Willie Raymond Hardy.. when he was a little boy, he was real smart and he could draw pretty well and she was carried away with him. If anybody showed any sign of doing something great, she would get wrapped up in them. She would get carried away with his drawings. He was elected to the state senate in Little Rock, that's where he lives."

I think (the naming of the school after her) is an honor she would be proud of. If she were here, she'd say 'oh my goodness.. you're kidding.. you're naming a school after ME?' She'd be so proud, but she'd be proud that attention is being given to the children. She was proud of herself and what she did, but she was more proud of the children. All of her friends that were here are gone now. Her mother had a little restaurant, and she worked there for a little while.. she was good about finding a job. She knew she had to earn money. She went to beauty school and she would fix some of the kids' hair to earn a little extra money. She was determined to make money.. they were kinda on the poor side down there in Buena Vista. She struggled to get an education."

"Miss Ada B" Rogers; Francis Rogers;; Cora Rogers Cox

"My husband Francis, her brother, died two weeks after she died in 82. They were so very close. The whole family was like that. If you married into the family like I did, they loved you and treated you like you were blood kin. I just loved all of them, 'cause we were all raised together."

"She talked a lot about teaching autistic children.. she enjoyed talking about how they learned and took in what they learned. She talked about some of the good things they did, and some of the not-so-good things they did, and how they didn't want to disappoint her. She always tried to understand them on their level. I remember, she talked about it a lot."

"I remember she went to school to learn extra about teaching them."

First Presbyrterian Church, Cora Cox's church home in Kingsport

"She was a Presbyrterian in Kingsport, but she was raised a Baptist down here. She became a Presbyrterian after she married John. My mother and I were Presbyrterian. Our church membership went down and the church had to close, so some of us went to the white church.. my daddy went to the Baptist church up the street from us. We were the only Presbyrterians in the family.. the rest of them were Baptist. She was always a trailblazer in the study of The Lord.. she always kept Him in her life."




"If you have a program of the dedication, would you send me one? I'd love to see it."

The Williams Funeral Home on North Adams Avenue in Camden, Arkansas -- attached home on the left is where Mrs. Fraulene Williams still lives upstairs

"I would love to be there, but I can't.. I just can't get around anymore. I'm 91, you know. I live upstairs over the funeral home that was started by my father. I live here by myself, I go downstairs and work in my office every day."

"I just think it's wonderful... to have a school named after you? That shows to me that she was well thought of, and that she did a good job at what she did. She was a good teacher. I knew that just listening to her talk about it. Thank you to the people that came out to the dedication from the Rogers family. We really appreciate it."

--Mrs. Fraulene Williams, August 8, 2012

EDITOR'S FOOTNOTE: Cora Rogers Cox passed away on August 3, 1982, almost 30 years to the day that the city of Kingsport dedicated a school in her honor. The Cora Cox Academy is located at 520 Myrtle Street, in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Are Your Riverview Kids Ready?

Click either bus route to see when your young 'uns are due in school

Gearing up for school

Courtesy David Grace, Kingsport Times-News

Volunteers hand out school supplies at a back-to-school event Friday at Carew Cuts in Kingsport. Help Our Potential Evolve (H.O.P.E.) partnered with Carew Cuts for the event at the barbershop. Boys aged kindergarten through high school received free haircuts, while elementary and middle school boys and girls received free backpacks and other school supplies. The Sullivan County Health Department, CASA and Greater Commission Church also participated in the event. At right, Carew Cuts owner J.R. Carew Jackson gives Brett Rogers his back-to-school haircut.

Cora R. Cox Academy Dedication

Friday, August 10th at 4:30 PM.

Cora R. Cox Academy Dedication, 502 Myrtle Street, Kingsport, the site of the former New Horizons Alternative School.

Please come out and honor the memory of our beloved Douglass School teacher and former resident of the Riverview community.

Appreciation Dinner for Deacon Snapp at Central Baptist - Kingsport

CLICK ON THE POSTER TO MAKE IT LARGER

KCS announces back-to-school events

• KINGSPORT — Kingsport City Schools has announced a variety of back-to-school events. Each school will hold special events to welcome students and families and provide information about the start of school. School will begin for Kingsport students on Monday.

Back-to-school events are scheduled for:

Jackson Elementary, Friday, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Jefferson Elementary, today, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Johnson Elementary, Friday, 4 to 5 p.m.
Kennedy Elementary, Friday, 2 to 3 p.m.
Lincoln Elementary, Friday, 4 to 5 p.m.
Roosevelt Elementary, Friday, 1 to 2:30 p.m.
Washington Elementary, today, 4 to 6 p.m.
Robinson Middle School, today, 6 p.m.
Sevier Middle School, today, 6 to 8 p.m.
Innovation Academy, Friday, 1 p.m.
Cora Cox Academy, Aug. 10, 4:30 p.m.

Dobyns-Bennett High School new student orientation will occur Friday in the Nancy Pridemore Theater.

Students with last names A-J will attend the morning session beginning at 9 a.m. Students with last names K-Z will attend the afternoon session, which will begin at 12:30 p.m.

All new students and their families are encouraged to attend. A full listing of back-to-school events and information can be found on the KCS Web site at http://www.k12k.com/.


For more information, contact KCS Administrative Coordinator Andy True at 378-2130.