A former Jellicoan who bordered on being a legend around here for many years has passed away. A lot of folks in our area who still remember Dr. Charles Prater very well even after his moving to Knoxville several years ago, were quick to state their sorrow upon hearing the news of his recent death. Several including Norma Young expressed their feelings to me immediately after learning of his passing.
We often use the term "unique" to describe an individual - but no other word could more appropriately be applied to Dr. Prater. He was truly unique and I for one never met anyone quiet like him. The often used and abused cliché "one of a kind" certainly applied to Doc Prater as everyone knew him..
During his many years in Jellico he treated a countless number of folks and the old Jellico Hospital on 5th Street eventually became better known to a lot of us simply as "Doc Prater's Hospital" and later "Doc Prater's Clinic". Most of the personnel who worked there had an ever-lasting affection for him that seemed to know no bounds. And they were quick to come to his support whenever they thought he needed such support.
When you went to his office, he would often give you a good lecture on some subject of which you may or may not have had any knowledge or interest whatsoever upon your arrival there - a subject that was on his mind and needed airing. And you were going to listen whether you liked it or not - in fact he sometimes literally got right in your face when he wanted to make a point. (I once got a great kick out of seeing him talk to a man in a wheel chair face to face. Doc came out from his desk in his chair with rollers and rolled right up to the fellow. When the patient rolled his wheelchair back from him, Doc simply rolled his chair right back up to him and literally followed that fellow all around the office on wheels until he had finished with what he wanted to tell him.. After he completed his discourse, he calmly turned his chair and rolled all the way back across his office and behind his desk as if the scene was just normal procedure.
Doc would debate you on one issue and be your biggest supporter on another and you never had to doubt where he stood on any question. After giving you his opinion he would give you the respect of hearing you out - and he was willing to change his own position if he came to the conclusion that he was wrong and you were right. But that sure didn't happen too often.
He was very interested in our community and his church and took an active part in both.
I have seen him turn down requests for donations to organizations that he did not feel were what they professed to be. And on the other hand he gave donations and performed acts of charity that were enough to touch the hardest of hearts. And he had a way with small children -many of whom he had delivered - that endeared him to them for life.
As long as he lived here and served our town and community, there was a lot that most folks around here never knew about Doc's life prior to moving to Jellico.. He grew up in Chattanooga where he was said to have been an excellent track athlete and never lost his love for that sport. (In fact he for many years worked to get a track and a track team at Jellico High School but was never successful in doing so.) After graduation from the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis, he served in the United States Army during World War II as part of the744th Light Tank Battalion and participated in both the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. According to his obituary, he was decorated for his service and received commendations including the Bronze Star/Valor, Combat Medical Badge and Victory Medal.
He and his wife Nancy came to Jellico in 1946 where he joined Dr. Carl Ausmus and Dr. Ned Watts and remained here until sometime around 1993 when he moved to Knoxville. And it took some getting used to Jellico without having Doc Prater around after he left. Until the last few years we still ran into him at Tennessee ball games, in the Knoxville malls and other places. He was always the same Doc Prater no matter where we met him and as stated above, he was unique!
The recent coal mining tragedy in West Virginia reminded many of us old timers of the bygone days when much of our town and our entire area relied upon the coal industry for our very existence. Mining accidents were common place around here then and few miners worked for an extended period of time without suffering some mishap ranging from injury to even death.
As we grow older, it is sometimes hard to remember what we actually witnessed when we were young children - and what we heard about so much that we believe we witnessed. And that is true of one memory that sticks out in my mind in the nature of a mine accident that killed an individual on Indian Mountain when I was just a very small boy. I lived in a farm house that sat where Gail Sharp's home is now located and a lane led up from Indian Mountain Road, past our house and to a very small Blue Gem mine. The mine caved in and killed a lone miner working at the time. (If my memory serves me correctly, his last name was Banks.)). All of the commotion and the crowd of folks drawn to the scene - as well as the ambulance that carried the body away from the area - sure was the center of discussion for weeks thereafter. And whether I actually saw the procession coming down the lane and leaving the area or just heard it discussed so much that it is vivid in my mind, it had to have been an extremely solemn occasion.
But I do clearly personally remember hearing the mothers, wives and daughters of miners express their concern for their sons, husbands and fathers as they toiled deep underneath the earth at Morley, Eagen, Pruden, etc.. and prayers were often sent up on their behalf. Thankfully mining is much more safe now than it was then - but it will always be a high risk occupation!
Will we or won't we? That seems to be the question being asked everywhere I go concerning whether or not we will have any significant snowfall this winter. It is now very near mid-January and the only snow that I have personally seen lasted for only a few minutes and the "flakes" were more the size of sleet than snow. At the time these notes were being put together, the temperature was 60 degrees and the forecast called for a few more days with temperatures in the 45 -60 degrees range with mixed in cool periods to include the possibility of snow flurries. That's good news for those of us who must pay the utility bills for heating but it sure doesn't sit well with an awful lot of students (and teachers).
Although most of us are glad that we don't live in an area with mostly cold weather and high amounts of annual snowfall, even the strongest of us warm weather lovers like to see at least one significant snowfall each year - if for no other reason than to remind us of what season we are in. And there's a real beauty in a newly fallen snow. What's more, it gives us an excuse to curl up in a warm place, prepare some hot soup or chili, pop some popcorn, imbibe huge amounts of hot chocolate and possibly read a good book.
Speaking of students wanting snow, a recent story on one of the Internet news websites related some things that they do in attempts to make it snow - ranging from performing "snow dances" to wishing upon "snow clouds". But the most unusual (and probably just as effective as any other) is an idea utilized by an eight (8) years old girl who has a totally revolutionary approach. She flushes ice cubes down the commode. (Her success rate was not cited!)
We are much more conventional at Boston Elementary School and rely strictly upon bulletin boards and door coverings with snowmen and snowflakes to express our desire for some snow.. (I wonder if anyone has contacted Tourism Director Jake Bennett to ask him to post "Think Snow" on our community bulletin board. Or maybe the City Council can vote on it!)
And speaking also of a good book, Robert Day, one of my former students at Jellico High now with Eastern Kentucky University, recently gave me a book on the life of Otto Kahn who once was one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the world. It was Kahn who is credited making the Metropolitan Opera what it is today. It was also Kahn who started the Jellico girl, Grace Moore, on her way to becoming a superstar in grand opera and movies.
As we begin our last months in office as Mayor and Council, it seems that negatives after negatives are now presenting themselves and diverting our attention away from the things that we really need to be doing to improve our town.. It is discouraging to say the least! I personally have worked as hard as I can to put Jellico in the best possible light and I know that members of Council have done the same.
The recent problem with our Animal Control Program reported by the media was very unfortunate and embarrassing and the program has been temporarily suspended until we can take steps to insure that it does work in the way that it is intended.
Although certainly a negative development, what happened cannot detract from the fact that the program had been working well until the reported incident and the significant reduction of homeless and unvaccinated animals brought favorable comments from a lot of our citizens. Animals were collected, treated humanely and taken soon thereafter to the Animal Control Center in Lafollette where they were similarly very well treated, given veterinary care and offered for adoption.. That is the way the program is designed to work and we badly need such a program!
A study reported as having been made by a major university supposedly has found positive proof that the older we become, the more susceptible we become to ailments and diseases. Wonder how long it took them to establish that fact?
We often talk about how time passes more quickly for us with ever passing year. To put that in a more clear perspective, one of our local homespun philosophers draws a somewhat colorful analogy: "Life is like a roll of toilet tissue. The closer we get to the end of the roll, the faster the tissue goes". You can't put it any plainer than that!
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