2013 Historically Speaking - Ebook

2013 Historically Speaking - Ebook

Published January 2015

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

FIRST EDITION

First Printing – January 2015

Published with assistance from Strata-G

Strata-G LLC

2027 Castaic Lane

Knoxville, TN 37932

Copies of this book are available directly online from www.lulu.com/smithdray

Or through SmithDRay Web Pages at www.smithdray.net or www.draysmith.com

Or by contacting Ray Smith by e-mail at draysmith@comcast.net or by phone at 865-482-4224

Copyright © 2015 by David Ray Smith

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

Center for Oak Ridge Oral Histories - an archive of unique stories

Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge - A brief history

Bill Arnold: from fission to photosynthesis

Toy engine, radiation, electricity: shocking facts from the early days

Dick Lord: from secret calutrons to cyclotrons for science

Bobby Copeland – World’s No. 1 writer of books on western films

Bill Wilcox: On war, peace and reconciliation

President Harry S. Truman’s Grandson, Clifton Truman Daniel coming to Oak Ridge

Reliving the 50th Anniversary of Oak Ridge High School’s last basketball state championship

The Girls of Atomic City by: Denise Kiernan – Oak Ridge history through fresh eyes!

Red hot Wildcats roll into State Tournament on 12 game winning streak

The Graphite Reactor: Isotopes and a New Element

The Girls of Atomic City author says Americans fascinated by Oak Ridge!

Manhattan Project National Historical Park – an update

Grady Whitman: Life in the Secret City

The Girls of Atomic City goes from #33 to #14 on New York Times Bestseller List!

Grady Whitman: More Manhattan Project War Stories

The 43 Club, some of Oak Ridge’s finest

Grady Whitman: A satisfying Career at ORNL

Corn from a jar producers tried to stay solvent

Historic mercury discharge revelation made 30 years ago

Denise Kiernan – The Girls of Atomic City goes INTERNATIONAL!

Lester Fox: How a teen served the Manhattan Project

Lester Fox: From boy driver to big auto dealer

Oak Ridger witnessed July 16, 1945 Trinity nuclear test

Wartime Churches in Oak Ridge

Coach Joe Gaddis and The Penny Lady

Mystery Solved! Did Oak Ridge High School Football Really Win the Mythical 1958 National Championship?

Revolution, Reaction and Reform: Transformation of the Community of Wheat, by Sarah Littleton, part 1

Revolution, Reaction and Reform: Transformation of the Community of Wheat, by Sarah Littleton, part 2

Revolution, Reaction and Reform: Transformation of the Community of Wheat, by Sarah Littleton, part 3

Revolution, Reaction and Reform: Transformation of the Community of Wheat, by Sarah Littleton, part 4

Bobby Lyon: A class act

The final chapter… Bill Wilcox, my friend

Secrecy, spying, little privacy—a way of life here

Sam Beall: director of two ORNL divisions

Operation Downfall – the alternative to the use of Atomic Bombs

Lee Russell—Oak Ridge’s scientific superwoman

ORNL’s Bill Russell: Of mice and mutagens

The Russells: a remarkable couple who made a difference

Graphite Reactor started up 70 years ago today

Eugene Wigner’s December 2, 1946 talk about the world’s first self-sustaining chain reaction

Knoxville Area Model Railroaders’ Club & The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge

Alvin Weinberg: Oak Ridge’s visionary lab director and intellectual leader, part 1

Fred Heddleson – artist, aeronautical engineer and friend

Alvin Weinberg’s life was one of drama

Detaining Santa Claus and other holiday ‘traditions’

Christmas Past: Oak Ridge Christmas 1948

CONTACT Care Line of East Tennessee, an Oak Ridge icon of trained listeners, part 1

Foreword

There is history, and there is history from the heart. This book, like all of the work produced by my friend, Ray Smith, is history from the heart. That's what makes it so special.

Ray's first Historically Speaking column was published in The Oak Ridger, our city's daily newspaper, in February, 2006. Since then, he has amassed an astounding collection of work that chronicles and captures the soul of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, one of America's most unique communities.

Though Ray's columns have their epicenter in the Y-12 National Security Complex, they spread far beyond the people and places of that sprawling industrial complex. He actually writes a separate column that features a sharp focused concentration on Y-12 history. The Historically Speaking columns also tell the stories of our city, of our region, and of a very vital part of our nation.

Each Historically Speaking column captures our heritage, our legends, our challenges, and our accomplishments. In many cases, D. Ray shares the personalities and the passions of men and women − some notable and some heretofore unknown − who have been his friends and colleagues for decades. That's history from the heart.

But Historically Speaking is only a fraction of this living historian's true body of work. My friend Ray continues to play a first-hand role in preserving the Oak Ridge legacy. He is a champion of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a producer of documentary films and television miniseries, a photographer and videographer, an archivist and both the creator and curator of the fascinating Y-12 History Center.

D. Ray Smith's Historically Speaking columns that are re-published in this volume are too personal for mere history. Instead, they are his stories and they are a wonderfully captivating collection of facts, legends, lore and lives.

Parker Hardy

President and CEO

Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce

Preface

This 2013 volume of Historically Speaking continues in the tradition of the seven earlier volumes. The weekly columns continue to bring phone calls, e-mails and personal contacts that lead to even more stories. Readers continue to be faithful and more and more people seem to enjoy the weekly articles.

It is not uncommon for me to find readers at almost every Oak Ridge event I attend. I have become accustomed to people approaching me to say how much they enjoy the Historically Speaking column. I never get over the uncomfortable feeling their compliments cause. While I certainly do appreciate the positive feedback, I still don’t know how to respond other than to just mutter, Thank you.

I continue to have regular readers and new contacts bring stories that I have not heard. Writing a weekly column is an amazing journey in which I learn more and more about our unique history. Interest in the heritage of Oak Ridge history continues to grow. The potential for Heritage Tourism is becoming more accepted.

The Oak Ridge Public Library continues to be a real partner in the attempt I am making to document stories of our history. They continue to be most supportive of my efforts in very significant ways.

The Oak Ridge Room continues to be a primary source of research to confirm a story or to learn new facts and select new subjects for the column. It is not uncommon for me to visit that tremendous resource regularly.

Kathy McNeilly, director of the Oak Ridge Public Library is among my strongest supporters. Her staff has cataloged each Historically Speaking column and has created an index to the columns that has been placed on CD. I certainly do appreciate that support!

It has been my privilege to meet many people who have lived the history they share with me. Their insight is valuable beyond measure as I attempt to tell their stories.

My goal is to share all information on a subject that helps to clarify the details and assures accuracy. Sometimes follow up articles are used to clarify and correct past erroneous or incomplete information.

Writing history is often challenging and it is often difficult to be sure all the pertinent facts are known. As I have written Historically Speaking over the years, that task has not grown easier. In fact, I have become more and more aware of my limitations and shortcomings. The readers are forgiving and ever helpful as they seem to sense my sincerity and admire my efforts. I am most certainly thankful to the continuing help I am given.

This collection of stories that are making up these annual books may well be destined to make up a piece of Oak Ridge history for future generations. I am pleased by that realization and am even more challenged to get it correct!

A blessing of this endeavor is meeting wonderful, colorful and interesting people. I have come to understand that many people recognize me from the weekly photograph that runs with Historically Speaking and they even understand when I don’t recall their name…as I get older, that loss of memory aggravates me, but I am beginning to accept it as inevitable.

Of course, all I am describing is possible ONLY because of you devoted readers of Historically Speaking. Your unfailing support and vocal encouragement makes me want to keep doing the column, even when I tire of the constant weekly deadline and the nagging concern of what am I going to write about next.

The staff of The Oak Ridger continues to be a mainstay of support. They routinely assure the Historically Speaking column is as error free as they can make it. Their help is most appreciated and they often go the extra mile to correct typos and clarify anything that does not makes sense to them.

I continue to be most grateful for my wonderful wife, Fanny, without whose support for this ongoing project, I could not possibly continue. The many hours I must spend doing research, writing the column and interacting with the many weekly contacts we get claims an appreciable amount of time that could otherwise be spent with her. She often takes the messages and encourages me to return calls and follow up on each and every contact. She is a jewel! We had enjoyed 49 years of marriage in 2013 and at the writing of these articles were looking forward to celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2014, which we did.

Most of all I am blessed with many supporters and I thank each and every one of you. It is my hope that you find this compilation of 2013 Historically Speaking columns a collection of stories that you are proud to own and eager to share with others as examples of our truly unique history.

Carolyn Krause, retired editor of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review magazine (May 1975 – March 2011) and presently self-employed News and feature writer and technical editor, has contributed significantly to the articles included in 2013 Historically Speaking.

A special thanks goes to Chris Kilby, of Strata-G, who compiled the articles into book form.

Introduction

This is the eighth annual volume of articles from the Historically Speaking weekly newspaper column first published in The Oak Ridger, a local daily newspaper in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Articles from 2013 are included in this book. Earlier annual books contain the articles published in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. Future annual books will be published as well.

Sustained interest in the column by ever increasing numbers of readers has encouraged the continuation of the historical research and writing. Many individuals have suggested subjects to be included and others have even written content for articles of particular interest to them.

The purpose for the column has remained the same over the years. It is my intent to capture unique and interesting historical facts and stories from East Tennessee events or locations with emphasis on Oak Ridge and its role in this region.

The column has promoted increased interest in Oak Ridge’s unique historical heritage along with other aspects of regional history. Over the years, Oak Ridge has moved far from being an anomaly in Appalachia. It has come to help define our region and over the past 70 years has become an integral part of East Tennessee history and culture.

The audience for the weekly column continues to provide positive feedback and encouragement. The readers are not limited to Oak Ridgers, but many online readers contact me regularly with suggestions and ideas for future columns. Their interest in the unique history of Oak Ridge seems to remain with them even when they move to other locations. My belief in the strength we, in Oak Ridge, contribute to our surrounding area’s history has been confirmed by the welcome I have received in other local communities and Knoxville.

We now have an excellent display of Oak Ridge history included in the Voices of the Land permanent exhibit at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville. It is with honor that I continue to serve on the board of directors of the East Tennessee Historical Society.

It is my hope that you enjoy the read yourself, share the stories with others, and that all learn the history of a most unusual and unique experience that placed Oak Ridge amidst, equally in their own right unusual and unique, Appalachian communities. The result of this happenstance is truly historic.

The resulting interactions, complimentary support, joint growth efforts and other results of the mixing of cultures over the past 70 years has produced a truly intriguing historical kaleidoscope of most interesting stories, all too often undocumented and thus lost within a generation. These volumes are an attempt to prevent that loss.

I hope you agree that 2013 Historically Speaking has succeeded in capturing history that will be enjoyed and appreciated by readers now and for generations to come.

Ray Smith

2013 Historically Speaking is available for purchase online directly from the publisher at www.lulu.com/smithdray, at my website www.DRaySmith.com or also by contacting me directly by e-mail at draysmith@comcast.net or by phone at 865-482-4224.

Center for Oak Ridge Oral Histories - an archive of unique stories

(As published in The Oak Ridger’s Historically Speaking column on January 7, 2013)

The telling of one's story is a personal thing and only the one experiencing the perceived reality can convey that perception. Oral Histories provide an excellent medium whereby these singular stories can be captured. COROH serves as Oak Ridge's central storehouse for these one-of-a-kind stories.

Oral Histories on video enhance the experience for the researcher in that they get to see the actual person telling the story. The expressions and other visual clues to the person's character are helpful additions to the oral history tradition.

The resulting archive of oral histories being recorded, collected from earlier recordings (audio only), or linked to other archives, and all of this being placed online, is a treasure trove for researchers. The link to COROH is: http://cdm16107.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15388coll1 and the Facebook page is located at: http://www.facebook.com/CenterforOakRidgeOralHistory.

COROH has created the forum and the mechanism to capture these real experiences. I asked Jordan Reed, the young lady who is the COROH Clerk to write something for Historically Speaking. Here is what Jordan has to say about COROH:

...

Seventy years. That is a life-time for most, even longer for others. Those that have been around that long have seen everything from the changes in styles and fashion to the effects of global warming. Many saw the development of countries around the world, while others saw the local changes, right here, within the East Tennessee hills.

In 1942, Oak Ridge made its mark on American history. People flocked from all across the United States as well as from around the region. Several left the area out of anger and disgust at the Army’s forcefulness, but even more came in, thanks to the government’s creation of thousands of jobs in a scientific field that was new to many. Over the past seventy years, it has taken all types of people to build and grow Oak Ridge to what it is today.

Michigan native, Ed Kirstowsky recalled, Coming from the city, this town was pretty (laughing) pretty distant. The mud -- they had thrown us all together here. Well, one thing, they put us in a fenced-in area here; you had to have a badge to get in and a badge to get out, and -- there were just so many people here. And there -- most of them -- a good share of them were single. And it was quite a job for the government to handle them. This story like many others is just one example of what the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History is working to preserve.

Those that have stayed here from that initial influx of people have quite a story to tell. People like Ken Bernander, Cecilia Klemski, Fred Vaslow, and countless others changed the world with their work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12, and K-25.

Mr. Bernander, a retired long time employee of Y-12, came to Oak Ridge in 1944, and has remained ever since. After traveling to New York and Washington D.C. for work with the Manhattan Project, Ms. Klemski arrived in Oak Ridge in 1943, and got the chance to work closely with General Groves.

With the nation having three Secret Cities (Oak Ridge; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington), Mr. Vaslow not only had the chance to work here in Oak Ridge starting in 1946, he also had quite a unique experience in Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.

There are many people today living in Oak Ridge and its surrounding areas that have been here since before Oak Ridge was first developed. Some of these individuals were young and learned to embrace the change in their communities, while others were older and may still hold a grudge against the government today.

Those with this perspective include James Brennan, sisters Colleen Black and Jo Ellen Iacovino, brothers David and John Rice Irwin, and Don Watson. Each of these individuals provides detailed stories of schooling, farming, and observing the changes the Army made to their homes.

While the stories of the beginning of Oak Ridge are important, the stories of those who arrived more recently (1950’s to present) are just as important in understanding how Oak Ridge came to be the City we know today. Thousands of people played a part in making this Secret City, and those listed are just a few examples of the over 200 individuals who have talked to the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History.

The Center for Oak Ridge Oral History is a Department of Energy funded initiative to capture the story of Oak Ridge. Through interviews, COROH is talking with anyone who played a part, or has something to share about working, living, growing up in Oak Ridge.

COROH is working to create an all-encompassing view of what Oak Ridge was like, especially during the Manhattan Project era into the 1950’s. However, at this time, COROH is considering anyone willing to contribute.

Housewives, plant workers, laborers, and children - anyone is welcome to contact the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History about more information and to sign up to contribute. Please call Kathy McNeilly or Jordan Reed at the Oak Ridge Public Library at (865) 425-3455, or visit the COROH web site for more information.

There are at least 70 years of history that needs to be captured, and everyone is a part of it.

...

Thanks Jordan for giving Historically Speaking readers insights into COROH and what Oak Ridge's oral histories can do to help keep our history alive for the coming generations. Your dedication to oral history and your continuing contributions to the ongoing program are much appreciated.

I am pleased to participate in the Steering Committee for COROH along with other interested volunteers and to help Kathy McNeilly as she guides the COROH efforts along with her staff. Credit must be given to Steve Stow for his pivotal role while on the DOE Site Specific Advisory Board for having the insight to promote the idea of forming COROH. Of course, Steve did not begin there, he has been involved in oral history efforts for years as has other members of the steering group.

COROH Steering Committee participants include: Oak Ridge Public Library; City of Oak Ridge; American Museum of Science & Energy; Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge; Oak Ridge Heritage & Preservation Association; University of Tennessee, Center for the Study of War and Society; United States Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Office; United States Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information; National Nuclear Security Administration; Tennessee State Library & Archives; Tennessee Valley Authority, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board; and Oak Ridge community members.

All of you readers have a story to tell and you are the best person to tell your story. Or if you have parents or grandparents with connections to early Oak Ridge, encourage them to tell their story to COROH and capture it and the sooner the better. Call Kathy or Jordan right away!

Jordan Reed presents a talk on COROH to the Secret City in the Tennessee Hills: From Dogpatch to Nuclear Power held last September at the National Archives in Atlanta

Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge - A brief history

(As published in The Oak Ridger’s Historically Speaking column on January 14, 2013)

I am privileged to be in the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club with Mary Lou Auxier and Jim Michel. Mary Lou and I first knew each other at Y-12 before she retired. She and I both admire what is happening at the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge, where, as the recent story Donna Smith published in The Oak Ridger stated, Jim Michel makes a difference in people's lives.

Jim is an unassuming, kind and caring individual who sincerely wants to help people and he does! Along with fellow physician Tanya Vargas, they co-direct the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. In the short time this service has been available, literally some 2,400 plus people have been provided much needed medical help who may well have otherwise not be able to afford