As we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women obtaining the right to vote, let’s look at the life of Florence Bowden Hair Evans of Lenoir City. She died Aug. 13 at age 101.
According to her obituary, her dad owned and operated the James M. Hair store on Broadway in Lenoir City, and her parents added her to the cradle roll of Trinity Methodist Church at birth. She would be a member of that church for over 100 years.
Florence was accomplished. She played piano for the children’s choir at age 10, played the church organ for 17 years and sang in the choir for more than 40 years. At one time, she owned her own appliance store in Lenoir City. She loved to play bridge.
She retired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory after 19 years and created the original filing system still used at ORNL. She was the head teacher of the first state-supervised nursery care in the basement of her church. This enabled mothers to go to work at the ORNL when no childcare was available.
In 1976, she and friend Mildred Purdy launched a career in art and had shows in several states. She was commissioned by Loretta Lynn to paint a picture of Lynn’s homeplace in Butcher Holler, Kentucky.
Mrs. Evans is survived by grandchildren in Minnesota and New Jersey, as well as nieces, nephews and friends in Loudon County. Smart, talented, not afraid to try new things. Florence Bowden Hair Evans gets my vote as a woman of distinction 1919-2020. Additional obituary info here.