Marilyn Childress honored for work with veterans

A Knoxville woman has been recognized for her work with veterans organizations. Marilyn Childress was a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class and earned the National Defense Medal for service during the Vietnam War.

Marilyn Childress receives a proclamation from Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs.

Last week Mayor Glenn Jacobs recognized “her tremendous service” to the local veterans community at the East Tennessee Military Affairs Council meeting. “Over the years, Marilyn has identified 230 veterans’ grave markers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park,” said Jacobs. “Thanks to her efforts, those graves are covered with a wreath on Wreaths Across America Day every year. We all very proud of you, Marilyn!”

Childress also played volleyball for the University of Tennessee.

She attended UT for two years, but funds were tight. She joined the Navy, serving from 1972-75 as an operating room technician. After her service, she returned to UT on the GI Bill and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Her work with veterans is legendary.

She was a founding member of Veterans Heritage Site Foundation and its first president. Organized in 2016, VHSF does not require members to be veterans. Its mission is to preserve and maintain veteran heritage sites, which include military and veteran cemeteries, marked and unmarked burial sites, monuments and veteran parks.

More details available from the Anderson County Historical Society.

Notes & quotes

Smoky Mountain Quilters of Tennessee (SMQ) will host more than 200 unique quilts June 19-20 at the Knoxville Expo Center, 5441 Clinton Highway, Knoxville, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday. Admission is $10; for a two-day pass, $15; and free for children under age 12. The Expo Center has free parking and is accessible to the disabled.

2026 Annual MLK Parade/March Juneteenth Celebration, parade lineup 8:30 a.m. Friday, June 19, step off 10 a.m. Chilhowee Park, Gate 13; Juneteenth Celebration, Dr. Walter Hardy Park, 2089 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.

Blackberry Festival, sponsored by Powell Presbyterian Church, will be Saturday, June 27, 9-2 with a 5K race, a kids’ zone, food trucks, live music (noon til 2), vendors and more. Parking available at Powell Middle and Powell High schools with shuttle service to the festival.

The Knoxville Area Urban League’s largest community event – Shoes for School on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at Covenant Health Park – will be bigger than ever and in a new location. Talk with a representative about how the event supports local students and involves a lot of community groups. Learn more. Donate.

Knox Girls Who Walk – a Saturday Audiobooks Walk at Morningside Park. Grab your headphones and current audiobook for a roughly 3-mile loop walk (with option to hop off after each one-mile loop. Saturday, June 20, 9 a.m. (walk starts at 9:15). RSVP here.

Quote: “The sane man knows that he has a touch of the beast, a touch of the devil, a touch of the saint, a touch of the citizen. Nay, the really sane man knows that he has a touch of the madman. But the materialist’s world is quite simple and solid, just as the madman is quite sure he is sane.” – G.K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy, 1908).

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