Frances Stoner raised her four daughters to be strong, and when she died on Aug. 16, they acknowledged her legacy: “Frances Evelyn Pouns Stoner, Mother, Oak Ridge Pioneer, Microbiologist and Joyful Reconciler.”
The family plans a Celebration of Life memorial service at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 28, at Fairview Methodist Church in Maryville.
A Texas native, Fran graduated from Southern Methodist University with majors in geology and journalism. She married Henry Stoner in 1942 and the couple moved to “a primitive army town in Oak Ridge, Tenn., a place she helped build into a small city.”
She put her career on hold until her daughters were finishing high school and college. Then she returned to school herself, earning a master’s degree in microbiology from the University of Tennessee in 1974. She worked at UT, supervising the teaching laboratories for the microbiology department until her retirement in 1985. Hank and Fran moved to Shannondale Retirement Center in Maryville in 2006, and he died in 2012. See additional obituary details here.
Rex McDaniel, 80 of Knoxville, passed away Aug. 18. The family will hold services for him at a later date. Rex attended Valley Grove Baptist Church and had a career in vocational rehabilitation and as a CDC teachers assistant at Seymour High School and Ijams Nature Center. He was a volunteer park naturalist and nature photographer in the Smokies. Additional information here.
Helen L. Carmichael, 75, of Dandridge, passed away on Aug. 18. She and husband Buck ran Carmichael Tractor and she was a founder of Smoky Mountain Patchworkers. The family will receive friends from 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, at Farrar Funeral Home in White Pine. Funeral services will be Thursday, Aug. 22, at 10 a.m. at Ebenezer Methodist Church. Additional obituary information here.