Mary Irene Pieratt Plumlee, age 97, of Oak Ridge passed away Monday May 2, 2011 at her home. Mary was born on January 1, 1914 in Morgan County, Kentucky. She was the eighth child of twelve children of Napoleon and Loulie Ellen Pieratt. She grew up hard and poor on a hillside farm in rural Eastern Kentucky--hoeing corn, making molasses, tending the garden, gathering eggs for trade at the local country store. There was no electricity or running water in the home; coal oil lamps provided light at night; cooking was done on a wood stove. She made her own everyday dresses from used flour sacks. She picked blackberries in the summer; chestnuts in the fall. Her life growing up was the epitome of what life was like for a young mountain woman of that time, a time before the term 'Appalachia' was coined. Due to the good fortune of a United Presbyterian missionary, Reverend Ray Davis, who established a high school in Ezel, Kentucky, Irene was able to get a high school education in that remote area of backwoods America. She rode horseback to school in good weather months and worked as a domestic for her room and board in the area in foul weather months. She was the only one in her family to obtain a high school education. Through encouragement from her high school staff, she applied for and was accepted by Berea College in central Kentucky. She worked her way through school in a wide variety of jobs--again as a domestic, as a waitress in Boone Tavern, and by taking a couple of years off to go back to Morgan County to teach school in a one room school house, again riding horseback to get there. After college she moved to Celina, Tennessee and married George Newton Plumlee, Jr whom she had met at Berea. She began teaching English in the local high school. Her husband also taught school then began working for the Army Corps of Engineers in the construction of Dale Hollow Dam. As the construction of the dam was nearing completion in 1943, her husband learned about a new government project starting up in a place called Oak Ridge. They decided to move and work there in 1944. Her husband first started work in a laboratory then moved to the developing school system as a science teacher. Irene began teaching and finishing out a term at the old Wheat School. When she became pregnant with her first child, she had to leave teaching for a few years to become a housewife and mother. She and her husband had been living in separate dormitories when they initially started living in Oak Ridge. Being pregnant got them priority on a temporary housing 'flattop' on West Madison Lane. They later progressed to an 'A' and then to a 'C' house.
After her children were of school age, Irene yearned to return to teaching. She started out as a substitute teacher in the Oak Ridge school system, and then taught in the Knox, Anderson, and Roane Counties school systems. She went back to graduate school at George Peabody College for Teachers for several summers and earned a Master's degree. The latter part of her teaching career was spent at Oliver Springs Elementary School. While she taught all grades and subjects, her preference was younger children and she finished her career teaching second grade. In addition to her day job, she would teach adult education at night. Even after retirement she continued to substitute teach and voluntarily tutored Vietnamese refugees in the area. At Oliver Springs Elementary School she had settled into her teaching element--a mountain woman teaching mountain students. She interacted well with her students and the community.
Irene's golden years were golden. She maintained an active lifestyle well into her nineties until the ravages of time finally took their toll. After retirement she still maintained her garden and was famous for her home cooked meals and fudge. She stayed active with church groups where she wrote poetry and short stories. She traveled across the southeast with a Methodist senior group--trips to New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and even a Carribean cruise. She made five or six trips to Europe to visit her daughter and family. It was always a delight to pack a picnic and make a trip to the Smokies or Frozen Head to view spring flowers or fall colors. Being a lover of children, she was blessed with two of her own, four granddaughters, and two great grandsons. She was a doting mother and grandmother. She was openly friendly. She was a great southern cook and her table was always open to family and friends. There was joy in her home.
She is survived by her son George and daughter-in-law Donna; her daughter Claudia and son-in-law Ferruccio Gera; four granddaughters, Mary Plumlee Meeuwis and husband Frank, Catherine Plumlee, Vanessa Gera, and Daniela Gera Fanikos and husband Mike; two great grandsons, Jacob and Benjamin Fanikos; and many other extended family, in-laws, nieces, nephews and many other friends. Coming from dire and humbling circumstances, facing grief and hardships, she rose above it all and overcame many obstacles. She loved and supported others; gave more than she received. What a remarkable woman. What a beautiful life well lived. She will be fondly remembered, missed, and loved. Well done good and faithful servant.
Funeral services will be held Thursday May 5, 2011 11:00am at the United Church Chapel on the Hill with Pastor Randy Hammer officiating. Interment will follow at 4:00pm CST at the Fitzgerald Cemetery in Celina, Tennessee. The family will receive friends Wednesday may 4, 2011 6:00 to 8:00pm at Martin Oak Ridge Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers the family request memorial gifts be sent to the United Church Chapel on the Hill 85 Kentucky Ave. Oak Ridge, TN 37830.