By Ralphine Major
It was an East Tennessee beauty whose photo was chosen as the winner. The Tennessee connection came when young Lois Wood entered a contest and won. The winner’s photo would be painted on a plane. Appropriately enough, the plane was named “Lovely Lois.” When the group of sailors notified Lois that she was the winner, they included a picture of the group with one of their planes. Lois still has the picture of the sailors—one of many pieces of history she has in her collection.
Today, Lois makes her home on a beautiful hillside in the Gibbs Community in Corryton, Tennessee. She and her husband, David Zachary, will celebrate 66 years of marriage on August 27, 2014. They were friends of our father; and for many years, we often saw David walking down our road as part of his cardiac rehab when he was recovering from a heart attack. At one time, David had a garden that covered the hillside. So picture perfect was the garden that it looked like a scene lifted right out of a gardening magazine. We miss seeing the neatly planted rows of vegetables on the corner lot. David took an early retirement from Tom’s Foods after 14 years due to health issues. Lois was a homemaker to the couple’s six children (two are deceased). Like Lois and David, all six children attended Gibbs High School. The Zacharys have 11 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren. Lois and David are members of Ailor Dale Baptist Church. (Next week will conclude my visit with the Zacharys.)