Kingsport Spirit

Every now and then you come across a story that needs to be told.

I’ve lived here my whole life–an avid Kingsport history buff–and never knew.

As I was preparing for the upcoming Betty Gibson Memorial Lecture at the Kingsport Archives and decided I wanted to know more about her.

It turns out I’m very familiar with her grandparents’ home. Anyone who has walked the riverfront portion of the Kingsport Greenbelt knows there are two beautifully restored historic homes located directly adjacent to the path. One is peach. That was her Showalter grandparents’ house where she spent many of her childhood days.

Charlie Phipps “C.P.” Showalter helped build the Clinchfield Railroad before the existence of modern Kingsport and he lived in the same house on Netherland Inn Road in “Old” Kingsport from 1917 until his death in 1950.

He married Lula Rogan, a descendant of the Rogan clan from a line of Presbyterian clergy reaching back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid-1700s. He pastored throughout the area, including Old Kingsport Presbyterian Church.

C.P. Showalter was born at the massive Rotherwood Farm just across the river in Hawkins County whose overseer and eventual owner was the Phipps family. Perhaps that is the origin of his middle name as there appears to be no blood kinship. His father, James Showalter, arrived in the area by 1868 (shortly after the Civil War) and was living at Rotherwood by 1873 where C.P. was born in 1878.

According to a 1950 article in the Times-News announcing his death, C.P. Showalter was “one of Kingsport’s oldest citizens”, “helped build the Clinchfield Railroad before modern Kingsport was founded”, and “was employed by the same line for several years.” The article said, “he had lived in the same house since 1917” (the peach house on Netherland Inn Road located near the railroad tracks) and his great grandchildren said that C.P. “sounded the whistle to greet his family and let them know that he was well.”

According to Ancestry.com, C.P. and Lula had six children (3 boys and 3 girls). The first were twin boys–James Rogan Showalter and John Ragan Showalter, but it seems the second twin died at or near birth. Then came a series of three girls: Mary, Grace, and Frances. Finally, the last son, Hugh, was born in 1914, but died in 1918. Therefore, the only surviving son was James Rogan Showalter, who was Betty Gibson’s father.

Rogan Showalter, as he was known, was born in 1899–18 years before the incorporation of modern Kingsport.

Rogan Showalter was Kingsport’s first world war hero and if you’re like me it’s a story you’ve never heard.

He was “not only the first Kingsport boy to answer the call of his country, but one of the first American soldiers to set foot on foreign soil as the First Division was among the first to be sent across the Atlantic.” (Kingsport Times-News, 1929). Mind you, this was ‘the World War’ because there hadn’t been a World War 2 yet.

World War I was known for brutal trench warfare and the use of caustic gas–a practice that ended with the Geneva Convention of 1925.

He was on the front lines–in harm’s way.

The Times-News reported that, “during the entire 27 months of war, he was wounded seven times and spent several weeks in hospitals. His courage on the battlefields of France won him the respect of his fellow soldiers and also earned him several decorations for bravery.”

For the rest of his life, he carried shrapnel that lodged in his legs and body. He was also gassed during the war and suffered the effects several years afterward.

Upon returning home in 1920, he married Cleo Blankenbecler and they had two children: Charles (1921) and Betty Jo (1924).

Although he survived the world war and returned home to start a family, he died tragically in 1929 at the age of 30, while saving other people’s lives.

Commercial aviation began in 1925. Airplanes relied on propellors as commercial jet engines did not arrive on the scene until 1952.

Rogan Showalter was on the forefront of introducing passenger planes to the region. While in Erwin, Tennessee, “scores of people…had been crowding about the new plane and considerable difficulty had been encountered on several occasions in getting the crowd back from take-off.” (Johnson City Chronicle, 1929). “Showalter, seeing several people in the path of the plane, ran out and yelled a warning to them and in doing so was struck in the side by the huge propellor of the plane.”

His death certificate is more graphic, stating “this man was instantly killed by Airplane propellor striking him, cut body half into. No physician.” (State of Tennessee).

We lost a brave war hero that day, his young family lost their father and husband, and his parents lost their only surviving son.

The Times-News reported, “it was one of the most impressive funerals ever conducted in this city” and “one of the largest crowds to ever attend a funeral was present.”

The list of pallbearers was a who’s who of early Kingsport with names like Leedy, Pendleton, Earles, Nelms, Cloud, Ketron, Roller, Sevier, Cox, Beck, Brooks, and Moss. Pay special attention to that last name and we’ll circle back.

With the loss of her father at age 4, young Betty Jo Showalter was especially close to her grandparents and spent time with them in their 1820’s home on the riverfront (the peach house) where she developed a special love for history steeped in her deep family roots.

As evidenced in the society page of the newspaper, she flourished. Her name is peppered throughout early Kingsport history from the “little girl” birthday parties she attended to her many academic accolades, the first being reported as the kindergarten honor roll in 1931. Her name is mentioned 75 times from 1931-1973.

Although her dad wasn’t able to witness it in person, I’m sure he was beaming with pride at his little girl’s success.

Betty Jo was a graduate of Dobyns-Bennett High School, and in 1945 she married Mack Beau Gibson, a transplanted West Virginian who had returned from the Pacific Theater as a naval aviator. Both worked at Tennessee Eastman for a spell, until Mack went to college, and returned with a law degree from the University of Tennessee and an appetite for entrepreneurship in Kingsport. They settled at 1313 Watauga Street.

Circling back to the pallbearer’s name I told you to remember–Moss.

As fate would have it, one of Betty Jo Showalter & Mack Gibson’s daughters, Sheila, would marry Bill Moss, a descendant of that pallbearer from Sheila’s grandfather’s funeral, Rogan Showalter.

I first met Sheila as a member of Friends of the Archives. While I’m an avid lover of all things Kingsport, my volunteer service pales in comparison to hers. When I learned more about her mom, grandparents, and great grandparents, it’s easy to understand the origin of her passion for local history. She’s following in her mom’s footsteps.

The Rogan Showalter story lives on through Betty, Sheila, her siblings, and their children as we pause to honor her each year during the Betty Gibson Memorial Lecture of the Friends of the Archives.

Whatever happened to the peach house? It has been beautifully restored and remains a private residence.