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The Chattanooga Area Veterans Council will sponsor a Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. Monday at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, 1200 Bailey Ave. In addition, James Ogden, a well-known park ranger at Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park, will conduct a walking tour of several veteran graves beginning at 8:45 p.m. at the cemetery. Ogden will share the story of the veteran through actual letters written to and from family members during the conflict in which the veteran served.
Editor’s note: This is part of an ongoing series commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. To read more, visit timesfreepress.com/150years.
The unusual May heat wave was quickly warming up by 10 a.m. Thursday morning at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. Patrice Harris had arrived in Chattanooga from Birmingham on Wednesday to spend a couple of days with her parents, Helen and Bennie Harris.
But the visit began with a lone figure sitting down in front of one headstone among hundreds. The Brainerd High School graduate wiped teardrops, not beads of sweat, from her face as the temperature seemingly rose by the minute.
“I visited my dad about once a month after he died because it just made me feel better,” said Harris of the man who became the first black judge in Chattanooga when he was elected to City Court in 1969. “I would bring a quilt, a picnic basket and just spend the day with him. Mom’s here now.”