Provident was a major local company but on a national level, a small insurance company. All the offices in 1949 were in the McClellan Building, named for the founding family of Provident. It was a good organization. My work as auditor in the Accident Department largely dealt with accounts of agents, all over the country, being sure that they were properly charged and that they kept current.

Management supported employees’ recreation. Provident purchased a large property on Chickamauga Lake for employees use. I played on the Provident basketball team, baseball team, bowling team, football team and badminton team. We had Christmas parties and other special occasions. Provident had a big choir; no, I didn’t sing.

The most important thing that happened to me at Provident was that I met my bride- to- be, a beautiful young girl named Bettye Carden. The guys had secret nick names for the girls, like Swivel Hips, Nicklenose, and Bubbles. Bettye was Bubbles. She worked on the fifth floor and I was on the eighth. One day she was sent up to help me. She was a good worker and a fantastic typist. However, she billed all the agents wrong using the address in the card file after their names rather than before. She had to retype labels, but this gave me the chance to get acquainted with the love of my life.

Bettye had a steady boy friend and I had a steady girl friend so our romance was yet to come. But we were attracted to each other. Her boy friend died of cancer soon after we met. I called Bettye a few times. Finally she agreed to go to lunch with me. We hit it off so well that we were late getting back to work. The Provident gave a half holiday to the girls who never missed work or were not late for a month. Our date was the last day of the month so I cost Bettye a holiday on our first date. Despite this inauspicious beginning, our courtship continued. I courted Bettye 14 months and only missed seeing her for five nights, when I went to my first Jaycee Convention in Miami.

While I was gone, she dated a dentist and I dated a nurse. I took the nurse in my yellow convertible and parked overlooking Biscayne Bay. We had a full moon and the top down and, "Honest to Pete", when I turned on the radio, they were playing, “Moon over Miami.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. We were instantly COVERED with mosquitoes galore and took off like scalded rabbits. So much for romance! I left the convention early to get back to my true love. That was when Bettye and I both realized we were in love. Neither of us ever dated anyone else.

Our dates were heavily sports oriented. I was involved in one or two sports year round. We played on the Provident Badminton team together. Some dates would involve more than one sport. What made it difficult was Bettye’s curfew. She was only 19 and her Dad insisted she be home by 11 o’clock. We respected his request. Obviously our flirtations were not good for either career so I took a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority as procurement officer in the Materials Division. This was during the Korean War or what President Truman called “A Police Action”. My intention was to stay with TVA only a couple of years. My “Priorities and Allocation Section” grew from six to twenty six people. This was a major growth period for TVA when they were still building dams but primarily huge steam plants throughout the seven-state region. The first day on the job, I thought, “Why am I here?” The terminology was challenging but after a short time, there was no problem. When TVA employed me, annual leave for employees was cut from 26 to 13 days. But that was more than I had ever had before.

Bettye and I were married July 4, 1952, yes, “Independence Day”. It was 105 degrees that day in Chattanooga. We honeymooned in my yellow Desoto convertible to Atlanta, Fontana Village and Knoxville. Yes, we left the top down, yes we got sunburned, yes, that was stupid, especially on our honeymoon.

During TVA’s big push to generate more power, my work was satisfying. However, when things slowed up, I was sustained by my volunteer work in Scouting and the Jaycees.

Bettye left the Provident to become a private secretary for Dixie Howell at American Thread Company. She was now in the nearby Volunteer Building. Dixie, an avid golfer, traveled a lot. He didn’t care what Bettye did while he was gone as long as she minded the fort. Alas, I had a civic secretary. Bettye preferred to be busy, and I kept her busy. She did more on some of my projects than I did, but I got the credit. This went on for six years until we started our family. Even at home, she continued to be a tremendous help as my civic secretary. I stayed at TVA too long (six years). I have always supported TVA and still do, but I am not a good government employee.

My section of 26 was now back down to six employees and I was not enjoying my work, putting purchasing on computers.

I planned to run for Jaycee President, however, on the deadline date, I learned that my big boss couldn’t understand why anybody who worked for TVA would be a Jaycee. He thought we were just a “bunch of Republicans”.

I immediately called an attorney, Paul Leitner, who wanted to run for Jaycee President if I didn’t. He qualified, got elected and made a great President. The next national Jaycee President was Wendell Ford (later U.S. Senator from Kentucky).I had been local and state Youth Welfare Chairman and Wendell named me National Youth Chairman. More about this later, but this experience led me to leave TVA.

Returning from a trip to Washington D.C. on Jaycee business, at my own expense, I was on the plane with Mack Jordon, a local Jaycee, and Earl Winger, founder and owner of WDOD Radio. The next day, Mack called and said that Earl wanted to see me. I learned that he expected to get the license for Channel 9 television soon and asked me to be an account executive for WDOD, learning the business for both radio and television. It sounded like a good opportunity, so I accepted his offer.

Account executive is a glorified term for salesman; however, I enjoyed WDOD Radio and had some interesting experiences. For example, I sold an all day remote broadcast featuring Ernie Feagan (a radio personality), to a new Pure Service Station on Dodds Avenue. We offered free hot dogs, etc for the grand opening. That afternoon, a fellow pulled in to the station and said that he had honed in on WDOD all the way from Florida and he wanted his free hot dog. It turned out to be Colonel Parker, Elvis Pressley’s manager.

Alas, we didn’t get the TV License, so Earl Winger sold WDOD to Interstate Life Insurance Company. They brought in an out of town executive and the format. switched to Classical Music.

Raymon Patterson, long time WAPO owner had acquired the local NBC TV outlet, (Channel Three). He hired me as Account Executive. George Moore was Sales Manager; he never assigned me one account that had ever been on television before, so I really had to do some creative selling. By now, I was Jaycee President and heavily involved in the community. However, all the previous publicity I had gotten helped to open doors. I also learned how to manage my time, “multi tasking”. My civic work and my occupation melded. Working on commission, I was still able to attend several hundred meetings while Jaycee President and still make a good living.

The now famous Jim Nabors was a film splicer for WRGP, one of the lowest jobs there. However, he made appearances on our live luncheon program and displayed his great singing talent. Yes, he talked a lot like Gomer Pyle. I enrolled Jim in the Jaycees.

A couple of years after Jim Nabors left Chattanooga, I ran into him at the airport in sunglasses, I kidded him about “going Hollywood”. He just grinned, however, he had already been booked for the Steve Allen Show and other national programs, but didn’t even mention it. Jim had the right to go Hollywood.

Nabors came back to Chattanooga periodically to see Fay Farrell Finklestein Seratean (a radio personality I knew at UC). She was Judge Finklestein’s daughter and Bud Seratean’s wife. Bud was a Jaycee who struck it rich in the carpet industry and became the largest stock holder in ABC Television.

When Channel 9 (the ABC affiliate) signed on the air, Chattanooga had three commercial TV stations; however, I found that selling TV time was much easier than radio. A lot of people thought that radio was doomed, but we have more stations now than ever.

After a while, the boss asked me if I would like a particular soft drink account. All other salesmen had struck out and said that the account was sewed up by one of our competitors. I got the account and took the key man to lunch. We talked about the Jaycees and he joined. This was an attractive young man who had previously had a break down and was anxious to be involved in the community. I always tried to do what was best for my accounts so I switched him from sponsoring programs to spot announcements. The results made us both look good. He still sought my advice on advertising, long after I left television.

One day after the Jaycee luncheon Forrest Cate, the Ford Dealer, asked me to take him back to work. I was embarrassed to take him in my brand new Chevrolet. That didn’t bother him; he still wanted to buy television spots from me. Ford had adopted a new policy to use more local television, so this was a major opportunity.

I told Forrest I couldn’t do business with him because he was Harry Thornton’s account. He wanted to deal with me, so I called Harry, who very graciously, gave me the account. Subsequently, we did a lot of advertising for Forrest Cate; he married Miss Chattanooga, but got diabetes, lost his sight, and died at a young age. A tragic story.

After seven years of marriage, we adopted a daughter from Leah James Family Service Agency. Leah let us have Candice Lane Elmore early on her 21st birthday (i.e. three weeks). Candie looked up at Bettye and smiled and captured her immediately. We had said that we wouldn’t hesitate to adopt and we didn’t. It was a match made in heaven!

After three years in television sales, I became the general manager and CEO for Lake Chickamauga Resort Inc. (Lakeshore), a new 125 acre resort overlooking Chickamauga Lake. We had 48 luxurious motel rooms, 18 cottages, a beautiful restaurant, a large marina, and room to grow. Bettye, our toddler, Candie, and I lived in one of the cottages.

I was gung ho! I never worked longer or harder on any job. I inherited a lot of overhead due to construction mistakes, but tried to overcome various obstacles with youthful enthusiasm. To help attract year round business, I purchased an air supported building to put over the Olympic size swimming pool, The Acquadine, better known as “The Bubble”. We could have swimming year round and serve up to 400 people around the pool. Over 10,000 people came to see the Bubble the first weekend. Five thousand the next weekend and they kept coming without the need of advertising.

One of the Board of Directors thought this was extravagant, but the day the newspaper announced the Bubble, we booked a convention as a direct result, that repaid the total investment. All the publicity put Lakeshore on the map as a year round resort.

Another Director thought it was extravagant to bury the ugly power lines and transformers that spoiled the beautiful view. This was a major esthetic improvement but the real reason was to consolidate the power meters. We eliminated 14 of 21 meters and the savings repaid our total investment in only three months. The savings continued thereafter.

I may be a bit prejudiced, but I think I did an outstanding job for Lakeshore. After only a year, I was asked to resign so that the rich Chairman’s son-in-law could take over. There were several millionaires on the board, but I had to get my Jaycee buddy, Ralph Kelley to sue to collect the money due me. This was a bitter experience and a major disappointment.

I didn’t know until the day we left Lakeshore that my wife hated living there. I worked so hard and she was so lonely. She didn’t confess her feelings until we were crossing the bridge over Chickamauga Dam. Bettye’s happiness to leave trumped my disappointment.

ADVERTISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

My good friend Gene Goforth and I formed a partnership, Goforth and Elmore Advertising Agency. Gene already had a number of accounts, such as Lake Winnepesaukah. I had to start from scratch.

We rented office space, telephone service, etc from another good friend, Jaycee Curtis Winfrey of Manpower, Inc. This was a practical, low-overhead way to operate. Manpower manned our phone, had plenty of clerical help available and could handle special assignments, such as distributing flyers for one of my grocery accounts.

Two of Chattanooga’s most outstanding citizens, Mose and Garrison Siskin, had helped the handicapped for years, anonymously. When the Governor and Chattanooga Jaycees honored them in 1958, the public began to recognize their generosity.

The Siskin Foundation launched a major expansion program by establishing the 365 Club to raise funds, “a penny a day or more.” No one could envision then that the Siskin Brothers were establishing what would become nationally known facilities for the handicapped.

My agency was employed to help on the public relations. I was honored to play a small part to help this wonderful undertaking. The Siskin brothers attracted such dignitaries as Steve Allen, Tony Martin and Dinah Shore.

When I asked Tony Martin to tape a public service announcement, I got a sullen rejection. The best thing about Tony anyway, was his wife’s beautiful legs (Cyd Charisse).

When I asked Dinah Shore to do a PSA, right before she went on stage, she drawled (I loved that Southern drawl when I was over seas), “Shure, Honey, what do you want me to say?” She was so nice. Hundreds of cars, including mine, were heavily damaged by a hailstorm at the Memorial Auditorium while Dinah was performing. After the performance, we went to the PanORam Club on Lookout Mountain. Dinah’s band members said that the view reminded them of Los Angles, “Except that there was no smog.”

Mose Lebowitz was in the next office to ours at Man Power. We thought of him primarily as owner of the Independent Theaters, but this was the start of CBL Corp, now one of the nation’s biggest shopping center operators. Jaycee Jay Solomon worked for Mose and was later named by President Carter to head the General Service Administration (GSA).Chattanooga’s downtown Post Office is named the Joel Solomon Building.

Dr Arthur Vieth, head of the Economics Department for the University of Chattanooga, used my agency to launch his first political campaign. He was a good candidate and was the first Republican elected to the Hamilton County Council in twenty eight years.

When Jaycee buddy Bill Brock, decided to run for Congress, the nucleus of the Vieth Campaign, (i.e. young insurance men), gave him a big boost. Bill didn’t use my agency; he was a terrible speaker, but got elected anyway. Later he became a great speaker, a U. S. Senator and an Ambassador.

Several years earlier, Wilkes Thrasher had urged me to run for Sheriff. Others had asked me to run for county judge or mayor. Some surveys were very encouraging and I was interested, but I lacked the financial resources or courage. My only political campaign was running for Jaycee President. I ran against a young lawyer, Ralph Kelley, and won. Now Ralph was my lawyer and engaged my ad agency to help him run for mayor. He also wanted me to be his campaign manager. I welcomed the business, and was honored by the offer, but suggested that he get some big shot to be campaign manager. Ralph said, “I want you to do FOR me what you did TO me in the Jaycee Campaign”. I accepted. This may be immodest, but we put on a Hell of a Campaign. Our opponent had been mayor for 12 years. He had just campaigned for Governor. He was well funded and had solid backing from Organized Labor, the Black Community, the banks and from incumbency.

Hundreds of people donated thousands of man hours to get Ralph elected Mayor. All of us were counting on a large turnout of civic-minded, independent voters. Ralph’s fraternity brothers from Lambda Chi Alpha performed all sorts of tasks; guys like Ed Jolley, Charlie Griffin and John Woodall were especially helpful.

Kelley had limited funding, was not well known and the black community thought that he was a racist, at a time when Racial Issues dominated the headlines locally and nationally. Several of us got together in Kelley’s office (Joe DeRisio and Clarence Shattuck were his partners) one Sunday afternoon only a couple of months before the election. We included Drue Smith, a colorful TV personality, Jaycee Hal Morris, etc. We chose the theme “Time for a Change,” because it was time for a change. We wanted a positive campaign filled with Jaycee type enthusiasm and planned to emphasize radio and TV to take advantage of Kelley’s great voice and youth. Outdoor advertising promoting “time for a change " featured a clock showing 11:55.

The opponent, Rudy Olgiatti, stressed his “One hundred million dollar program of progress.” We didn’t want to be negative so we said “For progress, REAL progress, elect Kelley Mayor.”

Because of budget limitations, we tried to be unique to get people talking. We put classified ads on the front page of the newspaper (they won’t do this anymore). We put classified ads in the wrong category (they won’t do this anymore). We put classified ads upside down (no, they won’t do this either).Specialty advertising was special for us. We avoided anything we had seen other politicians use and tried to use unique items only.

Where seniors met, we had cardboard calculators for Social Security Benefits. Investment offices had stocks and bonds yield calculators (Invest in a better Chattanooga, elect Kelley mayor). Where ladies gathered we had calculators about spot and stain removal (For a cleaner, local government, elect Kelley mayor). Luncheon clubs or restaurants had candy mints in a cellophane bag (for a cleaner, fresher taste, elect Kelley mayor). All of this cost very little but caused a lot of conversation.

To be sure Kelley was taken as a serious candidate from day one; we bought five minute simulcasts on all radio stations. We tried to anticipate the opposition and “Steal his thunder”. For example, we noticed Mayor Olgiatti had made a big announcement for railroad re-location in his last two campaigns, so we predicted he would do this again. We stole his thunder.

Last minute surprises were expected, so we purchased 15 minutes on two TV stations the night before the election to give us the last word. There were no big surprises so Ralph took Channel 9 and I took Channel 3 to summarize the campaign. As I prepared for the telecast, Nashville mayor, Beverly Briley called. I took the call in the control room and rushed back to the studio as we went on the air. I started talking, the director waved me off and we went to black. I was sitting on the mike. This is one of my most embarrassing moments. Have you had embarrassing moments?

The jingle which Gene Goforth had prepared for the Olgiatti gubernatorial campaign, and wasn’t used, was revised for the Kelley campaign, “Put on your campaign bonnet with Kelley written on it”, to the tune of “Good Ole Summertime”. It was fun to use the jingle prepared for Olgiatti, to beat him for mayor. We had campaign bonnets and we had Kelly written on them. I booked a live rally-type TV program that helped market the jingle. TV pros advised against this and said it was a big gamble. Campaign headquarters sent a few of our volunteers to be on the program. The professional announcer I hired as MC didn’t show up so I had to do it. Kelley couldn’t get to the TV station until the last few minutes. I went around interviewing everyone; we sang the jingle, the TV crew kept switching around to make it look like we had a big crowd. Everything was upbeat and went wonderfully well. Kelley came in the last five minutes for a strong close. He had his little girl wave good bye in the last few seconds. It looked like it was choreographed.

The afternoon Free Press supported Kelley editorially; the morning Times supported Olgiatti. Kelley walked into the lion's den in the Times newsroom. Marian Peck, one of the Times top feature writers got up on her desk and proclaimed, “I am for Ralph Kelley for mayor”. A lot of Times’ employees favored Kelley, despite the newspaper’s editorial position.

Ralph and I and others made speeches all over town. Most went well but I booked Ralph to speak to the Shriners. It was a trap. As Ralph got up to speak, everyone walked out. This stunt had been going on for years, but I didn’t know about it. Luckily, Ralph had a great sense of humor and realized that they often did this for luncheon speakers as a joke.

The only phase of this political campaign that fell short was what Carl Gibson used to call, “The walking press”. In some parts of town; rumors had Ralph as an atheist. In other neighborhoods, he was a Catholic. We never let these type rumors put us on the defense; however, we either ignored them or addressed them indirectly. Managing Ralph Kelley’s campaign for Mayor was hard work, but a lot of fun. We had a host of volunteers doing all sorts of things for Ralph, without my knowledge. Their enthusiasm was contagious. Ralph’s fraternity brothers in Lambda Chi were especially helpful.

We thought we were in pretty good shape and had high hopes but were dependent on a good turn out of independent voters. Alas, Election Day was the rainiest day in Chattanooga since 1886! I was devastated because of the weather but the voters turned out anyway.

Our “Victory Party” was scheduled that night at the Wimberley Inn. We had a big crowd, but some radio/TV stations put a damper on the festivities proclaiming that Olgiatti had won. A prominent doctor walked in and said, “Why the gloom, we won!” He was right, so the celebration began.

Kelley and his wife, Barbara, got in the back seat of my car, with Bettye and me, to make the rounds of the TV stations. He insisted that Bettye, my eight months pregnant wife, be on TV too. Our second daughter, Cindy, was a TV star even before she was born.

Cindy Elizabeth Elmore was delivered prematurely by Jaycee Dr. Sam Binder. Notice we had a Jaycee lawyer and a Jaycee doctor. I used the Jaycee Directory for everything. A couple of years ago, I told Dr. Ira Long that he surely got his money’s worth from Jaycee dues ($15). He has been our ophthalmologist for Bettye and me and both girls for 55 years. Wonder how many other Jaycees he treated? He is still practicing. If practice makes perfect, he should be near perfect by now.

Kelley said, “My gosh, Bob, what do we do now?” This was a major upset and now it was time to think ahead. The day after the elections, all our billboards had a strip across them saying “Thank you for you confidence”. I don’t know who did this but it was a nice gesture. This set a modest tone for a young in-coming mayor.

For several weeks Ralph asked me to join him at City Hall. I wanted to help but didn’t want to work for the government. Finally, I agreed to come, “for ninety days” to replace Marble Hensley and help with the transition.

Gene Goforth and I had a friendly separation so I hurriedly took on a new partner. He was a disaster. In a short time, he lost all of our accounts and absconded with the funds. After a while, I closed the advertising agency, however, I still planned a short stay at city hall.

A big inauguration was slated for the Mayor and City Commission. It was a very impressive ceremony at the Tivoli Theater, A great way to start a new administration.

Ralph only had one of five votes on the City Commission. A lot of folks thought he might be a lame duck. However, he was calm and smooth and knew how to give and take. Soon his leadership was evident.

I was given the title “Director of Public Affairs’, Charlie Griffin was “Assistant to the Mayor”. Some thought I would be the hatchet man but we made few changes in personnel. The mayor’s office wasn’t swamped with applicants or people wanting special favors because campaign promises had not been made. Kelley’s campaign platform had ten planks. He accomplished nine in his first two years in office. The tenth, a Riverfront Park, would come later.

(This is an excerpt from Bob Elmore's new book, "A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the National Cemetery." The book is $10 in softback, $20 in hardback. Copies are available at the Bicentennial Library downtown, Wally's (on McCallie), Senior Neighbors, The Racket Club and the Brainerd Trophy Shop. All proceeds, not just profits, go to the Chattanooga Area Historical Association. For more information, call 629-1366.)