[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 125 (Monday, September 30, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1677-E1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   BARBARA ANN ``BOBBIE'' HOUSEHOLDER

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 26, 2002

  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, Barbara Ann ``Bobbie'' Householder, one of 
my constituents, passed away last week after losing a battle with 
cancer.
  Barbara Ann was a longtime community volunteer and was well-known in 
my District for her extensive community service, as well as her years 
of association with the Blount County Chamber of Commerce. Barbara Ann 
helped organize events for the Adopt-A-School program, she volunteered 
for Leadership Blount and the Blount County Dogwood Arts Festival and 
also was a great volunteer in her church.
  She retired with the title of vice president of community development 
for the Blount County Chamber of Commerce. Although retired, she 
continued to work hard on her volunteer work. Up until a week before 
her death, she was recruiting volunteers for the United Way from her 
hospital bed.
  Bobbie Householder was one of the finest people I have ever known and 
will be greatly missed by the whole community. Her efforts and 
achievements are an inspiration to us all, and I would like to call a 
newspaper article that was printed in the Maryville Daily Times about 
her life to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the 
Record.

       [From the Daily Times, Aug. 22, 2002]

  Volunteer, Former Chamber Official Householder Dies of Cancer at 74

                          (From Staff Reports)

       Longtime community volunteer Barbara Ann ``Bobbie'' 
     Householder of Alcoa died Wednesday morning at Blount 
     Memorial Hospital after a battle with cancer.
       Although she was never elected to public office, 
     Householder was one of Blount County's best-known people 
     through her volunteer work and her years of association with 
     the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.

[[Page E1678]]

       ``To many people in Blount County and throughout the area, 
     Bobbie was the chamber of commerce,'' chamber President and 
     CEO Fred Forster said Wednesday. ``She was the core of 
     enthusiasm in this community for many years. Many of the 
     things we enjoy here now are the fruits of her work over the 
     years.
       ``All of us in the chamber family will miss her,'' Forster 
     said.
       Householder, 74, was a native of Knoxville. She and Glen, 
     her husband of 56 years, moved to Blount County in 1952 and 
     became the parents of two sons and a daughter.
       Not long after the Householders' move to Blount County, she 
     went to the Chamber of Commerce-United Way office, then 
     located at the Maryville Municipal Building, to help out for 
     a few days. Her volunteer work with the chamber led to a 
     full-time job there, and she retired in 1994 after 33 years 
     with the organization.
       Early in her career with the chamber, the staff consisted 
     of the executive director, a bookkeeper and Householder. She 
     handled office responsibilities and coordinated chamber 
     projects, including coordination of Blount County's United 
     Way campaigns for 25 years.
       By the end of her tenure with the chamber, Householder was 
     vice president of the Blount County Chamber of Commerce, the 
     Chamber Foundation and the Smoky Mountain Visitors Bureau, 
     three of the four organizations under the Blount 
     Partnership's administrative umbrella.
       In addition to her other duties, Householder helped 
     organize and coordinate Homecoming '86 for Blount County, the 
     Adopt-A-School program, Leadership Blount and the Blount 
     County Dogwood Arts Festival. She also was extremely active 
     in the Maryville-Alcoa Jaycettes, an organization involved in 
     initial promotion of tourism efforts.
       She retired with the title of vice president of community 
     development for the Blount County Chamber of Commerce.
       Retirement did little to slow Householder, and her efforts 
     to better her community were recognized when she received the 
     2001 Pride of Tennessee Award. The award is given to one 
     person each year who has a history of community involvement.
       Since 1994 she has served as president of the Friends of 
     the Library, a member of the Keep Blount Beautiful Board of 
     Directors, a member of the Blount County Bicentennial 
     Committee, an officer with the Blount County Education 
     Foundation, and co-chairman of the Blount County Millennium 
     Committee.
       Householder also served several years as chairman for the 
     United Way of Blount County's Day of Caring and in other 
     volunteer roles for United Way.
       ``She was a great lady with great ideas, but the best thing 
     about Bobbie was that you could count on her,'' United Way 
     Executive Director Sandra Davis said Wednesday.
       ``She was still recruiting United Way volunteers from her 
     hospital bed as recently as last week,'' Davis said. ``She 
     was one of the best volunteers any nonprofit organization 
     could ask for--always willing to go the extra mile.''
       Davis said she and Householder also shared an interest in 
     activities through the Methodist church, not only at the 
     local level but at the conference level as well. Her work in 
     the church included service as communications coordinator for 
     the Holston Conference United Methodist Women.
       Householder was a member of Broadway United Methodist 
     Church. Her pastor, the Rev. James Dougherty, will officiate 
     at a celebration of her life at 8 p.m. Friday at the church. 
     The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. 
     Friday at the church.
       In addition to her husband, she is survived by her son and 
     daughter-in-law, Gary and Janet Householder of Louisville, 
     KY, her son Alan Householder of Cosby, and her daughter and 
     son-in-law, Glenda and Darrell Eastridge of Alcoa, 
     grandchildren Cindy and Brian Householder of Louisville, Ky., 
     and Jeff and Amy Eastridge of Alcoa. She is also survived by 
     her sister, Grace Goode of Maryville, her brother, Richard 
     Hubbs of Johnson City, and several nieces and nephews.
       The family suggests no flowers. Memorials may be made to 
     Broadway United Methodist Church, to the Blount County 
     Education Foundation, to Friends of the Library or to the 
     United Way of Blount County.

     

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