Comments on: Gideon Fryer, 1921-2014

By: tfarris

tfarris — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 02:08:07 +0000

Thanks for your gift of words about Gid. He was a remarkable person.

By: Arbiter Buddha

Arbiter Buddha — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 01:52:33 +0000

Because Nancy Elizabeth Vaughan Fryer (1924-1996) is the maternal aunt of my wife Ashley Morrow Ayers Smith (1958-2003), I have called a fellow Middle Tennessean, Gideon Willis Fryer, my “Uncle Gid” by marriage since 1992. Personally I have around 30 people who can legally call me “Uncle” if they like, so it can be a loose connection to be sure, and Gid and I always kept it loose, but we ended up at the same place downtown for lunch or after work many times after we were both widowers. One year he bought me a surprise one-year gift membership in the Historical Society… or maybe it was Knox Heritage. Having outlived our own wives, I figured Gid and I would both live forever or close to it, so I don’t blame you for planning a Gid Fryer series.

As best I can tell, Jack, your legal right to refer to Gid as your late uncle is at least as great as my own, and probably stronger.

PS For the record, family legend says Gid taught my mother-in-law how to operate a motor vehicle.

By: Tom Burke

Tom Burke — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 01:37:50 +0000

He sounds like he was quite a character, in a good way. I would have enjoyed meeting him. A moving obituary for this man.

By: C Thomas

C Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 00:35:08 +0000

I’d only gotten to know Gideon in the last couple of years, and only because we kept running into each other so often it was almost unavoidable. I’d see him at the Rossini Festival, Knoville Symphony Orchestra, First Friday, Farmer’s Market–usually in the company of Georgiana and always with that noted twinkle in his eye. He said little, but didn’t have to. And for someone of 93 years, he sure got around. Inspirational.