Immediately following graduation in 1943, John R. "Jack" King was placed on a bus to the army where he served in
Patton's Third Army in
World War II returning to Kingsport in 1945.
In 1946 he enrolled at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduating in 1949 and returning to Kingsport to work in the family owned business -
The Mason & Dixon Lines, Inc. Jack later became the president of Mason & Dixon and the chairman of the board of Mason & Dixon Tank Lines, Inc. At one time Mason & Dixon was the largest family owned trucking company in the nation.
Jack served as chairmen of many boards and contributed greatly to the community and state.
Fred "Pal" Barger admits he copied the idea of a small restaurant called 2J's located in Texas and turned that idea into an award winning restaurant called,
PAL'S. He opened his first fast food restaurant on
Revere Street, downtown Kingsport in 1956.
He has now expanded PAL'S to 18 locations in Tennessee and Virgina. In 2001 PAL'S won the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award becoming the only restaurant company to receive the award. Pal has received many awards and recognitions for his service on the national, state and local levels. He was the
2001 Outstanding Alumnus of
East Tennessee State University and was also inducted into the Tennessee Restaurant Association Hall of Fame.
Kenneth W. "Ken" Simonds attended
George Washington University on a football scholarship for a year, but transferred to
East Tennessee State University graduating in 1957.
After graduation, he joined
IBM in Kingsport and worked his way up in the company to director of data processing services. In 1975 be became director of sales for
Amdahl Corporation and then executive vice-preseident and chief operation officer. Ken retired in 1984. In 1985 he came out of retirement to join
Teradata Corporation and in 1992 he sold Teradata and retired!
He was the
2000 Outstanding Alumnus of East Tennessee State University. He received numerous business and educational awards.
Ken passed away on October 11, 2009.
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CLASS OF 1927 
CLASS OF 1943
CLASS OF 1948
CLASS OF 1953
CLASS OF 1943
