The Roane County Banner had leaked the news to the outside world that 74-year old Uncle Bush Breazeale planned to have a full funeral service on June 26, 1938 while he was still alive and could enjoy it. The idea caught on. The power of the press was soon in evidence as the news spread like wildfire nation-wide. His “funeral” plan was reported nationally by the Associated Press and the United Press, and photographically by Life magazine.
THE BIG DAY The funeral on June 26th attracted the largest crowd ever assembled in Roane to that date; the estimates ranged from eight to twelve thousand people. Cars from at least fourteen states were backed up for two miles from the two Cave Creek Baptist Churches built side by side (one Primitive, the other Missionary) to highway #70. Enterprising John Cook charged 25 cents per car to park in his field. He was reported to have taken in $300. Vendors from soft drink trucks did a flourishing business. Hot dogs sold well. Knoxville and Chattanooga florists shops sent floral offerings. By 2:00 pm the crowd was in place. The press was represented by reporters and cameramen from the “Knoxville News Sentinel” and “Journal”, “Chattanooga Times”, “News” and “Free Press”. Young Don Whitehead, who was to become a war correspondent and two time Pulitzer winner, was there.
SLIGHT DELAY The funeral cortege was late due to the traffic jam along the road. At last the Hawkins Mortuary (of Loudon County) hearse arrived bearing the home-made walnut coffin, and Bush in the front seat. The crowd was so eager to get a glimpse of him that officers had difficulty in clearing a lane for the pallbearers to carry the coffin to its place in front of the tent on the Churchyard. Children were held high by their parents so they could see the “goings on”. Ten persons fainted from the heat and excitement. Uncle Bush was seated in front of his coffin dressed in a new suit, shirt, tie, etc., donated by Halls of Knoxville. For a period, he was the center of attraction for cameramen who took pictures of him and the crowd.
THE CEREMONY Songs were sung by the Friendly Eight Octette of Chattanooga. Fred Berry of Knoxville sang “There’s a Gold Mine in the Sky.” The Rev. Charles E. Jackson from Paris, IL, delivered the funeral sermon. The festive atmosphere soon changed to fit the solemn occasion. He said, “This service is not a bad idea. Much good should come from a service divested of the usual tears and heartaches. It gives us an opportunity to take thought of tomorrow and anticipate the great adventure called death. Mr. Breazeale and I never intended anything but that this should be a solemn service.”
BUSH THE CELEBRITY At the conclusion of the formal program, Bush shook hands with a thousand or more friends and well-wishers. He autographed many “official programs” by marking his ‘X’. Bush said, “This will be my only funeral. It was the finest sermon that I ever heard, and when I die there won’t be another one.”
Bush Breazeale was Roane’s greatest celebrity. A few days later (July 4, 1938), he was dolled out in a Harriman “Papermaker” baseball uniform and threw out the first pitch in the double header between Harriman and Loudon. Shortly afterwards, Robert Ripley featured Bush in his syndicated column, and took Bush to New York City for a radio interview (before TV). When Bush got back from New York, Mrs. Claude Johnson said someone asked him, “Mr. Breazeale, how did you like New York?” Bush replied, “Oh just fine. You know, they were the finest folk, and treated me wonderfully, but to be honest about it, their victuals wasn’t worth a dern.”
THE BREAZEALE FAMILY The Breazeale family is one of the oldest and most prominent in Roane History. The Breazeales came from South Carolina to Knox County, Tennessee where Henry Breazeale was made Assistant District Attorney in 1797, and was elected as the first County Court clerk in Roane in 1801. He held this position for 34 years. His son, John Wood M. Breazeale, was an attorney, a newspaper publisher, and Roane’s first historian. He was the author of “Life As It Is” written in 1842. The family has produced many lawyers.
Felix “Bush” Breazeale was born June 29, 1864 on Dogwood Road in Roane. He was one of eight children of Drury W. and Sarah Littleton Breazeale (1825-). Bush was first cousin to the well-known NY attorney, Martin Littleton, and to Mrs. Rachel (Littleton) Vanderbilt, also of NY.
Bush never married. He said, “The one I wanted, I couldn’t get, and the ones I could get I didn’t want.” He made his home with his parents until their deaths, and lastly with his nephew, Bert Breazeale. He had lived the life of a farmer, and enjoyed fox hunting.
Felix “Bush” Breazeale lived another five years and died at the age of 79 on February 9, 1943. Although Bush had not requested another funeral, Mrs. Nancy Maxwell of Harriman said, and Clarence Johnson of Cave Creek remembers that a small service was held on a very cold day before Bush was laid to rest in the Cave Creek Cemetery located on a hill above the two church houses.
Mr. Roberts comments that Uncle Bush died at 79. He actually died almost five months shy of his 79th birthday.
The article refers to the two churches, ‘built side-by-side’. The two churches are actually a quarter of a mile apart, one at the top and one at the bottom of a long gradual slope. The Cave Creek Cemetery, where Uncle Bush is interred, is on the slope between the two churches.
Oliver Springs, Tennessee 