Neel has time on his hands to preserve history
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
BY SUZANNE LOUDAMY Staff writer

Bobby Neel and granddaughter Emily Nicole

You really can teach an old dog new tricks.

Bobby Neel has learned a few, and they are coming in quite handy.

Neel retired from Trane after 42 years of service with the intent of propping up his feet, rocking away the days with children on his lap and tinkering with his old cars when and if he wanted to. That's not exactly what has happened.

The grandchildren ... yes that worked out just fine. With Emily Nicole already on the scene, Neel's granddaddy practice was good. Then along came Sarah Kathleen. She was born in November; he retired in January and she's been at his side ever since.

Even the kids and teachers at Troup Elementary know him as he pulls up in the "old man" truck, his 1935 Chevy pick-up.

As far as the rocking chair, there is no time for that. Neel has another full-time job, and he's always surrounded by a flock of women. That would be the group from the Troup Genealogical/Historical Society as they work fast and furious to complete the task of a book chronicling Troup's history, soon to be published.

Neel is a big part of Troup's history himself. According to Mildred Steele, he's related to just about everybody.

"When we started working on the history book, I soon found out he is related to everyone in Troup," Steele said. "His great-great-grandfather, George Washington Stone, was the first settler in this area and anyone you mention, he is related to them."

Seems that Neel's love of history and desire to roam old cemeteries and dusty shelves in county courthouses stems from a pile of bricks on the property where his family lived. The hand-made bricks are part of a fireplace that once warmed the hearts and hands of his forefathers. His ancestors came to the Knoxville area in the 1830s.

Not only is Neel an avid history buff, but he has taught himself a skill that has become invaluable to the historical society and many others. He is a whiz at Photoshop, scanning photos and cleaning them up for printing and publication.

Neel said his job at Trane gave him only minimal exposure to computer use. Nothing like what it takes to electronically repair old photos.

"It was just one more part of finding and restoring once lost parts of history," Neel said. "I got started by working with Mary Anne Coney on the calendar."

"Bobby has been a tremendous help with all the photographs for our TGHS calendars and the Troup history book," Coney said. "He's a wizard at restoring old photos too. Bobby is really an asset to the TGHS organization and he has a warehouse of historical information in his head."

Neel says it's not unusual for him to get started on a photo project and look up and three hours will have passed. A great part of the Troup history book the group has worked on will be photos he has taken from tattered and torn and restored the frozen moments in time.

Preserving his own family's heritage is high on his list of important tasks, but he has also helped other families in their quest to discover their ancestors and then to keep those precious finds. Scanning, repairing and saving old family photographs has brought many a smile of fascination to the face of a young person, seeing a great-greatgrandparent for the first time, as well as a tear to the eye of a family matriarch seeing a loved one just one more time.

It has also been said that Neel could hang out his shingle on the "man cave" and call himself Doc. Seems that he not only has an eye for photos, but he also has a great ear for listening. He told several stories of days when friends would see the door open and would drop in for a visit that might go on for hours.

What a blessing it is to have people like Neel who take the painstaking hours to preserve family history and share it with the newest of generations.