Kennedy: Highland Park 82-year-old says we edit our memories as we age
When 82-year-old Sue Carol Elvin of Highland Park was a little girl, she caught a yellow butterfly. Later, she released it "back to heaven," she told her mothe…
Stories by Mark Kennedy
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Kennedy: Rain makes me irrationally happy these days
As you know, it's been a dry fall, although recent rains have helped.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Can you place this M&J Super Market?
For a swath of the mid-20th century, M&J Super Markets dotted the map in Chattanooga.
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Kennedy: East Ridge couple sells leather goods made to last a lifetime
Tanning leather hides the old-fashioned way is a laborious process. High-quality leather goods are made from full-grain raw hides tanned with oils drawn from v…
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Kennedy: Five things good dads never do
Our younger son just turned 17, and he's looking at colleges. Meanwhile, our older son is on track to graduate from college next spring. For the first time in …
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Which buildings remain in this 70-year-old photo?
In the fall of 1953, Chattanooga's central business district — roughly sandwiched between Market and Broad streets — was a beehive of retail, government and en…
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Kennedy: People are going crazy for this ‘groovy’ motel in Trenton
Who knew that renovating old roadside motels was a thing?
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Kennedy: Five wild ways our kids’ lives will be different in 2050
I've noticed that people of my generation — baby boomers — are in a nostalgic mood. Facebook is full of posts of boomers remembering their youth — sometimes wi…
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Coke tasted best in a little green bottle
Coca-Cola bottles were once made with cork stoppers that popped when they were removed — and that's how "pop" became a nickname for soft drinks.
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Kennedy: Seven things to do in Knoxville before you die
Kristen Combs is not a native of Knoxville, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who knows more about the state's third-largest city.
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Kennedy: When it comes to talking, less is more
University of Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel is teaching his young players — and the rest of us, too — a valuable lesson in diplomacy through his interac…
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Chattanooga Federal was a Broad Street institution
Researching mid-century financial institutions is a little like tracking families on Ancestry.com.
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Kennedy: Former TV anchor Mike Dunne is king of ‘the comics house’
Mike Dunne doesn't remember the precise moment more than 10 years ago when he decided to give out comic books at Halloween.
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Kennedy: Some dealers tap the brakes on electric cars
Our family recently bought a used truck — a 10-year-old Toyota Tundra with a muscular V-8 engine.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Local radio changed forever in 1963
It was autumn of 1963, and local radio was about to change forever.
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Chevy’s dominate top 10 sales at Mecum Auction
An 11-year-old race car and a 1958 Chevrolet Corvette fetched the highest prices among the hundreds of vehicles sold at the recent Mecum Chattanooga auction at…
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Kennedy: Motorcycle wreck survivor looks for meaning in accident
James Wilson was blasting down a highway near Reno, Nevada, five years ago this week on a Yamaha racing motorcycle when the bike left the road and clipped a si…
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Kennedy: I’m watching ‘Emily in Paris,’ and I blame Peyton Manning
Darn you, Peyton Manning.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Can you name any of these 1970s car dealers?
It was 1976, America's bicentennial year, and the most popular new car in the United States was the Oldsmobile Cutlass — which you could snag locally for less …
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Mecum Auction highlights day one of the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival
James Wilson, 50, of Foley, Alabama, traveled hundreds of miles up Interstate 59 and rented an Airbnb in East Ridge just so he could attend the 2023 Chattanoog…
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Chattanooga Motorcar Festival cranks up with B-52s, races, auction
The B-52s concert Friday in the West Village (festival pass required) is part of a plan to broaden interest in the three-day Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, whi…
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Dalton woman captures memories with her carefully made T-shirt quilts
Dana Locke, 59, takes scraps of fabric from people's lives and fashions them into an ultimate keepsake: a T-shirt quilt.
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The Chattanooga Motorcar Festival is now considered one of America’s top car events. It’s back on the street Oct. 13-15.
Developer and philanthropist Byron DeFoor will tell you he knows two things: health care and cars.
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Kennedy: How do you know if you are turning into your parents
I watch a lot of football on TV, which means I see a lot of commercials.
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Kennedy: Brainerd couple say God told them to start homeless outreach
Wyndi White, a 63-year-old ordained minister, said she has frequent conversations with God.
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Kennedy: 15 hours in the Erlanger hospital emergency room
If you read the headline on this column expecting a rant, please back up.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? A Broad Street restaurant let customers set prices
Time was, the Drake Hotel Courts and Restaurant on South Broad Street was a popular stop for overnight tourists visiting Lookout Mountain attractions such as R…
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Kennedy: Signal Mountain ‘Hat Lady’ thinks everyone needs a fashion statement
People at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church on Signal Mountain call her "The Hat Lady." She even has the words "hat lady" in her email address.
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Kennedy: Why I never get tired of tires
I think too much about automobile tires. If this mental malady had a name, it would be called "tread dread."
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Stewart’s Potato Chips were a local favorite
Raise your hand if you remember potato chips delivered in big, metal cans.
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Kennedy: 28-year-old Chattanooga tailor believes every man should own a custom suit
Alex Byrum, 28, can tell immediately if a person getting fitted for a custom suit is an old pro or a first-timer.
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Kennedy: The fine line between perfectionism and perseverance
Words are vessels for ideas. Two words — perseverance and perfectionism — have been chasing one another around my brain for some time.
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Chattanoogan Charlie Steinhice is a man on a mission to visit every county in America
There's an inside joke among folks who share the odd hobby of visiting every county in the United States.
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Out-and-back day trips northeast from Chattanooga
For years, drivers of Ferraris and Porsches and Shelby Cobras have quietly slipped into Chattanooga on their way to points unknown. Well, at least "unknown" to…
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Champions of Health Care 2023: Whitney Evans-Snardon — Rising star
When she was a child growing up in New Orleans, Whitney Evans-Snardon carried around a little bag that she pretended was filled with medical supplies and instr…
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Subscriber ExclusiveKennedy: A Brainerd house was once billed as the “Push-A-Button Palace”
Sometimes, when it comes to buying a house, it's love at first sight.
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Kennedy: Deciding when to retire is not as easy as it sounds
My Facebook feed is filling up with photos posted by retired friends who seem to be on perpetual vacations.
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Subscriber ExclusiveRemember When, Chattanooga? The Gateway Motel featured rooms with a view
Although modest in scale and cost, the Gateway Motel on the side of Missionary Ridge became one of Chattanooga's most iconic "motor courts" in the mid-20th cen…
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Kennedy: ‘Miss Clara’ soothes nervous, older dogs at McKamey Animal Center
At the animal shelter where she volunteers, Clara Register is known as "the dog whisperer."
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Kennedy: Why some Alabama and Georgia football fans are secretly miserable
On Saturday, the University of Alabama football team plays Middle Tennessee State University in Tuscaloosa.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Olympic Lanes in Hixson was one of the city’s premiere bowling houses
In the early 1960s, Olympic Lanes at 5150 Hixson Pike was one of five local "bowling houses" that were homes to league and leisure bowlers.
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Kennedy: Nutritionist-turned-entrepreneur pitches cannabis-infused lemonade
One day, Chattanooga might be famous as the birthplace of iconic food brands such as Krystal hamburgers, Moon Pies and LoLo Lemonade.
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Kennedy: Why does my family need six vehicles for four people?
I was 43 years old when our first son was born, 48 when our son second arrived.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? 50,000 people attended the downtown Christmas parade
Chattanooga's annual Christmas parade, sponsored by downtown merchants, was one of the biggest community gatherings of the year.
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Kennedy: Chattanooga A-bomb test witness gives ‘Oppenheimer’ thumbs-down
Bill Woolery, 84, was not impressed by the movie "Oppenheimer." He thought it was too long, too loud and too littered with flashbacks. (Although he concedes it…
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Kennedy: Why I do the dishes while she does the laundry
One of the enduring qualities of my 27-year marriage is the clean division of labor in our household.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? Warner Park Rose Garden was a point of pride
For seven decades, the municipal Rose Garden at Warner Park near downtown Chattanooga was a city treasure.
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Kennedy: Trenton, Georgia, man pulls out all the stops to make world-class pipe organs
One day 20 years ago, Andy Wishart, of Leeds, England, stood atop Lookout Mountain and contemplated the city of Chattanooga down below.
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Kennedy: The slow, sudden death of the Chattanooga work commute
My friend, business editor Dave Flessner, had a report in the paper last week that gave an update on the changing landscape of office work in Chattanooga.
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Remember When, Chattanooga? National Shirt Shops sold $1 ties
Chattanoogans of a certain age may remember the National Shirt Shops location at 718 Market St.
