The 1920s brought significant progress for women, a press release said. (Submitted photo/ORHPA)
A retired Oak Ridge school teacher and historian will discuss the women who lived in this part of East Tennessee before Oak Ridge was built during World War II.
Eugene Pickel will also pay tribute to retired Oak Ridge teacher Catherine Ledgerwood during his talk to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association on Thursday.
“Women are more equal today than ever in history,” Pickel said in a press release. “I thought I would describe women generally as they were in our area—Kingston, Clinton, Oliver Springs—before Oak Ridge was created. Then I thought I would go to Catherine Ledgerwood—the most creative change agent I have ever known. Her impact on young people was, and still is, remarkable!”
Oak Ridge was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal project to make the world’s first atomic weapons. The Manhattan Project production site that became Oak Ridge displaced century-old family farms and small crossroads communities: Scarborough, Wheat, Robertsville, and Elza. (Some have historical markers.)
The Thursday night ORHPA meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 13, at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge.
Pickel was born and raised in Kingston. He has never lived anywhere else, the press release said.
Pickel did not attend a public school. He was privately tutored by his mother and Elizabeth Brown, a local school principal and a friend of his mother, the press release said.
Pickel went to college at the University of Tennessee, and he earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history, the press release said. His master’s thesis was the history of Roane County, Tennessee, to 1860.
Pickel came to teach for Oak Ridge Schools in the mid-1960s, and he retired in the 1990s, the press release said.
His first assignment was at Willow Brook, and two years later, he joined the faculty at Oak Ridge High School, the release said. In addition to teaching, Pickel was a College Board consultant for many years.
Both of his parents were educators, and today he has several teachers and a school administrator in his family, the release said.
The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association is a nonprofit historical society founded in 1999 to preserve and educate the public about Oak Ridge’s unique and rich technical and cultural history, and to work to preserve selected historical buildings of the World War II city and nuclear installations.
(Photo courtesy ORHPA)
Photo courtesy ORHPA
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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Philip W Nipper says
Glad to see Mr. Pickel is still about. He was one of my teachers when I attended ORHS. He left a lasting impression that remains to this day. He made it easy to learn and he made us eager to learn. Not an easy task. I salute you sir!