50th Wedding Anniversary

David Marion Hay better known as “Buddy” was born in Eagleville, November 30^th, 1922 and has lived most of his life here. He is the son of David Marion Sr. “Jew Baby” and Sudie Margarette Vaughan Hay. Buddy graduated from Eagleville HS, in 1942 and attended a year at UT, Knoxville and a year at Aeronautical Engineering in Los Angeles, California.

In 1945 Buddy was working at the N.C. & St. L. Railroad in West Nashville and was in training to learn machine shop and was an apprentice machinist. He was living with his Granny Vaughan near the railroad yards in Nashville, helping take care of her while her son, Will T. Vaughan, Buddy’s uncle, was serving in the US Army.

On their Wedding Day

One Sunday afternoon, Buddy was returning from his parent’s home in Eagleville to his Granny’s house and he always drove through Centennial Park. On this particular Sunday afternoon he saw someone he knew. He stopped to chat with Frances Quarles, whose father had been a pastor of the Eagleville Methodist Church. Frances and her good friend, Irene Sulser, were student nurses at St. Thomas School of Nursing and had come to the park that afternoon for a change of scenery. Buddy was introduced to Irene, thus started a courtship that ended in marriage on June 22, 1946 at the West End Methodist Church Chapel in Nashville.

Irene was born February 11, 1925 in Taft, Tn. (Lincoln County) and is the daughter of George Washington and Bertha McCluskey Sulser. She graduated from Blanche HS in 1943 and St. Thomas School of Nursing in 1946.

After their marriage, Buddy continued at the railroad and after his apprentice work was completed, they bought a grocery store in south Nashville. They relocated to another grocery just off Nolensville Road. They sold this store in 1950 and moved back to Eagleville and Buddy joined his father in farming, raising up to 20 acres of tobacco, milking dairy cows and raising beef cattle. He continued farming until he went to work for GE in Murfreesboro and continued in tool and die at GE for almost 10 years. He was employed at Samsonite where he helped build the vat where the chairs were dipped in a rust proof solution and coated, ready to dry and be put on the market. After working at Samsonite, he was employed at the Doug Nash Co., in Franklin where he inspected blue prints of parts before they were made and he supervised the heat-treating of them. After this firm closed, Buddy and his son, David, went into heavy construction work, grain bins and farming.

Irene started her first professional job as a registered nurse at St. Thomas Hospital on Hayes St., Nashville. Irene was traveling to Nashville working at St. Thomas as head nurse on the women’s surgical floor and later held the assistant supervisor position on the medical floor for 11 years. In 1952 Irene had one of her nursing high-lights. She was taking care of Minnie Pearl’s mother and one day Minnie Pearl put her arms around Irene and thanked her for taking care of her “sweet little mother”. Being hugged by Minnie Pearl out in the busy hospital hall way was certainly a thrill for Irene. During the time Buddy was working at GE, he and Irene decided to quit going to work in two directions, so on December 26, 1961 Irene started to work at the Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, which later became the Middle Tennessee Medical Center. By working in Murfreesboro, she and Buddy was able to ride to work together each day. The first year she worked at MTMC, she worked on the medical floor as a medicine nurse, during the second year she was head nurse in the surgical unit. The rest of her employment at the hospital she worked in the recovery room as a head nurse. In the later years the head nurses at the hospital got a new title: Patient Care Directors. Irene was very instrumental in the planning and building of a new MTM Same Day Surgery Unit. She was asked to plan and design the new unit. She and Buddy travel to other hospitals looking at their units and equipment until she was able to work out the plans and knew what equipment was needed. She got the unit all set up, started and worked in it until her retirement March 30, 1993, after 32 years of service. Irene’s face was the first one a lot of people saw when they were waking up from surgery. A lot of time when she is in Murfreesboro she see people that remembers her from their surgery. They will call her Mrs. Hay and often tell her that she was their nurse. Of course, it’s hard for Irene to remember “everyone” but some of the faces are familiar. During these years at the hospital Irene also helped many of her Eagleville neighbors thru surgery or during their hospital stay. She was a great comfort not only to the patients but to their families also.

Buddy & Irene With Children:  Peggy and David

Although Buddy and Irene were leading busy lives, they also were raising their children: Peggy Marie, born March 4, 1948 and David Michael, born November 19, 1951.

Peggy and David graduated from Eagleville High School. Peggy received her B.S. in nursing from U.T. Memphis and a master’s degree from St. Frances in Joliet, Ill. She has been actively involved in her nursing career and is presently the director of Quality Standards Resources for HCA at their corporate office in Nashville. Peggy married Burns Clark Jr. in 1970. Peggy and Burns had two children: Anne Marie married Wesley Chad Hooper and has a son: Jonathan Wesley Hooper born in 2002. Peggy and Burns’ son, Jonathan married Leigh Ellen Schlansker. Burns died in 1998.

David Michael attended the Shelbyville Area State Vocational School where he met his wife, Betty Jeanette Bills. David worked with his Dad from 1970 – 1982 and has been employed with Nissan at Smyrna since 1983. David and Betty have two children: Marsha Renee married Todd Wayne Street and they have two children: Cullen Wayne born in 1999 and Cameron Renee Born in 2002. Michael Anthony married Jennifer Lee Grant. They have three sons: Grant David born in 2000, Stephen Michael born in 2001 and Andrew Wyatt born in 2005.

Buddy & Irene with grandson Michael and great-grandchildren: Grant, Stephen & Andrew.

Over the 58 years Buddy and Irene have been married, they have been privileged to travel over most of the USA from coast to coast, either by car or camper. They have been on cruises to Alaska, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, including the northern section of South America and the place they consider best of all, the Hawaiian Islands. The cruise ship stopped at five of the islands. They will always have fond memories of the island of Kauai and the boat tour to the Fern Grotto. The guide led the group up a small walkway lined with flowers and ferns to some rock benches on the side of the hill. He said a short speech and had the group move to a space under a hugh rock umbrella type area. At this time the singers sang “The Hawaiian Love Song”. The guide told them ”Gentlemen you may now kiss your wife. You have just been married in Hawaii”. This sure was a highlight of their trip. Buddy and Irene visited Pearl Harbor, Honolulu where the sunken battleship, Arizona, is a tomb for American sailors trapped in the hull during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack, which brought the United States into World War II. They recalled it was very touching to walk along the plank and look down in the water and see pieces of the sunken battleship and to continue on the inside of the Memorial and see all the names listed on a marble wall. From the USS Arizona Memorial, they toured to the USS Missouri. The climax of the whole Hawaiian trip, they were able to stand at the exact spot where the Japanese and the United States signed the Peace Treaty.

Buddy and Irene are members of the Eagleville United Methodist Church where they were very active for many years. One special treat for the church youth as well as Buddy and Irene were the trips to Crossville for the weekend. They have always been a big asset to our community, helping any one and everywhere they were needed.

During these 58 years of happy marriage, they feel they have been truly blessed. Two wonderful children, four precious grandchildren and six precious great grandchildren.