PGHS ANNUAL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AND SPEAKERS When and Where: Saturday, September 11, 2004, 9AM till Noon in Clinton High School Cafeteria. Theme: 60TH Anniversary of World War II Speakers: William J. (Bill) Wilcox, Jr. Retired Technical Director for Y-12 and K-25 B.A. Chemistry, Washington & Lee Univ., MS Industrial Management, UTK 60+-year resident of Oak Ridge. Joined the Manhattan Project in May 1943 and came to Y-12 in October, 1943. During the Project headed the Beta Chemistry production trouble-shooting lab. Worked Y-12 6 years, transfered to K-25. Worked at K-25 for 20 years managing R&D on gaseous diffusion and the development of the gas centrifuge process. (Tech. Asst. to Lab Division 6 years, Head Physics Dept. 12 years, Head Devel. Division 2 years.) 12 years as Technical Director for Union Carbide Nuclear Division in charge of the development and technical service organizations at K-25 and Y-12, until 1981; then 5 years as technical assistant to three successive Energy Systems Presidents until retiring in 1986. 6 years an independent Management Consultant specializing in strategic planning.. Member of the Rotary Club, O.R. Heritage & Preservation Assoc; Friends of K-25, past Board member of the Oak Ridge Hospital, Aid to Distressed Families of Anderson Co. (ADFAC), Citizens for National Security, a founder CORRE (Retirees Pension Group). Currently, and since its WWII founding, very involved in St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. Now very active in trying to preserve part of the K-25 plant as a future tourist attraction, and in promoting the history of Oak Ridge and the Manhattan Project. Author of a history (chronology) of the Y-12 Plant (AMSE Discovery Shop), and working on a history of the K-25 Plant. Speaking on Subject: "Oak Ridge’s Role in the Manhattan Project and Why It Succeeded!" Our Second Speaker is Alex Gabbard, Speaking on Subject: "Blood of the Roses" Freedom Book of the Month recipient. This subject will cover traveling in Germany while tracking genealogical roots and discovery of the tragic story of Hans and Sophie Scholl. Alex Gabbard is a 57 year old southern author and photographer living near Knoxville, TN. He is originally from Berea, KY where his early life rotated between this small college town with his father and a tobacco farm in the mountains of North Carolina with his mother, a career teacher. He learned about small town life and labor on the farm, a combination that fired his curiosity to learn and his interest in writing. His mother's artistic talents helped mold his appreciation for the arts while the realism of father's economic failure and early death shaped his future. Alex studied engineering and became a special weapons expert during the Viet Nam era, then returned to college afterwards. Nine more years of education and experience refined his professional interests. He was not arts bound. Instead, he became an atomic physicist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he works today. Ultimately his love of cameras and computers, traveling and writing brought Alex prominence among automotive writers for his skill at capturing fast cars on film and in print. Today, with hundreds of magazine features and fourteen books to his credit, two having received "Book of the Year" honors and Moto Awards granted by the International Automotive Journalism Assn., Alex keeps on writing and has set his goal to become a novelist as well as historian. His recently released Blood of the Roses received high international acclaim while being chosen as a "Freedom Book of the Month" selection awarded by the Freedom Network. Along the way, he received the International Automotive Media Association’s Silver Metal for automotive travel, the History Channel Medal, and the International Society of Poets, Poet of Merit Award. Alex's introduction to mass market publications came through his automotive books. His Return to Thunder Road, a history of moonshining in the Appalachians, has become a southern favorite. This non-fiction work recounts the moonshining era through the voices of those who lived it, an oral history, while also retracing the east Tennessee origins of Robert Mitchum’s movie, "Thunder Road", that debuted in Knoxville in 1958. With more auto books and novels in the works, along with a movie script that received Honorable Mention in competition, Alex manages somehow to keep up with the market, his own mail-order business related to his books, and a full time job. Additional accolades came his way when selected as an "Amazing Author", an Internet site featuring his work at jollyroger.com. Pellissippi Genealogical & Historial Web Page and email address below: pghs@worldnet.att.net pghs@att.net Don Raby, President