Bessylee Wiggs Smith

William Frank Smith

These photos were taken approximately 1941-1942.  At that time, Bessylee worked in a laboratory and Frank worked as a security guard at Hercules Power Plant outside of Chattanooga.  

Bessylee was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and moved to Chattanooga when she was very small.  She graduated from Central High School and the University of Chattanooga and did graduate work in at least two universities, one in Madison, Wisconsin and the University of North Carolina.  Right after graduating she taught high school English at Central High School.  She also had a radio program called "For Women Only" on the local Chattanooga station, WAPO.  During the war she worked in a laboratory at the Hercules Power Plant (Volunteer Ordinance Works), where they made munitions.   This is where she met her husband, Frank, who was a security guard at the plant.  They were married September 12, 1942, in Ft. Oglethorpe, GA.  After the war Bessylee and Frank moved to Live Oak, Florida.  I believe Frank worked as an auto mechanic and later moved to Marietta, Ga, where he drove a Greyhound Bus.  Frank later owned and operated a service station in Marietta.  Bessylee taught English, shorthand, and typing at Sprayberry High School in Marietta. 
(by Carl Wiggs)