May you rest in peace, Mary Emma. We remember you fondly.

Sending our deepest condolences. Love, Joe and Karla Smith

Mary Emma Anderson's first husband was Robert Klipple, my elder brother.  I first met Mary Emma Throgmorton Klipple in the fall of 1943.  Robert graduated from Colorado Aggies in 1942 and took a job at a munitions plant near Memphis, Tennessee.  They were married in 1943, and I met her in the fall of that year when I visited them in Memphis.
I immediately became very fond of Mary Emma.  She and I had matching outfits that my mother had made us -- snow white blouses and full circle black skirts.  We went to one of the dams on the Tennessee River, I don't remember which one, but in was one of a series of dams build during the Roosevelt Administration to improve usage from the dam by controlling the release of water to help farmers and navigation. The winds were strong near the dams, and our skirts blew up in the wind. I still have a picture of that day.
While in Memphis, we met Mary Emma's parents. Her father, Chaffin, Throgmorton, was a lawyer who was blind. Mary Emma, her mother, and her brother all read law to her father so he could practice law.  Her mother was his law clerk and ran his office and made it possible for him to have a practice.
Mr. Throgmorton was a very skilled debater, and his cross examination and closing arguments in court were really worth listening to.  He was a showman in the court room.
Mrs. Throgmorton was from the upper peninsula of Michigan  He met her on a trip to Michigan.  He was intrigued to find that there was this separate small area across Lake Michigan not connected to the state.  He visited there and met the lady that became his wife.
Robert and Mary Emma had four children, and lived most of their married life in Oak Ridge.  The children were Gary, Kenny, Wayne, and Bonnie, all of whom survive Mary Emma.  I visited them several times in Knoxville and then Oak Ridge while Robert was alive.  However, I saw less of Mary Emma in the years after his death.
After Robert died, Mary Emma married again and was last married to Roger Anderson.  I spent several days with them when Roger and I turned eighty years of age, and Mary Emma was 79.  Her birthday was May 13, and mine was May 15.  She was a year minus two days younger than me.  We were as close as sisters for many years.

I'm so sorry for your loss.  Mary Emma was a special person, and I will always remember her for the special help she gave me when I sorely needed it.  

I was divorced from my former husband, Alan England, in 1976, and was living in poverty.  My three daughters were receiving Federal Reduced Price Lunches at school (ten cents a lunch).   My alimony was sufficient to cover the mortgage and that was it.

Mary Emma hired me to paint her house in Woodland and I was thrilled to get the work!  It made all the difference in the world to me, helping me buy groceries and clothes (Goodwill, of course) for the girls.  She was such a blessing!

And Kenny, of course I remember your showing up at our house in Munich, after a lengthy bicycle ride, balancing a jug of bleach.  I was so glad to get my hands on bleach, which was rarely available (the Frauen boiled their laundry to get it white).  You obviously had inherited your mom's empathy and ability to help others.

I think of Mary Emma each time I drive through Woodland and I will always remember her with love.
Nancy England

Mary Emma was a survivor who knew how to achieve her dreams. She studied chemistry which enabled her to work at the Oak Ridge plants to support her family when her 1st husband took ill and later died. A childhood dream was fulfilled when she earned her pilot's license, but she waited until all her children graduated high school. Every weekend and many summer evenings she could be found at the airfield with her partner in flying Vern McKay maintaining aircraft and soaring into the sky. She was a proud member of the Powder Puff Derby. She thrilled several grandchildren with rides above the Oak Ridge area.
  Mary Emma enjoyed dancing, but was surprised when her husband Roger whose hobby was competitive ballroom dancing, decided she could partner him at times. Always game, she was dressed in flounces and satins, and joyfully hit the dance floor with him. They belonged to a dance club in Oak Ridge.
  After her retirement from the plants, she expanded her knowledge of gardening at UT, and became a Master Gardener for UT. She belonged to a gardening club in Farragut, too. Her yard in Farragut was a delight to the neighborhood.
  She was an early member of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Church, and was a beloved sponsor of the LRY, the youth organization of the church. She remained a stalwart member until her move to Knoxville.]
   She had a good singing voice and sang with her children and with her grandchildren. My best memory was of her harmonizing with her granddaughter Robin in the nursing home. Some of her memory may have been gone, but she certainly remembered how to bring a song home.
  May you be at peace.

OBITUARY

Mary Klipple Anderson

May 11, 1924 – July 27, 2016

Berry Highland Memorial

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