Story and select photos by DinaRella / Additional photos courtesy of Ben Robertson & Katrina Beaman
Part Two
Gifted, grounded, and still going strong – the pioneer of the raceboat and progenitor of the cupped prop and padded V-bottom – Paul Allison turned one hundred years old on August 7, 2024. What made the day all the more memorable was a surprise visit to his birthday celebration by Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell to present an official proclamation distinguishing the 7th of August as Paul Allison Day!
Equally memorably for RDP, was our enjoyable time spent before and after the festivities, reminiscing one-on-one about what life looked like when Paul wasn't pushing the performance boat envelope. His "100 Years" have been shaped by an unwavering drive and determination to achieve success and there's not much this southern gentleman has not done. What's more, his ability to recall ten decades of historical dates, destinations, facts and faces is unmatched!
Dina: 1. Having a mother who was part Cherokee Indian and a family full of seamen on the Allison side, how did this help shape you as an individual?
Paul: I grew up during the Great Depression. My mother was part Cherokee Indian. She knew how to survive. There were no plows or horses to pull anything. Women would dig holes and put the fish which men caught inside them for fertilizer. We would gather walnuts and hickory nuts from the woods. I learned a lot from her when I was young.
As a kid, I worked for a local farmer for 50 cents a day. I saved money to buy school clothes, but instead came home from town with a 22 rifle and two boxes of shells for $1.95. I had never shot a gun. That first day, I killed eight rabbits.
On the Allison side, my great grandfather and grandfather owned steamboats in the 1800s. My parents worked on them as cooks. In 1917, using a motorcycle motor and Model T Ford fan to cool it, my dad James built his first boat. He'd race the steamboats on the Tennessee River. Folks would be standing on the bank calling him crazy for going so fast. He'd be doing around 12 mph. They said, "You're gonna get killed out there!"
Dina: 2. You fabricated parts for the atomic bomb at Oak Ridge and later won awards for your "miracle" car restoration projects. Tell us about those experiences?
Paul: I was 14 when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) hired me to help build the Cherokee and Douglas Dams. We carried 94 pounds of cement up and down 300 steps to the bottom of the dam all day long. Next, I went to work at Oak Ridge in building K25 where they put the atomic bomb together.
It was built on 35 acres. They were some of the largest buildings in the world, thousands of people worked there. Nobody knew what they were building. It was a secret. When it was finished, the building was torn down and the area was fenced in because of the radiation in the ground. The day Japan was bombed, we all lost our jobs. After that, I started an autobody repair shop out of my backyard.
In 1951, I restored two A Model Ford Phaetons for Coulter Florist. One was Bombay red with yellow wheels and black fenders, the other was green. They were placed in a Michigan car show with over 500 entrants from around the world. Both came in first place. The judges had to flip a coin to determine that the red got first and green came in second.
Dina: 3. Your next "One Piece at a Time" project was truly one-of-a-kind, please explain to us about this?
Paul: Like the song "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash about his car, in 1953 I finally had enough parts to build my own car. It was a 1941 Lincoln Continental with a V12 engine and flat windshield. It was slick burgundy lacquer. I put a straight light in the center to see where you're going, long before it became outlawed. The top was convertible and had a mechanism to lift it up. I took that off and put it on the hood, and you could raise it up and down with the push of a button.
We were down in Daytona Beach where we would go drag racing on the beach with my 1941 Ford truck I also built, and I heard someone say, "Who owns this car? How much is it?" He owned a dealership and wanted to trade his brand new Lincoln Continental. I said, no. I can buy that, but you can’t buy this. He wanted to put it in his Orlando showroom.
Dina: 4. Your eyes light up with every mention of the name Lucille. What was your dear wife and the love of your life like?
Paul: We met while working at the Aluminum Company of Alcoa and married on November 19, 1944. We had four children Danette, Darris, Denise and Donna. We did everything together. I had a contractor build the outside of our log cabin, then Lucille and I worked for 10 months straight doing the entire inside, while living in a little farmhouse.
She loved to cook and always had a kitchen full of food for all the young Alison Craft racers when they came to town. Sometimes there would be 20 at a time. She'd wake up in the morning and find them sleeping everywhere, even on the front porch swings. She passed away in 2021. We would have been married 80 years!
Dina: 5. Your creative mind and aesthetic sensibilities with a paint brush are unparalleled. When did you start painting, and enlighten us about your self-taught technique for the glass-like finishes?
Paul : I started with water colors as a kid. It was a good hobby. Televisions were black and white and the only way to get a color picture was to have an artist paint it. They would sell like crazy. I sold my first picture at age eight. I painted everything. If I saw something I liked, I painted it.
I spray them with acrylic and let it dry. You rub it and wax it on like the finish on a car. It looks like clear glass, but it's not. I seal them up and they're protected for 100 years.
One particularly special portrait I did, is of a Cherokee Indian girl. No matter where you are standing, from all directions her eyes follow you as you move about. Another is of Lucille in a purple dress. She said, "Just don't make me look old!" I told her not to worry, and that someday she would look old enough to match the picture.
Dina 6. After pulling back the throttles saying farewell to Allison Craft, what was it like entering shallower waters to raise catfish and open Allison's Catfish Restaurant?
Paul: When I bought the 50 acres of land in 1972, I thought I'd convert it into a catfish market, which I did when I gave up Allison Craft. It was the hardest work in the world. When catfish feed got too expensive, I gave it up. In 1981, Lucille and I opened Allison's Catfish Restaurant. She cooked all the pies and hush puppies. I did all the deep-fried catfish, shrimp and chicken. Word of mouth spread fast and far. Customers would wait an hour for a table and would come from as far away as Florida and the Carolinas.
Dina: 7. You had no formal training, but your engineering and carpentry skills earned you much regard. A newspaper story referred to your waterfall cave as "Pauly World" due to its Disney-like charm. Can you tell us about this?
Paul: I built a two-story cabin on top of the rocks overlooking our property. I put a big pump in the spring below and made a 20-foot grotto style cave and waterfall inside the house. The water in the ground was 58 degrees. It could be 95 degrees outside and you'd walk in there....and it was cooold! It was full of antiques and had a very pioneer feel. The living room had glass doors and people could see in from the restaurant. They took tons of pictures.
Dina: 8. On the kitchen table, I see a favorite meal of yours, corn bread and chowder cooked up by your devoted caretaker Katrina, and binders of race boats. Absent are the pill bottles and any signs that a 100-year-old lives here. What's your secret for longevity that's guided you through life?
Paul: The dumb man will hide his talent under a bushel basket. He says, "I can’t do that." You can’t do it because you didn’t use your talent God gave you. You could do anything you want to do. It’s simple! Everybody has a God-given talent. I used mine. Find what you like to do and put all your energy into it!
I've been drinking only distilled water for 65 years. There's a lot of bacteria in water. I had the spring water tested. It's 100 percent pure. Too much chlorine in water will kill people. If you put a little in an aquarium, it will kill a fish. You can't put chlorinated water in your car battery. My doctor told me chlorine kills the live energy cells in your body. Drinking pure water you have more energy. That's what you need when you get old. That's the secret!
I've never had the pleasure to write about a more insightful and inspiring human being, who's so funny and full of wisdom. Because of Paul, I'm now reading up on the secretive Oak Ridge site and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" song/speedboat. Not mention, I made the move to distilled water.
Maneuvering down his long, precipitous driveway spliced through a wooded landscape with reflections from the sun radiating off the catfish ponds, I started to smile when passing by Paul's aging yellow Bobcat parked next to his current waterfall project – the one that keeps he and Katrina busy making Home Depot lumber runs. What was I thinking about? The invitation to come back and hear more chapters about this special centenarian's course guided by wit, grit and a whole lot of grace!
Thank you Paul for sharing your 100 years with RDP and showing us what a LIVING LEGEND looks like!
Part one looks at the revolutionary applications Allison Craft brought to the boating world!
Part Two
Gifted, grounded, and still going strong – the pioneer of the raceboat and progenitor of the cupped prop and padded V-bottom – Paul Allison turned one hundred years old on August 7, 2024. What made the day all the more memorable was a surprise visit to his birthday celebration by Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell to present an official proclamation distinguishing the 7th of August as Paul Allison Day!
Equally memorably for RDP, was our enjoyable time spent before and after the festivities, reminiscing one-on-one about what life looked like when Paul wasn't pushing the performance boat envelope. His "100 Years" have been shaped by an unwavering drive and determination to achieve success and there's not much this southern gentleman has not done. What's more, his ability to recall ten decades of historical dates, destinations, facts and faces is unmatched!
Dina: 1. Having a mother who was part Cherokee Indian and a family full of seamen on the Allison side, how did this help shape you as an individual?
Paul: I grew up during the Great Depression. My mother was part Cherokee Indian. She knew how to survive. There were no plows or horses to pull anything. Women would dig holes and put the fish which men caught inside them for fertilizer. We would gather walnuts and hickory nuts from the woods. I learned a lot from her when I was young.
As a kid, I worked for a local farmer for 50 cents a day. I saved money to buy school clothes, but instead came home from town with a 22 rifle and two boxes of shells for $1.95. I had never shot a gun. That first day, I killed eight rabbits.
On the Allison side, my great grandfather and grandfather owned steamboats in the 1800s. My parents worked on them as cooks. In 1917, using a motorcycle motor and Model T Ford fan to cool it, my dad James built his first boat. He'd race the steamboats on the Tennessee River. Folks would be standing on the bank calling him crazy for going so fast. He'd be doing around 12 mph. They said, "You're gonna get killed out there!"
Dina: 2. You fabricated parts for the atomic bomb at Oak Ridge and later won awards for your "miracle" car restoration projects. Tell us about those experiences?
Paul: I was 14 when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) hired me to help build the Cherokee and Douglas Dams. We carried 94 pounds of cement up and down 300 steps to the bottom of the dam all day long. Next, I went to work at Oak Ridge in building K25 where they put the atomic bomb together.
It was built on 35 acres. They were some of the largest buildings in the world, thousands of people worked there. Nobody knew what they were building. It was a secret. When it was finished, the building was torn down and the area was fenced in because of the radiation in the ground. The day Japan was bombed, we all lost our jobs. After that, I started an autobody repair shop out of my backyard.
In 1951, I restored two A Model Ford Phaetons for Coulter Florist. One was Bombay red with yellow wheels and black fenders, the other was green. They were placed in a Michigan car show with over 500 entrants from around the world. Both came in first place. The judges had to flip a coin to determine that the red got first and green came in second.
Dina: 3. Your next "One Piece at a Time" project was truly one-of-a-kind, please explain to us about this?
Paul: Like the song "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash about his car, in 1953 I finally had enough parts to build my own car. It was a 1941 Lincoln Continental with a V12 engine and flat windshield. It was slick burgundy lacquer. I put a straight light in the center to see where you're going, long before it became outlawed. The top was convertible and had a mechanism to lift it up. I took that off and put it on the hood, and you could raise it up and down with the push of a button.
We were down in Daytona Beach where we would go drag racing on the beach with my 1941 Ford truck I also built, and I heard someone say, "Who owns this car? How much is it?" He owned a dealership and wanted to trade his brand new Lincoln Continental. I said, no. I can buy that, but you can’t buy this. He wanted to put it in his Orlando showroom.
Dina: 4. Your eyes light up with every mention of the name Lucille. What was your dear wife and the love of your life like?
Paul: We met while working at the Aluminum Company of Alcoa and married on November 19, 1944. We had four children Danette, Darris, Denise and Donna. We did everything together. I had a contractor build the outside of our log cabin, then Lucille and I worked for 10 months straight doing the entire inside, while living in a little farmhouse.
She loved to cook and always had a kitchen full of food for all the young Alison Craft racers when they came to town. Sometimes there would be 20 at a time. She'd wake up in the morning and find them sleeping everywhere, even on the front porch swings. She passed away in 2021. We would have been married 80 years!
Dina: 5. Your creative mind and aesthetic sensibilities with a paint brush are unparalleled. When did you start painting, and enlighten us about your self-taught technique for the glass-like finishes?
Paul : I started with water colors as a kid. It was a good hobby. Televisions were black and white and the only way to get a color picture was to have an artist paint it. They would sell like crazy. I sold my first picture at age eight. I painted everything. If I saw something I liked, I painted it.
I spray them with acrylic and let it dry. You rub it and wax it on like the finish on a car. It looks like clear glass, but it's not. I seal them up and they're protected for 100 years.
One particularly special portrait I did, is of a Cherokee Indian girl. No matter where you are standing, from all directions her eyes follow you as you move about. Another is of Lucille in a purple dress. She said, "Just don't make me look old!" I told her not to worry, and that someday she would look old enough to match the picture.
Dina 6. After pulling back the throttles saying farewell to Allison Craft, what was it like entering shallower waters to raise catfish and open Allison's Catfish Restaurant?
Paul: When I bought the 50 acres of land in 1972, I thought I'd convert it into a catfish market, which I did when I gave up Allison Craft. It was the hardest work in the world. When catfish feed got too expensive, I gave it up. In 1981, Lucille and I opened Allison's Catfish Restaurant. She cooked all the pies and hush puppies. I did all the deep-fried catfish, shrimp and chicken. Word of mouth spread fast and far. Customers would wait an hour for a table and would come from as far away as Florida and the Carolinas.
Dina: 7. You had no formal training, but your engineering and carpentry skills earned you much regard. A newspaper story referred to your waterfall cave as "Pauly World" due to its Disney-like charm. Can you tell us about this?
Paul: I built a two-story cabin on top of the rocks overlooking our property. I put a big pump in the spring below and made a 20-foot grotto style cave and waterfall inside the house. The water in the ground was 58 degrees. It could be 95 degrees outside and you'd walk in there....and it was cooold! It was full of antiques and had a very pioneer feel. The living room had glass doors and people could see in from the restaurant. They took tons of pictures.
Dina: 8. On the kitchen table, I see a favorite meal of yours, corn bread and chowder cooked up by your devoted caretaker Katrina, and binders of race boats. Absent are the pill bottles and any signs that a 100-year-old lives here. What's your secret for longevity that's guided you through life?
Paul: The dumb man will hide his talent under a bushel basket. He says, "I can’t do that." You can’t do it because you didn’t use your talent God gave you. You could do anything you want to do. It’s simple! Everybody has a God-given talent. I used mine. Find what you like to do and put all your energy into it!
I've been drinking only distilled water for 65 years. There's a lot of bacteria in water. I had the spring water tested. It's 100 percent pure. Too much chlorine in water will kill people. If you put a little in an aquarium, it will kill a fish. You can't put chlorinated water in your car battery. My doctor told me chlorine kills the live energy cells in your body. Drinking pure water you have more energy. That's what you need when you get old. That's the secret!
I've never had the pleasure to write about a more insightful and inspiring human being, who's so funny and full of wisdom. Because of Paul, I'm now reading up on the secretive Oak Ridge site and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" song/speedboat. Not mention, I made the move to distilled water.
Maneuvering down his long, precipitous driveway spliced through a wooded landscape with reflections from the sun radiating off the catfish ponds, I started to smile when passing by Paul's aging yellow Bobcat parked next to his current waterfall project – the one that keeps he and Katrina busy making Home Depot lumber runs. What was I thinking about? The invitation to come back and hear more chapters about this special centenarian's course guided by wit, grit and a whole lot of grace!
Thank you Paul for sharing your 100 years with RDP and showing us what a LIVING LEGEND looks like!
Part one looks at the revolutionary applications Allison Craft brought to the boating world!
