Chloe A. Harrington died June 12, 2019, just six days prior to her 103rd birthday. The widow of T. R. Harrington Jr., she raised four boys in Fountain City and then learned how to paint.
“She always had purpose,” said granddaughter Amy Bible, of Harrington Insurance Agency. “She sought out the opportunity to learn. It was quite the adventure being a kid growing up there. She always had something going on in the basement – something to get into.”
Survivors include sons and daughters-in-law Charles and Kathy, Jim and Sue, Rick, and Tom; grandchildren David (Debbie), Suzanne Tolbert (Carl), Amy Bible (Allan), Taylor Ross and Chelsea; great grandchildren Chris and Noah Harrington, Charley Rose and Della Bible and Kyle and Jay Tolbert (Conley); and great-great grandson Carter Harrington.
Mrs. Harrington was an avid reader, crocheter and artist, a long-time member of Fountain City United Methodist Church, co-founder of Fountain City Art Center, and recipient of the Central High School Wall of Fame award. Her painting “Stately Splendor” was the Dogwood Arts official print in 1989.
She started her art career after her youngest son, Rick, went to college. “She developed a community of artists in her basement,” Amy Bible said. “Joyce Ford (who now lives in Texas) was an early teacher.”
Mrs. Harrington started in oils, developed an allergy and switched to watercolors. Later, as the formulas changed, she was able to use oils. Bible said on her 100th birthday she showed family a recent painting with a new process – a sort of paint pigment in powder form.
Despite arthritis, she crocheted hats for preemies and cancer patients with “a spirit of determination.” And she embraced computer technology, owning a laptop and iPad.
Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Fountain City United Methodist Church with the receiving of friends afterward in Wesley Hall. Memorials may be made to the choir fund of Fountain City Church, 212 Hotel Avenue, Knoxville 37918, or to Fountain City Art Center, 211 Hotel Ave., Knoxville 37918. Gentry Griffey Funeral Chapel is honored to serve the Harrington family.
