Thomas Cal Hendrix, Jr.

Thomas Cal Hendrix, Jr. (“Cal”)  passed away on May 25, 2024 at the age of 98. He was the youngest son of Thomas Cal Hendrix, Sr. and Dora Greenlee Hendrix and was born on a farm outside Johnson City, Tennessee on July 28, 1925. He attended Happy Valley High School which contained all twelve grades and graduated in 1944.

After a year of employment at North American Rayon in Elizabethton, Tennessee he was drafted into the navy but served only one year since WWII ended the next year. Five years later, in 1950, he was called again for military service for the Korean conflict and served two full years, but this time in the army.

After his first military service in the navy, he returned home to Johnson City and attended East Tennessee State University where he graduated with a BS in English and Library Science in 1950. After his second military service, in the army, he graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia with a Master of Librarianship in 1954.

He worked the next two years in the Brunswick, Georgia regional library program, then moved to Canton, Georgia as Director of the Sequoyah regional program until 1962. He came to Kingsport as Director of the Kingsport Public Library in 1962 and remained in that position until 1984. With three years of military service and thirty years in library work, he chose to retire in 1984.

Cal married Violet Hendricks in 1958 and they had two sons, Kenneth in 1959 and Henry in 1961. Both attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and have degrees in engineering. Kenneth, married to Helen Sirett, resides in Kingsport and retired from Eastman. Henry, married to Janis, lives in Roswell, Georgia and retired from Texas Instruments. Henry and Janis are the parents of his grandchildren, Angie and Janie. Angie and her husband Michael Sawers are parents of his great grandchildren, Evie and Ada.

After Violet’s death in 1980, Cal volunteered for the Peace Corps in 1984, serving as a librarian on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean for two years. Having met a widow, Lois Salinger, from Long Island, New York before volunteering, they married in 1985 and she joined him in Dominica for part of his time there. This brought three more children and five grandchildren into his family, Paul, Ellen, and Jayne and grandchildren Jeremy, Jennifer, Jeffrey, Alec, and Emily. Lois died in 2002, leaving him a widower again.

Cal moved to Asbury Place Baysmont in Kingsport in 2008 and lived there until 2023 when he moved to Steadman Hill Assisted Living. Cal’s family would like to thank the staff of both Asbury Place and Steadman Hill for the care he received.

Cal was an avid reader, a fan of UT sports, and a member of SERTOMA Civic Organization for many years. He was a long-time member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He enjoyed seeing all his relatives at the Hendrix Family Reunions. 

Graveside services will be held on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 10:00am at Hendrix Family Cemetery.

Funeral services will be conducted on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 1:00pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with The Rev. Johnny Tuttle officiating. The family will receive friends following at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (161 E. Ravine St. Kingsport, TN 37660) or the Kingsport Public Library Renovation Fund (https://kptfol.org/give).