Julian Franklin Pugh

Julian Franklin Pugh (known as “Pops” to most who met or knew him after the mid-1980s) died of Alzheimer's on the morning of July 3, 2015. He was born on September 22, 1938, the son of a Master plumber and a seamstress, both of whom died of Alzheimer's before the turn of the millennium. His father, Jack Thomas Pugh, taught him the basics of plumbing because he felt that one could always get a job if one could find and fix leaks. Julian summarized his tutelage in plumbing for his own children by repeatedly telling them, “Always hire a plumber because there is not enough time in the world to spend it digging through someone else's [sewage].”

Julian was the older brother of Arthur Thomas (“Tommy”) Pugh, a veteran of the Vietnam War and a diesel mechanic who is still alive but suffering from Alzheimer's to the point that, for the last two years he has had no idea who Julian is. Julian was the younger brother of Mary Jeanette Weaver, the strong wife of an even stronger fire fighter. Mary died of Alzheimer's in 2006. Julian was the younger brother of Shirley Jean Martin who passed away in 1979 at the age of 45.

Julian was the husband of Sharon Diane Brasell Pugh, whom he met in the summer of 1966 and married on December 17, of that same year. During their 49 years of marriage they traveled to various places including Hong Kong, The Bahamas, Italy, Greece, Spain, England, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Monte Carlo, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, and all over the continental United States. Julian also traveled alone to Saudi Arabia in the 1980s for a real estate venture that never panned out.

“Pops” was the father of a professional magician. Julian's namesake and oldest child, Julian (“Jay”) Franklin Pugh II took his hobby of magic and turned it into a successful business enterprise under the stage name of “Julian Franklin” much the way that Pops took his hobby of stamp collecting and created Pugh Cachets, Inc., a company he grew into an award-winning industry leader in the philatelic community. Jay and his wife Andrea are the parents of Madeleine Pugh.

“Pops” was the father of Shawnna Diane Altieri, his only daughter who spent most of her adult life in the travel and hospitality industry. She has since taken over the family business of Pugh Cachets and, like her father, travels the country attending professional conventions. Shawnna is the mother of Kaitlyn Altieri and Tristan Aucion.

“Pops” was the father of Steven Craig Pugh, his youngest child and the one who ignored his father's warnings about plumbing (and most of his other warnings as well) and became a licensed plumber anyway. Steven is married to DeAnna Karlburg Pugh and they are the parents of Alexis and Ashton Pugh.

Julian Pugh, to the employees of custom home builder Superior Homes, was top salesman for many years. He became Vice-President of sales and won industry awards too numerous (and frankly too tedious) to list. Just trust me, he won a lot of sales awards, including most of those fancy international trips listed previously.

For his classmates at Smiley High School class of 1957, he was a cheerleader, president of Student Council, vice-president of the Senior Class, president of the Debate Club, member of National Honor Society, editor-in-chief of the yearbook, and voted “Mr. Smiley” his graduating year.

Julian was a youth minister to teens and children at The Oak Ridge North Church of Christ in the 1970s. He was a volunteer sports announcer for summer league swim team meets for the Oak Ridge Otters swim team in the 1980s. During the 2000s he was a mentor to many recovering alcoholics and drug addicts at the local AA, NA, and the local jail where he would sometimes visit them when they would slip.

Julian would cry unashamedly at the sad parts in movies. He would voraciously devour meals that his wife had ruined and claim that he loved burnt toast and lumpy dumplings. He would patiently listen to you tell a joke he had already heard and then laugh like it was the first time. He did this even more after he got Alzheimer's, of course. But he didn't care to save birthday or Father's Day cards. He didn't write or keep any love letters. He was emotional, but not sentimental.

Among “Pops” many and myriad flaws (I know “myriad” and “many” are redundant, but so were his flaws, so just go with me on this) was his compassion to the point of gullibility. He was far too quick to give away his money or his time to someone less deserving but more needy. He once withdrew $4,000 to buy a top-of-the-line laptop computer for an acquaintance who needed it to start a business. It turned out the “business” was selling top-of-the-line computers to pawn shops for 20 cents on the dollar. He never seemed to learn lessons from misplacing his compassion. He sometimes seemed to wear his gullibility as badge of honor.

When his best friend died he refused to send flowers because the two of them had previously agreed that dead people can't enjoy flowers anyway. So, if anyone reading this was thinking of buying flowers, please reconsider and either donate to http://www.alz.org to help fight the disease that took Julian, his parents, and his siblings, or you can follow in Pops' footsteps and do an unexpected and unsolicited act of kindness for someone in greater need but who clearly doesn't deserve your kindness. The more foolish and irrational that act, the better.