Guy Fryar

Guy Dennis Fryar (Jan. 25, 1888 – July 14, 1919) was a World War I veteran from Norma who died of tuberculosis just after the end of the war.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born Jan. 25, 1888, Guy D. Fryar was the son of James Horace Fryar (1862-1954) and Loucinda Jane Sherrill (1870-1911). He had eight siblings: Reve Volney Fryar (1887-1887), Bertha, Macel Fryar Marlow (1894-1977), John, Ola Anndra Fryar Murray (1898-1962), Herstel, Hattie Edith Fryar Lee (1903-1989) and George William Fryar (1907-1948).

The Fryar family was originally from Cumberland County, Tenn. before moving to Norma. That’s where both of Guy’s parents were raised. James Fryar was the son of John Fryar and Anora Fryar, and Loucinda was the daughter of Adam Sherrell and Elizabeth Harris. James’ occupation was a lumber sawyer in the New River Lumber Co.’s mill at Norma.

Loucinda died in 1911 at age 41 and was buried at Hatfield Cemetery in Norma. James remarried to Julia “Florence” Shetley (1878-1970), the daughter of John and Mossey Shetley of North Carolina.

World War I

Sgt. Guy Fryar enlisted in the U.S. Army on Nov. 3, 1913 in Harriman, Tenn., and was assigned to Co. C of the 40th Infantry. A separate enlistment date is given by the U.S. Veterans Bureau as April 6, 1917. He also served an earlier stint in the Army. When the 1910 census was taken, he was stationed in Lawrence, Ind. as a private in Co. E of the 10th U.S. Infantry.

Death

Although Sgt. Fryar’s name is listed on the VFW Post 5669 memorial wall in Oneida as a soldier who died in World War I, he did not die in combat, or even during the war. WWI ended on Nov. 11, 1818. Sgt. Fryar died on July 14, 1919, at the age of 31. He died of tuberculosis at the U.S. Army Hospital in Oteen, N.C. The Fryar family had moved there between 1910 and 1920, with Guy’s father taking a job in a machine shop. Several of Guy’s siblings remained in the Buncombe County area for the remainder of their lives.

Sgt. Fryar was buried at Hatfield Cemetery at Norma. He never married. His father moved from Scott County and lived in both Crossville and Knoxville. He died on Dec. 21, 1954 at age 92 and is buried at Reed Cemetery at New River. His second wife was buried there in 1970.

Sgt. Fryar’s sister, Macel, married Luther Marlow, and they’re both buried at Reed Cemetery, as are several of their children.