Memorial Services for Dave Jenkins: Honoring His Life & Legacy

Friends, there are no words that seem right. I wish I didn’t have to write this blog post. I wish I could call my grandpa on the phone again and hear his voice and teasing. I wish I could give him one more hug.

Unfortunately, his medical complications continued to compound over the last few weeks and he was not able to recover as we hoped. A few days ago, when he sensed he was nearing the end of his life, he asked that I share the news on his blog when the time came, and so I am.

He passed away peacefully on Saturday, October 24th, 2026, surrounded by loved ones.

I was not able to be there, sadly, but I did have a wonderful visit with him recently that I’ll always be grateful for. I’m also grateful for the opportunity I had to visit with my sweet grandma and grandpa in their beautiful home recently. We ate ice cream as we sat on the sofa and laughed and chatted happily, with no idea that would be the last time. 

And last spring, we had a once-in-a-lifetime experience renting a small cabin in the mountains and visiting their old farm together with my husband and our five children, their great-grandchildren. I’d actually hoped that would become a tradition, especially since my husband and I are now farming that exact land, and that we’d make many more memories there. But I’m so grateful we have that memory—and all the memories there over the years as I was growing up. It’s a large part of his legacy.

In fact, he’ll be buried there, in the old cemetery across the road from his beloved—now our beloved—farm. I’m grateful I’ll be able to visit him there often. Mostly, I’m grateful that he’s resting in the arms of his beloved Jesus now.

Soon, I want to spend some time creating a full tribute to his life here on this blog, with plenty of photos, of course. But for now, I’m sharing the details of his memorial services for those who would like to attend.

A visitation will be held the evening of Friday, October 30th from 4-8 p.m. at Wilson Funeral Home in Chickamauga, Georgia.

A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday morning, October 31st, at 11:00 a.m. at the Elizabeth Lee Methodist Church on Cove Road, followed by a graveside service at the Old Antioch Cemetery on Andrews Lane.

Please share this with anyone you know who knew him and might like to be there. You can also view the obituary for David Byrl Jenkins from Wilson Funeral Home here.

About the photo:

In my last post, I shared one of my favorite photos, but this is one of my grandpa’s favorites. He always put a large print of this photo over his mantle every fall. It’s the view of the pond from their home on their farm where they lived for over 35 years. It’s called “Pond and Autumn Leaves.” I was just there and the colors are exactly like this right now—still slightly green in spots but definitely changing—so it feels like a fitting tribute for this moment.

Greetings—And An Update!—from Dave's Granddaughter

Hello, dear readers, my name is Jennifer. I'm one of Dave Jenkins' two best granddaughters, as he often tells me. I happen to be the red-haired one with five children who farms the lands he used to own in McLemore Cove, which he's shared quite a bit about here. His other granddaughter is a trained ballerina and soon-to-be medical school student!

My grandpa loves this blog and you, his readers and friends, so he asked me to share an update. I’ve actually been working with my grandpa for a while on his blog and print shop, so it was an honor to be asked to author a post, too.

If only it were under better circumstances.

Let me assure you: contrary to the title of his last post, he is not obsolete. However, he might feel like it at the moment, as he’s currently recovering from complications related to his fractured vertebrae, which he wrote about a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better, and he was admitted to the hospital—hence, the lapse in blog posts.

The good news is that he quickly improved again in the hospital and was moved to a rehabilitation center, where he'll stay for several more weeks. The plan is to make sure his back heals properly and that he gets the physical therapy necessary to get him back on his feet—literally.

He’s still unable to sit up much, so he probably won’t be blogging again anytime soon, but we’ll see if we can come up with some content I can post. I visited him last weekend, and although I hate to see him in pain, I enjoyed talking with him as I always do. His back might be broken, but his sense of humor is still intact! He managed to tease the nurse, tell me he’s proud of me, and finish his favorite strawberry milkshake. We even discussed one of our ongoing projects together: getting some of his books republished.

So, again, he’s not obsolete. Not even close. We’ll keep working on this blog and other projects together, and if any of you can recommend an interested publisher or self-publishing platform that allows for a hardcover wide-format book, please let me know. You can reach me at jenny@peachesandpotatoes.com.

I’m also going to be answering comments, so if you have a message for Dave, please leave a comment below and I’ll make sure he sees it!

About the photo:

This has always been one of my favorite shots by my grandpa. It’s also the photo that serves as the background for this blog, as you can probably tell. So here’s your chance to see it in detail! 

Coincidentally, there’s a photo of this exact same spot in Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park hanging on the wall in the room where my grandpa’s staying. (It’s actually not far from there—only a little over an hour.) However, at first it was almost unrecognizable as the same place because the colors were so oversaturated and darkened to make the photo look more dramatic. 

I think this shot by my grandpa is worlds better. Tranquil. Transcendent. And much better suited for a place of healing, if you ask me. Hey, maybe there’s a market for that—fine art prints for medical and office buildings. That might be our next project.

I Am Obsolete!

Obsolete and abandoned, but still beautiful. 1937 Hudson Terraplane.

 A few months ago I logged onto the web site of one of my credit card companies, only to be informed that I could not access the site because my computer's operating system was out of date.

A little background: In 1993 or '94, around the time we built our house, we got our first computers -- a desktop, and a neat little Toshiba laptop that I really liked and used to write the text of the the Rock City Barns book. It was eventually stolen.

 Over the years we went through machines from several different manufacturers and used successive versions of Microsoft software. In 2009, Windows 7 came along and I really liked it -- so much so that as Windows 8, 9, etc. came along, I looked at them and said "No way. Too complicated to fool with.

I got my first digital camera in 2003 -- a Canon EOS 10D -- and began to teach myself Photoshop. It seems as if I have done nothing since then but learn software, and I am heartily sick of it. When Photoshop went to a subscription model, I stayed with CS2. It costs me nothing and does everything I need to do. For sorting files I use a version of ACDSEE that is at least 15 years old. I'm writing this on a 2003 version of Microsoft Outlook.

My computer is a Lenovo laptop at least 12 years old, running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit upgraded with a 1000 gigabyte hard drive. I need to upgrade again to three terabytes. 

As I've frequently preached on this blog, photography does not have to be complicated nor expensive. With my antiquated computer equipment, plus my eight-year-old Fuji X-T3 and nine-year-old X-T20, I can do 99% of everything I'll ever want to do.

And have fun doing it. I may be obsolete, but don't bury me quite yet.

About the photo: I found this lovely old car in a patch of woods alongside State Highway 158 near Silverville in Lawrence County, Indiana. Although we are the same age, the Hudson appears to have had a more difficult life. At least, I still have my wheels, although they don't work as well as they used to. The picture was made with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright 2026 David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital  photography   travel photography     Olympus E-M5 digital camera     Silverville, Indiana    old/abandoned cars     Hudson Terraplane     Windows 7     Lenovo computers    Photoshop CS2     ACDSEE

My Overhaul Got Derailed!

 

RCB-TN-57-B, West of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

Warning to first-time visitors: If you haven't visited my blog before, I suggest you read some of my older posts first to get a true sense of what the blog is about. Because today's post is a downer. Here's a good place to start.

If you're still with me, and you don't have delicate sensibilities, let me bring you up to date. My last post was on August 10. On August 12, I lost my balance in our bedroom, my foot got caught in the carpet, and I fell heavily. A trip to the emergency room confirmed the bad news — I had a compression fracture of a vertebrae. T-11, to be specific. 

The pain was not much fun, so I began wearing a back brace and taking pain medication (tramidol), and in seven or eight days found myself with an impacted intestine. As in blocked. As in I had to drink a gallon of that vile bowel prep solution to get myself unplugged.

So, I switched to oxycodone. and in about a week found myself plugged again. I hadn't realized that all narcotics have that effect. So, back to the vile bowel prep. Nowadays I'm making do with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and gradually getting better. I should also mention that in the midst of the fun and games with bowel obstruction, I developed a hernia.

Healing is a slow process. I haven't been writing because I can't sit at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time, and also because I've been having some general brain fog. But I'm slowly trying to work myself back into the groove. 

Still ahead are an aortic valve replacement sometime this fall, and an angioplasty to open up the arteries in my left leg. Also, possible surgery to repair the hernia. And many, many hours of physical therapy.

So that's the story. Unless something else happens.

About the photo: The building behind the old truck is Rock City barn TN-57. The old farmer who owned the place told me that he pulled out of his driveway onto the highway one day and was promptly smacked by a passing car. He reversed back into his driveway, parked the truck, threw away the keys, and never drove again. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Rock City Barn photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera     Fujichrome 100D film    old/abandoned cars     senior health issues