A piece of Bacon

TOP PHOTO: Frankie Bacon gets a hug from WLAF’s Charlotte Underwood with the photo of John R.W. Brown in the background.

By Charlotte Underwood

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF)- People came by the hundreds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week to the estate sale of iconic Campbell Countians Frankie and Ab Bacon. Many wanted a memento or keepsake from one or the other to remember them by, whether something from Ab’s tool shed or Frankie’s kitchen.

The cars lined up down the street starting at 7:30 am on Thursday, despite the sale not starting till 10 am. Over a hundred came through, some from Kentucky, Virginia, and even one pair from California, here in Tennessee on vacation, bought items and are driving them back across the country.

One woman stopped by and said, “I want a piece of Frankie to remember her by, I don’t care what it costs.”  There were lots of others like that.

On Friday, the sale’s pace was a little slower, but the stories were bitter-sweet memories of days gone by as friends of Frankie and Ab stopped to have a chat with the family and take a “piece of Frankie or Ab Bacon home with them.”

I can’t help but feel that in some ways, Frankie is up there smiling, she always loved to talk to people and she always loved for her house to be full of laughter and activity.

Frankie was very special to me, and I was deeply honored and touched that the family reached out and gave me my own little piece of Frankie to remember her by. Something that I will treasure forever.

Frankie was always lifting others up every day of her life, and I reckon she is going to continue doing that, one little piece of Bacon at a time, for those of us who now have a keepsake in our lives. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-06/2025-6AM)