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Florence Elizabeth Hillis, the first director of the Women's Physical Education Department at University of Tennessee Martin Junior College and founder of the Dogwood Arts Festival's driving tour, died Nov. 9 at the age of 98.

She was a long-time Blount County resident.

"She was the first lady of Knoxville, but most importantly, she was a mother who came out of the Depression," said her son, Stephen Lee Hillis, 62. "She was also very supportive of Dad in the things Dad did."

She was elected first lady of Knoxville 1981, he said.

In a time where women were typically homemakers, Stephen Hillis said that -- when his father, Russell Willis Hillis, left home to serve in World War II -- Florence Hillis replaced her husband in the Personnel Department of ALCOA Inc., a position she held for about two years.

After the war, the younger Hillis said his father and Sam Venerable Sr. created the Dogwood Arts Festival. To go along with the festival, Mrs. Hillis organized the first driving trail for the festival through the Lakemore Hills area.

"She was into genealogy and patriotism, and very strong in terms of her desire to be respective of her heritage," Stephen Hillis said.

He remembers many times going with his mother to county courthouses, where he played outdoors as she researched genealogy records. He said she wrote several books full of genealogy.

She also was "a very genteel lady" who jumped in to do things for others. She belonged to many community, civic and community organizations. Longevity seemed to be in the genes of her relatives, Hillis said. An aunt, Edith Mae Elliott Davies, is 100 years old, and Hillis remembers his great-grandfather and grandfather living to an older age.

Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Church Street United Methodist Church, 900 Henley St., Knoxville, TN 37902. The family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Rose Mortuary Mann Heritage Chapel.