A Life Lived: Harold Street for 35 years kept us in the light

Published 9:33 am Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Harold Street lived on the line.

Anytime, day or night, Harold Street for 35 years was among the linemen employed by the Elizabethton Electric Dept., who kept us in the light.

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For Street and his comrades it meant bundling up in the freezing cold, when transmission and distribution lines snapped under the weight of ice. It meant changing fuses when the wind was gusting 40 mph or more. It meant crawling over mangled trees and chain sawing a path for the repair of broken poles and tangled, downed wires in the wake of thunderstorms and snow storms. It meant facing the constant risk of falls, electrical burns, electrocution and other life-threatening accidents and injuries in what still remains one of the most dangerous occupations in the nation.

“When the lights went out, he had to go to work,” said Street’s wife, Sandra. “He was already ready to pull his boots on. I worried a lot when he was on the job, especially in snowstorms, but he loved his job.”

Harold Street died Nov. 12 at the age of 77. For the past few years he had been confined to a wheelchair, having suffered a spinal injury (unrelated to work) which left him partially paralyzed. “He was just as brave sitting in that wheelchair as he was out there climbing a power pole. He never complained or felt sorry for himself. He made the best of it,” said Sandra.

Street up until that time had been a very active person. One of his favorite pastimes was playing basketball — a carryover from his high school days. Street during his high school days at Hampton had been a star player. “So many of his friends who came to the funeral home commented about what a good ballplayer he was,” said Sandra.

For some time now she has been gleaning through newspaper clippings of his playing days at Hampton, hoping to put together some facts about the number of games played, points scored, etc. Her goal is to see him inducted into the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame.

Street played for legendary coach Buck VanHuss. “One game, and this was before three-pointers, he made 39 points,” Sandra shared with pride.

He continued to play the game of basketball until in his 60s. Street competed in the Tennessee Senior Olympics and won the Free Throw title, made 10 of 10 shots.

From his wheelchair, he taught his granddaughter how to shoot a basketball.

After high school, he played some college ball for a Louisiana school and at ETSU.

In addition to basketball, Street enjoyed hiking, especially some of the nature trails in the area.

Aside from his work and play, Street was a veteran, having served four years in the United States Army, one of those years in Korea. “He was proud of his military service and very patriotic,” said Sandra.

Street was a family man, who enjoyed spending time with his wife and two sons and grandchildren as well as his sisters and their children. “His nephews and nieces enjoyed hearing his stories about when he grew up and lived on Sally Cove Creek Road off Simerly Creek,” Sandra shared.

Street also enjoyed genealogy and searching his family roots. In latter years he watched a lot of television, especially old westerns like Gunsmoke and Wagon Train.

Street and his wife were married 52 years and lived in the Biltmore Community. However, they attended church at Little Doe Free Will Baptist Church. Until he had his accident, Street had been faithful in attendance at the church.

Harold Street as a lineman with the Elizabethton Electric Dept. was a hero to their customers every day of the year.

“The wind is howlin’ … The snow is blowin’

He’s somebody’s hero without them knowin’

Just who he is or what he did tonight

When you throw a switch and the lights come on

Remember the one who left his home

To hold the lines and keep us shining bright

He’s a lineman … Yeah he’s a lineman

(Chorus from “Somebody’s Hero,” co-written by Chick Herrin, aka “The Singing Lineman”)