Fred Rohrs moved to Tennessee from Arizona where he had already been involved in starting a successful knife club. He  claims that as he crossed the line from Arizona into New Mexico he made the statement "I will join a knife club as a member, but that is it." As luck would have it, shortly after arriving in Soddy Daisy Fred met J.D. Newsome.

J.D. had moved to Soddy Daisy in the late sixties. He had been a trader for a long time. He loved to swap pocket knives, guns, watches, or most anything else. Mostly, J.D. liked the interaction with other people that came with the trading. He was a man that would really enjoy a local knife club.

After finding out that Fred had experience starting a knife club J.D. went to work on him. Fred resisted but finally agreed to help start a club if J.D. could get 10 people who would be interested enough to attend an initial meeting. It did not take long for Fred to realize that he had challenged the wrong man ... J.D. found the people and the initial meeting was held. Fred was elected president,  W.V. Roberson (center), vice-president, and Mark Dixon secretary.

 

This is the short version of how the Soddy-Daisy Knife Collectors Association got started and someday a larger and more complete version may be written.

As for the two men that started it all, Fred has moved to a place in Missouri where there is not a knife club and J.D. has gone to heaven where all of the knives are in mint condition. Fred says that he will not start a knife club in Missouri but I think that J.D. may talk him into it.

 

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