Deanna Sorge
David Sorge is the director of tour and travel for Music Road Hospitality in Pigeon Forge. David was one of the first to befriend me upon my arrival to Sevier County in the summer of 2005. Although I worked for a competitor, he voluntarily offered to help me learn the way hospitality works in the Smoky Mountains . As a result of his generosity, David has become not only one of my friends, but a respected mentor. In every way, David Sorge is a man. A few months after I met David, I met his wife Deanna. I found her to be as bright, benevolent and every bit as interested in her community as her husband. However, she was much prettier and demonstrated considerable grace. I remember thinking to myself at the time, “They are a perfect couple.” Any of you who know me, remembers that my life in Sevier County did not begin without some controversy. Seeking counsel, I went to the Music Road one afternoon to talk to my new friend about my particular challenge of the day. True to his word, David listened patiently to my considerable venting, offered some insight and much appreciated encouragement. Then Deanna came by his office just as he was called away from his desk to meet a guest who was interested in booking a group at his hotel. This left Deanna and I with a chance to visit for a few minutes before I returned to work at the hotel I was managing at the time. She asked me how I was doing settling into the area and how my new job was going. I looked right at her and said, “If one more person says to me, ‘you obviously aren’t from around here son…’ I am going to scream.” Deanna smiled understandingly at first. Then, she folder her arms, lowered her eyebrows and just as though she was my mother, offered words I will always remember. She began by telling me that she and David had not been married very long and that she was still new to Sevier County herself. She explained that the folks here may not be the quickest to warm up to strangers, but there are great people here and she had already made many friends. Then, after a thoughtful pause she said, “Henry, if you want these people to love you, you have to love them first.” Her words were so perfect and so profound that I have carried them with me every day since. Taking her advice, about two weeks later, I came to see Stan Voit, our editor here at The Mountain Press to ask if he could use another writer. I was pleased when he agreed to allow me to write for the paper and am proud to have been writing the stories of Sevier County ’s best and brightest for more than four years now. David Sorge’s story was one of my first in the spring of 2006. Sadly, Deanna Sorge lost a long battle with cancer on the morning of Friday April 16, while being treated at UT Medical Center. The one time I offered to write her story, she asked me to wait a little while because she was so busy working for the Pigeon Forge Department of Tourism. “Maybe later…” She said at the time. On Monday evening April 19, about 300 of Deanna’s closest friends gathered in the Ballroom of the Music Road Convention Center to remember her inspiration and grace. My friend Dave Gordon presided over the ceremony. He did a fine job representing a lady whose stature in the community had grown in a few short years to a point that would appear to someone unaware as though she had lived here all of her life. God bless you Deanna. Sevier County will forever be a better place because you lived here and we will always love you, because you loved us first.
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