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Elmer Noland Wall, 88, widower of Dorothy Jean Chism Wall, passed away quietly at five o’clock in the morning, Thursday, Feb. 18, at Magnolia Village in Bowling Green, Ky. He was born Nov. 5, 1932, in Doylesville, Madison County, Ky., to Marvin Price and Mary Elizabeth Conner Wall. He was an only child.
His youth was spent in Doylesville hunting in the hills and hollows, fishing and swimming in the nearby Kentucky River and helping on the farm. As a child and teen he attended Doylesville Methodist Church where he was youth president. Because his walk to school was too long for a small boy, he lived for a short time with grandparents to have a shorter walk to his small rural school. He graduated from Madison Central High School, Richmond Ky., in 1952.
He and a group of friends decided to attend a church revival at Allensville Baptist Church in Clark County, Ky., where he met Dorothy Jean Chism. Seeing Elmer, she declared to her girlfriends. “That one is mine!” They were married on Feb. 13, 1954, at the home of pastor P.B. Akin. Dorothy passed away April 7, 2019. After a short period of farming, Elmer entered the military, serving at Fort Knox, Ky., living in Elizabethtown, Ky., with Dorothy. Shortly after discharge, Elmer and Dorothy moved to Louisville, Ky., where Elmer graduated from Tri-City Barber College. Back in Winchester, Elmer co-owned and operated the Handy Barber Shop on Main Street with Gerald Royse. He took a break from barbering for a short time and worked for an insurance company. Then he opened Elmer’s Barber Shop on Highland Street. He again left barbering and opened a gun and machine shop. Finally, he located Elmer’s Gun Shop in the garage behind his home on Sylvania Avenue.
Beginning as a hobby in years past and becoming his main interest, he made custom built black powder rifles. He and Dorothy dressed in period costumes and displayed his work at many nearby festivals. He enjoyed sharing the history of these reproductions and their original manufacturers. Author David Dick interviewed him for an article in Kentucky Living Magazine.
Elmer was also interested in his family history. He met with older family members and family friends to learn about his ancestors. He copied, collected and labeled photographs as far back as he could and kept records of what he learned. Elmer and Dorothy traveled up and down narrow gravel roads photographing the old home sites, sometimes just chimneys. They visited overgrown graveyards always taking pictures.
Allensville Baptist Church became his church home for many years after he moved to Clark Co. Then he became a member of Northside Baptist Church. At his passing, he was a member and trustee of Emmanuel Baptist Church. Elmer was also a Kentucky Colonel. After the passing of his wife, Elmer went to live at Magnolia Village in Bowling Green, Ky. Although he would have preferred to be in his home on Sylvania Avenue, he said all the staff at Magnolia Village treated him like a king. Surviving Mr. Wall are two daughters, Teresa Dianne Dulin (Fred) of Winchester, Audrey Sue Borders of Hazard, Ky., and one son, David Keith Wall of Villa Hills, Ky. Three grandsons; Jeremy Sean Estes (Nieves), Nashville, Jonathan Leighton Nightingale, Winchester, Adam Mitchell Dulin, Huntsville. Three great-grandsons, Otis Estes, Ethan Leighton Nightingale, and Conner Lee Nightingale; two sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Services will be held on Friday Feb. 26, with Rev. Ron Montgomery pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Winchester Cemetery.
Rolan G.Taylor Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.