LaMuriel Smothers, co-founder of Buddy's bar-b-q, died on July 29. She was 95.
Born in Walker County, Alabama, she married Carcel C. Smothers, better known as Buddy, when she was 19 years old, according to her obituary. Over the course of their 42-year marriage, the couple built a lasting legacy rooted in Southern hospitality.
LaMuriel Smothers enjoyed cooking and hosting family and friends for home-cooked meals. When the couple bought the Pixie Drive-In in Seymour in 1966, Smothers transformed her skill in cooking and hospitality into a successful business venture. In 1972, they decided to take a chance on the restaurant world again and build a new concept.
The first Buddy's bar-b-q opened in 1972 on Kingston Pike in Bearden. Over the next 50-plus
years, the barbecue restaurant chain grew to nearly 20 locations across East Tennessee and remains a family-owned business today. The 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville helped to cement the popularity of Buddy's, which operated multiple outlets at the fair.
"I never dreamed Buddy's would be such a success," LaMuriel Smothers told Knox News in 1996. "We never dreamed our kids would want to stay in it, but it's all they ever really knew and they enjoy it."
Smothers helped build both Pixie Drive-In and Buddy's with her own recipes.
"I always made things Buddy liked," she told Knox News in 2002. No matter what she made, even if it was just a grilled cheese sandwich, her beloved husband would say, "I believe that's the best one you've ever made."
But cooking hadn't always been her strong suit. When LaMuriel and Buddy married in 1950, she knew nothing about cooking.
She went to a grocery store, she said in the 2002 article, found a woman who looked like she knew what she was doing and bought everything she bought.
"When I got home, I didn't know what to do with it," Smothers said.
Despite that, she developed a talent for cooking that pushed the Buddy's brand to become a household name around Knoxville.
"We are deeply saddened by the passing of our co-founder, LaMuriel Smothers. She built so much more than a bar-b-q restaurant. She created a place where families gather and generations of East Tennesseans share meals and make memories together," the restaurant said in a statement.
After Buddy died of cancer in 1992 at age 63, LaMuriel Smothers worked to honor his legacy through the Thompson Cancer Survival Center's Race Against Cancer, later known as Buddy's Race Against Cancer, helping to raise more than $500,000 for cancer outreach programs.
After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007, the restaurant became a sponsor of the Purple Gala in support of Alzheimer's awareness and research, according to her obituary.
Instead of flowers, the family asks for donations to Alzheimer's Tennessee by visiting alztennessee.org.
Knox News reporter Joanna Hayes covers restaurants and retail for the business growth and development team. Email: joanna.hayes@knoxnews.com; Instagram: @knoxeat65. Sign up for Joanna's Eat65 email newsletter to get the latest drink and dining news, as well as restaurant recommendations, at knoxnews.com/newsletters.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: LaMuriel Smothers, who co-founded Buddy's bar-b-q 50+ years ago, dies
