Wallace Francis Estill

Wallace Francis Estill, , age 92, of Knoxville, former Special Agent in Charge, FBI Division, passed away in his sleep on July 27, 2010, after a brief illness. Wallace Estill He had served as Special Agent in Charge of the Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from March, 1966 until his retirement in 1974. Wallace had an insatiable curiosity. He was a life-time learner with interests and knowledge that intrigued many an adult and absolutely mystified children! Whether he was supervising criminal cases for the FBI, or developing a better way to exercise elephants at the Knoxville zoo, he usually found very effective, albeit unorthodox, solutions that amazed experts. He was born on a farm in Winchester, Tennessee, December 2, 1917, to Juliette Ruth Estill and Henry R. Estill, he was the youngest of five children. In 1939 he graduated from Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, Tennessee (now part of Sanford University, Birmingham, Alabama). He married his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth Jacoway during her senior year at the University of Tennessee. After working briefly at his uncle’s law firm in Chattanooga and for the Works Progress Administration as a claims adjustor, he entered duty with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent in January 1942. Following training he was assigned to field offices in Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1943 and 1947, he served on special foreign assignments for the FBI “gathering intelligence” for the US Government in South America during WWII. Wallace Estill had an exciting and storied career with the Bureau. In Ecuador he helped develop a quinine production plant while covertly researching the Nazi network in that country and intercepting platinum ore being smuggled from illegal placer mines in Columbia into Nazi Germany. He gathered intelligence in Uruguay for the war effort while working in the US Embassy there and researched and wrote a widely used monograph on the labor movement in Nicaragua while attached to that embassy. He subsequently served in El Paso, Texas, and then was transferred to Alaska where he worked both criminal cases and gathered intelligence about the USSR from Eskimos who traveled between Siberia and the Baffin Islands. His career took him and his family to Tucson and Douglas, Arizona, where as a resident agent he worked the Mexican border. In 1954 he transferred to FBI headquarters in Washington DC to take on supervisory responsibilities. While his specialty was Latin America, he also was liaison with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Ottawa, Canada, and later became an Inspector. Estill came to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1961 as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge and in 1964 was promoted to Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of that office. After both of his daughters were enrolled in the University of Tennessee in 1966, he was transferred to Knoxville, Tennessee to head up that office until his retirement in 1974. During his tenure in Knoxville he was a role model and mentor for scores of young men and women. As SAC, he oversaw kidnapping investigations, bank robberies, and part of the investigation of the murders of American labor leader Joseph Yablonski (and family) that resulted in the successful conviction of Tony Boyle, President of the United Mine Workers. Wallace Estill received numerous awards, but was most proud of the non-traditional ones like his Sgt. Joe B. Marcum memorial award presented annually to an individual for outstanding contributions to the development and use of the purebred bloodhound in the field of law enforcement. Upon retirement he took up farming in Loudon County and a multitude of hobbies including beekeeping, photography, boating, horse-training, and trailing bloodhounds. He did volunteer work for a variety of organizations including the Knoxville Zoo where he was a docent and worked with animals, especially the elephants. He was active in the Knoxville Rotary Club and was named a Paul Harris Fellow. He was an amateur radio operator and enjoyed using that skill to help out in emergency situations. He was the commander of the Knoxville Power Squadron from 1978 through 1980. His greatest joy in retirement, however, was teaching his grandsons “life’s little lessons”, like how to feed a horse, or fix a go cart, or tune a boat motor. The grandsons also comment on the example he set—how he instilled within them a sense of adventure, a strong self-reliance, and generosity of spirit. He celebrated his 90th birthday on a cruise through the Panama Canal with his daughters, Julie Good of Statesboro, Georgia, and Elizabeth Estill, of Knoxville, as well as his son-in-laws, Dan Good and John Dreves and dear friend Ruth Mays of Knoxville. His ninety first birthday celebration was spent traveling in Chile and Argentina with family and friends Jim and Rosemary Stark of Phoenix, Arizona. His last birthday was enjoyed deep sea fishing and practicing his Spanish in Mexico with the same group. He is preceded in death by his parents, siblings, and wife of 67 years. He is survived by his daughters and grandsons, Kenneth (Tad) Howard of Knoxville, Tennessee, Daniel Good of Waycross, Georgia, William (Bill) Good, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, six great grand children, Brantley, Kate, Sarah, and Grace Good, and Catherine and Vivian Howard and an extended family of grandchildren and great grandchildren: John, Dave, Mark, Jessica, Taylor, and Hunter Dreves, Mary, Jay, and Lillie Donaldson, and Spencer Childress all of Northern Kentucky. He is also survived by nieces Juliette Downing, Eleanor Massey, Henrietta McCutcheon, Katheryn Albertson, and nephews Buford, Larry, and Estill Wilson, Ivan Brown, and George Wright. The family request memorial donations be made to the Paul Harris Foundation, Rotary Club of Knoxville, 625 Market St., Knoxville, TN 37920 instead of flowers or the charity of their choice.

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Wallace Francis Estill

December 2, 1917 - July 27, 2010