By: John Dunn
The All Vol Call in Show
5/7/2020
Most fathers have a favorite chair. It's somewhere that dad can come home to, relax, kick his work boots off and catch a game. Tennessee fan Amber Michele Flatt decided that she was going to honor her father's memory and keep a piece of him with her forever by fixing his chair up -- in style.
After suddenly losing her father about six years ago, Flatt was completely devastated. Some time had passed before her mother decided that she wanted to part ways with her late husband's chair. Flatt knew immediately that she wanted it. "I asked her for it, and she said yes," said Flatt. "She just couldn’t understand why I would want this old, ugly, green chair with a broken back. I took it home and thought about what I could do with it for a long time."
Flatt decided that she was going to have the chair repaired and reupholstered, with a little flair, in memory of her father. "One day I pulled the back off and had someone help me fix it. It was just like brand new," she said." After repairs, she still didn't know exactly what she wanted to do with it. "There were so many nights I would sit up with a pencil and paper, just trying to figure out a design that I liked and looked for material to cover the chair."
After a bit of thinking and listening to her heart, she knew exactly what she wanted. "I found what I needed to go with my design," she said. "When I finally got what I needed, I took my materials and [my] daddy’s chair, to an upholstery shop. I explained in detail what I wanted his chair to look like and I have to say, they did an excellent job. I broke down and cried when I saw it. I knew in my heart that if my daddy could have seen it, he would have loved his chair."
Flatt and her father shared a bond over Tennessee football. "Dad and I were die-hard Vol fans -- he raised me right," she said. "We were so close. We went to several games when we could, and loved every minute of it. Our everyday life pretty much consisted of wearing orange and white and loving the Vols. There was never a Christmas that we didn’t give each other a present that was Vol related. We always said those were the best gifts ever. As far as [my] daddy’s chair, it was just your typical Lazy-Boy that has been in our family for as long as I can remember. It got used so much, the back of it just one day broke, but we still took turns sitting in this ugly, green chair. It has always meant the world to me. I loved [my] daddy so much."
Although he may no longer be with her, she will always carry a part of his memory in his "ugly, green chair" that has since had a big orange face-lift.
