(slow guitar music) - [Narrator] Some family trees have few branches, others have many but rare are those whose branches reach out and embrace an entire community.

(slow guitar music) William Emerson Brock the first traveling salesman for RJ Reynolds and future senator, took a leap of faith and moved to Chattanooga.

It was here, in 1906, where he decided to buy, of all things, a candy company.

♪ I was born in Chattanooga ♪ Where the finest candies grow ♪ My name is Billy Brocko ♪ And I've come to say hello ♪ Brocko, Brocko, we taste like more than milk ♪ We're bite sized for a taste surprise ♪ Our chocolate's smooth as silk ♪ Brocko, Brocko, we're coming out your way ♪ Just take a try and you will cry ♪ Brocko, Brocko, hurray (slow violin music) - [Narrator] But this was not just any candy company, this was a family.

- I remember we'd take up money when somebody would have a difficult situation and there would be bake sales and there would be all kinds of things that we did to help each other out.

- Those were great days.

And the candy company was really different in that regard.

I didn't realize how special it was but it was a family.

- Employees excepted everyone of the Brocks, in every detail, in every way.

And they enjoyed working for em because there couldn't have been a better family to have worked for.

They were good to everyone and everybody looked up to em and appreciated everything they did.

- The tradition was one in which we tried to be sure that everybody had respect for everybody else.

That we help people achieve their own development potential whatever that might be.

We tried to be a very good corporate citizen and we, also, encouraged people that work at the company to do the same thing in whatever area that they had the most interest.

- [Narrator] Grandson Pat took the reigns of the family business in the mid 1950's.

♪ Stop where you are (whistle blows) ♪ Buy a Brock candy bar ♪ Brock is a dandy bar ♪ A nickel's all you pay ♪ B-R-O-C-K buy a Brock today (slow music) It was core values like faith and hard work instilled in the family by William Brock Senior and his wife Miriam that would lay the foundation for future generations to come.

- Mrs.

Brock, the senior, was very active in church affairs.

They had a very civic consciousness.

That's how Bill Brock and the other members of the Brocks, all grew up with that.

- They were so spiritually granted which was a great part of my raising.

Just unbelievable people and I just loved them to death.

- She was one of the founders of the Bethlehem Center which, at the time, was over off of Main Street and has since moved down into Alton Park and took over an old school down there and it's a really important part of that community today.

If you walk into the lobby, her picture's still hanging there.

- She was dedicated to helping the underprivileged in Chattanooga.

She spent countless, thousands of hours working with the black community.

She was a wonderful person.

- She was an angel on earth is the way she was referred to and she was the finest, religious woman that I've ever known in my life.

- [Narrator] William E. Brock Jr.

Followed in the footsteps that came before him.

He played a major role in establishing Chattanooga's United Way and as chairmen as the board of trustees at the University of Chattanooga, he helped guide the school into the state university system.

- He worried about it quite a bit and he asked, nearly, every employee at the plant what did they think of it and, nearly, all of us agreed to it and he said, "I think I'm gonna recommend "that I think it's the thing to do."

And I think he was the biggest part of University of Chattanooga being where it is today.

- I was working in the Chancellor's office and had a window on that world of the negotiations and trying to make sure, realizing the the University of Tennessee, the state institution, needed to be in this community, it really did.

♪ If you don't go - [Narrator] But his defining moment may have been during one of the most turbulent times in our nation's history.

♪ Don't hinder me ♪ If you don't go ♪ Don't hinder me ♪ I'm on my way, oh Lord to freedom land - With the onset of desegregation, with people like the Brocks, we had a foundation to accomplish that without a great deal of strife.

Because communication was there.

And it helped a great deal.

We avoided a good bit of what happened in some other cities.

- He was a member of the school board at the time that the schools were integrated in Chattanooga.

And we were determined, in Chattanooga, they had a lot of violence and trouble in other places.

We were determined, in Chattanooga, that we would not have any problem here.

It was done as nicely and smoothly as anybody could do it.

- Bill Jr.

was the leader on the lay side of that.

He started something that made better race relations in our community for years to come.

- He was a fair and honest man.

He knew and felt that the Supreme Court desegregation decision was correct.

There were ills and wrongs that this community was undergoing and they needed to be corrected.

- [Narrator] Sons Bill, Frank and Pat continued the family tradition of civil engagement.

Bill became, with brother Pat as his first campaign manager, a U.S.

Representative, then a senator.

- I remember in Bill's first campaign in '62, he was having a debate, I think at the JC's and somebody asked the question, he said, "Now, you've got a background "that indicates that your family "has some substantial money."

Which was not really the case.

"I'd like to know how you will respond to that?"

And Bill said, "I will not apologize "for the productivity of my parents."

And I thought that was an absolutely wonderful statement to make.

- We supported him at the free press and we thought very much of him.

And Pat Brock, Bill's brother, we always said that Bill was the senator but Pat was the one who planned all the ways to get elected.

- I think Bill was at the cutting edge of being a Republican, at that time, a democratic state.

And he had to be innovative and creative to do that.

Of course, his manager was Pat and Pat was, who knows, who was the most important part of that.

- When he came out of government service, he, really, got focused and this is where he's devoted these years of his life in educational reform.

And, really, understanding that, if we're going to be competitive in the future, that we've got to have young people who know how to read, how to write, how to spell, can do mathematics, good sights and things like this.

- My brother was a congressman, a U.S.

Senator, a secretary of labor but honestly, it's like sticking your finger in water and pulling it back out.

The moment you're out, there's nothing to show that you were ever there.

It's the bloodiest of all blood sports, in my opinion, politics is.

And yet, he made an enormous difference.

- [Narrator] Frank went on to be president of Covenant College and a leader in his church and the community.

- I don't think he ever fell in love with the business world.

His passion was in the church and working with people.

And, ultimately, of course, working in education and the combination.

He is an, absolutely, special person.

- Frank has always been a purpose driven guy.

It's always about accomplishing the greater good.

He never saw himself as needing to take credit for anything.

- One of the most important people that brought candy company was a guy named Horton Corwin who was our candy man.

He was VP of Technical Services and had been there since, I think, 1948.

He told me one day, he said, "You know, I've really gotten to know "your brother Frank."

And said, "He talks the talk "and he walks the walk."

"He really, really lives the life that he talks about "in terms of his personal faith "and I really respect that."

- [Narrator] Pat ran the family business until it's sale in 1994.

He stands among the most highly respected people in this community.

- Pat was one of these guys that really, I'm not sure that, on occasion, he wasn't more serious than I was.

- I think of him as more coming out of the financial controller background.

Very thoughtful, very deliberate in the way in which he made decisions.

- Pat was very involved in the heartbeat of Chattanooga.

- He's one of the loveliest people you'll ever know.

Smart and a wonderful public servant.

He's taken on various fund drives that other people don't want to touch cause it's too hard.

(soft guitar music) - [Narrator] There are many threads that weave this family into the fabric of Chattanooga.

But throughout it all, the common theme emerges.

They're good people.

- I went to the Osgrove School for the first time.

I didn't know what children, who've been having those struggles were like but I was sitting, sorted of squatted down on the floor and these children were just gathered around and I started talking and all of a sudden, this little girl who was, maybe, four years old, just came running, grabbed me around the neck and gave me the biggest hug.

And you began to say, oh my gosh, the love that these children have.

And, you know, so.

- I can't think of any other family in this community that has made the contribution both in the business world and in the civic life.

- The impact and impressions and the influence of the Brock family in Chattanooga culture was tremendous, to say the least.

- The Brock name, hopefully, will always be known for being willing to take that risk to ask why and maybe even better, why not.

- [Narrator] The Brock family roots are deeply entrenched in the soil of Chattanooga.

And the branches of their family tree have touched many.

Continuing a legacy that stretches from the sweet memories of candy to the undeniable importance of community.

(slow guitar music)