She is the daughter of a Southern folk hero and the sister to heartbreak.

Dwana Garrison, despite the cruelties of her life, has carved out a nice existence for herself. Ebullient and gregariously full of spirit, she moves swiftly around the diner she owns in Adamsville, Tenn., greeting the patrons, most of them by name and many of them with a big hug. Finally, she slides into a booth and begins a conversation about the father she worships.

"It amazes me how much his life has affected so many," she says, shaking her head in wonderment. "He would be so honored to know that."

Dwana was 6 when her mother was murdered in an outlaw ambush that was intended to kill her father, Sheriff Buford Pusser.

In an assault that was chronicled in the blockbuster movie "Walking Tall," close to half of his face was blown away. Over time, it would take 16 surgeries to complete the rebuilding of his face.

In the course of his career, Sheriff Pusser was shot eight times and knifed seven times. When CBS' Roger Mudd detailed his bravery in 1969, a Los Angeles producer saw it and the rest is history.

"I knew how much losing Mama hurt me but when I was older, I seen in his eyes the hurt from losin' her." She wipes tears from hazel-colored eyes, stained by pain that few can ever imagine shouldering in life. Seven years after her mother's death, tragedy struck again.

"I come up on the accident." She stops, gathers herself and begins again. She and friends had been to the fair where her dad had stopped by. She smiles as she remembers those last couple of hours. "Daddy won all kinds of stuffed animals for me. Folks tried to give 'em to him but he said, 'If I can't win it, I don't want it.'"

They left in separate cars with Buford in a new Corvette that he had driven to Memphis that day. At a press conference that morning, he had announced that he would play himself in the second "Walking Tall."

When Dwana came upon the accident on Highway 64 (a monument marks the place) the car was engulfed in flames. She ran to her groaning father and gathered him up, just in time for him to die in the arms of his devastated daughter.

"Our deep Christian upbringing is what got us through," she explains.

Despite the fact that she has been fighting multiple sclerosis for six years, she is the guardian of her father's legacy. She fought with devotion until the state of Tennessee bought Pusser's last home and turned it into a museum. Though she honors mightily the past, she doesn't live there.

"You can't," she says simply.

Her restaurant and its adjoining gift shop are popular with both locals and curious tourists, who often come to honor the man known for walking tall.

As a bonus, they find his daughter who walks tall and walks on.