Mabel Lewallen Tuff
Darlene Luallen Griffin - Jul 10, 2010
I'm spending a few days in
East Tennessee. Among our
stops was Carson Newman
College in Jefferson City, TN
near Knoxville, where our
daughter is working this
summer. Imagine my surprise
when I see that the music
building is named for Mabel
Lewallen Tuff. The Tuff family
also built the football stadium.
Does anyone know who Mabel
Lewallen is?
Billie Harris - Jul 11, 2010
Good find, Darlene. Hope you're having a good time back there.
It took some searching but I did find something.
[NOTE: broken link]
It doesn't tell who she is but apparently Lonas Tarr "was very involved in his alma mater. He served on the Board of Trustees at Carson-Newman and was a philanthropist to the college. Carson-Newman presented him with a honorary doctorate degree in 1997."
"In 2003, the college named its music building the Mable Lewallen Tarr Music Center, in part after Mr. Tarr."
Would Mabel Lewallen have been his wife or his mother?
There's an interesting history of Carson Newman College which apparently was originally a Baptist college, and it dates back to 1851.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carson%E2%80%93Newman_College
Darlene Luallen Griffin - Jul 11, 2010
Your right, Billie, it is Mabel Lewallen Tarr. I was typing from memory. We were back at Carson Newman today and I saw that I had the wrong last name. I'm just guessing that Mabel Lewallen might have been his mother. Carson Newman is still a Baptist college.
Darlene Luallen Griffin - Jul 11, 2010
Edna Mable Lewallen married Hurd Lonas Tarr 9 Nov 1916 in Anderson County, TN. Their son Lonas Tarr was born in 1920; he graduated from Carson Newman College in 1941 and was a great benefactor for that school.
Darlene Luallen Griffin - Jul 14, 2010
I think her father is William S. Lewallen, b. about 1860; mother Sarah H. Lewallen, born about 1863. Edna Mable was born in April 1889. They lived in Anderson County, TN. Mable had a younger brother named Everett.