Former Gov. Don Sundquist remembered as 'a man of courage' | Georgiana Vines

Knoxvillians who worked for Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist during his two terms in office in 1995-2003 joined politicians and officeholders throughout the state in praising the former Republican chief executive following his death Aug. 27, as plans for a burial in Townsend are made.

“He was great to work for,” said lawyer Billy Stokes, who served as commissioner of employment security in 1995 and then went on the governor’s staff as a special assistant. “He would give you an assignment and let you do it,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"Gov. Sundquist was a man of courage – when he believed in something he would move Heaven and Earth to try and make it happen. He cared about Tennessee deeply and its people, especially the children,” said Susan Richardson Williams, a public affairs consultant who was his first commissioner of personnel. She provided a statement Thursday after dodging Hurricane Idalia while vacationing at Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Sundquist, who died Aug. 27 at age 87 at Baptist East Memorial Hospital In Memphis following surgery and a short illness, will be laid to rest Sept. 6 in Townsend. This is not far from the Laurel Valley community, where he and wife Martha retired in 2003. The burial service is for family members only.

The couple moved back almost two years ago to the Memphis area, where the former governor had served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years. They were living at The Farms at Bailey Station, a community in Collierville under the auspices of the Christian Life Care Center of Memphis. Sundquist was on the center’s board.

The Sundquists were introduced to the Townsend area when he was first running for governor in 1994. “Martha said this is where she wanted to retire,” he told this columnist in a 2009 interview at the home. The property is adjacent to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and was bought by Thomas H.R. Boyd, son of University of Tennessee System President Randy Boyd, before the Sundquists moved.

Stokes said that among the duties he was assigned was to make sure the whitewater rafting and kayaking events would take place on the Ocoee River as part of the Olympics in 1996. When the administration came into office in 1995, an agreement had been made by the state with the Tennessee Valley Authority and the kayaking-rafting community to have the Olympics, but preparation for it “had fallen through the cracks,” Stokes said. So he started working out details and then handed it over to Justin Wilson, who was Sundquist’s commissioner of environment and conservation and a deputy for policy.

“One of my fondest memories is when Don thanked me (for working on the Olympics project). I told him he needed to thank Justin Wilson. He told me that Justin had told him to thank me. That’s the way it’s supposed to work (as a team),” Stokes said.

Williams, twice appointed to the UT Board of Trustees by Sundquist, said while Sundquist was serious as a public servant, “he was also a lot of fun, a great prankster and jokester! He was very loyal to his friends as well and, by the way, he loved the Lady Vols!”

Attending Lady Vols games was among the activities the Sundquists participated in while in the Townsend area. Martha Sundquist joined a hiking club whose members hiked 8 to 10 miles on Wednesdays for many years. The governor said he “hiked under duress” and found that hikers lie. “They’ll say it’s only four or five miles and all downhill. It will turn out to be 10 or 11 miles and up and down,” he good naturedly said to this columnist.

The first of several funeral services were held for Sundquist on Aug. 31 at Christ Church Memphis. On Sept. 5, the former governor will lie in state in the Rotunda of the Tennessee Capitol from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Central Standard Time, with a funeral service at 11 a.m. CST at Lutheran Evangelical Church in South Nashville. The public is invited to both.

The burial in Townsend is private.

As an example of influence that governors have, the Tennessee Supreme Court announced Thursday that Justice Holly Kirby is the next chief justice. Her appointment was effective Sept. 1. Prior to being appointed to the state Supreme Court by then-Gov. Bill Haslam in 2014, Kirby was appointed by Sundquist in 1995 to the Court of Appeals, where she served almost 19 years. She is the fourth woman to be selected chief justice in the state.

∎ A LOOK AT THE RACE FOR JUDGE: Supporters of Knoxville Municipal Judge John Rosson Jr. were betting on his 36 years as service to ensure him another term in Tuesday’s primary, but instead he is facing Knoxville attorney Tyler Caviness in the Nov. 7 general election.

To avoid the runoff, a candidate would have needed 50% plus one vote, which would have ensured automatic election for the city judge position. Rosson got 38% of the votes and Caviness, 36%.

Both candidates said Friday they will be busy campaigning over the next couple of months.

“I’m well-qualified. I got more votes than any other candidate. I was running against other qualified candidates. I’m thankful for what I got,” Rosson said. Lawyers Andrew Beamer and Mary L. Ward also were candidates and were eliminated in the primary.

Rosson, 75, said he will continue to do what he’s always done, by getting out and supporting Democrats and Republicans in the nonpartisan race. Through the years, he has been a contributor to both political parties' events, although his voting record shows he votes Republican. Voters in Knoxville generally vote Democratic, but voters in Knox County tend to be Republicans.

Caviness, 31, said leading up to the primary he and his campaign knocked on more than 2,000 doors “if we were not at an event. The fundamental goal was to meet people where they were.”

He said he spent time explaining to potential voters what the municipal court does since there had not been a contested election for the judgeship in 20 years.

“Most people didn’t have any idea it was on the ballot. I tell them it’s Knoxville's only court. The majority of cases are traffic related, but it handles any violations of the city’s municipal code. When you think of a code violation, it can be a dog running loose, a neighbor’s yard getting out of control. This is the court that day-to-day people are likely to find themselves in,” Caviness said.

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon was elected to a second term by winning 57.5% of the vote over three opponents. Four Knoxville City Council positions also are on the Nov. 7 ballot.

∎ BAKER CENTER APPOINTMENTS: Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has been appointed professor of practice at the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs after co-teaching with University of Tennessee Chancellor Donde Plowman in the spring. The Baker Center website says Haslam’s fields of interest are Tennessee governance, civility and government.

The former Knoxville mayor is not teaching this fall but will be back in the spring, possibly to co-teach with Plowman. The course they taught earlier was for undergraduates and titled "Leading with Courage." It was the first offered through the university’s new Institute of American Civics and the University Honors curriculum.

John Scheb, who has taught 34 years in the political science department and spent seven years as department head, has been appointed interim associate director of the Baker School. He wrote on Facebook, “Developing a new curriculum and hiring a faculty to teach it are challenging but exciting. Best of all — working with a great group of people!”

Scheb said in an interview Thursday that he was already teaching at the Baker School when it was a center. He and colleague William Lyons helped develop ideas for the Institute of American Civics, a new program initiated by Gov. Bill Lee this past year. Lyons is director of policy partnerships for the Baker School after serving in the UT political science department and as chief policy officer to the mayor for Haslam, Daniel Brown and Madeline Rogero.

Scheb said he and Lyons had done private consulting work for Haslam when he was a candidate as well as their work with UT’s Social Sciences Research Institute.

“We’re getting the band back together again,” he quipped.

Another person added to the Baker School roster this year is Joe Hoagland, TVA’s vice president of enterprise Relations and Innovation, who is an adjunct professor. He has expertise in energy policy, decarbonization strategies and enterprise management. At TVA he is the designated federal officer for the Regional Energy Resource Council and the Regional Resource Stewardship Council.

∎ JUDICIAL PRAISE: Retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon G. Lee was praised as a role model as well as a down-to-earth person at a program where her portrait was unveiled at the Supreme Court Building in Knoxville. Some 200 family members, friends, judges and other justices attended the Aug. 24 event as her three grandchildren, Julia and Grace Chermely and Shepherd Gregg, removed the covering.

Justice Roger A. Page, who was chief justice at the time, was among the speakers. He said, as he looked at other portraits in the courtroom on the second floor, “It’s about time we have a woman in here.” Lee’s portrait is the first one of a female justice to hang inside any of the Tennessee Supreme Court's three courtrooms.

Lee said later other women’s portraits will be added, “but it doesn’t need to be 227 years.” That’s how long ago statehood, including a form of the modern-day state court system, began in Tennessee.

Georgiana Vines is retired News Sentinel associate editor. She may be reached at gvpolitics@hotmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Vines: Former Gov. Don Sundquist remembered as 'a man of courage'