95th in style for Dixie Highway Garden Club
Anna Lou Reynolds, who has been a member of Dixie Highway Garden Club since 1967, reminisced at DHGC’s 95th anniversary tea at Racheff House and Gardens in Knoxville Thursday, May 9. She is the longest-serving member of the club to date.
Held at Ivan Racheff House and Gardens off Tennessee Avenue in Knoxville, on Thursday, May 9, the event was an occasion of sharing memories, successes and fellowship among its 26 members, as well as district and state officials, in the historic home built in 2002— now serving as Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs headquarters.
“This May, today, is similar, probably, just like the day was in 1924,” DHGC second vice president Linda Ford said. “But it’s a special time for our club, and we’re here in this beautiful place, our state headquarters for Tennessee Federation of Garden Clubs and our 95th anniversary.”
“(The club) has been a blessing in my life,” DHGC member Janet Odom Owen said. “It’s history means a lot to us.”
Part of District IV of TFGC, the club formed in May 1924 under the leadership of Carolyn Scruggs Brown, then known as Mrs. John Scruggs Brown, its first president. Brown and 13 other women held the first meeting in the home Mrs. J.G. “Lilia” Prater.
One of Prater’s descendents, Virginia Price, joined the club five years ago and said all of the female Prater family members were part (of) the club.
“I love it,” Price said. “It’s wonderful, and I wanted to carry on a family tradition.”
“I probably get this question all the time: ‘Why Dixie Highway for the name of your club?’” Ford said.
Back in 1924, Dixie Highway had just been named and was planned to be the route south to the Gulf Coast, Ford said. Construction on the highway began in 1915 and completed in 1929.
While the name was not recognized by the rest of the country, “Dixie Highway” remained as the name “to enjoy and not be ruined by commercialism,” Ford quoted Mott as stating.
Anna Lou Reynolds, one of the longest serving members (since 1967) and a past president, recalled her mother-in-law helping her become a member.
“I knew a lot of these women beforehand as friends of my mother-in-law,” Reynolds said. “They used to give out napkins when we would meet at her house, so she’d been involved to a certain extent.”
“Our longest serving member, we’re lucky to have here today,” Wallace said as she recognized Reynolds.
