535

7

Mr. and Mrs. Tanner built their beautiful home in Rutherfordton and
lived there all the remainder of their lives together. They participated
in all constructive activities of the town and of Rutherford County. Mr.
Tanner organized the Rutherford County Club. He was a trustee and a
member of the Executive Committee of Rutherford Hospital. He was a
faithful and working member of Saint Francis Episcopal Church, of
which he was a vestryman and treasurer. He, with the other members
of the Tanner family, gave Spindale House to the town. This is a com-
munity recreational center. He was a strong supporter of the public
library.

Along with his business interests, Kenneth Tanner was most deeply
concerned with education. His interest concerned the whole range of
the process from the individual student to public and private schools,
colleges, and universities. He was deeply read in the history and
philosophy of education ranging from local to international objectives
and experiments. He was a statesman in educational policy. In particular
he was a faithful and constructive trustee of the University of North Caro-
lina as a whole. He served on the Code Committee of the Board of
Trustees, on the Building Committee of the University at Greensboro.
He was a director of the North Carolina Textile Foundation and of the
Business Foundation. He was an educational philanthropist. He set
up the Stonecutter Foundation which furnished loans to students. He
made many personal grants to the University of North Carolina for aid
to students. In addition he made many informal loans and gifts to
students. Of these there is no record except in the private knowledge
of his family.

He loved to experiment with ways and means of insuring a gruitful
educational oxperience to promising students. In 1935, when his son
was a student in the University at Chapel Hill, Mr. Tanner built West
House as a residence for him and three of his friends. When his son
graduated, Mr. Tanner gave the property to the University.

While he was a student at Chapel Hill, Kenneth Tanner was deeply
influenced by his great teacher, Edward Kidder Graham. He was
determined to do something to stimulate and encourage similar fine
teachers of undergraduates. Accordingly in 1952 he led the children
of Lola Spencer and Simpson Bobo Tanner in setting up the Lola Spencer
and Simpson Bobo Tanner Memorial Fund in the University at Chapel
Hill. It is a permanent endowmen, wholly administered by the University
with but one restriction; the income must be used to make awards to
selected members of the faculty at Chapel Hill in recognition of excellence
in inspirational teaching of undergraduate students, preferably with
respect to their influence on first and second year students.

The Tanner Award is a substantial financial aid to the recipients. The
distinction of winning it is a greater recognition. It has also been a
great means of retaining at Chapel Hill these most valuable teachers.
Since 1956 when the first award was given, the University of North
Carolina has not lost one of these twenty-five teachers to another institu-
tion, though they have been much sought after by other universities.
The winners to date are as follows:

1956
Boyd, Bernard H. (Religion)
Caldwell, James R. (History)

1957
Basile, David G. (Geology)
Geer, William M. (Social Science)

1958
Taylor, George V. (History)
Radford, Albert E. (Botany)

1959
Knight, Samuel B. (Chemistry)
King, James E. (History)

1962
Lasley, John W. (Mathematics)
Ryan, Frank W. (History)
Taylor, Ramson T. (Germanic Lang.)
Wallace, Earle (Political Science)

1963
Mackie, Ernest L. (Mathematics)
Geer, William M. (Social Science)
previous winner, 1957.
Dawson, R. H. (Political Science)

1964
Walker, Peter F. (History)
Patterson, Daniel W. (English)
Lapin, David T. (Economics)
Hill, Samuel S. (Religion)

1960
Cameron, Edward A. (Mathematics)
Engstrom, Alfred G. (French)
Russell, Harry K. (English)

1961
Caldwell, James R. (Previous winner -1956)
Cotton, Lyman A. (English)
Daniel, George B. (French)
Lehman, H. Eugene (Zoology)