Remarks at the Senator Herbert S. Walters Scholarship Luncheon

September 19, 2007

Mrs. Mott, Mr. Spain, Walters Scholars, and other honored guests:

We are here today for a very special purpose: to honor the current cohort of Walters Scholars and to extend our continued thanks and appreciation to the relatives of the benefactor. The event today celebrates the generosity of an outstanding donor to the campus as well as the results of that generosity.

Senator Herbert Walters is a Tennessee success story. Born in Jefferson County in 1881, he attended UT from 1915 to 1918, and he never forgot the important lesson that we try to inculcate in every undergraduate: take what we have given you, but don’t forget to give back at some point something of what you have taken. Walters was a prominent banker in East Tennessee before his election to the Tennessee House of Representatives, where he served from 1934-1936. He subsequently served in the cabinet of the Commissioner of Highways. In 1963 he was appointed to the US Senate to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Senator Estes Kefauver. Walters served until November 3rd of the following year. He was intimately involved with his alma mater throughout his life, and was a member of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees from 1961 until 1973. After his death in 1973, he was buried in Jarrnigan Cemetery in Morristown, Tennessee.

Walters not only gave his time, but also contributed materially to the well being of the University of Tennessee. His will provided for approximately 70% of his estate in a trust agreement, which supported his wife until her death in 1989. (An interesting sidelight is that Walters was one of the first supporters of UT to make use of a charitable trust.)  At that point the trust reverted to the University. Originally established at $700,000, it grew in value to $2.8 million in the intervening years. The fund was designated for the support of undergraduate scholarships, and the endowment, the second largest in UT’s history, provided four-year tuition scholarships for approximately 50 students annually. Currently the fund is valued at approximately $6.8 million; since 1990, when scholarships were first distributed, more than 380 UT undergraduates have benefited from a Walters scholarship.

Anyone who has walked around the campus, or has driven around Tennessee, knows that Walters has been appropriately commemorated by educational institutions. On the Knoxville campus we can point to the Walters Life Science Building; in Morristown, Tennessee, we find Walters State Community College. Both are fine tributes to a generous man concerned with the education of young men and women in the state.

The Walters Scholars are a highly motivated and accomplished group. The average GPA of Walters Scholars as of September, 2007, was a 3.39 out of a possible 4.0. Currently the four-year scholarships are valued at approximately $4,000 annually. I have looked over the current Walters Scholars, and they are a truly impressive group, worthy of the honor that has been bestowed on them.

I am, of course, delighted when any individual donates to the University of Tennessee. But there is something particularly significant about giving to scholarships for undergraduates. By assisting young people to take advantage of educational opportunities, by rewarding hard work and accomplishments, scholarships contribute not only to the campus and the campus culture, but to the State and its future. Scholarships are gifts that result in living legacies, and the Walters Scholars will soon have more than 400 examples of individuals who have benefited from his bequest.

On behalf of the Knoxville campus, I would therefore like to thank again Mrs. Mott and her nephew Mr. Spain for Senator Walters’ generosity to the campus. It is individuals like Senator Walters who have made the University of Tennessee what it is today.

Posted: October 2, 2007