Nellie Tucker Miller McNeil

MCNEIL, NELLIE TUCKER MILLER - a columnist for the Kingsport Times-News for the past 25 years, died November 8, 2007 at her home in Kingsport, Tennessee. As a columnist, she was a spokesperson for the arts, education, diversity, multi-culturalism, equal opportunity, and the environment. Her commitment to women's issues, included equal rights and health concerns, particularly breast cancer, the cause of her death. Ms. McNeil spent much of her adult life as an advocate for the arts, especially making the arts accessible to all ages and all socio-economic groups. She promoted the arts in education, guaranteeing artists opportunities and rights and expanding their audiences. She was a board member of the Kingsport Arts Council and the Tri-Cities Arts Council. She served on the Tennessee Arts Commission, both as the East Tennessee representative and as chairperson. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern Arts Federation. The Arts in Education Program of the Tennessee Department of Education presented her with its Lorin Hollander Award on the 10th Anniversary of the Tennessee Arts Academy for her leadership in the establishment of the Academy. She was the first winner of the Kingsport Mayor's Special Arts Award. She worked for the promotion of the humanities through the Tennessee Humanities Council which sponsored state-wide grants and the annual Nashville Book Festival. In 1988 she was named Outstanding Tennessee Teacher of the Humanities. She was president of the Sullivan County Historical Society and vice-president and board member of the East Tennessee Historical Society. She was a board member of the Sinking Creek Film Celebration and the James Agee Film Project. She was president of the Tennessee Presidents Trust at the University of Tennessee. Ms. McNeil was president of the Friends of the Archives at the Kingsport Public Library. She served on the Tennessee State Textbook Commission. In 2001 the Johnson City Public Library honored her with its Arts Achievement Award. She was a member of the Long Island Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a sustaining member of the Kingsport Junior League. She served on the Kingsport Library Commission, The Citizens Advisory Board of Eastman Chemical Company and the board of directors of the Kingsport Community Foundation. She was a communicant of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Ms. McNeil was born in Moulton, Alabama, on November 23, 1937, to attorney James Pressly Miller and his wife Fannie Ruth Pledger Miller, a social worker. She attended public schools in Alabama before enrolling in the boarding school of Virginia Intermont College, Bristol, Virginia, for high school. She graduated from Virginia Intermont with an A.A. degree, then earned a B.A. with honors in philosophy and English at East Tennessee State University and an M.A. in English from ETSU. She did further study in the humanities at King College, Middle Tennessee State University, the Universities of Tennessee and Virginia and Vanderbilt University. When the Carroll B. Reece Museum opened on the ETSU campus in 1965, she served as museum coordinator of activities, was responsible for fund-raising and organized the Friends of the Museum. In 1972 she began her career in public education, teaching American Literature and English composition at Science Hill High School, Johnson City, Tennessee. Ten years later she moved to Dobyns-Bennett High School, Kingsport, Tennessee where she taught a variety of courses in the English Department until her retirement in 2002. She was a Career Ladder III Teacher. She also taught as an adjunct professor in the ETSU English Department. Ms. McNeil was married to William Charles Stevens, the father of her children, and Charles Monroe McNeil. Both are deceased. Surviving her are her three children: Elizabeth Ruth Stevens Koepenick and her husband Martin F. Koepenick, Atlanta, Georgia; James Miller Stevens and his wife Elke Herden, Berlin, Germany; and Caroline Tucker Stevens Bolvig, Birmingham, Alabama. Also surviving are five grandchildren: Miller Thurn Koepenick, Los Angeles, Frances Elizabeth Koepenick, Paris, France, Elizabeth Tucker Bolvig and Christoffer Petersen Bolvig, Birmingham, and Muriel Ruth Stevens, Berlin, her sister: Elizabeth Miller McDavid and her husband William L. McDavid, Birmingham, one niece: Claire Major Tynes and her husband Frank Tynes, Birmingham, one nephew: Dr. Ted Major and wife Dr. Claire Major, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a grand niece: Helen Tynes and two grand nephews: Wilson Tynes and Christopher Major. Her faithful and loving companion Jack Douglas Hodges, Johnson City, survives her. Additionally surviving are three step-children: Sherri McNeil McCarty and husband Mike, Charlie McNeil, Jr., Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, Carolyn McNeil Moore and husband Mack, Kingwood, Texas, and five step-grandchildren: Kellie McCarty, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tyler Moore, Denver, Colorado, Tucker Moore, San Antonio, Texas and Hannah Moore, Kingwood, Texas. The Order for the Burial of the Dead will be read at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2007, the Rev. Edward J. Mills III, officiating.