John Kenneth Folger

John Kenneth Folger

Nashville - John Kenneth Folger, Sr., passed away peacefully on October 28, 2017, at age 93. He was preceded in death by his parents, Dagnall Frank Folger and Vivian Rowland; stepmother, Genevieve Morrow; first wife, Marjorie Bullock, and daughter Dr. Carol Anne Folger.

He is survived by his wife of fifty-nine years, Mary (Midge) Harrison Folger; children Karen (Ken) Roll, Ken (Linn) Folger, Susan (Grady) Kjesbo, Dagnall (Barbara) Folger, James (Jessica)

Folger; grandchildren, Carol Roll Richer, Kate Roll, Anders Folger, Mackenzie Folger, Ben Swanson, Emily Kjesbo, Hannah Kjesbo, Olivia Folger, Ella Folger, Aidan Folger, and Genevieve Folger; great-grandchildren Simon Folger, Raphael Folger, and Daphne Richer.

After earning an associate degree from West Georgia College and bachelor's from Emory University, World War II was under way. John went directly into the US Navy in officer training school. He served on the ship LST 922 in the South Pacific during the last fourteen months of the war and then served another year in China, Japan, and Vietnam, ending as captain of the LST 505.

After the war, Folger earned his master's degree and Ph.D from the University of North Carolina. Following research work for the Air Force, he served as associate director for research of the Southern Regional Education Board 1954-61. He then returned to academia as dean of the graduate school at Florida State University. John's leadership in higher education continued through the 1970s when he was named the first executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission. The Johnson White House recruited him to do a

national study on the draft for an exciting two-year posting in Washington, D.C., where he began his membership in the Cosmos Club. John's experience in educational policy research and teaching then resulted in a faculty position at Peabody and Vanderbilt University back in Nashville.

Retiring as an emeritus professor from Vanderbilt, Folger worked on a number of boards in the community including Harding Academy, Monroe Harding Children's Home, Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, and Habitat for Humanity of Tennessee. For many years, he was on the board of the Martha O'Bryan Center. He served as an Elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church, and more recently has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville.

John, like his father, felt a lifelong commitment to work for the greater well-being of all people and he did that with skill, enthusiasm, and love. His deepest inspiration was family. When his first wife died, leaving him three children—including a baby barely a year old—he stepped up

as both parents. In 1958 he married Midge, and together they added three more precious children to love. John was a truly good man: loving, steady, positive, and a real blessing to his family, his friends, and countless others in our community.

A service in John's memory will be held at 10:30 A.M. on Saturday, November 25, 2017, at Second Presbyterian Church, 3511 Belmont Blvd., Nashville. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers memorial donations might be made to Nashville Habitat for Humanity or theMartha O'Bryan Center, 711 S. 7th St, 37206.