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Waldrop, C. Sybil

Walker, Arthur L.

Wall, Paula

Waller, Mary Webb

Warwick, Richard

Watkins, Kate Sullivan

Wellington, Sam

Wells, Ed

Wells, William W.

White, Katie Kinnard

Wibking, Tim

Widick, Sylvia Harney

Wills, Ridley, II

Wilson, Etta Grissim

Wilson, Jack Case

Windrow, John Edwin

Wolfe, Bill

Womack, Steven

Worley, Karla

Wyatt, Margaret Early

Wysockly, Lisa

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Waldrop, C. Sybil (1928- )
 

            C. Sybil Waldrop, a native of Louisiana, was a former manager of the preschool curriculum section of the Baptist Sunday School Board. She received her B.A. degree from Centenary College, an M.E. and Ph.D. in education from the University of North Texas, and has done further graduate study at Scarritt College in Nashville. She has taught in the public schools of Texas and New Mexico and at Southeastern College, North Texas State University, and Eastern Kentucky University. She has written numerous articles for professional periodicals both religious and secular.

  • Teaching Preschoolers the Bible, 1991

  • Getting Good at Being You, 1989, 2001

  • Guiding Your Child Toward God, 1985

  • Understanding Today’s Preschoolers, 1982

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Walker, Arthur L.
 

            Arthur L. Walker was born in Alabama and received his B.A. degree from Samford University, his M.Div. at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He taught at Samford, where he was also dean of students and vice president of student affairs, at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was dean of students and director of ministry training, and at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1978 to 1993 he was executive director or treasurer of the Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Commission of American Baptist Theological Seminaries, and the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools.

  • Southern Baptist Trusteeship, 1993

  • By Their Fruits, 1982

  • Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, IV (contributor), 1982

  • Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, III (contributor), 1971

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Wall, Paula (1954- )
 

            Paula Wall was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, but grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. She majored in environmental science at Austin Peay State University . She worked as an environmentalist, but eventually became a full-time humorist with a nationally syndicated column for Universal Press. She was named “Humor Columnist of the Year” in 1997 by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and was a semi-finalist for the 1999 Thurber Award. Her books have been translated into four languages. If I Were a Man, I’d Marry Me stayed on the (Humor) Best Sellers List for twenty-seven weeks. She and the “Sweetie” of her column own land in Fernvale.

  • The Wilde Women, 2007

  • The Rock Orchard, 2005

  • If I Were a Man, I'd Marry Me, 1999

  • My Love Is Free (But the Rest of Me Don’t Come Cheap), 1997

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Waller, Mary Webb
 

            Mary Webb Waller was raised in Cookeville as one of nine siblings. She attended the Putnam County public schools and graduated from David Lipscomb University. She taught in the school systems in Putnam and Williamson Counties before becoming a social worker in 1945. She has lived in Brentwood.

  • Walking Softly, 1994

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Warwick, Richard (1947- )
 

            Born in Anderson County, Rick Warwick moved to Williamson County in 1970 and became librarian at Hillsboro School. A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he has been editor of the Williamson County Historical Society’s annual journal for several years. He coordinated and wrote many of the Williamson County entries in the Bicentennial Tennessee Encyclopedia. He has undertaken a four-volume work of Who’s Who in Williamson County based on interviews conducted by Jane Owen between 1936 and 1953. Warwick has unselfishly shared his growing knowledge of the county’s history with all who seek it. He has also taken as a project the documentation of Williamson County’s “material culture”—its furniture, samplers, paintings, and other items—and has organized exhibits to share his findings.

  • Freedom and Work in the Reconstruction Era: The Freedmen's Bureau Labor Contracts of Williamson County, Tennessee, 2006

  • Meet Me at Chapman’s Pie Wagon, 2002

  • Williamson County: Out There in the First District, 2001

  • Williamson County in Black and White, (editor and compiler), 2000

  • Leiper’s Fork: Our Family Album, 2000

  • Williamson County in Black and White, 1999

  • Historical Markers of Williamson County, Tennessee--A Pictorial Guide, 1999

  • Leiper's Fork & Surrounding Communities, 1999

  • Letters to Laura, (with Sadye Tune Wilson and Nancy Tune Fitzgerald), 1997

  • Hillsboro School, 100 Years, 1891–1991, 1991

  • A Century of Chairmakers in Williamson County, 1850–1950, 1989

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Watkins, Kate Sullivan (1967- )
 

            Kate Sullivan Watkins was reared on a farm in Williamson County. She graduated from Franklin High School and David Lipscomb University. Before having her own children, she taught elementary school. She has been an author and freelance creator of activity pages with Dalmatian Press of Brentwood, which publishes children’s materials. She and her husband Larry have been contributing editors to the magazine Nashville Christian Family. Her book A Craving for Life describes her eleven-year struggle with bulimia.

  • Dooley the Dinosaur, 1997

  • The Ugly Duckling (retold), 1997

  • A Craving for Life, 1995

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Wellington, Sam

Franklin resident Sam Wellington was a member of The Fabulous Four Guys, a country group that, prior to its retirement in 1999, was for thirty-two years a member of the Grand Ole Opry.  After service in the Navy, Wellington worked as a newspaper reporter and as a radio and TV newscaster in the early 1960s. The Fabulous Four Guys moved to Nashville in 1967. 

  • Who Wants to Be a Country Music Star?: The Right Way - The Wrong Way And the Nashville Way to Launch And Maintain a Music Career!, 2005

 

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Wells, Ed
 

            Ed Wells was born and reared in Moline, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi River. He graduated from the University of Illinois. After taking an accounting job, he found that the life of numbers was not for him. He accepted a commission in the Air Force, embarking on a career that found him living in many parts of the world. He retired after twenty years and came to Williamson County in 1977 to accept a management position. He founded his own company and began to write.

  • Lethal Cargo, 2000

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Wells, William W.
 

            William W. Wells was born in Nashville and is a graduate of Vanderbilt University. After serving in World War II, he was recalled to active duty during the Korean War and served for two years as a fighter pilot. His book cited below is a collection of more than 180 letters that Wells wrote home to his family while he was taking fighter pilot training in England. He was an escort for Joseph Kennedy Jr.’s secret mission when Kennedy’s plane exploded.

  • Letters from an Airman—World War II, 1992

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White, Katie Kinnard
 

            Katie Kinnard White not only was born, reared, and educated in Williamson County, but also reared her own family here. She attended Tennessee State University, majoring in biology, and earned a Ph.D. at Walden University in science education. After ten years in the public schools of Middle Tennessee, she became professor of biological sciences at Tennessee State University. In addition to church history, she has written science laboratory manuals and a history of her collegiate sorority. Her church is on the site of the old Sunnyside School near the Grassland community.

  • From Whence We Came: the History of Greater Pleasant View Baptist Church 1894-1999 (with George Northern), 1999

  • The Legacy Continues . . . (with Ann Lawrence-Brown, Evelyn Hood, and Lillie Wilkes), 1994

  • Biophysical Science Laboratory Manual (with other members of the faculty), 1978, 1981, 1989

  • Learning About Living Things for the Elementary School (with Alfred Aubry and Tillman Jackson), 1966

  • Learning About Our Physical World for the Elementary School (with Alfred Aubry and Tillman Jackson), 1966

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Wibking, Tim (1955- )
 

            After growing up in Clarksville, Tim Wibking studied in Switzerland and at Murray State University before graduating from Austin Peay State University. After receiving his degree from University of Tennessee Law School, he served in the army JAG in Germany. Later, he served as legal counsel for the Tennessee School Boards Association. Struggles with childcare led Wibking and his wife, Dr. Janet Dittus, to decide that he would stay at home with their son, Ben, for his early years. His latest book relates experiences of father and son. Wibking has written freelance articles on parenting and a weekly newspaper column recounting his activities with Ben and Ben’s adopted sister from China, Gabby. Wibking’s writing is included in Our Voices, 1997 and 1998. 

  • A Boy for All Seasons, 1996

  • The Public Education Law Handbook, 1989

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Widick, Sylvia Harney (see: Harney, Sylvia)
 

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Wills, Ridley, II
 

            Ridley Wills II is the great great-grandson of William Giles Harding, owner of Belle Meade Mansion in Nashville, and a great-grandson of Judge Howell E. Jackson, owner of West Meade. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, he majored in history and has taught Nashville history to the public since 1985. He is the son of Jesse Wills, poet and president of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company. Wills is a member of a number of historical organizations and lives at Meeting of the Waters, the Williamson County home of Nicholas Perkins.

  • Tennessee Governors at Home: Executive Residences of Tennessee's First Families, 1999

  • Old Enough to Die, 1996

  • Touring Tennessee:  A Postcard Panorama, 1898–1955, 1996

  • A Brief History of the YMCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, 1996

  • A Walking Tour of Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1993

  • The History of Belle Meade: Mansion, Plantation, & Stud, 1991

  • Belle Meade Bloodlines, 1816–1904, 1990

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Wilson, Etta Grissim
 

            Etta Wilson was born in Lebanon, and spent her early years in Wilson County.  Her degrees are from the University of Tennessee, the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia, and Peabody’s School of Library Science. She has been editor of A Closer Look, a review publication for Christian books and media, and also children’s book review editor for BookPage. She owned March Media, which published Tennessee Trailblazers, a collection of stories about famous characters in Tennessee history. This book has been adopted for use in elementary classes across Tennessee. In addition to the books listed below, she has written the text for about a dozen “smaller books.”

  • The Story of Easter, 1997

  • The Bible Encyclopedia, 1994          

  • The Bible Dictionary, 1993

  • The Bible Atlas, 1993

  • Music in the Night, 1993

  • The Value of Excellence, 1991

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Wilson, Jack Case
 

            Jack Case Wilson is a fifth-generation native of Mississippi. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Mississippi and an M.A. in classical archeology. He attended Vanderbilt University Law School and is a title attorney. While in Oxford, he wrote the work cited below, a history of Oxford, Mississippi. Wilson later moved to  Brentwood.

  • Faulkners, Fortune and Flames, 1984

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Windrow, John Edwin (1899-1984)
 

            Dr. John Windrow was born in Eagleville in 1899. He attended Middle Tennessee State Normal before he became a student a Peabody College in 1923. His association with Dr. Leland Crabb began when Dr. Crabb piloted Dr. Windrow through his Ph.D. program. Dr. Windrow held many positions at Peabody during his fifty-five year association with that school, including director of the Peabody Demonstration School, editor of The Peabody Reflector, managing editor of the Peabody Journal of Education, and college archivist and historian. For many years he and Dr. Crabb worked together and shared a suite of offices. He and his wife, the former Elizabeth Grigsby, are buried in the Triune Cemetery, and his obituary states that he was at one time a resident of Franklin.

  • Peabody and Alfred Leland Crabb: the Story of Peabody as Reflected in Selected Writings of Alfred Leland Crabb (editor), 1977

  • John Berrien Lindsey: Educator, Physician, Social Philosopher, 1938

  • Life and Works of John Berrien Lindsey, 1937

  • Collins D. Elliott and the Nashville Female Academy, 1935

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Wolfe, Bill
 

            Bill Wolfe has been director of radio ministries for United Methodist Communications in Nashville and the executive producer/director for the daily “Passages” radio program. He is a native of Bristol and received his B.A. degree from King’s College and his master of Christian education degree from the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia. Wolfe has produced numerous films and videotapes, as well as radio and television spots and programs. He has directed projects for the United Methodist Board of Discipleship and was responsible for customizing film programs for local churches and regional groups throughout the country. Wolfe has written many articles and pamphlets in the areas of broadcasting, youth ministry, and recreation. He was selected for the first Who’s Who in Religion (1975), as well as the 1992 edition and the 1998–99 edition of Who’s Who in Media and Communications. He has lived in Williamson County since 1971.

  • Inviting Youth, 1988

  • The Yearbook: Untold Stories (with co-author Janita Williams), 1983

  • Leader’s Guide for The Yearbook (with co-author Martha Wolfe), 1983

  • The Basic Encyclopedia for Youth Ministry (with Dennis Benson), 1981

  • Music You Wear, 1975

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Womack, Steven
 

            This Nashville native has been a lifetime writer. When an undergraduate at Tulane University, he had an unpublished novel accepted as his honors thesis. He has written screenplays and mysteries and contributes essays and short stories to various venues. Womack has been active in writers’ organizations, speaking frequently on writers’ panels and at book fairs. He has taught screen writing at Watkins Film School and has often been guest instructor for writers’ or screenwriters’ workshops. For several years, he led a writers’ workshop at the Tennessee State Prison. He came to Franklin in 2002.

  • The True Crime Files of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (with Stephen Hines), 2001

  • Dirty Money, 2000

  • Murder Manual, 1998

  • Chain of Fools, 1996

  • Way Past Dead, 1995

  • Torch Town Boogie, 1993

  • Dead Folks Blues, 1993

  • The Software Bomb, 1993

  • Smash Cut, 1991

  • Murphy’s Fault, 1990

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Worley, Karla (1956 - )
 

            Influences on Karla Worley’s childhood in Dallas, Texas, led directly to the talents she uses as an adult. Her father and grandfather were Southern Baptist ministers; her mother was a costume designer for several Dallas theater companies. In elementary school Karla began writing poetry and songs and staging her own private plays. At Baylor University she majored in Musical Theater and English. As an adult and wife of a minister, she has combined her interests in God, music, and theater to produce many works for her church and the public at large. She writes songs, dramatic productions, and books. She has received three Dove Awards for songwriting from the Gospel Music Association.

  • Traveling Together: Women, Friendship, and the Journey of Faith, 2003

  • Growing Weary Doing Good: Encouragement for Exhausted Women, 2001, rev. 2003

  • Glimpses of Christ in Everyday Lives, 1998

  • When the Glass Slipper Doesn’t Fit (with Claire Coninger), 1992, updated 2003

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Wyatt, Margaret Early (1903-deceased)
 

            Margaret Early Wyatt was born in Nashville, three and one-half miles from the city square. In 1927 she married Hubert Wyatt, and for many years the couple raised trotting horses and lived in Wyatt Hall, an antebellum home north of Franklin. In 1992 she published her autobiography in a limited edition.

  • Nothing Happens by Chance: Reflections, 1992

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Wysocky, Lisa
 

            Energetic and full of interests, Lisa Wysocky chose horse training as her first profession. Twice she has made her home in Fairview. When an injury stopped her successful career, she turned to writing. After several years in journalism, she opened her own public relations firm which attracts clients from a wide variety of activities from music and medicine to thoroughbreds and non-profit organizations. Even so, she has taken time to write. She has become a regular featured guest on Jones Radio Networks syndicated overnight show and authored a celebrity lifestyles column for Ag Features.

  • The Power of Horses, 2002

  • The Opium Equation, 2002

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