WANTED

class,” he remembers.
Beyond classes, he was the school treasurer of the
activity and athletic funds.
During his tenure as assistant principal he was
also the assistant athletic director.
Juggling so many activities was never a problem
for Murrell.
“I did whatever needed to be done. It was just the
way things were then,” he says.
When the Morristown City and Hamblen County
school systems merged, Murrell became the pupilpersonnel
and athletic facilities coordinator for the
school district.
Joan was never one to sit around the house either.
She began teaching 6th graders during her second
year in Morristown. She taught at the old Roberts
School before moving on to Carriger School.
“I was there for the early first days of the ‘middle
school’ concept,” Joan says.
While teaching, Joan became the coach for the high
school tennis team-all boys because there was no
girls’ team in those days. She was also the
coordinator for the recreation department’s tennis
program.
“She won several city championships, too,”
Murrell says.
Moving on to raise her family and remain active
in the community, Joan was a founding member of
the Centenary United Methodist Church
kindergarten program.
“There was no such thing as kindergarten around
here at that time. It wasn’t required, but we knew it
could be so beneficial to the children,” she says.
The Centenary program led to the Morristown
City Kindergarten program. The Centenary
program was held upstairs in the church and the
city program was held downstairs before they
melded.
“We had 100 kids, 25 from each quadrant of town,”
she says.
Joan kept the education bug going in her life by
launching the Clinch-Powell Educational
Cooperative pre-school program.
“We had it in the old Carriger building and had
children bused in from Morristown and Jefferson
County,” she says.
With her background in education and children’s
programs, she was urged to lead workshops for
foster and adoptive parents.
The husband-and-wife team has been active in
several civic organizations through the years. The
list is long and varied with most of the affiliations
33
Tusculum College's Virginia Hall was home to Joan during her collegiate
days. She often tells how Murrell would signal his presence outside
by blowing on a siren whistle. The photo above shows the side
entrance of Virginia Hall as it appeared at the time Joan and Murrell
were students.
done as a couple rather than individuals. Currently,
they are involved with plans for Morristown’s
Sesquicentennial celebration.
Spending so much time as educators and
children’s advocates had a positive effect on their
daughters. All four pursued careers in education.
(Editor’s note: Three of the four Weesner daughters
also attended and graduated from Tusculum
College. They are Becky Weesner Moles ’79, Mary
Ellen Weesner Horner ’82 and Winn Ann Weesner
Seals ’90).
“We’re proud of them. We’ll drop anything to
spend time with them and the grandchildren,”
Murrell says. They have five grandchildren.
After all these years, the couple remains active and
together, remarkable in this age of throwaway
relationships.
“We’ve had a ball,” she says.
“It’s been a matter of cooperation and
accommodation,” he says with a wry grin. •
The profile above was written by Jean Henderson of
the Morristown (Tenn.) Citizen-Tribune as a Saint
Valentine’s Day feature. It is reprinted by permission.