Jimmy Gentry, guest author and artist
The Arts Council of Williamson County’s open monthly meeting is set for April 16. This month’s ‘Artist in the Round’ guest is author and artist, Jimmy Gentry.
The Arts Council is pleased to welcome quest speaker Jimmy Gentry to their April meeting. Jimmy Gentry was one of nine children who grew up in a working class Williamson County family during the Depression. Franklin was a small, intimate community surrounded by fields and woods, and by unspoiled streams during the days of his boyhood. After the death of his father, he became an expert hunter, trapper, and fisherman in order to provide for his struggling family. Jimmy Gentry was a noted high school athlete, and at the age of 18 he went to war to help defend his nation. He was awarded two Bronze Stars for his actions during the invasion of Germany, and he was among the first Allied troops to enter Dachau, the infamous Nazi death camp. He returned to Franklin and became one of Williamson County’s most widely-known citizens, serving as a teacher and a coach for over half a century.
In 2002, Jimmy published An American Life, a novel about a time that has all but disappeared – both in Franklin and in small-town America. An American Life gives one soldier’s account of surviving war and encountering horror, and tells what became of Williamson County over the years that followed the return of that soldier. An American Life is a book about Jimmy Gentry, about Franklin, and about America. There’s a lot of speculation that the well received novel will become a movie in the near future.
Since the death of his beloved wife, Rebecca, Jimmy Gentry devotes much of his time to writing and painting. He has built a studio on his farm three miles west of Franklin known as Pleasant View. He operates his summer camp, draws, paints, and is a continuing presence in the lives of his many friends and admirers.
During the month of April this popular author and artist will be on display at the Williamson County Library. Jimmy paints the people and place of the Franklin from a by-gone era, and records his experiences from World War II.
Please join Jimmy and the Arts Council of Williamson County on Monday, April 16, 6 p.m. at The Factory at Franklin, Building 2, 2nd floor. Meetings are free of charge and light refreshments will be served. For more information, call 615.428.3845 or visit www.artscouncilwc.org.
