Pictured, L-R: Linda Ballew, Janice Busic (portraying Mrs. Robert E. Lee), Lisa Pritchett
United Daughters of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis Chapter #900, attended the General Robert Edward Lee Luncheon in Knoxville.
UDC Knoxville Chapter #89 presented the Annual Luncheon, held at the Confederate Memorial Hall, located on Kingston Pike.
Special Guest Speakers included UDC Division President Sarah Vise, Scott Hall, commander Camp 87 of Sons of Confederate Veterans, Marianne Sardella, chapter president of the Children of the Confederacy, and Janice Busic who portrayed Mrs. Robert E. Lee.
"Mary Anna Custis Lee was the wife of Robert E. Lee, the prominent career military officer who commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. They were married at her parents’ home, Arlington House in Virginia in 1831, and had seven children. She survived him by three years. She is buried next to him in the Lee family crypt at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee.
"Jan. 19, is Robert E. Lee’s Birthday. Robert E. Lee stood by the South and led its troops during its darkest times. After the Civil War and the defeat of the South, Robert E. Lee was asked to join the staff of Washington College as the president, which eventually became Washington and Lee University after his death. Lee arrived in Lexington in mid-September 1865 and went to work immediately.
"Over the next five years, Washington College grew physically and financially: the faculty increased in size from four to 20, enrollment grew from 50 to nearly 400 students, and financial contributions poured in from both southern and northern sources.
"Lee’s educational involvement with his students reflected his desire to create a new generation of Americans. In response to the bitterness of a Confederate Widow, he wrote 'Dismiss from your mind all sectional feeling, and bring your children up to be Americans.'
"General Lee’s tireless devotion to his duty as president of Washington College eventually took its toll on his health. The outward signs of the heart condition that had plagued him since the Civil War grew more apparent, and in the spring of 1870, on the advice of the faculty he traveled south on vacation. Less than a month into the next school year, on Sept. 28, 1870 he suffered a massive stroke. Two weeks later on Oct. 12, Robert E. Lee died in his home on the college campus. Let us not forget our Confederate ancestors, and their sacrifices," officials said.
Pictured: Janice Busic, and Sarah Vise, UDC Division president