Rowena Kruesi Frierson, widow of the late John Burton Frierson Jr., died on Sunday at her home on Lookout Mountain at the age of 91.
Mrs. Frierson, the third child of Paul John Kruesi and Myra Smartt Kruesi, was born in Chattanooga on February 18, 1911.
She was a graduate of The Bright School, Girls Preparatory School, Sarah Lawrence, and the University of Tennessee. She was the May Queen in her senior year at GPS. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga.
Rowena and Burton were married in 1934 by Dr. James H. Fowle. Like her mother, Rowena held her wedding reception in the pergola at Grey Lodge, the Smartt-Kruesi home place in Summertown. In 1934 the Friersons joined the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. She chaired the Music Committee for many years and was elected a Life Member of the Women in the Church. She served on the boards of Little Miss Mag Day Nursery and the Chattanooga Children's Home. She was a member of the Junior League of Chattanooga. Rowena was an avid gardener and a member of the Garden Club of Lookout Mountain until her passing.
Mrs. Frierson became the family historian for the Chattanooga Kruesi descendants under the tutelage of her mother, who handed down extensive files from her own research. Rowena's maternal grandfather, Captain James Polk Smartt, who had fought in the Battle of Chickamauga and was one of the founding commissioners of that first national military battlefield park superintended the placement of the historical markers in the 1890s. Her great-grandfather, Allen Kennedy, was one of the two original commissioners of Ross's Landing, who laid out the lots and recorded the original deeds for the land between Cameron Hill and Missionary Ridge in the 1830s. Allen's father, Col. Daniel Kennedy, was the recording secretary of the first four governments of the settlements in East Tennessee before statehood. Daniel Kennedy fought under Col. John Sevier in the Battle of King's Mountain.
Rowena's paternal grandfather, John Kruesi, a Swiss immigrant, worked most of his life as chief mechanical engineer under Thomas Alva Edison and served as foreman of the Edison Laboratories in New Jersey. He built the first phonograph designed by Edison and held patents for many inventions including the original electrical tape, known as Kruesi Tape. He established the Edison manufacturing works in Schenectady and was its General Manager. When it became the General Electric Company he was appointed Chief Engineer. After his illness and death following a strenuous business trip, Thomas Edison served loyally as the legal guardian of Paul Kruesi and other siblings until they reached adulthood. Rowena’s father, Paul Kruesi, moved from Schenectady, New York, to Chattanooga in 1902, becoming a prominent industrial leader and booster of his adopted city. Previously he worked for Thomas Edison, earning the distinction of being named an Edison Pioneer like his father. Paul Kruesi was of Swiss heritage, his father having married Emilie Zwinger, from another Swiss immigrant family, in 1873.
She is survived by her five sons, all of this city: J. Burton Frierson III and wife Rosemary and his children Dia Frierson Steiger, Evelyn Hall Frierson, and John Burton Frierson IV; son Paul Kruesi Frierson and wife Maureen and their children Paul Kruesi Frierson, Jr., Caroline Kelly Frierson, Christina Marie Frierson, and John Sullivan Frierson; son Thomas Cartter Frierson and wife Patty and their children Jennifer Frierson Walldorf, Eleanor Frierson Graham and Thomas Cartter Frierson, Jr.; Daniel Kennedy Frierson and wife Joan and their children Elizabeth Haley Frierson, son Daniel Kennedy Frierson, Jr., Rowena Frierson Barker, James Burton Frierson and Emily Frierson Brown; and son James William Frierson and wife Patti and their children James William Frierson, Jr., Anna Claire Frierson and John Alfred Frierson; and 11 great-grandchildren. Also surviving her are sisters Margaret (Mrs. Robert S.) Killebrew of Lookout Mountain and Eleanor (Mrs. James H.) Martin of Gastonia, North Carolina and dozens of cousins. She was preceded in death by an infant son, George West Frierson, who was the twin brother of Thomas Cartter Frierson, by her sister Peggy (Mrs. William E.) Brock, Jr. of Lookout Mountain and by her brother Paul John Kruesi, Jr. of Signal Mountain.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church, the Lookout Mountain Beautification Fund, or Girls Preparatory School.
Funeral Services will be held at Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church at 3 p.m. Wednesday with Visitation at 5:30 to 7 p.m. the evening before and 2 p.m. before the funeral service, followed by graveside service at Forest Hills Cemetery. Her grandchildren will serve as honorary pallbearers.
Funeral arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home.