George Fry: The Legend
George W. Fry, Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from November of 1963 to July of 1969, began keeping a daily diary as a fourteen-year-old schoolboy in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. These writings resulted in a 329-page unpublished memoir entitled George Fry: The Legend. Selectively edited by daughter Georgiana (Fry) Vines, it details events from his childhood and college days in Pennsylvania to his retirement in Atlanta on June 30, 1973. Most of the manuscript is devoted to his experiences with the National Park Service, including his time in the the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Dates
- 1911-1973
Conditions Governing Access
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Conditions Governing Use
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Extent
0.1 Linear Feet
Abstract
George W. Fry, Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from November of 1963 to July of 1969, began keeping a daily diary as a fourteen-year-old schoolboy in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. These writings resulted in a 329-page unpublished memoir entitled George Fry: The Legend. Selectively edited by daughter Georgiana (Fry) Vines, it details events from his childhood and college days in Pennsylvania to his retirement in Atlanta on June 30, 1973. Most of the manuscript is devoted to his experiences with the National Park Service, including his time in the the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Biographical/Historical Note
George Washington Fry was born to Peter Stuber and Ada Wenrich (Wealand) Fry in Denver, Pennsylvania on March 9, 1911. As a child, he was active in the Lone Scouts (the Boy Scouts' program for rural boys) and earned a number of honors, including Eagle Scout (1944). He entered Penn State's Forestry School at Mont Alto in September of 1939 and graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Forestry on June 5, 1933. Fry had begun working for the National Park Service the month before his graduation as the Cultural Foreman of Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. He went on to work in such diverse locations as Crater Lake National Park in Oregon (1936-1948), Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (1938-1944), Lake Texoma National Recreation Area in Texas (1946-1949), Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky (1949-1951), Everglades National Park in Florida (1951-1959), and Isle Royale National Park in Michigan (1959-1961) before becoming Superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on November 10, 1963. He left Tennessee in 1969 and worked in Atlanta before retiring on June 30, 1973. George Fry died on April 4, 2000 at the age of 89.
Fry married Mary Helen Flanagan at Grafton, West Virginia on December 9, 1933. The couple had four children: Georgiana Jean (born October 23, 1939), Carolyn Sylvia (born April 2, 1943), Douglas Sterling (born May 28, 1946), and John Peter (born December 3, 1951).
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single folder.
Acquisition Note
George W. Fry donated this manuscript to the University of Tennessee's Special Collections Library.
- Atlanta (Ga.)
- Crater Lake National Park (Or.)
- Denver (Pa.)
- Everglades National Park (Fla.)
- Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.).
- Isle Royale (Mich.)
- Lone Scouts of America.
- Mammoth Cave (Ky.)
- Miami (Fla.)
- Monongahela National Forest (W. Va.)
- Omaha (Neb.)
- Reamstown (Pa.)
- Richmond (Va.)
- Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo.)
- Texoma, Lake (Okla. and Tex.)
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository