Who is Claudius Clemmer?

Teaching at Greene County’s McDonald High School during the Great Depression, Claudius Clemmer convinced one of his students to attend the State Teachers College at Johnson City, the institution that would grow into East Tennessee State University.

Clemmer even found the young man a room in Johnson City and helped him enroll at his alma mater. The student went on to teach 51 years in Greene County, all because Clemmer saw his potential.

Such dedication to education is one reason ETSU’s College of Education now bears Clemmer’s name. The 93-year-old benefactor recounted the story for students and faculty members on Wednesday, as the college honored him with a reception.

“I think Mr. Clemmer is a perfect example of what we want our students to be,” said Dr. Hal Knight, dean of the Clemmer College of Education. “He’s been committed to students. He’s always worked hard for students. That’s a tremendous story, because he has students that he inspired,” Knight said.

Clemmer continues to inspire students. Since 1987, he and his wife, Kitty, have supported more than 100 scholarships for College of Education students, including 10 Clemmer scholars this year.

“Knowing that people like him and Dr. Knight are there for us at all times is amazing,” Clemmer Scholar David Nutter, a graduate student in secondary education, said after hearing Clemmer’s comments. “I just listen to his experiences and what he’s been through ... and who he is today inspires me to aspire to be someone like him in the future.”

“It shows his dedication to what he truly loves and what he loves to do in life,” Nutter said. “It inspires me to further my education.”

Lacking a job amid the “Hoover Depression,” Clemmer enrolled in the college in 1931 to earn a teaching certificate, finishing in 1934. He started his teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse in Greene County, but the county lacked the money to pay his salary for the whole year. So, Clemmer swept up in his father’s store to earn enough to survive, but continued to teach.

“I worked hard,” Clemmer told faculty members, students and administrators
gathered on Warf-Pickel Hall’s lawn at ETSU on Wednesday. “I worked hard all the rest of my life.” Knight considered Clemmer a role model for the college’s future teachers, saying his commitment to that one-room school was an example of the “caring professional” model in the college’s mission.

“It’s exactly what we want our students to think about,” Knight said. “We talk about
social responsibility.We talk about caring. Those are two really important things,
and Mr. Clemmer always comes back to those issues.”

Clemmer later taught at Kingsport’s Dobyns-Bennett High School before entering a successful career in business. He dedicated his energies to leading Jefferson Sales Corp. in Kingsport, but he never forgot the opportunities his education provided. His lifetime gifts to the ETSU Foundation have exceeded $1 million.

On Wednesday, the first week for Fall semester 2004, Clemmer met some of the students his gifts have supported. “It means a whole lot,” he said. “I’m glad to see that they get an education, and I hope that they put it to good use. Most of them will.” The Tennessee Board of Regents named the ETSU College of Education in his honor in April.