From Roots to Roses: The Autobiography of Tilda Kemplen

by Tilda Kemplen, Nancy Herzberg (Editor)

Overview

Hailed in her native Campbell County, Tennessee, as “the Mother Teresa of the coal country,” Tilda Kemplen was a teacher, activist, and founder and executive director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers (MCCCDC). In recognition of her work on behalf of impoverished children and families in central Appalachia, Kemplen was presented in 1980 with the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefi ting Local Communities.

Kemplen movingly describes her struggles to educate herself, her years as a teacher in rural schools and mining camps, and the establishment of MCCCDC. The book is more, however, than a catalog of Kemplen’s accomplishments; it is a testament to the personal qualities that fueled them. Kemplen’s straightforward observations on her life and work offer unique insight into a range of issues related to Appalachian and Native American life and culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820339931
Publisher:	University of Georgia Press
Publication date:	11/01/2012
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

TILDA KEMPLEN (1925–2003) was a teacher, activist, and founder and executive director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers (MCCCDC). In recognition of her work on behalf of impoverished children and families in central Appalachia, Kemplen was presented in 1980 with the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award.

TILDA KEMPLEN (1925–2003) was a teacher, activist, and founder and executive director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers (MCCCDC). In recognition of her work on behalf of impoverished children and families in central Appalachia, Kemplen was presented in 1980 with the American Institute for Public Service’s Jefferson Award.

Editorial Reviews

Tilda Kemplen--known as the ``Mother Teresa of the coal country''--celebrates the root system she put down as a young woman in the mountain hollows of Tennessee. In a narrative that unfolds in unadorned, reflective prose, recorded over the years by freelance editor Herzberg, she tells the inspiring story of a life of service. Founder and director of Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers, Kemplen describes the unlikely beginnings of her extraordinary career. A teacher despite the great odds against becoming one--without a high school education, she entered college at age 32--this wife and mother saw the needs of the ill-served people of her community. She recalls the years of struggle and hardship to establish special-education, child-welfare and medical-care programs that were in place by the '70s. Kempen, who lives in rural Campbell County, eloquently appreciates her natural surroundings, her feelings of kinship with Native American culture and her oneness with the beloved mountains. Photos. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Born in 1925, Kemplen gives a genuine personal account of growing up in the isolated mountain region of eastern Tennessee. Unable to attend high school, she later earned a degree in education and fulfilled her dream of becoming a teacher. Concerned about the lack of basic necessities for the people in her community, whom she views not as inferior--as stereotypically depicted--but rather as ``environmentally deprived,'' Kemplen dedicated herself to enriching the quality of their lives. She founded, and still directs, the Mountain Communities Child Care and Development Centers, which provide an array of social services encompassing education, health, and economic programs. Highly recommended for Appalachian and women's studies collections.-- Eloise R. Hitchcock, Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., Cookeville

Library Journal