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A JOINT RESOLUTION designating the Doctor William Lynwood Montell 1
Memorial Highway in Monroe County. 2
WHEREAS, William Lynwood Montell was born February 18, 1931, the second 3
child of Willie Guy Montell and Hazel Chapman Montell, in Rock Bridge, a small 4
community in Monroe County, Kentucky, which he described as "God's country; and 5
WHEREAS, William Lynwood Montell attended Campbellsville College, the 6
University of Kentucky, and Western Kentucky University, where he became interested 7
in history and folk studies; and 8
WHEREAS, after teaching history at Temple High School, William Lynwood 9
Montell applied to a Ph.D. program in Folk Studies at Indiana University. He received a 10
three-year fellowship pursuing what became his life-long passion--the study and 11
recording of the everyday history of the common man; and 12
WHEREAS, after receiving his doctorate, Doctor William Lynwood Montell taught 13
history and folk studies at Campbellsville College, where he was appointed as the 14
academic dean and later served as vice president of the college; and 15
WHEREAS, in 1969, Doctor William Lynwood Montell accepted a teaching 16
position in history and folk studies at Western Kentucky University, where he taught for 17
over 30 years. During this time, he was a visiting professor at the University of 18
California Los Angeles in 1971 and at Notre Dame University a few years later; and 19
WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell was appointed the head of the 20
Center for Intercultural Studies at Western Kentucky University; and 21
WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell was a past president of the 22
American Folklife Society and was well known across the United States by those in this 23
field of study; and 24
WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell loved the area of Upper 25
Cumberland and he published or edited 28 books addressing all aspects of its local 26
history and folkways; and 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 25 RS BR 1672
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WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell was a master storyteller and was an 1
in-demand statewide speaker for the Kentucky Humanities Council; 2
WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell received several awards, including 3
his 2001 induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. In 2003, he received the 4
Governor's Arts Award in the Folk Heritage category. He was recognized by the 5
Kentucky Southern Gospel Association in 2020 for his contribution to the preservation of 6
that music genre; and 7
WHEREAS, Doctor William Lynwood Montell loved and celebrated the everyday 8
man, and it is fitting and proper that his contributions be memorialized in some tangible 9
way; 10
NOW, THEREFORE, 11
Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 12
ď˘Section 1. The Transportation Cabinet shall designate the Tompkinsville 13
Bypass, on Kentucky Route 163 in Monroe County, as the "Doctor William Lynwood 14
Montell Memorial Highway" and shall, within 30 days of the effective date of this 15
Resolution, erect appropriate signage denoting this designation. 16