Lipscomb alumni to celebrate 70th anniversary of on-campus wedding this Valentine's Day
Lacey Klotz |
Ruth (Wiseman) and Eugene Lamb (’42) grew up as childhood acquaintances, but were later reunited as Lipscomb college students on the steps of Sewell Hall in 1942. What they didn’t know at that time was that four years later they would marry in that very same building on campus.
They will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day. 
“I was on campus for freshman orientation,” Ruth explained. “After I checked into my dorm, I joined my cousin, Joe, and Eugene as they checked out the new dating prospects at the girls dorm. I got a call that same afternoon from Eugene asking me to go on a date. It was a Sunday so our date was going to church that evening.”
Granny White Church of Christ had been meeting in Lipscomb’s administrative building, Harding Hall, at that time. However, due to a lack of air conditioning, the congregation decided to meet outdoors, and Ruth and Eugene shared their first date on campus under the sun.
Ruth, a native of Dunlap, Tennessee, attended Lipscomb, a junior college at the time, with plans to study art before one day transferring to art school.
Eugene was no stranger to Lipscomb as he grew up across the street on Granny White Pike and attended Lipscomb Academy’s high school for four years before college. He was also the valedictorian at both Lipscomb’s high school and college.
“It was sort of a natural course of events going to Lipscomb for school since my sister had gone before me,” said Eugene. “I went to study pre-engineering.”
While on campus, Ruth worked in the library and in the print shop where she entered text into the linotype machines. After attending four quarters at Lipscomb, she was asked to assist with the war effort on a job at Washington Manufacturing Company. She quickly moved up the ladder during this employment and never returned to finish her last year at Lipscomb.
Eugene also worked on campus during the summers, making 25 cents an hour doing various jobs to defray college expenses.
Shortly after continuing his education at Vanderbilt University in 1942, Eugene also answered the call for the war effort and entered the Army Air Corps in January 1943. Eugene was stationed in the Aleutian Islands during his active duty, and for three years Ruth and Eugene grew their relationship long-distance by sending letters.
In August 1945, Eugene sent Ruth a marriage proposal by way of a cablegram, and she responded with a single word: “YES.”
Wedding plans began, and Ruth made arrangements to get married at her parents’ house in Dunlap.
However, Eugene, a young lieutenant who was nearing the end of his military commitment, returned to Nashville from his tour of duty in the Aleutians with only five days before leaving for his next assigned base. Eugene suggested they get married right away so Ruth could leave with him.
“We only had a few days to plan the wedding, so I got in touch with Elizabeth Swallows, the dorm matron at the time, to help make arrangements to get married in Sewell Hall,” Ruth explained.
The couple was married on Feb. 14, 1946, and were joined by other Lipscomb alumni and faculty including Charles R. Brewer, who performed the ceremony and; Bob Neil, who sang at the wedding accompanied by Elizabeth Traylor; as well as friends John Sewell who served as Eugene’s best man; and Francis Hunter, who was Ruth’s matron-of-honor.
“We had about 50 people come to the wedding, and it worked out better than we could have hoped,” said Ruth.
After finishing up his military duty, Eugene decided to continue his education in chemical engineering at Vanderbilt University where he graduated as valedictorian of his class and was awarded the Founders Medal, an award given once a year to the best scholastic student.
Once graduated, Eugene accepted a job at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a multiprogramming science and technology laboratory currently managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle, and continued to work there for 37 years before retiring as the manager of the radioisotopes department.
In 1954, Ruth and Eugene decided to move their family to Knoxville, Tennessee, into the Norwood community where they raised their two children, Jeanne and John David.
After realizing there wasn’t a church within their neighborhood, the Lambs, along with seven other families, started the Norwood Church of Christ in Knoxville, and where both Ruth and Eugene taught bible classes and Eugene served as an elder through the years.
Their daughter, Jeanne (Lamb) Unger, also attended Lipscomb for a year and a half (1970-1972) before transferring to the University of Tennessee.
Today, Ruth and Eugene say they are still a happy couple and are looking forward to celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary on Feb. 14. Both are cancer survivors, and they enjoy an active, independent lifestyle in Knoxville, near their two children and their families.
Some of their fondest memories from Lipscomb included “Beautiful Day,” an impromptu event where the administration gave students a day off from classes and provided a picnic lunch and activities at Percy Warner Park.
Although Lipscomb has changed a lot since Ruth and Eugene attended the school when it was a junior college, there are still some students who see campus as their perfect wedding spot.
In August 2015, Dr. Ashley Clendenen (’12), and her husband Anthony Ulmer, decided to get married in Lipscomb’s Burton Building, Room 200. 
Clendenen was among the first graduating class of the Pharm.D. program and was greatly impacted by her time at Lipscomb and specifically by the faculty, she said.
Clendenen explained that she was seeking a non-traditional, courthouse-like wedding and wanted to have Roger Davis, dean of the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences, officiate her wedding.
“I felt so connected to Lipscomb, it was like another family to me,” said Clendenen. “We knew we wanted to have Dean Davis officiate our wedding because he had married other students as well.”
What started off as a very intimate ceremony, quickly changed the week before their wedding as friends and family voiced their desire to attend.
Ginger Saunders, program coordinator for the College of Pharmacy, assisted Clendenen in her wedding arrangements, including flowers and refreshments.
“After the ceremony we took pictures on the steps of Burton,” Clendenen explained. “This was such a special moment for me because many big moments at Lipscomb -- including the First Day We Pray, the White Coat Ceremony and graduation photos -- all happened on those steps, and I was happy to have another big moment there.”
Both Clendenen and Ruth and Eugene Lamb appreciated the special community and extended family they found at Lipscomb, and how they each cherish their “special day” on campus.
Photos courtesy of Ruth and Eugene Lamb and Evin Photography