Tennessee Tech agriculture alum makes donation to build new farm office, honor late wife and professor
Tennessee Tech University School of Agriculture alumnus Ronnie E. Erwin has made a generous gift to help construct a new office building at the university’s Shipley Farm while honoring his late wife and the professor who most influenced his time as a student.
The Dr. Ronnie E. and Lynn M. Erwin Tech Farm Office will be built at 2520 Gainesboro Grade in Cookeville. Its conference room will be named in honor of the late Col. Bobby T. Parham, the Tech professor whose encouragement helped set Erwin on a path from a Maury County dairy farm to military service, advanced study and a career in the food industry.
“We appreciate Dr. Erwin’s generous gift and, equally important, his recognition of the faculty members who made a lasting impact on him,” said Mickey A. Latour, Tech’s provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Erwin, a 1969 Tech graduate, earned his bachelor’s degree in dairy husbandry. Raised on his family’s dairy farm, he arrived at Tech with a strong work ethic but did not yet recognize the possibilities his education would create.
Parham saw Erwin’s potential and encouraged him to pursue graduate education.
“I didn’t even know what graduate school was at the time,” Erwin recalled.
Erwin and his wife, Lynn, had planned to return to the family dairy farm after graduation, but encouragement from Lynn and Parham led him to continue his education at Texas A&M University.
There, he found another influential mentor in Dr. Henry Randolph, a Sparta native and fellow Tech alum. Randolph assigned Erwin to teach laboratories and freshman classes and later encouraged him as he completed his doctorate.
Erwin said the guidance of Parham, Randolph and Lynn shaped the course of his life and career.
“She was so easy to love. She was a major encourager of students, both me and others,” Erwin said.
The couple began married life in Cookeville, where Lynn taught fourth grade at Capshaw Elementary School. In those years, she taught as many as 40 children each day, work Ronnie said she loved.
“She poured herself into those students,” he said.
Her devotion to education later inspired him to establish and endow a Teacher of the Year award at Capshaw. The award recognizes teachers who, like Lynn, demonstrate commitment to students and includes a crystal award and $1,000.
After completing his doctorate, Erwin served eight years in the military and later entered the food industry. His career eventually took him to the Heath candy company, where he became the first person outside the Heath family to lead the business.
When the company was sold to a European corporation, Erwin established a management consulting firm. He said lessons from mentors such as Parham and Randolph shaped his management style, particularly his conviction that employees are a company’s most important asset.
Lynn remained beside him through each transition.
“God blessed us with major career advancements, and she would always say, ‘If you want to do this, we can do it,’” Erwin said. “There this wonderful lady was standing beside me, always encouraging me, just saying we can do this.”
Erwin closed his consulting business when Lynn became ill. Even then, he said, she continued comforting and encouraging others. While working on their book series, “Stars Over Texas,” Lynn asked him to promise he would complete the project.
“I want you to finish our book,” she told him.
Erwin’s gift also preserves Parham’s legacy. Parham encouraged him to become involved in the university’s rodeo team despite Erwin having no previous rodeo experience.
Through the team, Erwin formed close friendships and became more involved in campus life, eventually serving as president of Tech’s chapter of the National Block and Bridle Club.
“Dr. Parham wasn’t just a professor; he was a true mentor,” Erwin said. “Like my wife, he saw potential in his students and encouraged it to come out, but not in a demanding way.”
Parham entered the National Guard as a private and served during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War era before retiring as a colonel. He also envisioned a comprehensive dairy complex at Tech where students could produce cheese, process milk and make ice cream for serving on campus.
Erwin hopes photographs and information displayed in the new building’s foyer will share Parham’s contributions with future students. He has also contributed to a scholarship established in Parham’s name for agriculture students and plans to continue supporting it.
Latour said Erwin’s story reflects Tech’s longstanding tradition of faculty members who are personally committed to student success.
“Even though I am new to Tech, the university has a long history of faculty members who reach out to students and encourage them to reach higher. The story shared by Dr. Erwin is similar to many others across this great institution,” Latour added.
For Erwin, the new building honors the people who helped him see possibilities beyond the future he first imagined. It also continues the example set by Parham and Lynn: recognizing potential in others and encouraging them to achieve more than they believed possible.