Family’s Dedication Supports Generations of Volunteers
Volunteer legacies run deep in East Tennessee, with stories that bridge tragedy, passionate dedication, and often an inspired spirit of generosity that creates opportunity for future generations.
One such epic story began in the mid-1950s as two young UT professors were building both their academic careers and a life together. Their Volunteer Spirit endures today through fellowships and scholarship endowments that support UT students.
The Durant da Ponte American Literature Fellowship is granted to an outstanding student writing a doctoral dissertation in American literature. The John C. Osborne Fellowship in German enables students to travel, live, and study in German-speaking countries.
The connection for these fellowships is the late Martha Lee Osborne, a longtime UT philosophy professor who built a storied career at UT and shared her gratitude with the university through dedication and generous memorial gifts.
Building a Legacy
Martha Lee Pennebaker was born in 1928. The daughter of two college professors, she also sought an academic career. She earned her master’s degree at Bryn Mawr College in 1951, took a role as head of the English department at Fairfax Hall Junior College in Waynesboro, Virginia, then joined the UT Department of English faculty in 1954.
At UT, Martha Lee met and married another English professor, Durant da Ponte, a specialist in American literature. University rules at the time prohibited married faculty members from working in the same department, so she took a role in the Department of Philosophy. She focused on the works of Plato and feminist philosophy in her long tenure with the department.
The da Ponte family grew as son David and daughter Graham joined them, and Durant took on a campus-wide leadership role as assistant dean of the UT Graduate School. He still taught classes in American literature and modern drama, and the latter topic took him to the University of Maryland in 1964 to deliver a presentation on “The Women in the Plays of Tennessee Williams.”
Durant’s return flight from Baltimore ended tragically. July 9 of 2024 marked the 60th anniversary of the United Airlines plane crash near Parrottsville in Cocke County. It is still considered the worst air disaster in East Tennessee history.
Durant was remembered fondly that fall by David Hall, the then-student editor of the Orange and White, the biweekly precursor to the Daily Beacon campus newspaper.
“In da Ponte, the student truly found a teacher who took a mature and meaningful approach to the responsibility of directing the development of minds,” wrote Hall.
Launching a History of Giving
A few years after losing Durant, Martha Lee married Professor John C. Osborne of the UT German department, forging a new union between the two dedicated Vol academics. In the late 1960s, John helped found the German PhD program and spent decades of service to UT building a library collection for advanced studies in German.
After reaching a wrongful death settlement with the airline, Martha Lee and John set aside portions of the proceeds to ensure educational funds for David and Graham and a remaining portion to honor Durant’s memory.
“Mom’s share, although she never described it as such, established the da Ponte scholarship,” said Graham.
The Osbornes established both the scholarship and a library endowment in Durant’s memory, launching a history of giving that continues to benefit UT students.
After John Osborne’s death in 2002, UT Professor Emeritus Jeff Mellor, a longtime friend and colleague, described his tremendous impact for the German department in a memorial article in the 2004 issue of Higher Ground.
“In the 50 years that UT has had a German graduate program, we’ve had 132 theses and dissertations produced, and John sat on 82 of those committees, chairing 34,” said Mellor. “He was an absolute workhorse.”
Martha Lee Forges On
Martha Lee also built an amazing reputation at UT across her long career. She earned a PhD in philosophy in 1978, became chair of the women’s studies department in 1981, and established herself as a force of modern-day feminism. She delivered numerous papers at professional conferences and researched topics such as “Woman in Greek Thought: Augustine’s Egalitarian Ethics” and “A Man Called Socrates: In Defense of Male Chauvinist Philosophers.” She published two books in her long career: Woman in Western Thought (1979) and Genuine Risk: A Dialogue on Woman (1981).
She kept moving forward even when she was widowed again in 2002, maintaining an active and vibrant social calendar. She became well known in the Knoxville theater community for her many appearances in productions at the Carousel and Knoxville community theaters.
Martha Lee established the Osborne scholarship, and another library endowment, in 2004. When she passed away in 2019, she was remembered with a veritable thesaurus of accolades: resilient, progressive, tough, wise, funny, charming, eloquent, worldly, popular, kind, loyal, respected, irreverent, unconventional, beautiful, and iconic.
Family Bonds
The surviving Osborne/da Ponte siblings feel forever forged together as one family. David and Graham da Ponte and John and Laurie Osborne share pride and gratitude for the contributions made by their parents.
“Durant, Martha Lee, and John were extraordinary in their fields,” said their son John. “All three made long-lasting commitments to the University of Tennessee. And all three were highly regarded and well-known ambassadors for the school.”
The family has plans to continue this ambassadorship through a scholarship endowment or similar memorial established in their mother’s name.
“We are working to put together an honorarium for Martha Lee, who was an absolute powerhouse,” said son John.
Ongoing Impact
Professor Ben Lee, director of graduate studies in the English department, is the current point person for choosing the da Ponte Fellow each year. He consults with graduate faculty to identify an exceptional PhD student, in their fourth or fifth year, who is in the process of writing their dissertation on American literature.
Henry Kirby—who successfully defended his dissertation in July 2024—was the most recent da Ponte Fellow.
“It could not have come at a better time for me,” said Kirby. “Both the financial award and the course release allowed some peace of mind and space to breathe while I entered into the most crucial, nose-to-the-grindstone period of my dissertation writing.”
Kirby will serve as a postdoctoral teaching fellow in the English department for 2024–2025. The second most recent da Ponte Fellow was Rachel Bryan, who now teaches as a lecturer in the UT English department.
The Osborne Scholarship recipients are chosen by German department faculty together based on the criteria in the award description. The scholarship is open to graduate students or advanced under-graduate students to support their studies in German. The most recent winners are Aubrey Bader—who defended her master’s thesis this summer—and Konrad Szymanowski, who is working toward earning his master’s degree.
“Receiving the Osborne scholarship was a great honor and assistance,” said Szymanowski. During his 2024 study abroad in Germany, this funding enabled him to travel and research in Lusatia, a German region central to his studies. “Without this scholarship, I’m not certain whether I could have afforded this additional trip. Consequently, I would have missed out on much of the vital insight I received, which I hope to incorporate into my thesis.”
Back on the UT Knoxville campus, Szymanowski looks forward to pursuing his PhD, or possibly more international experiences.
“The Osborne scholarship helped set these plans in motion,” he said. “I am indebted to its help for enabling this first step into the actual field of research.”
These new successes would surely bring smiles to the dedicated educators whose thoughtful actions of years past continue to light the torch of opportunity for Volunteers.
By Randall Brown