Arline Winchester Guyton
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Emily Arline Winchester Guyton, age 87, passed away on January 30, 2021. She had very happily resided at Sherrill Hills Retirement Community in Knoxville for more than four years. Arline was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, on November 19, 1933, the only child of Holton Thomas Spurgeon Winchester and Mamie Norita Winchester (nee Raley.) The family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana when Arline was six weeks of age. She graduated in 1954 from H. Sophie Newcomb College for Women, a coordinate college of Tulane University, in New Orleans. She married James Roy Guyton, Jr. and moved in 1955 to Nashville, Tennessee for Dr. Guyton's medical internship. In 1956 they moved to Shaw Air Force Base near Sumter, South Carolina, where Dr. Guyton was a captain in the Air Force at the base hospital. In 1958, they moved to Macon, Mississippi, where Dr. Guyton was in general medical practice. They now had two sons, Scott and Bruce, and Dr. Guyton delivered their daughter, Kelly, in Macon. In July 1959, the family moved to New Orleans where Dr. Guyton completed a three-year residency in Radiology at Tulane Medical Center and Charity Hospital. The family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in July 1962 where Dr. Guyton became associated with Dr. John Craven as a Radiologist at Presbyterian Hospital (now Fort Sanders Regional Hospital). Arline fulfilled a long time dream, which was without hesitation completely supported by her husband when she graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1971. She had a solo practice at first, then became associated with attorneys Amelia and Harry Strauss in the Burwell Building on Gay Street. After Amelia died and Harry retired, she joined with John Hogin (now deceased) and Myron Ely to become the firm of Ely, Hogin, and Guyton in the First American Bank Building on Gay Street. The firm evolved over the years, adding attorney James London, and moved to an office on Clinch Avenue near Fort Sanders Hospital. Other members of the firm were added: Margaret Klein, Bill Swan, Libba Bond, Tucker Montgomery, and Dale Amburn. When Arline's son-in-law, Matthew Frere, returned to Knoxville with a law degree from Louisiana State University and a tax law degree from Boston University, Arline left Hogin, Guyton, London, Montgomery, and Amburn to practice law with Matt in the firm of Guyton and Frere in Franklin Square, Knoxville. In 1991 Arline's daughter and Matt's wife, Kelly Guyton Frere, graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Law and joined the firm of Guyton and Frere, which is in its 34th year of specialization in Elder Law. Arline, at various times, served as Special Judge in the Knoxville Circuit and Chancery Courts. She retired from the practice of law in 2004.
At her death, Arline was a member of Union Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Farragut, with prior membership in the First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir City and in Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, Knoxville. She greatly enjoyed being a member of The Thursday Luncheon Club and had prior memberships in the Medical Auxiliary, the Knoxville Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Scottish Society of Tennessee, the Downtown Kiwanis Club, and other non-profit groups in Knoxville. She had also served on the Fort Sanders Hospital Foundation and helped set up the legalities for the East Tennessee Foundation. Among her many and various accomplishments, Arline served for many years as an Advisory Board Member and Secretary of the Board for the Knoxville Area Command of the Salvation Army and had served as legal advisor for the Knoxville Academy of Medicine Auxiliary and the now-closed St. Mary's School of Nursing. Early in her legal career, she endured with grace and a smile the negative comments from male law school professors, then Judges and attorneys, that she should be "home with her children" instead of pursuing a "male" profession. Her response was to win both of the law school's Moot Court competitions, and in practice to field the requests of seasoned (and more informed attorneys) to join them in practice. She was a gifted and prolific writer and did not hesitate until the end of her life to correct her children and grandchildren in the use of the English language.
Arline was predeceased by her husband, Dr. James Guyton, on January 21, 2008, and her son, James Scott Guyton, on December 1, 2014. She is survived by her son, United States Magistrate Judge Holton Bruce Guyton, and his wife, Stephanie, her daughter, Kelly Guyton Frere and her husband, Matthew Frere, her granddaughter, Emily Smallcomb and her husband, Chris, her granddaughter, Jenny Guyton McGlothin and her husband, Kevin, her grandson, Parker James Guyton, her great-granddaughter, Anna Holton McGlothin, and her great-grandson, Graham Michael McGlothin. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Patti Guyton Nuermberger and her husband, David, of Peewee Valley, Kentucky, and their sons, Dr. Eric Nuermberger (Dr. Shannon Nuermberger) of Towson, Maryland, and Brett Nuermberger (Nicole) of Denver, Colorado She is also survived by Judy Justice, her dear friend, confidante, and advisor.
The family wishes to thank the hands-on care given by her friend, Dottie, the caregivers at Angels Around the Clock (who stepped in when we needed them most), and the amazing team at U.T. Hospice who made her final months a time of dignity and comfort, which allowed her to stay in her home at Sherrill Hills until her passing.
It was Arline's specific instruction that while the threat of Covid-19 exists there would be no gathering to put her friends and loved ones at risk. Arline chose cremation and no memorial service. She was interred with her husband at the Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, Knoxville.
In lieu of flowers, should anyone wish to make a memorial charity donation, they can consider: The Dr. James R. Guyton, Jr. Leadership Scholarship Endowment, Bethel University, Office of the President, 325 Cherry Ave., McKenzie, TN, 38201. Arline and Jimmy established this endowment to support the efforts that Bethel makes to get trained health care personnel into rural communities.
Click Funeral Home is serving the family of Arline Guyton. www.clickfuneralhome.com