MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1993
Jim Prentiss stopped wearing neckties somewhere on the way to helping raise more than $10 million in private donations to the Memphis Zoo. “I’ve got a good thing going and I’m going to stay with it,” said Prentiss, a premier fundraiser for Memphis charities and volunteer board chairman of the Memphis Zoological Society. “Ties are pretty silly, if you just think about it. It would be wonderful if all men didn’t wear ties.” Prentiss, 66, a co-founder of Shoney’s restaurants, plunged full time into philanthropic work after he lost his restaurant chain, Shoney’s South Inc., to a leveraged buyout by TPI Enterprises Inc. in 1988. At the zoo Prentiss has headed the largest publicprivate fund-raising drive in the city’s history to expand and modernize outdated facilities.
50 years ago — 1968
An agreement between city and union officials that ended a 49-day walkout of employees at City of Memphis Hospitals was termed “acceptable” yesterday by Mayor Henry Loeb. Acting two days after members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO) unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding in an unannounced meeting, Mayor Loeb said: “I have reviewed the memorandum … reached by Director of city health services Odell Horton and former City Atty. Frank Gianotti and find it acceptable. We sincerely hope that this understanding will be the foundation for a relationship of good will at the City of Memphis Hospitals.”
75 years ago — 1943
Representative Albert Gore has left for his home in Carthage, Tenn., to wind up his affairs before being inducted into the Army next month. While he takes a leave of absence to serve, his wife will be in charge of his Washington office.
100 years ago — 1918
News reached Memphis yesterday that Capt. Everett Cook, in command of an aero squadron in France, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in action.
125 years ago — 1893
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Electrical propulsion of commercial boats on canals is feasible. Mule and steam power are doomed. Last night the Westinghouse Company put a motor into an old steamboat and she started off without a hitch, taking power from a trolley wire strung above. The electrical age is upon us.