Mayor Lonnie Norman, whose town hosts Bonnaroo, dies at 79

The music website jamb a n d s . c om p u b l i s h e d an item Oct. 14 about the death of Mayor Lonnie Norman of Manchester, Tennessee. It might seem unusual for such a site to note the passing of an elected official from a small city. But Manchester is home to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, the largest camping music festival in North Amer ica . A nd Norman was Manchester’s — and by association Bonnaroo’s — champion.

“For Lonnie, it was ‘ If I help here, it helps the greater good of my county, my state,’” Jeff Cuellar, a vice president of AC Entertainment, the co- producer of Bonnaroo, said in a phone interview.

Local officials don’t always embrace rock promoters. But Norman saw the economic benefits to his city (the festival injects tens of millions of dollars into the area each year), and believed in “community first,” Cuellar said.

T he mayor died Oct. 12 at a hospital in nearby Smyrna, Tennessee. He was 79. The cause was COVID-19, his daughter Priscilla Norman said.

Norman’s political career began in 1984, when he served as an alderman for Manchester, a city of 10,000 65 miles southeast of Nashville. In 1991, he was elected Manchester’s first Black mayor. He served one term in the office, which is part time.

Over the next 15 years, Norman held other positions in local government, including vice mayor. He then ran successfully for a second mayoral term in 2012. He was reelected in 2016, and again this August.

Norman helped revitalize Manchester’s downtown by promoting a buylocal program. He was instrumental in starting a recreation center. And he argued in favor of keeping the local hospital open.

He especially loved presenting the guitar- shaped key to his city to each year’s headliner of the Bonnaroo festival, which attracts tens of thousands of people to four days of per formances in June. ( This year’s festival was delayed and then canceled because of the pandemic.)

“That was what Lonnie was about, wanting to improve the community, wanting to make it a better place for our citizens,” Gary Cordell, mayor of Coffee County, which includes Manchester, said in a phone interview. ( Both the county and the city have a chief executive whose title is “mayor.”)

Priscilla Norman said her father’s involvement in politics flowed from his love of his hometown: “He just wanted to make a difference in the community that he grew up in.”

Lonnie J. Norman ( his middle initial did not stand for anything) was born in Manchester, where he would spend his entire life, on March 28, 1941. He was the oldest of four children of Jim Norman, who worked at an auto body shop, and Matilda ( Nevels) Norman, a homemaker.

Growing up in the segregated South, he was taught by his parents to treat everyone equally and with kindness, and always to be of service to people. He carried those lessons with him all his life.

After graduating from the segregated Davidson Ac a demy Hig h School in 1959, he went to work for Arnold Engineering Development C omplex, an aerospace test center headquartered at nearby Arnold Air Force Base. He began as a custodian and retired, 41 years later, as a supervisor.

His marriage to Mildred Pryor ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Priscilla, Norman is sur vived by another daughter, Deborah Guest; a son, Lonnie Jr.; a brother, Carl; a sister, Zeda Norman; and two grandchildren.