Jim Wall

Dr. James T. Wall died November 17, 2018 in Cookeville, TN at his home. James was born Sunday September 10, 1933 in Putnam County (now a part of Cookeville) to the late Wilkes Hammock and Neta Ozenia Williams Wall. He attended the Cookeville Schools, Seventh Street School (located where the Tennessee Tech's STEM center now is) and Cookeville City School (where the Cookeville City Hall is now located). He played football, basketball, and American Legion baseball at Cookeville Central High School. He was the sports editor of both the newspaper, the annual, a member of the Beta Club, and participated in forensics-debating, oration, and declamation. He was the leading man or cast member in the Speech Club play, and the junior and senior plays. In addition, he led and emceed a troupe of singers that performed at area high schools. In 1951, Dr. Wall enrolled at Tennessee Tech where he was a member of the track, swimming (placing in the Southeastern A.A.U. breaststroke competition), boxing (competed in the Mid-State Golden Gloves), and tennis teams. He sang with the Tech Choir and played in the Golden Eagle Marching and Concert Bands. He was included in the selections for "Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities." He was the editor of The Oracle (The Tech student newspaper), and sports editor of The Eagle (the college yearbook). He started an alumni newsletter that has today morphed into the Tech Alumni magazine. Dr. Wall was the president of the Wesley Foundation, the Methodist student organization, and created The Wesley Founder newsletter for that organization. He graduated from Tech in 1955 with a B.S. degree in social science and was commissioned through the R.O.T.C. program as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. James received basic Signal Corps officer training at Fort Monmouth, New Jersy, and Infantry officer training at a satellite camp, Camp Wood, where he was recognized as tops in his 25-officer training group. After graduation, he joined the 25th Signal Battalion and was stationed in Kaiserslautern and then Karlsruhe, but spent much of his time in field maneuvers and was promoted to first lieutenant. The 25th had to provide communications to simulate 7th Army headquarters each time any 7th Army unit went on maneuvers. In 1957, Dr. Wall returned to the U.S. and transferred to the Army's active reserve. He enrolled in Georgetown University's Graduate School of International Relations in Washington, D.C. Simultaneously, he worked for a time at the national headquarters of AMVETS (American Veterans of World War II and Korea), then later, accepted the position on Capitol Hill of legislative aide to Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. On Kefauver's staff, Dr. Wall focused on issues under the jurisdiction of the judiciary committee, as well as those dealing with public power, including especially the Tennessee Valley Authority. He also traveled with the senator to Tennessee counties, where the senator introduced Wall as his "alter ego." In 1959, Dr. Wall left Senator Kefauver's staff, and signed on as an operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. After two years at the CIA headquarters in Washington, the Department of State dispatched him to CIA operations in Chile (serving in South America for four years- Additionally, teaching in Mexico & Puerto Rico for 1 � years). There he was assigned to "unofficial cover," ostensible a student having no connection with the U.S. government. In his cover role, Wall enrolled in the Graduate School of Latin American Economics of the University of Chile in Santiago. Ultimately, Dr. Wall would receive the equivalent of a Master's Degree from the University of Chile. In Chile, Dr. Wall worked closely with student political organizations in that country's 10 (at the time) universities. In Chile, university student leadership is aligned with the national political parties. In addition, he helped with the effort to deny Cuban and Soviet penetration into the Chilean political system. In 1963, the agency transferred Dr.Wall to Ecuador, where he served under "official" cover (i.e., with diplomatic status in the U.S. Embassy In Quito). Among other activities, he oversaw the operations of a congenial radio station. In 1965, he parted with the Agency in order to resume his doctoral studies in Latin American history at George Washington University in Washington. He later transferred to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and received his Ph. D in Latin American history in 1974. While at U.T., Dr. Wall taught the freshman American history course. Dr. Wall began a long stint at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) in the Washington suburbs, the largest multi-campus community college in America (with 75,000 students at the time). He was quickly named a tenured professor, a title grandfathered when the college shortly thereafter discontinued the practice of awarding tenure. His time at NOVA was regularly interrupted by teaching positions at various universities. Dr. Wall taught a variety of courses, including Latin American history, American history (and the honors course), Western Civilization, American military history, and the Vietnam War. Dr. Wall was a professional lecturer at Georgetown University (1979-1982), teaching American military history. In the mid-eighties, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at Edinburgh University in Scotland, lecturing on topics in American history. In the late eighties, he served as adjunct professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he taught Latin American history and World history. This was followed by another Fulbright appointment at the National University in Costa Rica, where he taught international organizations (in the political science department) and a seminar on the United States in the Caribbean, as well as American and Latin American history. This was the fifth university at which Dr. Wall taught. In 2004, Dr. Wall was named Faculty of the Year at NOVA. Subsequently retiring, he was awarded the title Emeritus Professor. Dr. Wall was the author of five books on history: From the Law of Moses to the Magna Carta, The Landscape of American History, Manifest Destiny Denied, the Boundless Frontier, and Wall Street and the Fruited Plain. He was also the author of dozens of articles published in academic journals and the presenter of many papers at academic conferences. Dr. Wall continued his service in the U.S. Army Active Reserve. He was a graduate of the Command and General Staff College (C&GS), the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Air War College, and the Foreign Area Officers Course. He was an instructor in the Officers' Advanced Course, the non-resident C&GS College, and the First Army Intelligence School at Fort Meade, Maryland. In 1981, he achieved the rank of full colonel in the Civil Affairs branch of the U.S. Army. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter, he served as Civilian Aide for the State of Virginia under Secretary of the Army, Clifford Alexander. The post carried the protocol rank of lieutenant general. In 1990, Dr. Wall was honored with induction into the Tennessee Tech R.O.T.C. Hall of Fame. Dr. Wall was a life-long member of the United Methodist Church. He sang in church choirs, led adult Sunday School classes and was a designated lay speaker, occasionally occupying the pulpit. At Annandale (Virginia) United Methodist Church, of which Dr. Wall was a member for a quarter of a century, he served on the disaster response team, the missions committee, was the church historian and archivist, and was responsible for the maintenance and use of Annandale's historic (1870) "Little White Church." For many years, Dr. Wall participated in the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM), going on about thirty missions in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa for construction, reconstruction, and disaster relief. Among the projects were rehabilitation of an orphanage in Ivanova, Russis, church construction in Sieulai, Lithuania, church organization in Hungary, excavation of the runs Bethsaida, Israel, and well-diggin in Tina Tina, Mozambique. In Latin America, projects were undertaken in Manaus and Boa Vista, Brazil, and nine trips were made to Haiti in response to hurricanes and an earthquake. A Methodist old folk's home was repaired and expanded in Havana, Cuba, and reconstruction work was done after two hurricanes swept over Grand Bahama Island in the Caribbean. In the United States, disaster response teams were dispatched to New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy, to North Carolina after hurricane damage, and five times to the Gulf Coast (New Orleans and Gulfport, Mississippi) after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Dr. Wall served on construction teams in the Guyan Valley of West Virginia, a depressed coal-mining region, and in building a large church on the Torres-Martinez Desert Indian Reservation in the Coachilla Valley of California. Dr. Wall was a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association, the Reserve Officers Association, the Fulbright Association, and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He was also a member of the President's Club at Tennessee Tech University, the Wesley Council of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and a trustee of the United Methodist Virginia Conference Historical Society. In his career, Dr. Wall lived in seven countries on three continents, and he was in 60 countries in all. He is survived by a brother, John Wall and his long-time friend, Dora Yates of Algood; two sisters, Anita Moore of Memphis and Lula Bartholomew of Oak Ridge; and several nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Wilkes Hammock Wall, Jr. The family will receive friends Tuesday from 11:00 am until service time at Hooper Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home. Funeral services will be Tuesday, November 20 at 1:00 p.m. from the Chapel of Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home with Dr. Martin Thielen and Rev. Rob Wheeler officiating. Interment with Military Honors will follow in the Algood City Cemetery. Hooper Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements (931) 526-6111. You may share your thoughts and memories at hhhfunerals.com.