Rosa nell speer powell biography of michael

The Lawrence County Historical Society met Aug. 22 at the Southern Tennessee Higher Education Center. The meeting was called to order by President Curtis Peters and the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag was led by Lynn Pettus.

The speaker for the meeting was William “Will” Pettus, who presented a program on the Speer Family and Southern Gospel Music, specifically the time they spent in Lawrence County, which was about 12 years from 1929 to 1941. 

Will has a strong interest in Southern Gospel Music here in Lawrence County since both of his grandmothers played piano and lived during the heyday of the local Vaughan School of Music.

He is related to the Speer family on his maternal grandmother’s side of the family. His great-grandmother was a sister to Lena “Mom” Speer.

Will said, “Lena Brock Speer had a sister named Calera Brock who became a Denson, and she had a daughter named Martha Jewell Denson, who had a d