Mrs. Lynn’s Twelve Days of Christmas

By Andy and Jo Ann Anderson

This article originally appeared in the Old North News.

Mrs. Edith Lynn, a longtime resident of Old North Knoxville, was a very interesting and colorful lady. She was born in 1891 and passed away December 16, 1988. She died four days before her 97th birthday. She lived on West Glenwood Avenue in a house, that she told us, was built by her husband-to-be, Dr. William Lynn. Mrs. Lynn lived there from her wedding in 1913 until her death.

She was a troop leader of Girl Scout Troop 12 for 37 years. When she retired from the troop in 1965, her troop number was also retired. One of Mrs. Lynn’s interests was celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas, which began on Christmas Day and went into the next year. Her Girl Scouts would help set up a live tree and place real candles on it. Twelve different people were invited to her party on each of the twelve nights. Additionally, there was always someone standing on her basement steps with a water hose, in case the tree caught on fire.

Former residence of Mrs. Lynn on West Glenwood Ave

Jo Ann and I attended several of her parties. The same two games were always played and involved two collections Mrs. Lynn kept.

She had a mouse collection she was very proud of, which included ceramic, wood, marble, pottery, and paper mache mice. They ranged in size, with the largest mouse approximately 3 inches tall. One game was to hide a small mouse collectible (in plain sight) in her living room and the guests (who were in another room when the mouse was hidden) would then try to find it. When each person found the mouse, they would quietly sit down, and the last person to find it was the last one standing and the game’s loser.

For the second game, Mrs. Lynn would then pass out various copies of the book The Night Before Christmas. She had an extensive collection which included different versions of the book by different authors and illustrators. Using the different versions of the book, guests would count the number of mice illustrated in the version they’d been handed. The one with the most mice would receive a miniature Heath candy bar.

When it was time to light the tree, everyone would leave the room except for Mrs. Lynn and one other person who helped light the candles. Before everyone returned, she started playing a recording of O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree), sung by Nat King Cole. As her guests returned to a room that was only lit by candles, she would tell everyone to squint their eyes and notice how the candle flames looked like stars. Mrs. Lynn would then start putting out the candles until only one was left lit, at which point she would call attention to the amount of light the one candle put out.

Then came refreshments. The refreshments were always the same. You were given a Heath bar, two lemon thin cookies, some chips (always the same number), and punch. This was served on her Wedgwood collector plates that were dated. The guest with the oldest plate won an extra Heath bar. Mrs. Lynn had a piano in her living room and someone played Christmas songs after refreshments were finished. On the twelfth night her former Girl Scouts helped take down the tree. They would then burn it in her back yard. It always burnt very fast because it was so dry!

She was always proud of her Girl Scouts, several of whom went on to earn the top Girl Scout awards. According to the alumni at Girl Scout headquarters, Mrs. Lynn was known as a strict, but loving, disciplinarian. She believed in the Girl Scout Promise, the Laws, the Girl Scout way, having respect, and being patriotic.

Mrs. Lynn was personal friends with Olave, Lady Baden-Powell (pronounced Poewell, as Mrs. Lynn was quick to correct anyone who pronounced it like it looks). Lady Baden-Powell’s late husband was Lord Robert Baden-Powell who started the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides (now the Girl Scouts) movements. Mrs. Lynn stayed at Lady Baden-Powell’s home in England and Lady Baden-Powell stayed with Mrs. Lynn here in Knoxville. Lady Baden-Powell was known to Girl Scouts as the Chief World Guide. The Tanasi Girl Scout Council developed the Edith Lynn Heritage Award in the early 1980s to honor what was termed as Mrs. Girl Scout of Knoxville.

Another colorful aspect of Mrs. Lynn was a story in the original The Knoxville Journal written in 1979. The article was a feature written in Tennessee Travels by Vic Weals. It was about Mrs. Lynn learning to drive a car in 1912. She was taught by her future husband, Dr. William Napolean Lynn, who at that time was the superintendent at the Lincoln Memorial Hospital. This hospital was located across the street from where the General Hospital was located. Both of these hospitals have been torn down and the Knox Co. Health Department is now where the old General Hospital was located. Mrs. Lynn learned to drive on an automobile called a Marathon. In the article, it was written that she “is one of three women in Knoxville who now drive their own automobile.” Dr. Lynn left the Lincoln Memorial Hospital for private practice and was eventually one of the founding doctors of St. Mary’s Hospital. He passed away in 1942.

In the years we knew Mrs. Lynn, she was quite an interesting person and a good neighbor.