Oxford champions Patty and Will Lewis are giving to the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency project, the nonprofit stipend-supported writers residency being developed by the University of Mississippi.
Their $100,000 gift will help build Greenfield Farm on a 20.4-acre site between Oxford and New Albany, Mississippi, once owned by Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner and now by the university.
The two leaders are excited about what Greenfield Farm will mean to Ole Miss, Oxford and beyond.
“As longtime residents of the university community, we are proud to see its development as a cultural destination. We have known of the William Faulkner farm and accepted it casually, but now comes John T Edge, one of our own, to recognize its potential and have the enthusiasm and knowledge to develop the property in a greater way as a writers retreat with the title William Faulkner gave it, Greenfield Farm,” said Will Lewis.
“Oxford and Ole Miss are working partners in many projects, and this collaboration will sustain our long and prosperous relationship. The growth and international acclaim we enjoy occur when dreamers’ dreams come true. We hope others in our community will donate to this worthy cause,” Patty Lewis said.
Will Lewis and his family own J.E. Neilson Co. department store in Oxford, founded in 1839. It is now the oldest continuously operating store in the South and the 16th oldest in the nation — a beloved institution to generations.
Patty Lewis and her business partners owned and operated the popular Downtown Grill restaurant on the Oxford Square for 22 years.
Both devote time to the university, as Patty Lewis serves on the advisory board of the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts and as a founding member of the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy, a unique scholarship program providing mentoring, leadership training, and cultural and travel opportunities. Will Lewis gives of his time on Now & Ever: The Campaign for Ole Miss committee of the University Museum.
Edge, developer of the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency and director of the Mississippi Lab, said he sought Will Lewis’ opinion on the project from the beginning.
“When the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency was just an idea, Will Lewis was the first person I talked to,” he said. “He knew the property, its history as a mule farm and its stewardship by William Faulkner.
“From that first conversation to this important moment, Patty and Will Lewis have strongly believed in this project. This is the sort of gift, by respected arts and culture leaders, that makes a big difference.”
Enhancing the strong literary tradition of Oxford and the university, each year Greenfield Farm is projected to cultivate 50-60 writers who work in Mississippi or are inspired by the state’s history and culture. Writers will stay an average of two to three weeks at no charge and stipends of $1,000 per week will be awarded to those utilizing the overnight studios.
Support for the Greenfield Farm campus now tops $4.5 million, and the project is being designed by the national award-winning firm Marlon Blackwell Architects of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Construction is expected to begin late this year. It includes four studios and a gathering pavilion with the Julia Evans Reed Kitchen at its heart. The campus will also feature a restored farm shed and the late writer Rev. Will D. Campbell’s relocated cabin.
Walking trails and communal spaces will connect writers to the natural world. Exhibits will tell the story of this land and the people associated with it, beginning with the Chickasaws, including the McJunkins family who worked the land and concluding with Faulkner.
Will Lewis, a native of Oxford, earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1958 from Ole Miss and graduated from its School of Law in 1962. Patty Lewis pursued a business administration degree and graduated in 1962.
They have a family of Ole Miss graduates: son Goodloe Lewis earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1994, and his wife, Angela Avery, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992. Daughter Lydia Lewis Myers graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994, and her husband, Carter B. Myers, received a Juris Doctor degree in 1998. Daughter Amanda Lewis Hyneman completed a Bachelor of Public Administration in 1994, and her husband, Brian Hyneman, earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1994 and a Juris Doctor degree in 1998. Grandson Henry Lewis Hyneman is now a sophomore on the Oxford campus.
The couple has four other grandsons: William and Avery Lewis, Carter Myers, and Howard Hyneman.
The longtime financial supporters of academics and athletics at Ole Miss also have given their alma mater research materials. Will Lewis, who purchased Neilson’s with his sister in 1964, donated a collection of handwritten accounting ledgers, correspondence and daybooks from Neilson’s in 2016 to the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the university’s J.D. Williams Library. The 63 volumes, dating from the 1870s to the 1990s, offer a fascinating glimpse into the history of Lafayette County and Oxford. Lewis’ father, Will Lewis Sr., worked at Neilson’s beginning in 1912.
To support the Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, send a check with the fund’s name written in the memo line, to the UM Foundation, at 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655 or visit online here.
For more information about Greenfield Farm Writers Residency, contact John T Edge, developer and director, at johnt@olemiss.edu or 662-715-9046.
By Tina H. Hahn/UM Development