H.M. SPAIN, FORESTER, DIES

Harrison M. Spain, a nationally known forester and father of the late Brig. Gen. DeWitt S. Spain, dies Monday night at his home at 338 Greenway Road.  He was 96. 

Mr. Spain, born in Olney, Ill., moved to Memphis in 1907 and worked for the old Nickey Bros. Lumber Co. and other companies until founding H.M. Spain & Co. Foresters in 1910.

His work carried him to Central and South American and to all parts of the Unites States.  During his career, he designed a table for computing the number of board feet in a tree, a table that is still in use.

His former home, on Yates Road in subdivision know as Spainwood, was known as a showplace for azaleas.  Since his retirement in 1949, Mr. Spain had devoted much of his time to raising camellias.

DeWitt Spain Airport was named for Mr. Spain’s son, who was the first Air Force adviser to the Air National Guard Unit when it was formed here in 1946.

Gen. Spain, who dies in 1969, was inspector general for the Air Force’s Tactical Air Command at the time of his death.  During World War II he served in the Pacific Theater.  He retired after the war but returned to active duty in August 1950.

Another of Mr. Spain’s sons, W. Waddington Spain, died last year.

Mr. Spain was a 32^nd –degree Mason and a member of Woodland Presbyterian Church.

Services will be at 3:45 p.m. today at Woodland Presbyterian Church with burial in Memorial Park.  Memphis Funeral Home Poplar Chapel has charge.

He leaves his wife, Mrs. Louise Cody Spain; two sons, H.M. Spain Jr., of Memphis and John N. Spain of Middlebury, Conn.; 7 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Spainwood Ave. named for Harrison M Spain

by Ann Meeks, Streetscapes

            Spainwood Avenue in East Memphis and the Spainwood subdivision were named for Harrison Milburn Spain Sr., nationally known timber estimator.

            Born in Olney, Ill., Spain went to Cheyenne, Wyo., right out of high school, working in the post office.  He raised enough money to invest in a large flock of sheep.

            After returning home, he decided to drive a covered wagon with a team of mules from Illinois to Mississippi, where new lands were being developed by the railroads.  He acquired some land there and sold it before moving to Memphis in 1907, where his experience as a lumberman began with Nickey Bros. Lumber Co.

            He founded his own business, H.M. Spain & Co. Foresters, in 1910.  His work carried him across the United States and to Central and South America, and he designed a widely used table for computing the number of board feet in a tree.

            His former home on Yates Road was known as a show place for azaleas.  The home, on 171/2 acres, was surrounded by more than 300 oak trees and thousands of tulips, along with an abundance of fruit trees and berries.  He shared his love of gardening with a “Visitors Welcome” sign in his yard.

            His wife, Hazel Waddington Spain, who died in 1943, was one of Memphis’s most active Red Cross workers.  Their son, Brig. Gen. DeWitt S. Spain, who died in 1969, was the first Air Force advisor to the Air National Guard unit in Memphis when it was formed in 1946.  DeWitt Spain Airport, serving downtown Memphis, was named in his honor.

            Harrison M. Spain Sr. died in 1978 at the age of 96.

            Spainwood Avenue runs west off Yates Road to Valleybrook Drive.

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