by Lucinda Morabito
Edited on March 21, 2024.
Sally Crain-Jager was an influential educator and arts advocate in the Upper Cumberland. Sally Lucile Bonham was born on October 7, 1938, to Mabel Lucile Rodgers and George Raymond Bonham in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma. In high school, she was a division one flutist in band and orchestra, earned a chair in the all-state band, and was invited to join the National Art Honor Society for scholarship in the visual arts.
Crain-Jager graduated from high school in 1956 and stayed in Enid for college, attending Phillips University. She was a member of the university band and orchestra, secretary to both, and was president of the Eta Chapter of the Tau Beta Sigma band sorority. 1960 was an eventful year for Crain-Jager. She was elected Phillipian Queen. She also received her bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Painting and married Robert Crain, who graduated from Phillips University in 1959.
After spending two years as a commercial artist in Bloomington, Indiana, Crain-Jager moved to Chattanooga and took a position as an art teacher. In addition to teaching art in Chattanooga and Hamilton County elementary and high schools, she became a coordinator of the art program and Hamilton County’s first educational television art teacher.
In 1967, Crain-Jager began working as an instructor for the Tennessee Tech Department of Elementary Education, and she transitioned to the Art and Music Department in the mid-1980s. Crain-Jager taught at Tech for over 30 years, progressing from instructor to eventually full professor and, when she retired in 2001, professor emeritus. During her time at Tennessee Tech, she taught elementary school art, design, art history, art appreciation, introduction to painting, and introduction to drawing.
Crain-Jager took an active role on campus. She was a driving force in creating Tech’s art education and painting degree programs. She chaired the University Art Committee for several years and was a key factor in establishing the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery. Crain-Jager co-founded the annual Bacchanal, which funds a scholarship endowment for Tennessee Tech art students, and created a tradition of summer art workshops for children and teens at the Appalachian Center for Crafts.
In addition to being an educator and academic advisor, she had the following responsibilities at different times during her tenure, including Director of the Appalachian Center for Crafts, the Program Coordinator for art education and painting degree programs, and the Director of Art Education.
One of the most notable accomplishments of her career is the TV program “Young at Art.” In 1975, Crain-Jager created videotaped art lessons to air over local CATV for grades three through six. Teachers in the schools were given lesson plans to accompany the telecasts. Over the years, this program reached at least 1,300 students. The success of the local “Young at Art” series was a stepping stone to national syndication. In 1980, Crain-Jager filmed 30 programs for third and fourth graders for the East Tennessee public television station WSJK. She was the creator, writer, co-producer, director, and teacher of the series. “Young at Art” was syndicated in up to 25 states.
Not only was Crain-Jager continuously involved in art education projects and consultations for local schools and organizations, but she also participated in many professional and state-wide organizations, such as a Muser for Tennesse Arts Academy Musings in 1994, the President of the Tennessee Art Education Association, a faculty member of the Tennessee Governor’s Schools, and the Chair of the Tennessee Arts Commission Exhibition.
Crain-Jager regularly worked with arts and cultural activities and programs in the community. For example, she worked with local organizations and venues to arrange exhibitions of student artwork, create workshops and lectures for the public, and organize auctions for fundraising. Highlights from her community involvement include being President of the Cookeville Arts Council, set designer for the Cookeville Summer Theater, Chair of the Cookeville Regional Medical Center Foundation Art for Healing acquisition committee, and President of Friends of the Appalachian Center for Crafts following her retirement. Additionally, she wrote a bi-weekly question-and-answer column called “Art to Art” in the Putnam County Herald-Citizen and helped establish the annual Art Prowl in Cookeville, Tenn.
Crain-Jager received numerous honors and awards for her involvement and passion for art education and community arts. Some of the awards and honors she received were Outstanding Woman of the Year from Lambda Theta (1976), the School Bell Award from the Tennessee Education Association (1976), Outstanding University Professor from Phi Delta Kappa (1978), Tennessee Art Education Association’s Higher Education Art Educator of the Year (1993), the Joe W. Giles Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Arts Academy (2005),
After developing an interest in painting, Crain-Jager was a prolific painter for the rest of her life. She participated in numerous exhibits, exhibiting locally, regionally, and nationally. She worked in various styles but may be most known for her large, abstract, nature-based acrylic paintings. Landscapes often inspired her in Tennessee, the Southwest, and the Midwest.
Sally Crain-Jager had two children who shared her artistic talent: Barry Crain, an artist, and Brooke Martin, a Tech Alumnus and pianist. In 1992, Crain-Jager married Dr. Robert E. Jager, a composer and Tech music professor. Jager composed “The Sally Garden” as a wedding present and played it at their wedding. Crain-Jager retired in 2001. In 2009, Crain-Jager and Jager moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
They returned to Cookeville in 2011, and Crain-Jager taught at Nashville State Community College. At this time, she helped develop the art collection for the Art for Healing program at the Cookeville Regional Medical Center. Art for Healing created a permanent and growing art collection to comfort patients, visitors, and hospital personnel.
Sally Crain-Jager died in 2014. Crain-Jager interacted with and influenced numerous organizations and countless students. She has undoubtedly left a legacy. In 2015, Tennessee Tech hosted a commemorative exhibition to generate funding for a scholarship endowment, the Sally Crain-Jager Memorial Art Scholarship. In 2015, the community organized an exhibit, “Sally Forth … in Layers,” which provided additional funding for the scholarship endowment. She was posthumously awarded the first Cookeville Regional Charitable Foundation Champion Award (2015). Her work was also celebrated annually through numerous events that collaborated to create, including Cookeville’s Art Prowl and the Art for Healing program, the annual Bacchanal celebration, and the Sally Crain-Jager Student Art Exhibition at the Cookeville Performing Arts Center.
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Cookeville Regional Medical Center. Crazy with the Heat (photo of painting). Courtesy of John Bell.
Cookeville Regional Medical Center. Turbulence (photo of painting). Courtesy of John Bell.
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Tennessee Tech press release describing community involvement in providing art scholarships to Tech students. From Tennessee Tech Archives, Record Group 52 Office of Communications and Marketing records, Box 89, Folder 9, September 20, 1995.
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Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [“Creative clay” for students of all ages.] Press Release, October 10, 1977. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [“Young at Art” airs across Tennessee.] Press Release, September 29, 1980. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [Large decorative posterboard eggs.] Press Release, April 6, 1977. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [Old-time mountain crafts lecture and exhibit by Sally Crain.] Press Release, September 15, 1978. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
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Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [Sally Crain nominated for 1980 Outstanding Faculty Awards.] Press Release, March 26, 1980. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [Seven public lectures and discussions on the heritage of the Upper Cumberland.] Press Release, November 13, 1975. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. [Tennessee Tech once again is sponsoring a special videotape program for the “Young at Art.”] Press Release, January 16, 1975. Record Group 52, Communications and Marketing, Office of records. Box 14, Folder 5.
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Tennessee Tech University, Archives and Special Collections. Manuscript, The Sally Garden, played at his wedding to Sally Lucile Bonham Crain (copy), 1992. Record Group 131, Robert E. Jager papers. Box 6, Folders 11.
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Secondary Sources:
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Find a Grave. Sally Lucile Bonham Jager. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139109185/sally-lucile-jager.
