MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee System will expand its statewide mural campaign to West Tennessee during the week of June 3-7 with the creation of a mural displaying the “Everywhere you look, UT” message on a grain bin owned by Robinson & Belew Inc. in Sharon. Artist Troy Freeman is painting the mural.
A reception officially announcing the mural will be held at 9 a.m., June 7, on the old highway fronting the Robinson & Belew Inc. property along US-45E just seven miles south of the UT Martin main campus.
Robinson & Belew Inc. is a family-run business founded in 1950 that ships corn, soybeans and wheat to end-users around the world.
The late Bob Robinson established a small business near the railroad tracks in Sharon during the first half of the 20th century. He initially sold strawberries and coal and used the railroad to ship sweet potato slips throughout the United States. In 1950, he purchased the Sharon Feed Mill with his partner and brother-in-law, A.L. Belew, and Robinson & Belew Inc. was born. Robinson’s son, Robert Dean “R.D.” Robinson, earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from UT Martin in 1961 and came home to expand the business even further.
The Robinson family boasts three generations of UT Martin ties beginning with R.D. and including his sister, Betty Robinson Eddings (’72); his wife, Dianne Palmer Robinson (‘71); daughter, Linda Robinson Fowler (‘85), and her husband, Keith (’85); and two of the Fowler’s three children: Chris in 2012 and Rachel in 2015. Their youngest child, Emily, attends Union University in Jackson. R.D. and Dianne Robinson recently established the R.D. and Dianne Robinson Agriculture Scholarship for students attending UT Martin.
Keith Fowler currently serves as president and runs the day-to-day business operations on behalf of his father-in-law, whose health has declined.
The mural at Robinson & Belew Inc. is the second installment of the UT System’s statewide marketing campaign. In March 2018, the first mural was painted on a water tower atop Knox Rail Salvage in the heart of downtown Knoxville, a property owned by UT System Interim President Randy Boyd.
For more information, contact the UT Martin Office of University Relations at 731-881-7615.
Photo: Troy Freeman is shown painting the mural. (UTM photo).
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