Tri-State Reflections: Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia

Jerry H. Summers is a practicing attorney in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He has served as an assistant district attorney and municipal judge since he began the practice of law in 1966. His entire life has been lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee except for seven years in St. Petersburg, Florida, between the ages of seven and fourteen.He has argued cases before the United States and Tennessee Supreme courts and has been involved in numerous landmark decisions in both civil and criminal law.His peers in the legal profession have elected him to membership in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, American College of Trial Lawyers, International Society of Barristers, American Board of Trial Advocates, American Board of Criminal Lawyers, and he has been selected every year since 1981 as one of the Best Lawyers in America for the 40th consecutive year in both personal injury and criminal law. In 2019 he was selected as a Fellow in the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. In 2021, he was chosen to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. By an unsolicited vote of the lawyers of Tennessee, he has consistently been selected as one of the "Best 100 Lawyers in Tennessee" and "Mid-South Super Lawyers."Orange Grove Center and the Chattanooga Bar Association have both honored him as Philanthropist of the Year for his community work. In 2007 he was selected as Distinguished Alumnus at the Centennial Celebration of Chattanooga Central High School, and in 2021 he was inducted into Central's Sports Hall of Fame.In 2014 he was honored by being designated as the Distinguished Alumnus at the University of the South at Sewanee, and in 2016 the University of Tennessee at Knoxville designated him as one of the Distinguished Alumnus at that institution. In 2021 he was selected for the James W. Livingood Historian of the Year Award by the Chattanooga Area Historical Association.

A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Karen Paul Stone holds a BA degree in French and Spanish from the University of Kentucky and founded Waldenhouse Publishers, Inc. in 1995 near Chattanooga. She serves as Editor in Chief and principal designer. She is also Editor of McCoy Farm & Gardens Newsletter in Walden, TN. She was co-founder of Ashland Press in 1975 and for ten years a principal of Transylvania Printing Company, both in Lexington, KY. She is author of several books and writes for "The Mountain Mirror" newspaper.