Alpheus Cary Koon, Jr. (son of Alpheus Cary Koon, MD - 1890-1953) and Jennie Carlyle Powers Koon - 1898-2001). He is the uncle of Wiley Emmett Koon, Jr., founder of this web site. I can think that this was taken in March of 1937, when he was a pre-medical student at the University of Tennessee (as was his father's, Alpheus Cary Koon, MD who graduated from here in 1916; my father Wiley Emmett Koon, MD and my brother, Dr. James Earl Koon followed those foosteps). He later left there to become a great ballet dancer and partnered the greatest ballerinas of that time (Ballet Theatre, now American Ballet Theatre, 1941-1945). He formed the Tampa Ballet in 1953, and my grandmother, Jennie Carlyle Powers Koon, designed and made the costumes I, Wiley Emmett Koon, Jr., have a great deal in common with my uncle - he went to college first and then joined the ballet, I, on the other hand, joined the ballet and then went on to receive my BA and MA and am now working for a doctorate - not medical, though. So I suppose we are visa versa, as it were.The costumes from the first performance of the Tampa Ballet as well as his notes, etc. are now on permanent display at the Tampa Historical Society. I, Wiley, did this myself with a great celebration in 1995! My uncle has always and will be an inspiration to me and I can only hope to live up to the "Beacon" which he became! To all my family! Wiley, Jr. |