Austin College in Sherman, Texas, was one of many sites around the country celebrating William Faulkner's 100th birthday. The celebration in Sherman had a special motif, centering not around cake or candles, but trees. Professor Jerry Lincecum and students from his Faulkner course gathered to dedicate a chinkapin oak as the Faulkner Centenary Oak and, alongside this native Texas tree, to plant seedlings raised from the site of Faulkner's gravesite in Oxford.

The tree-planting project was the brainchild of Cornell University graduate student James Stevens and his father, Tom, of Memphis, Tennessee. The two men have taken part in the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference in Oxford for several summers. This past year while at Faulkner's gravesite James noted the oak trees nearby and thought of a special memorial for the author. He and his father returned to the grave in December to collect 100 acorns, which they planted and raised into young trees in their garage.

James and Tom Stevens later offered the seedlings to Faulkner fans in exchange for a contribution to the Center. Several organizations and colleges throughout the South planted seedlings in connection with special Faulkner centennial celebrations. James Stevens and friends in the English Department at Cornell held a Faulkner centenary birthday party at Cornell, but did not plant seedlings for fear they wouldn't survive the New York winter.

For information about the seedlings, contact Jerry Lincecum at 512-813-2357 or Tom Stevens at PSTEVENS@admin2.memphis.edu.