Alice Probasco Lupton, Chattanooga’s “quiet philanthropist” who worked to help the community’s children and young people, has died at age 90.
Her decades of civic work included service on the boards of many child care organizations, including what’s now the Chambliss Center for Children, as well as community welfare organizations such as United Way and the American Cancer Society.
“She was a generous, quiet philanthropist,” said Dan Bowers, president of ArtsBuild (formerly Allied Arts). “It’s not an overstatement to call her a Chattanooga matriarch. Sadly, she’s joining quite a few from that greatest generation we’ve been losing one by one over the past few years. She’ll be missed.”
Lupton’s husband was Coca-Cola magnate John T. “Jack” Lupton. Her father, Scott L. Probasco Sr., founded American National Bank, which became SunTrust Banks under her brother, Scotty Probasco.
For many Chattanoogans, Mrs. Lupton is best known for her role in establishing the Creative Discovery Museum, on whose board she also served.
“She was the person who was most responsible for turning the dream of a children’s museum into a reality [and] has always been our most loyal and generous supporter,” museum Executive Director Henry Schulson said.
“She loved Chattanooga and cared deeply for its children. She never wanted credit for what she gave. The best gift to her was the joy and the happiness that the museum brought and still brings to children and families,” Schulson said.
U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor who served with Lupton on the UC Foundation, called her a “quiet and generous force behind so much good in Chattanooga.”
“She touched so many in such a personal way with her genuine kindness and, like so many, I feel fortunate to have been a beneficiary. She and Jack believed in our city and its citizens, playing defining and unique roles in making our community what it is today. While she will be greatly missed, she leaves behind a tremendous legacy.”
While still in her 20s, she became the first president of the East Fifth Street Daycare Center, which had the first integrated board in Chattanooga, according to Times Free Press archives. She also was president of Little Miss Mag Day Care Center and served on the boards of Girls Preparatory School and the Bright School.
Gloria Miller, vice president of special projects at the Chambliss Center, said Lupton “has been an incredibly long-standing, stalwart supporter of this agency.”
As a board member and board chairwoman, “it was very important to her that the needs of all the children in our community were addressed. It’s so hard to put into words all the good that she did not only for this agency but for this entire community,” Miller said.
She and her husband established the Alice Probasco Lupton Scholarship Fund in 1992 to help young women from the Chattanooga area attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts, her alma mater.
Lupton also was among the first three women elected to the board of the United Way of Greater Chattanooga and served on the board of the Junior League, among her other civic achievements. She was named a Tennessee Woman of Distinction by the American Lung Association in 2004.
The family has scheduled a memorial service for 4 p.m. Tuesday at Church of the Good Shepherd on Lookout Mountain.
The family also said donations may be made to the Creative Discovery Museum, 321 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, TN 37402; Chambliss Center for Children, 315 Gillespie Road, Chattanooga, TN 37411; the Church of the Good Shepherd, P.O. Box 145, Lookout Mountain, TN 37350, or a favorite charity.