Clare Sawyer, executive director for the Chattanooga Regional Homeless CoalitionAbout 35 years ago, Dr. Ed Cahill said, Clare Sawyer walked into his office at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he was the head of the sociology department.
Sawyer wasn’t a typical college student. She was a registered nurse with a husband and five children, and she was looking for something different to do with her life.
“It’s difficult,” Cahill told her, as he told all other prospective sociology majors. “You’ll have to prove yourself.”
She joined the department, and once she proved herself, he helped set her up with an internship at the Chattanooga Housing Authority, editing a newsletter.
Last Friday, Sawyer, 73, retired as executive director of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, a post she held for 15 years.