Lexington

UT alumni Charles (UT Martin ’60, UT Knoxville ‘62) and Joyce (UT Martin ‘60) McBride are the sixth-generation owners of McBride Farm in Lexington, Tennessee, and the proud owners of the 46th mural in the campaign.  

“We both were raised on the farm, we still live on the farm and we farmed it until we retired,” said Charles McBride.  

Along with farming, Charles taught high school agriculture for 39 years. Joyce taught elementary school and retired after 34 years.

“Being educators, we promote education beyond high school as much as possible,” said Joyce McBride.

For the McBrides, UT is a family tradition.

“Our three daughters, sons-in-law, four of our five grandchildren and we’re graduates of the UT System,” said Joyce McBride.

“What I studied about agriculture at UT is what I’ve always practiced and what I’ve always done,” said Charles McBride. “And that has really been an asset to me in crop production, animal production and ag engineering.”

Joyce and Charles McBride read about the campaign in The Cooperator, a Tennessee farming magazine, when family friend Keith Fowler (Martin ’85), was featured for the mural on his grain bin.

Mural 46 on the McBride’s barn is a 60-foot-wide showcase on the 375-acre Century Farm. The mural was completed in November 2023 and is visible from Tennessee State Route 22 to more than 2,800 passerby a day.