June Mann, widow of former Cotton Council president, Arkansas cotton farmer Lon Mann, dies at 93
“Lon’s name is on the sign, but June Mann made it happen." — Chuck Culver
By Mary Hightower
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Aug. 23, 2023
Fast facts:
- June Mann grew up in rural Germantown, Tennessee
- June Mann was an inventor, world-traveler, woodworker
(407 words)
(With art of June Mann, Lon Mann station )
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — June Beasley Mann, a supporter of land grant agriculture whose husband was honored with the naming of the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station Marianna, has died at age 93.
June Mann passed away June 22 at her home in Memphis, Tennessee, with a memorial service held for her on Aug. 19.
Born a week after the Great Crash of 1929, June Mann grew up in what was rural Germantown, Tennessee. She attended the Hutchison School in Memphis and graduated from Southwestern at Memphis — now Rhodes College — with a degree in political science and dreams of becoming a political correspondent in Europe for Voice of America.
She married Alonzo “Lon” Mann, a cotton farmer and ginner from Lee County, Arkansas, and the two raised their four children in Marianna. June Mann was an avid woodworker with a well-outfitted shop in the basement. She patented an invention for keeping car seats stable, learned to fly an airplane, was elected Justice of the Peace, earned her real estate license, and was a partner at Mixon Mann Real Estate. She traveled to six continents in her lifetime, at age 82 riding a camel in India and at age 87 walking along the peaks of Machu Picchu in Peru.
At the time of Lon’s death in 2003, he and June had been married 51 years.
Cotton station
The Lon Mann Cotton Research Station is one of the three original branch stations authorized by the Arkansas General Assembly in 1923 devoted to “investigational work relative to the problems of cotton farmers.” The station is operated by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the Division of Agriculture.
The station underwent modernization and expansion in the early 2000s and was named in Mann’s honor in 2005, a tribute to his contributions to the industry.
A graduate of the University of Arkansas, Lon Mann went on to serve as president of the National Cotton Council, the National Ginners Association, the Mid-South Ginners Council and the Agricultural Council of Arkansas. He was inducted into the Arkansas Agricultural Hall of Fame and was a recipient of the Cotton Achievement Award from the Cooperative Extension Service in Arkansas.
“June lived life to the fullest. We are forever grateful to June for her generosity in helping us make much-needed improvements at this historic research station and for her unwavering support of agriculture in Arkansas and the Mid-South,” said Chuck Culver, director of external relations for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
“Lon’s name is on the sign, but June Mann made it happen,” he said.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension
Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division
of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture,
visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on Twitter at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen
agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption
of best practices. The Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work
within the nation’s historic land grant education system through the Agricultural
Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas
System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension
and Research programs to all eligible persons without regard to race, color, sex,
gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital
or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and
is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media contact: Mary Hightower
mhightower@uada.edu