Board Member Profiles

Dani Owenby and Ernie Roberts

Over the next year or so, Old North News will feature brief profiles of Old North Knoxville's officers and board members. These volunteers come from different backgrounds, but all want to see Old North Knoxville thrive.

Dani Owenby has lived in Old North Knoxville on East Scott Avenue for 4.5 years and has been a board member for 3.5 years. The house she lives in with her husband, Doug, is an American Four Square, similar, she said, to the one she grew up in. She has served on the neighborhood association's Welcoming and Traffic Calming committees. She also served two years in a row as chair of the Home Tour Committee, including in 2002 when close to 1,400 people toured neighborhood homes the first weekend in December. She and Doug have also had their home on the tour. She said it is the love historic homes that eventually drew her to Old North Knoxville after moving to East Tennessee from Western Kentucky about 15 years ago. Dani would like to see more preservation and continued efforts to clean up the streets, overgrown lots, and greenway in Old North. She said if she had more time, she would like to read, walk, and hike more than she does now.

Ernie Roberts said, "I have been a board member off and on … more on than off … since 1988." He has lived on West Glenwood since 1986. He has also bought and done repair work to two other houses on Glenwood, which he then sold to homeowners. "As a board member I have had opportunities to get more involved in the neighborhood ... in a hands-on manner while being a part of the organization of a progressive neighborhood. I also have enjoyed the camaraderie ... as we make Old North an exciting and beautiful place to live ." Over the next few years, Ernie said he would like to see the neighborhood have crime and traffic issues under control "and about 40 more house structures in the process of turning around. I also hope to see the residential diversity continue with more and more neighbors helping neighbors." A math teacher at Bearden High School, a job he enjoys, Ernie said if he had extra time, he would enjoy a little more hiking, playing tennis, working out at the gym, and spiritually refreshing himself every day.

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