Dennis Stewart will present The Real Homer Simpson, an award-winning work that examines the life of his cousin, Homer Simpson, once a World War I hero and one of Tennessee’s youngest police chiefs, later condemned to death following a failed Prohibition-era bank robbery. Drawing on family interviews, personal letters, court records, and newspaper accounts, Stewart reconstructs a complex and largely misunderstood chapter of regional history.
This lecture explores how public narrative overtook documented fact and how decades of assumption obscured remorse, responsibility, and context. Stewart’s work seeks to restore historical accuracy and human dimension to a story that continues to resonate across East Tennessee and beyond.
Event Details
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Doors open at 6:30 PM
Lecture begins at 7:00 PM
Gem Theater – 700 Tennessee Ave, Etowah, TN 37331
Free admission
Thursday, February 5, 2026
Doors open at 6:30 PM
Lecture begins at 7:00 PM
Gem Theater – 700 Tennessee Ave, Etowah, TN 37331
Free admission
Presented as part of the Gems of the Past lecture series by the Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association.
