Andrew Pouncey

By Self

Andrew was born September 15, 1951, to Baxter and Ruth Pouncey, both educators in the Crawfordsville (AR) Public School System. He has a brother, Jon. His Dad was superintendent of schools, and his mom who began as an elementary school teacher became a guidance counselor, and later elementary school principal. Andrew learned many life lessons competing in basketball, track, and baseball. He also believed that what he learned from the parliamentary procedure in FFA proved applicable to every interaction he had with people in group settings.

His dream was to letter in a college sport as his dad had done in football and he succeeded, running the high hurdles, 440 intermediate hurdles, and a quarter of the mile relay team at Rhodes College. Andrew earned his B.A. in Anthropology at Rhodes and a minor in History and was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. Upon graduation, he taught history, and coached girls’ basketball and track for three years at Turrell (AR) Public High School, taking his girls’ basketball team to state.

He proceeded to Mississippi State, earning a B.L.A. degree in Landscape Architecture and landing a job in the Washington, D.C. area. He returned to Memphis later, working for Jim Conrad Landscaping Design/Build, and then Harland Bartholomew & Associates. There he worked with Harland’s partner, Eldridge Lovelace, designing and editing Eldridge’s book titled Harland Bartholomew – His Contributions to American Urban Planning; and designed and mounted two exhibitions on Bartholomew’s work at Rhodes College and the St. Louis, Missouri Public Library.

In June of 1990, Andrew came to work with the City of Germantown as Chief Planner, becoming Assistant to the Director of Development and later Planning Division Director. In 1998 he became Assistant City Administrator until 2010, ending his time with the city as Director of Economic & Community Development in December 2013. During this time, he wrote several ordinances including the Transmission Ordinance and the Wellhead Protection Ordinance. His talent as a Landscape Architect proved helpful with the Design Review Commission. In 2007, he shepherded the development of the Smart Growth Ordinance through the approval process.

He was also responsible for the landscape design of a portion of the Riverdale and Kimbrough medians, the Wolf River Boulevard Extended medians leading to the Audubon International Silver Certificate Award, the Germantown Civic Club Complex entry, and the plaza between Pickering Center & Germantown Regional History & Genealogy Center.

While at the city he also obtained his master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of Memphis and attended the Senior Executive Institute’s summer program at the University of Virginia. Andrew participated in the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) Exchange Program working in Fleura, Norway with its city manager and staff, and later hosted the Norwegian manager and his family in Germantown.

Professionally, he was President of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) for West Tennessee and later the State of Tennessee and was appointed by Governors Sundquist and Bredesen to the Architectural & Engineering Licensure Board for eight years (1996-2004).

Andrew served as President of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (Mid-South Chapter) and the Memphis Belle Memorial Association.  He designed the Memphis Belle Memorial Monument located in Veterans Plaza in Overton Park (2010). He also served a term on the Tennessee Preservation Trust. For 22 years, he volunteered with the support staff at the West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. Andrew was also appointed by Speaker of the House, Beth Harwell, to the Tennessee Great War Commission (2014-2018), and is a board member of the World War 1 Historical Association.  In 2013, Andrew was chosen Germantown Lion’s Club ‘Citizen of the Year’.

Andrew has held an appreciation for the IRIS Orchestra since its beginning, serving as a host family. His interest in history leans toward World War 1 and in 2009 his website www.waruntold.com won ‘Best of Show’ at the Memphis Addys. In 2015, Mayor Mike Palazzolo appointed Andrew as the first ‘City Historian’ for the City of Germantown; and in 2017, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell appointed him to the Shelby County Historical Commission.

Andrew was married to Shirley Williams Pouncey for 25 years. Shirley was a first-grade teacher at Riverdale Elementary from 1976-2001. She was loved for her care and appreciation of others throughout the community until her death in 2015.

He is now married to Kate Dixon and she shares Andrew’s interest in history and preservation. She is retired from a 35-year career with the city of Memphis museums where she worked as curator of education at the Mississippi River Museum, manager of the historic Magevney and Mallory-Neely houses, and manager of school and teacher services for the Pink Palace Museum. Their family includes Brett and Mallory McGoff Dixon and granddaughter, Ellie.

Andrew currently serves as President of the Germantown Historical Preservation Association.