Frances Johnston

Frances Johnston was assistant registrar at UT in the 1930s and 1940s (she retired in 1949) and was affectionately known by students and alumni as Miss Johnnie. As a hobby, she wrote songs—both music and lyrics. Her To Tennessee was runner-up in the Alma Mater Contest, and it, along with 11 other of her songs, appeared in the official university song book, Songs of the Volunteers. The grand finale of the 17th annual University All-Sing (1948) was the singing of A Little Hymn about the university. Johnston wrote the lyrics, and the music was composed by Professor David Van Vactor, head of the UT Fine Arts Department at the time.  Johnston’s song PiKA Sweetheart was adopted as an official song at the PiKA Convention of 1947 and was published in the PiKA songbook.