About

The Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation was created in Memphis in 1960 to make positive investments in the city loved by both Dorothy and Kemmons.

They raised their five children here together around bedrock principles like generosity, and those essential values have only been magnified as new generations unfolded over the years. The Foundation is one of the many ways in which our family carries on the legacy of giving back to Memphis.

Mission

We honor our legacy by building a future of possibility that ripples across the entire city.

At KWFF, we offer resources and relationships to support the ones best prepared and most committed to the work. We work in partnership with organizations to make change at a community and systems level.

Vision

We are called to action by the possibility of a joyful and just city - A peaceful and prosperous Memphis, where all families know what it means to thrive.

Poverty imposes a chronic state of lack that stifles families and neighborhoods. Thriving is possible only when you have access to the necessary resources.

The insight is that in a city such as ours there can be no us and them, no difference between your family and mine, our safety and yours.

Because Memphis is our family, and we belong to each other.

The Dorothy & Kemmons Wilson Story

From soda jerk to founder of one of the nation’s most recognizable brands, Kemmons Wilson was always an intrepid spirit. He was born in Osceola, AR on January 5, 1913, but Kemmons’ mother Ruby “Doll” Lloyd Hall relocated the family to her hometown of Memphis after her husband Charles died. Kemmons was only nine months old at the time.

It was in Memphis that Kemmons would find both the love of his life and his calling as an entrepreneur. Out of the need to support himself and his mother, Kemmons came to embody an early version of the city’s modern “grit and grind” persona. The high school dropout held several jobs in his youth, including operating a pop-up popcorn stand at local movie theaters. Eventually the theater owners asked Kemmons to shut his snack hustle down, after popcorn sales outpaced movie ticket sales. Kemmons turned the mishap into good fortune. He pivoted into operating pinball and cigarette vending machines. And it was during that stint managing pinball machines that he met Dorothy Elizabeth Lee.

  • The two married in Memphis on December 2, 1941. Dorothy, who attended the Miller Hawkins Business School, was Kemmons’ partner in all his ventures, and Holiday Inn was born out of their shared frustration. In 1951, during a family vacation to Washington D.C., Kemmons became frustrated over the lack of comfortable, affordable lodging. Their solution to this dilemma became Holiday Inn.

    Kemmons designed a national hotel model based on lodging within a day’s trip of each location. Additionally, the hotel designs included a standardized room size and assurance of amenities - including a TV, telephones, ice machine, restaurant, a swimming pool, and no charge for children under 12 staying with their parent(s).

    On August 1, 1952, Kemmons opened the first Holiday Inn on Summer Avenue in Memphis. A year later the city had three more locations. The growth of Holiday Inn was exponential. By 1962 the company was opening two hotels every week. Kemmons retired from Holiday Inn in 1979, and at his retirement the company had 1,759 locations in 50 countries.

    The lodging model Kemmons launched with Holiday Inn is credited with starting a modern era of hotels. His success redefining the industry landed him a spot on the London Sunday Times’ “Thousand makers of the twentieth century.” In addition, Kemmons appeared on the June 1972 cover of Time Magazine under the headline: “The man with 300,000 beds.”

    In 2002, on the 50th anniversary of the first Holiday Inn opening, the University of Memphis opened the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management with a lead gift from Kemmons. The School of Hospitality continues to be an anchor partner for the Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation today.

    Dorothy and Kemmons had five children: Spence Lee, Robert “Bob” Allen, Charles Kemmons “Kem” Wilson Jr.,Dorothy Elizabeth “Betty”, and Carole Ann.