The 2019 Universal Life Insurance Building Ribbon Cutting Program Story and Pictures by Dr. Yvonne D. Nelson The history behind the Universal Life Insurance Company (ULIC) building was a featured article in the February 2019 edition of NEWSCENE, so rather than repeat ourselves here, we would like to remind you that all of our publications are available for your review online 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year and we have no intentions of changing those facts. We would also like to ask for your support by subscribing to our publication online and in print. A ribbon-cutting ceremony, rededicating the ULIC building to the community which it was built to serve, was held on the evening of Thursday, July 11, 2019, in the rear parking lot of the building located at 480 (Linden) Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue, near downtown Memphis, TN. The event was well attended. Visitors were invited to tour portions of the building and were welcomed to purchase food and listen to music outside both before and after the ceremonies. Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce President Beverly Robertson served as the event hostess and moderator. We all know Mrs. Robertson from her many years of hard work, dedication, and success in turning the Lorraine Motel, into the National Civil Rights Museum, the site where the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King was so violently shot down here in Memphis, TN, in April of 1968. Sitting on the other end of MLK Avenue is the historic Mount Olive Cathedral Christian Methodist Church, currently overseen by Pastor Peris J. Lester who prayed for the success of the reopening as he provided powerful, yet welcoming words during the invocation. In addition to the buildings owner’s, Juan Self, AIA and Jimmie E. Tucker, FAIA of Self Tucker Properties, speakers included 92-year old James Hawkins, Paul A. Young, Director of Housing and Community Development, and Mayor Jim Strickland. Hawkins, a former Vice President of the ULIC was full of spirit as he spoke reminisced on his many years working for the ULIC. He sang the company song and introduced several co-workers who were also in attendance at the event. The event concluded as everyone traveled through the building and down the massive set of stairs facing Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard for a ribbon cutting and “Light it Up! ceremony to officially re-light the ULIC clock-sign in front of the building which was followed by a colorful display of the building’s new exterior lighting features at dusk. 28
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