Franklin Shirley

Term Served

1970 to 1977

Accomplishments in Office

Resonant-voiced, pipe-smoking professor of speech at Wake Forest University, Dr. Franklin Shirley championed:

  • Construction of the convention center
  • Low-income housing
  • Public transportation
  • Street paving

His rural Kentucky upbringing engendered a neighborly care that showed in his amiable and outgoing personality, his open-door policy, and his reading letters to Santa on the radio.

Franklin Shirley