A Legacy of Faith, Generosity & Service

Among the many historic families who have blazed trails and pioneered businesses in Sevier County, Tennessee, America’s tourist mecca, one would be hard-pressed to offer any name more revered than the Ogles. Specifically, Luther and Stella Ogle poured their lives into making Sevier County, particularly Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, the family vacation destination that it is today.

Similarly, one would be challenged to identify any family that has given more back to this region than the Ogles. Luther and Stella raised five children, four sons and one daughter, instilling in them:

• Deep, abiding faith in God and genuine love for Jesus Christ;
• A blood, sweat, and tears work ethic mixed with a heavy dose of common sense; and
• Biblical precepts such as “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Brenda Ogle Burchfield embodies the essence of her parents’ values as well as any of her siblings, and as a result, she is the recipient of the respect and admiration of business, professional, and government leaders throughout Tennessee.

Brenda and other members of the Ogle family have given at historic levels not only in our immediate area, but also to Christian causes overseas, from support of scores of church building programs in East Tennessee to the needy nation of Haiti, where they have funded the launch of over 20 churches, seven medical clinics, two orphanages, and scores of trainloads of grain to feed thousands of hungry people.

Closer to home, our home, it was the Ogle family who purchased the vacant and deteriorating former Seymour Primary School building in the 1970s and donated it to the academy. Today, we routinely refer to our elementary school building as the Ogle Building, often without properly acknowledging the family that made it all happen.

Over time, Brenda and her family have made sure that The King’s Academy’s neediest students are not denied the privilege of attending TKA, regardless of their ability to pay, and are not deprived of participating in co-curricular activities due to finances.

When Brenda agreed to serve on the academy Board of Trustees in the late 2010s, she could not have envisioned how strategic her role would prove to be in the years to come. With the impact of the global pandemic and unprecedented turnover in academy leadership, her generous and faithful stewardship served to steady the academy during an unusually turbulent time. Reminiscent of the Old Testament heroine Esther, who knows but that Brenda Burchfield stepped into her leadership role with TKA for such a time as this.

All too often, the children of generous donors fail to carry on the acts of benevolence established by their parents. The transfer of wealth does not automatically correspond to a transfer of generosity. Not so with Brenda Ogle Burchfield. As she has remained active in the affairs of the Ogle Family Properties, Brenda has quietly but powerfully extended the family tradition of giving in a very personal way. She has given sacrificially in ways that exceed the generosity of her father and mother. Brenda Ogle Burchfield has sustained this academy with unprecedented giving that makes the future of The King’s Academy look very bright indeed.