HUNTSVILLE – The atrium in the M. Louis Salmon Library at the University of Alabama in Huntsville has been named for Clarence and Inez Watts, Salmon’s father-in-law and mother-in-law, UAH announced.
of Louis Salmon, founder of the UAH Library; and Vice President for University Advancement and
Executive Director of the UAH Foundation, Mallie Hale. (Michael Mercier/UAH)
A descendant of 17th-century American settlers, Inez Looney earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1910 from the University of Alabama – she was a member of one of the very first classes with women students.
Looney taught English and literature at Huntsville High School until 1915, when
she married attorney Clarence Lee Watts. After having five children, she returned to the classroom, teaching primarily English, literature and history in Huntsville Junior High School until her retirement in 1951. She died in 1957.
Watts, born in Madison County in 1886, received his law degree from Georgetown University in 1913.
In 1936, Watts was thrust into the national spotlight when he accepted an invitation to be part of the team that defended the Scottsboro Boys – the case of nine Black men accused of raping two white women in March, 1931.
In 1950, Salmon moved to Huntsville and he entered law practice with Watts, his father-in-law
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