Born in the western Kentucky town of Henderson but reared in Indiana by her maternal aunt after her parents’ deaths, Lucy Furman was educated at Sayre Institute in Lexington, Kentucky. At Sayre, she was a classmate of Katherine Pettit, who co-founded, with May Stone, Hindman Settlement School in Knott County in eastern Kentucky in 1902. Furman arrived at Hindman in 1907 for what was intended to be a short visit for her health. Once at the school, she decided to stay—for seventeen years. Initially she worked as a music teacher and volunteered for outdoor work, eventually taking on the role of superintendent of the grounds, gardens, and dairy. Her delight in her students led her to become the boys’ housemother....