Tag Archives: Florence Stratton

“Thoughts and Ramblings: 1929: Florence Stratton and Family; Louise Stratton; Willie Cooper Hobby.”

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Back in January 1929, Florence Stratton’s new year didn’t begin well. Her sister Louise died on January 9 from pulmonary tuberculosis, then her best friend Willie Cooper Hobby died suddenly from a stroke on January 14. Like Louise, Willie had been ill for a while. There were no more Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letters for the month of January.

First, I want to get into the Stratton, Stevens, and Stephens families; then I want to talk about Willie. Florence didn’t arrive in Beaumont on her own; she came here because her sister Emily and husband Walter H. Stevens moved here in 1900, as far as I see in the timeline. Both Walter H. and Emily are in the 1900 Beaumont census. Louise is also living with them. This is a trend I see with this family. They always live together. I know that Florence, Emily, and Louise’s mother died in 1895, which might explain why Louise was with her big sister Emily, as Louise was sickly her whole life.

Florence moved to Beaumont in 1903 and took a teaching job here. She had taught in Alabama since graduating as a valedictorian in 1900 from Troy Normal College. Florence began her journalism career in 1907 with the Beaumont Journal and would hone her skills in the coming years. As for the family, they would live their lives and move around into a couple of residences.

Walter Stevens, Florence’s brother-in-law, was a drug clerk at E. L. Clough Drug Store; some kind of partnership must have been in place because he was vice president in 1906–07. It is possible that he bought the store or opened his own because in 1909 he was president of the Stevens Drug Company, which was located in the Perlstein Building. I haven’t researched this. I’m only going on city directories, but I know that he retired from Magnolia Petroleum in 1938 as a caseworker for accidents at the refinery. So that would have ended his business, or he sold it, in 1915. I guess I could ask George W. Carroll, if I had a time machine, because he was vice president. Like I said in the past, historical research is very time-consuming if you want to be accurate.

I don’t know much about Walter’s wife, Emily, except that she was Florence’s older sister, but she gave me the most helpful clue to determine Florence’s birthday. I remember contacting the Brazoria County Historical Commission (BCHC) and asking for some sort of info about Florence Stratton. I had contacted them two years before and did receive a few things on Asa Stratton, Florence’s father, but this time the person on the other end of the phone replied, “Stratton? I have a scrapbook from a Stratton that someone in Conroe, TX, found at an estate sale. It’s here on my desk.”

I asked what the name was, and it was Emily. I visited the BCHC that week and had a great time. But it wasn’t until I had a similar experience with the Tyrrell Historical Library.

At the time, I had been doing research for five years and was spending hours on microfilm on the Weekly Letters. Then, out of the blue, I mentioned something to Bill Grace about Florence Stratton, and he replied, “Oh yeh, there was someone who donated a bunch of letters from the Stratton family six months ago.”

Hmm. He did know that I had spent over three years researching Florence, but I guess something like that slipped his mind—we won’t get into that. I did find two interesting letters though, one from Florence and the other from Emily. Emily’s letter was to her father in February 1883. In it, a ten-year-old Emily said that Florence could say her name. That’s amazing if you consider earlier information that states Florence was born in March 1883.

I will cherish the ten-year-old Emily, along with the person who sent the letters to the Tyrrell Historical Library, for this, because there is only a mention in a 1900 census that Florence was born in 1881, and her birthdate is not problematic because Florence mentioned it six times in her Weekly Letter.

That leaves me to Eunice Stephens, who married Arthur Stephens. She was Emily’s daughter and Florence’s niece. I don’t know what Eunice would think of me; I always try to get the facts straight on her aunt. In Florence’s history, details such as her day and year of birth were just plain wrong. Most of it came from Eunice, but I still can’t blame her because Florence always lied about her age. It’s difficult to do research when you have only one source that throws everything and everyone off. So any research that states that Florence was born in 1883 is wrong. Sorry, Eunice. I’ll shut up now, but I still think you’re awesome for bragging about your aunt and taking care of Florence’s house, which stands catercorner to the McFaddin-Ward house on McFaddin Avenue.

Sam Bronson Cooper

Willie Cooper Hobby was the daughter of Sam Bronson Cooper (SBC). Sam was the reason that Beaumont had a deepwater port. I may get into some of SBC’s history at a later date because it is notable in many respects. In the years that he served as a US representative, Florence was with Willie in Washington, DC. Willie was a bit of a socialite and even attended White House parties. I do know that Florence attended one with her in 1909.

In 1915, Willie married W. P. Hobby and went on to become the first lady of Texas when Hobby was governor from 1917 to 1921. I’ve written before that Florence wrote a book of recipes of famous women. Willie was the source of information for the book during her four years of entertaining at the mansion.

One thing I will note about this time is that Florence basically moved into the mansion and lived with both the governor and the first lady, who were her best friends. She went to all the events that the governor attended. She even went to the inauguration of Álvaro Obregón in Mexico in 1920. Florence had her ways, and I believe she enjoyed her life. She loved family and friends. I’m sure that this week back in 1929 was painful for her, but she survived and did even better things. Stay tuned, Della.

Sam Bronson Cooper:

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cooper-samuel-bronson

Troy Normal College/ Troy University:  

https://www.troy.edu/about-us/historical-timeline.html

William P. Hobby:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P._Hobby

Willie Cooper Hobby:  

Willie Chapman Cooper Hobby

“Thoughts and Ramblings: Digging into the Bee’s Knees of the 1920s; Back to Researching Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter; Beaumont’s Daredevil; Did I See Yanni at Renfest? The Cowboys Game on Thanksgiving Day in 1976; Kim Hendrix Ate at Monceaux’s Too; The Weather Gods Don’t Care about Your Alma Mater”

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Beaumont Enterprise January 17, 1926

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and had no broken pipe issues (this is another reason why you shouldn’t wish for a white Christmas). Here it was quiet. We did the thing on Monday because everyone except me had to work. I spent my time flipping through the digital copies of the Beaumont Enterprise archives. One reason I’m spending my research time in the 1920s is that I CAN!

For my research on Florence Stratton, I spent many hours and a good amount of money on a microfilm machine at the Tyrrell Historical Library because Lamar didn’t want to take my money since I wasn’t an alumnus. Their loss. I don’t use Lamar for anything except maybe Gladys City, as they are an undiscovered jewel for the university. I have almost all the copies of “Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter,” which ran from 1926 to 1938, but some of those from the microfilm are illegible. So, I am going through the papers again because I can access the Beaumont Enterprise digitally and by date. My first search was for 1926, when “Susie Spindletop’s Weekly Letter” began, as far as I can tell, on February 28. I’ll look into 1925 again later, but this is the date. I aim to find all the letters and obtain a good digital copy of them. Of course, all my research is stored at the Jefferson County Historical Commission office, in case I eat too many Zummo sausages and expire. Florence will live on!

Going through these Sunday newspapers gives me time to look at things other than the weekly letters. There are a few nuggets of our history that I’ll be throwing out. One example is Mr. Louis A. Sacker, a daredevil who would “feast on horseshoes.” Sacker was a 27-year-old Beaumont strong man who would have probably made a killing on the wrestling circuit in the 1990s, but this was 1926. Still, he seemed to be doing good in the first two months of 1926. I added the photo of his article because “Gr-r-r,” “Gr-r-h,” and “Gr-r-R-RRRR!!.” These are actual quotes. I hope I see more of him in the later issues—iron, I assume, is good for your diet. Notice the ad in his article? 6 6 6 was a cold medicine that was advertised throughout the 1920s. I’ll throw out another one: the ads for Dr. Caldwell’s constipation medicine always targeted women. These ads are everywhere. I don’t think he was the bee’s knees when it came to women’s health. Snake oil comes to mind. Based on his photo in the ads, he looked like a disgruntled captain of a non-profitable fishing boat.

I’ve never really met someone famous, but there was that one time at the Texas Renaissance Festival in 2014 when I was at the back of the Magic Garden standing in awe of the bejeweled relic of St. Felix in a glass coffin. I began taking photos of this inspiring event when, lo and behold, I believe I saw Yanni in one of my photos. I have no idea if it was actually Yanni because I’m not Wanda and won’t start awkward conversations of which I would be the only beneficiary. If it was Yanni, he would have probably smiled and thrown in a hand gesture (I usually do this when Wanda and I converse). He looked like he was enjoying a nice day out, and I wasn’t going to mess that up.

Bob Lilly

Back in 1976, I met Bob Lilly in a hallway at a hotel in Dallas before the Thanksgiving game in which the Cowboys played the Cardinals. I have only a few memories of this time. One is the crap seats. The second is the Hare Krishna peeps asking for money as we were leaving, and the third is the briefcase full of alcohol guy on the bus back to the hotel. He was a little giddy about Dallas winning. It’s all a good memory, but when I see the video of the game where some Cardinal player put his cleats on the back of Preston Pearson and no flag was called, I realize that today’s American football sucks in 2022. I’ll leave a link to the video of the only professional American football game I ever attended.

Kim Hendrix

One thing that I always bring up is Monceaux’s Drive-In. I spent many dollars on that cheeseburger deluxe white box with fries and onion rings. At this time, I watched KJAC and always enjoyed Kim Hendrix’s newscast. There was this one time when I was waiting in line for my order, and some gofer came in and said that he was there to pick up “Kim’s” call-in order. My brain went to “Oh, Kim eats the same heavenly food as I do! I must be blessed.” I must have been around eighteen or nineteen because after I left, I went to a convenience store and a conversation on the weather came up with a woman. I answered her question, and she was impressed that I knew about radar. I guess she thought I worked at the station because she was unaware that a primitive radar was available on cable TV. I told her this, but she praised me all the same for knowing about the technology.

Speaking of radars, one July Fourth I watched Bob Becker’s forecast on KBMT, which informed me that we had great weather for the firework presentation in downtown Beaumont. “So go enjoy all the festivities.” Twenty minutes later, an ominous blip on the radar showed up. Apparently, a thunderstorm had formed over downtown Beaumont, and a gully washer ensued. Of course, there was no way I was going to miss the ten o’clock forecast! Poor guy. The weather gods always leave them holding the bag. I saw this again after Tropical Storm Imelda. One weather person clearly stated that this hurricane was not Harvey. I watched their next newscast from their new location because the station had flooded during the storm. Mother Nature hates to be fooled, and the weather gods don’t care about your degree from Texas A&M or Mississippi State.

I want to say that although I rant about millennials and Generation Z people, some of them did an amazing job during Hurricane Harvey. While on the air, they answered questions from people on the phone who didn’t know what to do in the flood and needed guidance. Kudos to y’all for knowing that people needed help in a dire situation.

Well, I’m done for this week, but I hope to be hanging with Susie this month, and we may even see what Beaumont’s daredevil Louis’s next gig is. “Gr-r-r” for now, because I don’t want to scare anyone with the full “Gr-r-R-RRRR!!.”

Rest in Peace Bob Becker:

6 6 6 cold medicine:

https://www.si.edu/object/666-cold-preparation%3Anmah_209858

Dr. Caldwell:

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/object/nmah_71544

2014 Texas Renaissance Festival photos:

9.04.14

1976-11-25 St. Louis Cardinals vs Dallas Cowboys:

Bessie Reid and the story of Kisselpoo; Sorry for ruining your childhood stories; Iron Eyes Cody was Italian; Gremlins in the courthouse; Old Roy

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Bessie Reid wrote the Legend of Kisselpoo in 1923. It was published in the Port Arthur News on July 1st. The story was epic because it was derived from Indian legends found from New Mexico to Louisiana. With Florence Stratton, Reid also published a textbook called When the Storm God Rides in 1936, but this book does not concern the history of SETX except for one link. I’ll add the story and then get in the weeds of our area.

It is when that orb sheds its full light across the lake that the story has its greatest attraction. Then the tale-tellers declare, in the silvery path across the twinkling water, sometimes can be seen a canoe bearing a boy and girl in strange clothing, paddling up the shimmering moon way.

The tribe of Kisselpoo, so runs the ancient story, lived by the lake; and she, the only child of the chieftain, had been born when the moon was full and was under the protection of the moon goddess. When Kisselpoo was fifteen years old, tales of her beauty and ability had traveled far, and many braves from other tribes came to woo her. The one whom the leaders favored was head of several groups whose land adjoined to the north; and, although he was older than her father and already had many wives, arrangements were made for their marriage.

When nuptial preparations were far advanced, a stranger, whose home was seven sleeps distant toward the setting sun, arrived in the village. He was tall and straight as the pines, and for gifts he brought arm bands of a shining metal, set with stones like rainbows and like the blue of the skies. Kisselpoo loved him, but her wedding was set for the time when the moon would be at its brightest. That night as the luminous disc rose over the horizon, she waited in her finery for other maidens of the village to come to her father’s lodge and lead her to the elderly northern chief.

Instead, she heard the westerner’s deep voice softly speak her name, and with him she fled through reeds and grass to the lake where a canoe lay waiting. Swiftly they glided out on the water; but already the princess had been missed, and pursuit, led by the chieftain from the north and medicine men of her own tribe, was close. Her father did not participate in the chase, for he had dreamed a dream in which the moon goddess appeared to him and urged him to let his daughter wed the Indian from the west.

The medicine men called down the wrath of their gods, and a storm came up, ruffling the lake and upsetting the canoe, so that the eloping pair was last seen in the path of moonlight. Thereupon, the moon goddess, angered, called upon her kinsman, the storm god from the tropics, who rode in on a devastating hurricane. When at last the waves retreated into the Gulf, there was nothing left of the village or its inhabitants. The moon goddess decreed that the Lake of the River of Cypress Trees, for allowing itself to yield to the medicine men’s commands, should slowly disappear and all the streams that feed it bear down silt and mud to fill it.

For many moons after the great storm, the waters of the lake were clouded with mud, and its sandy bottom was covered with silt. The fish that were once abundant were now only a few. The sandy shores of the lake were stained, and shorebirds that once nested in the reeds and fished the shallow flats were gone. However, the spirit of the young lovers has remained with the lake that Kisselpoo loved so dearly. The moon goddess has shown forgiveness, and the lake is free of the curse that could have destroyed it. One can only assume that Kisselpoo had asked her protector, the moon goddess, to restore the beauty of the place of her birth. Now a swift current from the River of Cypress Trees is sweeping away the silt, and a fine sand shall again cover the lake floor.

With each new moon, the water becomes clearer, and great schools of fish have returned to the lake. Beautiful shorebirds and waterfowl have also returned to the sandy shores, along the salt marshes where alligators and furbearing animals abound. Meanwhile on a night when the full moon is rising, to those who have the power to see such things, appears the canoe with its two occupants who shall watch over Lake Sabine and protect its beauty until the last full moon.

One thing that this story mentions is when the god Hurrican devastates the area. In an article entitled Southeast Texas Indian Homeland, W. T. Block says that the demise of the Nacazil tribe in this area might have been caused by the Great Hurricane of 1780. I don’t know if this is factually true, but it would fit into Bessie Reid’s take on the story (if she even knew that a hurricane had hit the Texas gulf coast at that time). Unfortunately, W. T. Block’s notes are not present, and I have no way to confirm this, but it did make a great story!

I’m no expert on indigenous peoples, but I do see that a few are embracing their Karankawa ancestry. I wish them well and hope they don’t invite me to lunch.

Now that I’ve ruined a few people’s childhood stories of the beautiful Kisselpoo, who didn’t exist, I would like to take it further. Do you remember that Indian in the 1970s commercial crying because West-End Wanda was throwing her Burger Chef wrappers out the window of her 1970 Ford Pinto? He was Italian—but I digress.

Jefferson County Courthouse 2012

On Wednesday, I attended a Jefferson County Historical Commission meeting. The gremlins were in full force around the elevators and possibly in the County Clerk’s office as well. Our usual quorum was met, plus some familiar faces to everyone’s delight. After the meeting, while taking the suspect elevator that made a few members late, I glanced at the panel and remembered that the courthouse is thirteen stories, and at one time, the county jail took up five of them. I toured the floors early in my journey in SETX history and will leave links to both the article and the photos at the bottom of this blog.

At our after-meeting (the one in the parking lot, because we were kicked out when they closed the building—as usual), I brought up a memory of working in a shipyard, which I try to forget, but it did make me think of my neighbor Roy in Port Arthur. He taught me many things in life and was a godsend and an excellent source of information. He worked in the shipyards in New Orleans during WWII, and he talked about it frequently with me because he knew I enjoyed his rambles. He grew up in Leesville, Louisiana, and is one of the few people who have influenced my life. He was special to me, and I loved every minute of his rants about Port Arthur, growing up in Leesville, being a union carpenter, and having to wear a sidearm on his belt in the 1960s to build his brother-in-law’s house because the union was on strike for whatever reason. Politics aside, this was wrong. I’ll leave a link at the bottom of this page.

Well, that’s it for this week, but October is on its way. Enjoy your family, neighbors, and friends. Alla prossima! Happy fall y’all.

SOUTHEAST TEXAS INDIAN HOMELAND:

THE BURIAL MOUNDS OF OLD PORT NECHES

By W. T. Block:

http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/indian.htm

Iron Eyes Cody:

https://walkoffame.com/iron-eyes-cody/

Jefferson County Courthouse Jail:

Article:

https://www.rediscoveringsetx.com/2012/09/27/jefferson-county-courthouse-jail/

Photos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA8nZx

Remembering Roy:  

https://www.rediscoveringsetx.com/2012/07/24/remembering-roy/

A brief History of Florence Stratton part1

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Florence Stratton was born in Brazoria, Texas to Asa Evan Stratton and Louisa Henrietta Waldman on March 21, 1881. Although some references state she was born in 1883, I have confirmed her month, day, and year of birth through the following sources: a 1900 census, at least six mentions in Florence’s Sunday Enterprise weekly letters, and a letter from Florence’s 10-year-old sister, Emily, in February 1883. Little is known of her childhood, but I hope to keep peeling away the layers and find out more of her early life.

One interesting note I found while researching Florence’s early years in Brazoria County is that her grandfather, Major Asa Stratton, owned a sugarcane plantation. On that property sat the second oldest log cabin in Texas, known today as the McCroskey-Stringfellow House. Florence mentioned it several times in her weekly Sunday Enterprise articles, which we will get into next week. Another interesting fact is that Major Stratton’s daughter and Florence’s aunt, Sarah Emily Stratton married Samuel Bryan, son of W. Joel Bryan and nephew of Stephen F. Austin. Does that make Florence related to Stephen F. Austin?

In 1900, Florence graduated as valedictorian from Troy Normal College in Troy, Alabama. She lived there two more years while teaching and then moved to Beaumont in 1903, most likely to live near her sister Emily. Emily and her husband, Walter Stevens, had already been living in Beaumont for at least a year; Walter was working as a clerk in the E. L. Clough Drug Store.

In Beaumont, Florence continued her teaching career by becoming a faculty member at Miss Anne’s private school in 1903, then moving on to Beaumont High to teach grammar. Her salary is unknown to me, but when she resigned in 1905, her successor took on the job at $60 a month.

In 1906, Aurelia Peters Norvell formed the Colonel Moffett Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Many prominent Beaumont women joined this organization, and Florence was no different: She became its charter secretary. Florence’s Revolutionary War ancestor was her great-grandfather Peleg Stratton.

In 1907, Florence began her journalism career at the Beaumont Journal as society editor. She also spent much of the following years, 1908-09, in Washington D.C. with her best friend, Willie Cooper. Together, they rubbed elbows with Washington’s elite, even attending a White House reception in January 1909.

Florence and Willie had spent many early years together, and when Willie finally married her childhood sweetheart, W.P. Hobby, in 1915, little changed in their friendship. In fact, Florence probably spent more time with her, especially after Hobby became governor in 1917. Evidence in Texas newspaper archives dating from 1917 to 1920 put the three together at many events in this time frame.

Florence started two charity funds: the Milk and Ice Fund, which gave underprivileged people milk and ice during the summer months, and the Empty Stocking Fund, which gave toys to the poor children of Beaumont. Unfortunately, I haven’t discovered when the Milk and Ice Fund was founded. Each year, the Beaumont Enterprise rehashes the same article and says it began in 1914. I would agree, but the only proof I have of the fund starting earlier than 1920 is a 1921 article in the Beaumont Journal stating the fund had been running for a few years. The Empty Stocking Fund, which I believe was started in 1920, is run by the Beaumont Enterprise today.

A November 1980 article by Laura Young of the Beaumont Enterprise stated that Florence had written speeches for Governor Hobby. Though not farfetched, I haven’t found proof of it. In fairness, the article was an interview with Eunice Stephens, Florence’s niece. Unfortunately, Eunice is partially to blame for some of the incorrect information out there. Her recollections do not seem to fit the facts. In defense of Eunice, however, all information gathering on Florence using Eunice seemed to happen during the final years of Eunice’s life (1979-1980; she died in January 1982). I do not and will not speculate on Eunice’s ability to remember her aunt’s ventures, but publications that have used her as a source, such as the November 1979 issue of The Texas Gulf Historical & Biographical Record, have contained completely inaccurate information on Florence’s life.

To be continued…

Willie Chapman Cooper Hobby

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Throughout my research of Florence Stratton, I have been down many rabbit holes, so to speak. She certainly led an interesting life, which involved many people. And yes, I have files on just about all of them. One person who I can say influenced Florence’s life more than the rest was Willie Cooper Hobby. Their friendship lasted many years, and I’m sure they had many tales that were never told nor graced the pages of any periodicals, but in Willie’s life of fifty-three years, she definitely had a social advantage over most.

Willie Chapman Cooper was born in Woodville, Texas, on June 19, 1876, to Sam Bronson Cooper and Phebe Young. There is little information about her life as a youth, other than that she grew up in Woodville. I do know she attended Kidd-Key College in Sherman, Texas; yet I don’t know the year nor if it was, at the time, a women’s high school or a genuine college. And looking into her father’s endeavors, with the few available records that I have, I can see little information about her until she resided in Washington D.C. in March of 1893, when her father was a congressman. So, let’s delve into his history a bit.

Sam B. Cooper served as the prosecuting attorney of Tyler County for four years (1876–1880), then as a Texas state senator for the next four years (1880–1884). I assume that this is where the friendship of the Stratton and Cooper families began. Florence’s father, Asa Evan Stratton Jr., was a Texas senator from January 1883 to May 1884. In 1885, he was named collector of internal revenue at Galveston. Sam would hold this position until 1888. After an unsuccessful run for district judge in 1889, his next stint in politics came in 1892 as a congressman in the United States House of Representatives. He would serve six consecutive terms for the Second Texas District, before losing to Moses Broocks in 1904. Sam served for one more term, from 1906 to 1908, after defeating Broocks in the next election. So, knowing the political path her father took, it seems obvious to me that Willie would take on the role of a socialite, especially living in Washington and later New York, where her father was appointed to the Board of General Appraisers of New York by President William Howard Taft in 1910.

Throughout her years in Washington, Willie was indeed popular around the social circles and was even invited to the White House a time or two. I know this from a few newspaper clippings and her invitation, which, as I stated in the last article, are in her scrapbook at the Briscoe Center for American History in Austin. As friends do, Florence also tagged along and got to mingle with the elite, or should I say, the world’s hubs, which capitals can be, especially in a thriving country.

On May 15, 1915, Willie married her childhood sweetheart and, at the time, the lieutenant governor of Texas, William Pettus Hobby. Her early years in Washington would play an important part in her life due to her social duties as the lieutenant governor’s wife.

In August of 1917, W. P. Hobby became governor of Texas after the sitting governor, James E. Ferguson, was impeached. Hobby held the Democratic ticket and eventually won the governorship in 1918 after Ferguson ran against him in the primary. Willie shone as first lady of Texas and won the praises of many in her years in Austin. She was highly popular and entertained much, except during World War I, because she felt it inappropriate, according to Dining at the Governor’s Mansion by Carl McQueary. She also wanted to follow government guidelines for food conservation during wartime. In addition, Willie was responsible for making needed repairs and additions to the 60-year-old mansion, such as installing steam heating and adding a bath to one of the bedrooms.

While living in New York, Willie became interested in the women’s suffrage movement, which was a cause most dear to her. I found much evidence of this in my Briscoe Center research and in newspapers from her days as first lady of Texas. In fact, much of her scrapbook dwells on this topic. I also found an ample number of newspaper clippings from this era that show that both Florence and Willie did their part to promote women’s right to vote.

Throughout her life, Willie was always gracious and charming and treated everyone the same, whether servant or dignitary. In her memorial book, there are many references to how she was loved by those who knew and conversed with her. As I wrote at the beginning of this article, Willie was Florence’s best friend, and many years were spent together enjoying social events. From a visit to the White House 1909 to attending the inauguration of Mexican president Álvaro Obregón in 1920, both always seemed to be in good company. In fact, one of Florence’s books, Favorite Recipes of Famous Women (1925), is a compilation of Willie’s recipes when she was first lady from such visiting dignitaries as authors, actresses, and wives of past presidents or foreign leaders.

Willie died in her sleep at her Houston residence on the morning of January 14, 1929, to the shock of most. During the following days, there were many heartfelt condolences sent to her husband, W. P. Hobby, from all across the world. Many of these condolences can be found in a memorial book entitled Tributes in Memory of Willie Cooper Hobby, which was privately published by (I would assume) her husband. Here are a few excerpts:

 

 

I cannot longer wait to tell you how distressed and grieved I am over Willie’s death. Words fail to express the love and sympathy which has gone out from my heart to you all. I just cannot reconcile myself to the fact so grand and useful a woman should be taken.

As I write my thoughts run over the twenty-five or thirty years. Dear Mrs. Cooper and her family are vividly before me. So well do I remember the party I had and Willie, a beautiful young girl there and received the prize. In the years which followed the Cooper family figured in my life. You know how I loved Mrs. Cooper and Willie. Although of late years I saw so little of her I knew she was nearby. She it was who suggested to me to change the name of the Woman’s Reading Club to the Woman’s Club. Some hesitate to mention it to me thinking I would feel hurt but soon as I heard of it I made a motion to make the change.

Beaumont                                                                                                                    Sally Greer

*                               *                               *

 

To me Willie was the embodiment of all the word, “friend,” implies; her charity of thought… the kindliness of her heart and the deep solicitude for her friends… qualities the make one so worthy of admiration and love and for which I feel my life has been enriched for having known her.

Houston                                                                                                                       Edwina Wiess

*                               *                               *

 

We the members of the Woman’s Club of Beaumont, wish to extend to you our deepest sympathy. Mrs. Hobby has been loyal and faithful to our club and our hearts too are full of sorrow. We shall miss Mrs. Hobby but we shall ever hold her in memory and we shall strive to reach the goal of high ideals which she held before us.

Beaumont                                                                                                                     Woman’s Club