Alice Gray Hamblen

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Alice Gray Hamblen, out there in Bell County. Now settle in, because this one's about a woman who gave not once, not twice, but kept on giving long after most folks would've called it done. Alice Gray Hamblen was born on March 14, 1846, in Mississippi.

Her husband, William Kroger Hamblen, was born in 1817, and the two of them pulled up stakes and moved to Salado in 1868. And almost before the dust settled on their boots, they were tangled up with Salado College, the local private school. That was no accident.

Alice was passionate about education for young people, and I mean passionate in the way that changes things. She didn't just talk about it. She opened her own home, providing room and board to children of family members so those kids could get themselves to that school.

Think about that. Her table, her roof, her everyday life, all in service of making sure young people had a shot. William passed in 1902.

Alice kept going. Then 1919 rolls around, and the college building and property were donated to the Salado Public School District. Progress, you might say.

But 1924 brought a harder turn. The building was deemed unsafe. Just like that, the school district had a district and no building worth standing in.

Now here is where Alice Gray Hamblen, already well along in years, does the thing that makes this story worth telling on a Texas road on a clear day. She offered the Hamblen family homestead itself as the site for the new Salado Public School. Her own home.

The place she and William had built a life in since 1868. Alice died in 1932. But her contributions to Salado, as the marker puts it plain and true, remain.

What the marker says

Alice Gray Hamblen, born March 14, 1846, in Mississippi, and her husband, William Kroger Hamblen (1817-1902), moved to Salado in 1868 and quickly became involved with the local private school, Salado College. Alice was passionate about the importance of education for young people and even provided room and board to children of family members so they could attend the school. When the college building and property were donated to the Salado Public School District in 1919 and the building was later deemed unsafe in 1924, Alice offered the Hamblen family homestead as a site for the new Salado Public School. Alice died in 1932, but her contributions to Salado remain. (2016)