DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker up here in Angelina County tells it, here's how the story goes. On October the fifth, 1907, in a house that no longer stands — razed clean to the ground by now — a boy named Allan Shivers came into the world. His folks were Robert A. and Easter C.
Shivers, a pioneer East Texas family, right here where the pines run thick and the roots run deep. Nothing fancy about the start of it. Just a family, a house, and a boy who'd one day hold the longest gubernatorial term in the history of the state of Texas.
But we're gettin' ahead of ourselves. That's the thing about a good story — you have to let it breathe. As a young man, Allan didn't wait around for anybody to hand him anything.
He worked odd jobs, earned his own pocket money. You get the sense this was a fellow who understood early on that if something was going to happen, he was going to have to make it happen himself. And make it happen he did.
He served as a State Senator for twelve years. Twelve. Then Lieutenant Governor for two more.
And then — the big chair. Governor of Texas. His term stretched longer than any other in state history, which is the kind of record that tends to make a Texan sit up a little straighter in his seat.
And it wasn't just the length of it that people remembered. It was what got done. Reforms in state hospitals and special schools.
Prison improvement. Highway improvement. Protection of natural resources and historic sites.
The creation of new agencies — one focused on alcoholism, one dedicated to higher education. That's a list that reads like a man who showed up to work every single day and didn't leave until the job was done. And when his time in public office was through, Allan Shivers stepped into private life and became, by the marker's own telling, one of Texas' outstanding business leaders.
Not a bad second act for a boy born in a house that doesn't even stand anymore. The house is gone, but this story — this story put down roots.
What the marker says
Born here, in now-razed house, Oct. 5, 1907, to Robert A. and Easter C. Shivers, pioneer East Texas family. As youth, worked at odd jobs to earn own pocket money. Was State Senator 12 years; Lieutenant Governor for two. A strong, progressive Governor, his term (longest in state history) was marked by reforms in state hospitals and special schools, prison and highway improvement, protection of natural resources and historic sites, and creation of agencies on alcoholism and for higher education. In private life, one of Texas' outstanding business leaders. (1971)