Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong and Mary Maxwell Armstrong

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Dr. Andrew Joseph Armstrong and Mary Maxwell Armstrong — and friends, this one's worth every mile. Now, most love stories start with flowers or a dance.

This one started with English literature in East Texas. Andrew Joseph Armstrong, born in Kentucky in 1873, was already making a name for himself as a scholar of the life and works of the English poet Robert Browning. He'd held teaching positions at several colleges and universities by the early 20th century, movin' around the way ambitious academic men did in those days.

And in 1904, at East Texas Baptist Institute over in Rusk, he walked into the English department and found Mary Maxwell already there. She was born in 1882, she taught English, and — well. You can imagine how that went.

But here's where the story takes a turn that most romances never see. In 1909, Dr. Armstrong traveled to Italy, and there he met a man named Robert W.

Barrett Browning — known to friends as Pen. Pen Browning was the only son of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The only son of two of the most celebrated poets in the English language.

Dr. Armstrong stood in the presence of that living connection to the work he'd devoted his life to studying. Think about what that moment must have felt like.

Dr. Armstrong and Mary Maxwell married in 1911. In 1912, they moved to Waco, where he became chair of the Baylor English Department.

And that same year — that very same year — Pen Browning died, and he died without leaving a will. The estate of the only child of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning: the papers, the belongings, the intimate relics of two extraordinary literary lives, all of it went to Sotheby's in London to be auctioned off in 1913. Items scattering to the four winds, going to whoever showed up with money that day.

Dr. Armstrong didn't go to London. But he arranged for an agent to attend that auction and document the disposition of every single item.

Every one. Because he was already thinking further down the road than the auction floor. Aided by his wife Mary, he embarked on what the marker calls a decades-long quest — and friends, that phrase does not exaggerate — to acquire those items and other Browning materials besides.

He donated what he'd already gathered to Baylor University in 1918. And then, rather than slow down, the Armstrongs picked up the pace. They led educational tours.

They arranged for world-class scholars, writers, and entertainers to visit the Baylor campus. They fundraised by every means available to two people who believed deeply in what they were building. Plans for a separate building for the growing collection took shape in the 1930s.

Then World War II intervened, the way it intervened in everything. Construction finally began in 1948, after the Armstrongs had raised over a million dollars. A million dollars, raised by two English professors on the strength of conviction and relentless effort.

The Armstrong Browning Library formally opened in 1951. Dr. Armstrong served as its director until his death in 1954.

Mary Armstrong, who had been beside him through every step of that decades-long quest, then served as director from 1954 to 1959. She lived until 1971. They are buried together in Waco's historic Oakwood Cemetery — the Kentucky-born Browning scholar and the woman he met in an East Texas English department back in 1904.

Between the two of them, they built something that outlasted them both. That's not a bad definition of a life well spent.

What the marker says

Andrew Joseph Armstrong (1873-1954), a native of Kentucky, was a noted scholar of the life and works of English poet Robert Browning. He held teaching positions at several colleges and universities in the early 20th century and met his future wife, Mary Maxwell (1882-1971), in 1904, when both taught English at East Texas Baptist Institute in Rusk. In 1909, Dr. Armstrong traveled to Italy, where he met Robert W. Barrett "Pen" Browning, only son of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Dr. Armstrong and Mary Maxwell married in 1911, and in 1912, they moved to Waco when he became chair of the Baylor English Department. Pen Browning died that year without leaving a will, and in 1913, Sotheby's in London auctioned his estate, including papers and belongings of his famous parents. Dr. Armstrong arranged for an agent to attend the auction and document the disposition of each item. Aided by his wife, he embarked on a decades-long quest to acquire those and other Browning items. Dr. Armstrong donated his Browning collection to Baylor University in 1918. The Armstrongs then employed varied fundraising efforts to continue building the collection, including leading educational tours and arranging for world-class scholars, writers and entertainers to visit the Baylor campus. Plans for a separate building for the growing collection began in the 1930s, but World War II intervened. Construction began in 1948 after the Armstrongs raised over a million dollars, and the Armstrong Browning Library formally opened in 1951. Dr. Armstrong served as director until his death in 1954, and Mary Armstrong was director from 1954 to 1959. They are buried in Waco's historic Oakwood Cemetery. (2006)