DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to honor every word. Somewhere in Taylor County, there's a name worth knowin' — Eugenia Pickard. Born in Georgia around 1877, she made her way to Texas in the early 1900s and put down roots in Abilene.
And what she did with those roots is the kind of story that deserves a long, quiet moment around the fire. Pickard owned several properties in Abilene. Now, a lot of folks who own property think about rent.
Eugenia Pickard thought about something else entirely. She made those properties available at no rent — none — to poor families with children. Just opened the door and said come on in.
But she didn't stop there. African American children in Abilene had no public parks. No public parks.
Pickard gave them places to play. Think about what that means — a woman quietly building a world that the world around her had decided those children didn't deserve. When Eugenia Pickard died in 1945, she left her savings and her property to the city of Abilene, with a purpose: a new African American schoolhouse.
The funds turned out to be insufficient for that, so instead something else was dedicated in her name — the Eugenia Pickard Library, housed within Abilene's Carter G. Woodson High School, serving the surrounding community as an educational and social center. She'd aimed for a schoolhouse.
What she got was a library at the heart of a school. Sometimes the river finds a different path to the sea, and it gets there all the same.
What the marker says
A philanthropic African American woman greatly improved Abilene’s minority neighborhoods. Eugenia Pickard was born in Georgia about 1877. She moved to Texas in the early 1900s and settled in Abilene. Here she owned several properties and made them available for no rent to poor families with children. She also provided places to play to African American children who had no public parks. When Pickard died in 1945, she left savings and property to the city of Abilene to be used for a new African American schoolhouse. The funds were insufficient, so instead the Eugenia Pickard Library was dedicated. Located within Abilene’s Carter G. Woodson High School, it served the surrounding community as an educational and social center.