Mary Kate Hunter

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Now, Palestine, Texas has had its share of remarkable people, but every now and then a town produces somebody who decides the whole story is worth savin' — and does something about it. Mary Kate Hunter was that somebody.

She was born just outside Palestine on November 8, 1866, to Nathaniel and Jennie Hunter, Jennie being a Beeson before she married. From the start, Mary Kate seemed destined to be a woman of uncommon range. She was educated at the Palestine Female Academy and Sam Houston Normal Institute, and if that sounds like a solid foundation, well, she wasn't done.

She studied piano with classical musicians across the United States and in Germany — Germany — and came back home to teach piano to countless children in Palestine. That's the kind of detail that ought to stop you for a second. The world was wide, and she moved through it, and then she came back and poured what she learned right back into her community.

But music was only one thread in a very full life. As a clubwoman, Mary Kate Hunter was a force. She was a charter member of the Self-Culture Club in Palestine, organized in 1894.

By 1898, she was serving as a delegate to the first annual meeting of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1921, she organized a local chapter of the Women's National Foundation specifically for the preservation and study of local history. And somewhere along the way she founded and led the Fort Houston chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

That's not a résumé — that's a campaign. And then there's the matter of suffrage. Mary Kate Hunter organized the Palestine Equal Suffrage Association and served as its first president.

In 1915 and 1916, she held statewide office in the Texas Equal Suffrage Association. She wasn't just a supporter of voting rights for women — she was out front, organizin', presidin', and representin' the cause at the state level. In between all of that, she found time to be a published poet, the editor of a local society journal, and a board member of the Texas State Library.

She researched the history of Palestine and Anderson County extensively, and she conducted dozens of oral history interviews with early area residents — people who had lived through the founding days of the place she called home. She understood, maybe better than anyone around her, that those voices would not last forever. Mary Kate Hunter died on April 15, 1945.

And what she left behind was not silence. She bequeathed her voluminous collection of material to the Palestine Public Library, where it remains in use to this day as an important record of Anderson County history. She studied piano in Germany and taught it to children down the street.

She argued for women's votes and preserved the words of people who built the county from scratch. Some folks spend a lifetime collectin' things. Mary Kate Hunter spent hers makin' sure the things worth keepin' didn't disappear.

That collection at the Palestine Public Library — that's her still talkin'.

What the marker says

(November 8, 1866 - April 15, 1945) Born just outside Palestine in 1866 to Nathaniel and Jennie (Beeson) Hunter, Mary Kate Hunter played a significant role in recording, promoting and preserving the history of Palestine and Anderson county. Educated at Palestine Female Academy and Sam Houston Normal Institute, she studied piano with classical musicians across the United States and in Germany, and taught piano to countless Palestine children. As a clubwoman, she was a charter member of the Self-Culture Club in Palestine, organized in 1894; served as a delegate to the first annual meeting of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs in 1898;organized a local chapter of the Women's National Foundation in 1921 for the preservation and study of local history; and founded and led the Fort Houston chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. A supporter of voting rights for women, Mary Kate Hunter organized and was first president of the Palestine Equal Suffrage Association, and held statewide office in the Texas Equal Suffrage Association in 1915-16. In addition to her civic duties, Hunter also was a published poet, editor of a local society journal and board member of the Texas State Library. She extensively researched the history of Palestine and Anderson County and conducted dozens of oral history interviews with early area residents. At her death in 1945, she bequeathed her voluminous collection of material to the Palestine Public Library, where it remains in use as an important record of Anderson County history. (2001)