Mita Holsapple Hall (1885-1965)

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Mita Holsapple Hall, right there in Grayson County. Now settle in, because this one's about a woman who showed up in Sherman as a little girl and just never stopped showing up. Born near Fair Dealing, Kentucky, in 1885, Mita Holsapple made the move to Sherman with her family when she was still a child.

She went on to graduate from Mary Nash College, and if you're thinking that sounds like a fine start, well, you haven't heard the rest yet. In 1919, she wed Hugh E. Hall.

Two years after that, she organized the first Camp Fire Girls group in Sherman. The first one. Somebody had to go first, and Mita was that somebody.

Now here's where the story gets its real weight. For the next forty-four years, she poured herself into the Camp Fire movement. Forty-four years.

That is not a pastime, that is a calling. Her commitment endeared her to the young women of Sherman, and the organization took notice, moving her into local, then district, then national leadership positions and honors. She wasn't just a fixture in the movement.

She climbed every level of it. And that still wasn't the whole of her. In 1936, she co-authored a history of Grayson County for the Texas Centennial, leaving a written record of the very place that had taken her in as a child.

Mita Holsapple Hall passed in 1965. But when a woman spends forty-four years lighting fires, don't be surprised if the warmth sticks around.

What the marker says

Mita Holsapple Hall (1885-1965) Born near Fair Dealing, Kentucky, Mita Holsapple moved with her family to Sherman as a child and graduated from Mary Nash College. Wed to Hugh E. Hall in 1919, she organized the first Camp Fire Girls group in Sherman two years later. For the next 44 years, her commitment to the Camp Fire movement endeared her to the young women of Sherman and led to local, district and national leadership positions and honors in the organization. In addition to numerous other civic and cultural activities, she co-authored a history of Grayson County for the Texas Centennial in 1936. Recorded - 2002