DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Rebecca Kilgore Stuart Red — and it's one worth slowing down for. Somewhere in Washington County, Texas, in the year 1853, a woman named Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart walked into Live Oak Female Seminary and took charge as its principal. Now, that alone would've been a fine legacy for most folks.
But Rebecca was just getting started. The very next year — 1854 — she married Dr. George Clark Red.
And here's where you might expect the story to shift, to soften, to hand the reins to someone else. It didn't. Rebecca kept right on teaching.
The woman did not stop. The Reds eventually made their way to Austin in 1876, and what did they do when they got there? They opened a school.
Stuart Female Seminary, at 1212 East 9th Street. Rebecca had carried the work with her, planted it in new soil, and watched it grow. She taught there for years.
And when the end came — 1886 — Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart Red was teaching nine days before she died. Nine days. Not decades before.
Not years. Nine days. Let that settle in.
The classroom was, right up to the very threshold, where she chose to be. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. The story doesn't quite end with her, though.
In 1899, her heirs donated her property to the Presbyterian Synod of Texas. And on that same ground where she had taught, the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary operated from 1902 until 1907. One woman's life's work — and the ground itself kept on teaching long after she was gone.
What the marker says
(1827-1886) Rebecca Jane Kilgore Stuart became principal of Live Oak Female Seminary in Washington County, Texas, in 1853. In 1854 she married Dr. George Clark Red and continued teaching. The Reds moved to Austin in 1876, and opened Stuart Female Seminary at 1212 East 9th Street. Rebecca continued teaching until nine days before her death in 1886. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Her heirs donated her property to the Presbyterian Synod of Texas in 1899. The Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary was operated at that site from 1902 until 1907. (1988)