DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Back in 1887, a reverend by the name of Isaac Z.T. Morris and his wife made a decision that most folks would have called impractical, maybe even a little bit crazy.
They opened their own family home in Fort Worth to orphans and abandoned children. Not a grand institution, not a funded organization — just their home. Their table.
Their roof. Now, that kind of thing tends to grow on you, and it grew. By 1904, their work had led to the chartering of the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society — and when they chartered that organization, they did it with a board of directors that reads like a roll call of Fort Worth itself: J.B.
Baker, J.N. Brown, William Bryce, E.R. Conner, J.C.
Conner, J.V. Dealey, Irby Dunklin, H.B. Francis, H.H.
Halsell, J. Lee Johnson, E.H. McCuistion, Reverend Morris himself, G.H.
Mulkey, J.W. Robbins, L.A. Suggs, and R.M.
Wynne. Fifteen directors and a mission: placing children in well-chosen adoptive homes. That was the work.
And that work was about to find its champion. In 1910, a woman named Edna Gladney became a director of the Society. Born in 1889, she was not yet twenty-one years old.
Now, you might think that's where her story really starts, but hold on — because Edna Gladney was the kind of person who needed room to run. She joined the staff as superintendent in 1927, and from that point forward, things started moving. Permanent housing was acquired.
Services were enlarged. And Edna Gladney didn't stop at the front door of the home she was running — her influence pushed outward, into the halls of the legislature, into the machinery of social reform, all of it in behalf of waifs and foundlings and unwed mothers. People who had nobody else making noise for them.
The wider world took notice too. In 1941, her work was dramatized in a motion picture called Blossoms in the Dust. That's the kind of recognition that tends to follow a life lived without much concern for recognition.
Then, in 1950, the home was renamed in her honor. After that, progress kept coming. A hospital unit was added in 1954 and named for veteran Board Chairman A.J.
Duncan. In 1962, the Gladney Home was accredited by the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. Auxiliaries formed.
Facilities were added. The work kept growing, the way it had been growing since 1887, when a reverend and his wife in Fort Worth quietly made room at the table. Edna Gladney died in 1961 — one year before the accreditation, and more than a decade after they put her name on the door.
She didn't need to see the plaque. The work was the point.
What the marker says
The Rev. Issac Z.T. Morris and his wife began in 1887 to care for orphans and abandoned children in Fort Worth, keeping them in their family home. Their work led to chartering (1904) of the Texas Children's Home & Aid Society, with J.B. Baker, J.N. Brown, William Bryce, E.R. Conner, J.C. Conner, J.V. Dealey, Irby Dunklin, H.B.Francis, H.H. Halsell, J. Lee Johnson, E.H. McCuistion, Mr. Morris, G. H. Mulkey, J.W. Robbins, L. A. Suggs, and R.M. Wynne as directors. The Society engaged primarily in placing children in well-chosen adoptive homes. Mrs Edna Gladney (1889-1961) became a director in 1910. A crusader in behalf of waifs, foundlings and unwed mothers, she joined the staff as superintendent in 1927. By her efforts, permanent housing was acquired and services enlarged. Her influence extended beyond her own office, into securing legislation and social reform. Her work received wide public notice; it was dramatized (1941) in the motion picture "Blossoms in the Dust". The home was renamed (1950) in her honor. Progress continued. A hospital unit was added (1954) and named for veteran Board Chairman A. J. Duncan. In 1962, the Gladney home was accredited by the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. Auxiliaries have been formed and facilities added to promote the work. (1974)