DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Thelma Laura Pugh-Lindholm, out here in Live Oak County. Now, some stories start with a single person. This one starts with a piece of land — a Mexican league and labor of it, purchased in 1835 from Empresarios McMullen and McGloin, sitting across the Nueces River from what we now call George West.
The ones who bought it were Thomas and Margaret Pugh, Irish emigrants, planting roots in Texas soil before Texas was even Texas. Fast forward a generation, then another, and another — and in 1898, on that very same original homestead, a girl named Thelma was born. Daughter of Charles and Lucy Pugh, granddaughter of the Crawfords, great-granddaughter of those Irish emigrants.
A fourth-generation Texan, as rooted in this county as the live oaks themselves. Thelma's education didn't start in any schoolhouse. It started at home.
Then, to get proper schooling, she went to live with her mother's parents in Oakville — and that's where something quietly remarkable happened. Her grandfather Crawford lit a fire in her. A love for Live Oak County.
A love for Texas history. Some gifts you can't put a price on, and that one turned out to shape everything that came after. She kept on.
Lived with an aunt. Graduated from Three Rivers High School. Earned a teaching certificate, then pressed further still — a baccalaureate degree, then a master's, with a thesis on the history of Oakville itself, all from Texas College of Arts and Industries in Kingsville — the school the marker also calls Texas A&I.
She continued her studies at the University of Texas and Texas A&M. The woman was not done learning, ever. But life, as it does, brought weight alongside the ambition.
Thelma remained faithful to the memory of Sergeant Major John E.E. Lindholm, a veteran of World War One who went missing after a post-war assignment. Faithful.
That word sits heavy. And there was another grief she carried — their daughter, Emelia Lucille Lindholm, died at the age of ten from diphtheria. Emelia and her grandmother, who passed in 1992, are buried in Gussettville Cemetery.
Some burdens a person just carries quietly, alongside everything else they do. And what Thelma did was plenty. She taught — on ranches and in George West ISD — for forty-seven years.
Forty-seven. She taught catechism as a devout Catholic. She tutored folks toward their general education diplomas.
She helped people earn their United States citizenship. She poured herself into the community in ways that rarely make headlines but hold a place together. And then there's the history work — Lord, the history work.
She wrote more than twenty Live Oak County historical narratives for official Texas historical markers. During the 1980s Texas Sesquicentennial, she chaired the Live Oak County Historical Commission. She anthologized more than six hundred and fifty-five memoirs.
She wrote the county chapter for The History of the People of Live Oak County, Texas. A woman who descended from people who purchased land here in 1835 spent her life making sure nobody forgot what happened on that land, and all around it, ever after. The marker doesn't mince words about what that amounts to.
Thelma Laura Pugh-Lindholm is commemorated as — and I'll say it just like it's written — the mother of Live Oak County history. Fourth-generation Texan. That's a title she earned one story at a time.
What the marker says
A fourth-generation Texan, Thelma Pugh-Lindholm descended from Irish emigrants Thomas and Margaret (McCann) Pugh, who purchased from Empresarios McMullen and McGloin in 1835 a Mexican league and labor of land across the Nueces River from present-day George West. Born in 1898 to grandson Charles and Lucy (Crawford) Pugh, Thelma grew up on the original Pugh homestead. First educated at home, Thelma then lived with her mother’s parents to attend school in Oakville. Grandfather Crawford sparked a love in Thelma for Live Oak County and Texas History. Later living with an aunt, Thelma graduated from Three Rivers High School. She acquired a teaching certificate then a baccalaureate and master’s degree with her thesis on the history of Oakville from Texas College of Arts and Industries (Texas A&J) in Kingsville. She continued studies at the University of Texas and Texas A&M. Thelma remained faithful to the memory of Sgt. Major John E.E. Lindholm, a veteran of WWI, missing after a post-war assignment. Their daughter, Emelia Lucille Lindholm, died at the age of 10 from diphtheria. She and her mother (deceased 1992) are buried in Gussettville Cemetery. Thelma Lindholm taught on ranches and in George West ISD for 47 years. A devout catholic, she taught catechism and tutored many toward general education diplomas and U.S. Citizenship. In addition, Thelma wrote more than 20 Live Oak County historical narratives for official Texas historical markers. During the 1980s Texas Sesquicentennial, she chaired the Live Oak County Historical Commission. She anthologized more than 655 memoirs and wrote the county chapter for The History of the People of Live Oak County, Texas. Thelma Laura Pugh-Lindholm is commemorated as “the mother of live oak county history.” (2017)