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Norma Dawson is Tavian and Kovic's great grandma. She grew up with her five siblings on a farm in the Texas Panhandle during the Great Depression and dust bowl. They learned how to get by with very little, live off of the land, and waste nothing - habits which she continues today. She was one of the first women in her family to attend college after which she got married and helped to manage the family farm. After raising five children, she opened and ran a preschool for kids in her community. She is still alive today and will be 100 years old in May!

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Aurora Rodriguez Garcia is Maezy and Eli Cantu's Great Grandma. She just turned 97 this past November, but that doesn't slow her down! She still goes for walks with her husband of 75 years every morning and evening and loves working in her garden. She was born in La Feria Texas and is the oldest of 11. She spent most of her time on her family farm picking cotton, growing vegetables, and raising chickens. She was in a bowling league and a ladies dance organization when she was younger. Now, she lives in Corpus Christi Texas and we travel down to see her as often as we can! She has 13 grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, and 2 great great grandchildren!! She sings us a very special song called "Las Mananitas" each year on our birthday.

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Lurah Elizabeth Dyer was born at home in 1922 in Temple, Texas. She and her twin brother, George Lewis, were so small they were put in a shoe box.

Lurah graduated as Valedictorian of the Chappell Hill School, won Cotton Queen of Washington County, and became Smile Girl at the Fayette County Fair where she would meet her future husband, Raymond H. Winkelmann.  He would bring boxes of Hershey’s chocolate to Lurah’s father, George, each time he would come to visit.  Amazing that Hershey’s chocolate would lead to their marriage in 1942 and a family of four children - one an honored Texas historian and preservationist of antique buildings and furniture, and the other three became teachers, including Grammie Beth. She was adored by her family as a mother and grandmother as well as in her community. Her recipes and namesake live on through the generations that follow her, and we still call her an Iron Bluebonnet.

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Penny Halter Hopper was a devoted mother and philanthropist whose warmth, energy, and generosity touched everyone who knew her. Born in New Orleans as one of four siblings, Penny carried the spirit of her hometown throughout her life. She earned a degree in civil engineering from Tulane University, but after having children, she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to family and community.

Penny was the heart of every gathering, always the life of the party, and the glue that held everything together. She poured her time into philanthropy and was deeply involved in her children’s school and community, leaving a lasting impact on those around her. Here, she is pictured as the queen of a Mardi Gras ball in 1979—an honor that perfectly captured her vibrant spirit and love for celebration.

Though she never had the chance to meet her grandchildren, Quinn and Pearl Crawford, her legacy of love, generosity, and joy lives on through them and all who knew her.

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Parker & Cassidy Powell’s grandmother and great aunt: Ruth Salek & Christine Seidman. Both are living examples of loving, supportive mothers, spouses as well as pioneers in both law and medicine.

Doctor Christine Edry Seidman is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of Harvard’s Cardiovascular Genetics Center.  She is both a practicing cardiologist and world-renowned, multi-awarded, genetic researcher with over 300 peer-reviewed articles and co-founder of MyoKardia.

Ruth Edry Salek, was admitted to practice law in 1976 and licensed in Texas, New York, and Illinois. She was one of the only women in her law school class. Ruth specialized in federal taxation and corporate transactions, litigating before the US Supreme Court, Tax Court, and the 5th Circuit. While now semi-retired, she was Department of Treasury senior tax counsel, a partner at Chamberlain Herdlicka, Pennzoil Quaker State Director of Tax, and bond tax counsel at ABHR.

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Carter’s Great, Great, Great Aunt, Mrs. Maude Muller Butler, was born in Kenton, TN in 1884. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southwestern Seminary in Voice and Literature.  She began her career as a school teacher in Hot Springs, AR. In 1906, she became the first woman in Tulsa real estate and became President of the Women’s Council of the National Association of Real Estate Boards. In 1939, she had an article in the Ladies Home Journal. Some of her articles were used by the State Department’s overseas information programs to give other countries a true picture of the American way of life.  Later President Truman even appointed her to the Automotive Safety Council!

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Jeanne Borack, Sydney’s great grandmother, was born in 1908, Brooklyn, NY. Her parents were Ukranian immigrants and she was the first in her family to attend college. She was able to get a commercial teaching license and began her career in 1930 at age 22 at Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School, the same year the school opened its doors. From 1930 to 1974 she worked as substitute teacher, teacher, guidance counselor, assistant principal and acting principal, at one of the largest NYC public high schools with approximately 5,000 students. In addition to her undergraduate degree, she received a Master's Degree while working full time and raising 4 children. Even after retiring, she became active in the Retired School Supervisors' Association, one of the few women in leadership roles, becoming involved in NYC Legislative matters.

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Elaine Myers, great-grandmother of Madeline Hewitt, was born in 1931 in Virginia Beach. She studied for a Music degree from Bridgewater College, and afterwards married a Pilot. They lived in many places around the world while serving for the Air Force including Japan, where she learned about Bonsai. After moving to Texas she started a business growing and selling Bonsai trees. She volunteered for the Texas State Bonsai Club, and helped to start the Bonsai exhibit at Zilker Park. She enjoyed playing in the Austin Symphony and sailing on Lake Travis.

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Denise Stevens Swain celebrated her 92nd birthday on March 1, 2025. She is Avery and Grayson’s great-grandmother. Ms. Swain has a Master’s Degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. She taught high school English and was listed in Newsweek Magazine as a top educator from Seminole County, Florida. She is well-loved by her former students, community, and family.

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Jena Katharine Carr is Mrs. Carr's third child. Jena is a Barton Hills Elementary School alumni, a 2018 Austin High graduate and a first-generation college student (University of Utah) on both her maternal and paternal family lines. As Jena was growing up, it was clear that she had a passion for justice and for being a voice for people who aren't often heard. As a result, she is graduating from law school in May of 2025! While in law school, Jena has spent two of her three years volunteering with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation assisting clients with legal paperwork, and most recently helping victims of domestic violence navigate the legal process. She is also a legislative intern for a Georgia Senator and has provided legislative briefings to constituents. Once graduated, Jena plans to sit for the bar exam and hopes to work in a public defender role helping marginalized communities and people wrongly incarcerated.

Jena's passion and commitment to justice and to making the world a better place is truly an inspiration.

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Mary Ella Carr is Mrs. Carr's second child. Ella is a Barton Hills Elementary School alumni, a 2016 Austin High graduate and a first-generation college student (Louisiana State University) on both her maternal and paternal family lines. When Ella was in Mrs. Halbert's first grade class, she learned that she wanted to be out in the big world helping people. Mrs. Halbert read a book about a young woman whose passion was to volunteer in communities less fortunate than her own. As a result of the seed that Mrs. Halbert planted, Ella has lived and worked in Panama, Chile, Nicaragua, Germany and Malta. She will graduate in September 2025 with her Master's Degree in International Humanitarian Action specializing in forced migration and human security.

Ella currently works to help children that have arrived in America unaccompanied. She helps them adjust to a new country, language, home, and community. She also works to address the traumas during their journey to safety.

Her passion to be a helper and to make the world a better place inspires me every single day!

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Maria Benedita Bravo Silva is Mrs. Carr's Abuela.  She was born in Mexico in 1910.  In 1917, Maria, her mother and her sisters immigrated to the United States.  As a young woman and while raising her family, she worked as a farm worker in the crops of South Texas.  Maria was a devoted and loving mother/grandmother to her five kids and 14 grandchildren.  She was an amazing cook and fantastic homemaker.  One of Maria's proudest moments was when her granddaughters helped her learn enough English to be able to take and pass the United States Citizenship Test. Maria became a naturalized American citizen in 1985 at the age of 75.

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Mildred "Millie" Inks Davidson Dalrymple is Grey Siebert Richter's paternal great-grandmother. She was an American military aviator during World War II as a Women's Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). The WASP received the Congressional Gold Medal as a group for their service. Furthermore, she earned her degree in journalism from Texas State College for Women before taking on an editing role with the Texas legislature. While raising her children in Houston, Millie also worked part-time as a substitute teacher. Later, she transitioned to a full-time job in Austin to both contribute financially and channel her energy. In these positions, she once more demonstrated her pioneering spirit, notably by establishing and running Austin's first word processing center. Additionally, she returned to tennis, claiming numerous tournament victories and ultimately securing a national ranking as a senior doubles player. In her later years, she became a highly sought-after speaker, sharing her experiences as a WASP.

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Alida van As was Harrison’s great, great grandmother. She was born in Holland in 1898 and immigrated to the United States at the age of 8 years old through Ellis Island. She was one of 8 children. She was married and had 4 children, one of which was Harrison’s Grandma Elizabeth Booth. Alida was an avid needle pointer and would crochet blankets for family. Several pieces we have in our home. She was a lover of dessert and often picked the dessert first to determine the rest of her meal. She lived to be nearly 103 and died in the year 2000!

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Melody Willey is Lewis Coco’s great aunt and has invested her entire career in the fight to cure cancer. She graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Biomedical Science in 1980. She started her career at MD Anderson Cancer Center and was then promoted to Associate Director of Godney-Snell Cancer Research Center in South Carolina where she worked for 31 years. Her research and work have greatly advanced the treatment and cure of cancer. She has helped millions all over the world!

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Scarlet and Bruce’s Aunt Pam is incredible. She lost her arm in a car accident when she was 20 but never let it stop her from doing ANYTHING. She turned 50 this year and is an accomplished athlete, having completed multiple Iron Man races—swimming, biking and running. She’s doing the Iron Man at Alcatraz prison this May. She’ll swim through shark infested waters! She’s known in our family as Iron Pam.

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This is my dear friend Anne Walker. She was such an inspiration in my life when I started teaching. She always had the best advice in both education and life in general. My favorite quote from her is, "The best gift you can ever give to a child is independence!" 

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Yayoi Kusama is a famous artist who inspired Beckett Brown to create art. She is from Japan and was encouraged to only make traditional Japanese art but she didn't want to be limited. She came to the United States with dollar bills stuffed into her shoes, hoping to make her own art. In New York City she started to paint infinite dots which she is now known for today. She is one of the most famous artists in the world and is 95 years old.

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Eleanor Faye Alston and Emma Faye Barlow

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Eleanor Faye Alston, the great-grandmother and namesake of Emma Barlow, was born on November 4, 1921, in Hortense, Texas. As the eldest of eight, she took on a nurturing role early, helping care for her siblings while her parents worked the family farm.

A natural athlete, Eleanor played left-handed golf despite being right-handed and competed in state-level basketball for Leggett High School. Her professional career was equally impressive—she mastered stenography as a legal secretary and was indispensable in Mr. Willis’s office.

At 16, she moved to Houston, living with Glenn Miller’s brother’s family while studying secretarial work at night. She was in their home the night they received word that Miller’s plane had gone missing—a moment she never forgot. She also attended modeling school, worked for Exxon, and discovered her love for jive dancing while living in Austin.

Even in later years, Eleanor remained active, walking three miles daily until age 93. After the war, she married Henry Alston, settling in Livingston, Texas, where they raised three children with love and an unwavering sense of family. Her life was a testament to resilience, ambition, and grace.

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Do you know who Ruth Bader Ginsburg was? She was a Supreme Court Justice. She was born on March 15, 1933 in New York. She attended Harvard Law school where she she was only 1 out of 9 women in a class of about 500 hundred men. She became a Supreme Court Justice and served on the court for 27 years, from 1993 until she died in 2020. She was best known for her advocacy of women's rights and gender equality.

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Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Alicia Williams is Natalie Lundquist's cousin by marriage. She is the Chief Medical Officer of the Brook Army Medical Center burn unit in San Antonio. She and her team transport burned, injured warfighters from anywhere in the world and treat them. She graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) as part of only the third graduating class to include women. VMI was the last US public university to include women and it happened in 1997. In addition to being an incredible doctor and trailblazer, she has two daughters who are 5 and 3.

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Socorro Sanchez was the great grandmother of Cora & Ellis Woolsey. She was born in Laredo, TX on March 11, 1932.  She taught elementary school for the San Antonio Independent School District and went on to serve as a school counselor. She earned her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Texas at Austin. 🤘She was not only a talented educator and counselor but a loving family member and wonderful person. She was a champion advocate for underprivileged children.

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My great-great aunt, Virginia Ragsdale (1870 - 1945), held two degrees in physics and a Ph.D. in math. She was a pioneer in higher education for the women of North Carolina and was the chair of the mathematics department at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where there is a building named for her.

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Virginia Ragsdale (December 13, 1870 – June 4, 1945) was a teacher and mathematician specializing in algebraic curves. She is most known as the creator of the Ragsdale conjecture.

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Sister Rosetta Tharpe began her musical pursuits in the church. She experimented with various genres including rhythm and blues and rock and roll. She was exceedingly skilled at playing the electric guitar, asserting her mastery as a woman guitarist .Tharpe has been dubbed the “Godmother of Rock and Roll”. Musicians such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton and Little Richard have cited her as an influence. “Can’t no man play like me. I play better than a man.”

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Beverly “Bev” Bradley is Caroline Allensworth’s great grandmother and is still alive today! Bev was an only child of parents who didn’t attend school after 8th grade. She attended college on a 4H scholarship, married, and raised 5 sons in Lawrence, Kansas. She was the first female County Commission Chair in Douglas County, Kansas, and went on to advocate on local government issues at the state and federal level. Bev was known in and around Lawrence for making 5 dozen cookies - daily - to feed her growing family and hosting BBQs with hundreds of attendees. She initiated what is now a family tradition - asking “Can I do anything for you?” to everyone she encounters.

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Elaine Novy Shapiro, Great Grandmother to Levi Newberry

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Elaine Novy Shapiro, Great Grandmother to Levi Newberry, was born and raised in Austin, Texas. Along with other her father, Jim Novy, she advocated for Jews during WWII and with the assistance of then Congressman LBJ, helped secure visas for Jews to escape Europe. She remained friends with LBJ and even got to visit him in the White House.

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Giovanna Tranchina, Alessandra’s great grandmother, wanted to create a better life for her family, so spent 14 years trying to obtain American citizenship, although she was originally born in Manhattan and moved to Sicily at a young age. Their whole family underwent poverty and hardships, but she persisted all while her husband Fought in the war. They eventually were granted citizenship and she brought the entire family over so they could all get jobs. Her son, Alessandra’s grandfather, and her mother’s father, fought in the Vietnam war and now is a successful real estate entrepreneur. She was an amazing and strong example of work ethic, persistence, and setting a great example to her family. She believed that you can achieve anything if you set your heart and mind to it.

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Anneliese Grabowski was Ella and Owen Templet’s Great Grandmother. She was born in Germany in 1933. She was a child during World War II, and was forced to flee her home from Russians and not attend school for 3 years after 6th grade. She eventually went back to school and trained as a nurse. She married and immigrated to Texas in 1959 and was a mother to 4 children and many grand children. She was a homemaker who loved crocheting, gardening, bingo, and going to the casino! 🎰

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Nijolė is Ona’s greatgrandma. She was born during the Second World War in Lithuania, close to the frontlines between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. Nijolė became a neonatal nurse and nutritionist and knew about the importance of good food way before it was cool. She lived most of her life under Russian occupation where lots of other awful things were happening and where religion was forbidden (Christmas trees had to be hidden under a table and painting Easter Eggs could get you in trouble), but Nijolė managed to build a beautiful family. Ona was the first in four generations to be born with Lithuania being free from Russia.

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Mary Howard is Charlie Howard's grandmother.  She was born in Nottingham,  England prior to World War II.  She was a nurse in England and once met the late Queen Elizabeth.   She got married and moved to America, where she later had 5 children.  Her career in America transitioned into banking, until she retired in 1990.  She loves watching the Game Show network and visits from her grandchildren.

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Susie Wolff is a role model for Ms. Mendez. She is a Scottish former professional racing driver and current managing director of F1 Academy: a female-only Formula 4-level racing championship founded by the Formula One Group. In 2014, Susie became the first woman to drive in a Formula 1 race weekend in 22 years! She is the proud founder of Dare to be Different: an organization that aims to increase the participation of women in all forms of motor racing and change the views of women in perceived male-dominated industries.

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Elsa Mohrmann is Johnnie Bonnell's great grandmother. She came to the US alone by boat at the age of 16. She taught herself to read. She worked for the Vanderbilt's as a cook where she met Charles Lindbergh, whom she called Lindy. Later in life, she started her own business and opened a delicatessen with her husband. She made all of the food and was successful enough to open another location.

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Margaret "Maggie" Callahan Grant

Great Grandmother to Holden Grant. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), WWII. One of 1074 women out of over 25,000 candidates to complete the pilot program in Sweetwater, TX. She flew PT-19, AT-6, A-25, B-26 and C-60W planes. We're forever thankful for her bravery.

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Bertha Munoz is Mrs. Benoit's Grandma. She was born in Crystal City, Texas and grew up working on migrant farms. When she was in school she got disciplined for speaking Spanish. She got married and moved to San Antonio, Texas. She had six children and worked at a child's psychiatric hospital. She loves to make puffy tacos for her family and garden.