 West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas  Minnie Morris Jouvenat died 29 September 1922 "Poet" Sherman Daily Democrat Friday, September 29, 1922 pg. 4 Mrs. M.M. Jouvenat, Well-Known Poetess, Has Passed Away After several years of declining health and a week of acute illness, Mrs. Minnie Morris Jouvenat passed quietly out of life at her residence at 3 o'clock Friday morning. Mrs. Jouvenat was born in North Carolina 77 years ago, and after her marriage went with her husband to reside in Tennessee. After spending a few years there, Mr. and Mrs. Jouvenat transferred their residence to Texas, locating at Sherman in 1872. Three children blessed this union, two of whom survive. Born in the South, loving the South and all its customs and traditions, Mrs. Jouvenat was a typical Southern woman of the antebellum regime. Her birthright of dignity, refinement, intellect, and gentle cordiality marked her in every act. With these graces she combined a broad charity of thought and feeling, a highly organized temperamentalism, and hyper-sensitiveness to her surroundings and intercourse with human kind. She loved all the beautiful things of the earth, and for a number of years after her husband's death, conducted a successful floral business, probably as much for her love of and joy in flowers, as for the financial returns. She was one of the charter members of the local Dixie Chaper, U.D.C., and was a past president of that body, and always deeply interested in everything pertaining to the welfare of the organization. Mrs. Jouvenat had in rich measure the gift of poetry and in 1899 she compiled and had published a volume of her poems, dedicated to her sons, Paul and Morris Jouvenat and with the appropriate title of "Wing Shadows of Fancy." The book was reviewed by some of the ablest critics and elicited warm encomiums. One of her favorite selections, "At Evening," dedicated to "Mrs. A.M.G.," was among the marked compositions in the book, and a marginal note by her said, "Dr. Engleton never tired praising this," referring to Dr. D.F. Eagleton, who had the chair of English in Austin College, who was one of Mrs. Jouvenat's literary critics, and they were always the most cordial friends. Several weeks ago Mrs. Jouvenat visited the editor of The Democrat and while in the office she presented him with her own copy of her poems, musinly referred to the many marked selections, and at the same time handed him a copy of some lines which she termed her epitaph, and as close hands of congenial friendship existed between them, she requested him to see that they were placed on her tombstone. Mrs. Jouvenat had been a contributor to, and for some years ago, society reporter for the Sherman Register and later for The Democrat. Whatever she wrote bore the impress of her personality, and was always in the most polished diction. She was a faithful member of St. Stephens Episcopal Church, a close adherent in all its tenets and rites and loved her church with all the warmth and loyalty of her nature. A kind, unselfish, keenly appreciative friend, a good neighbor, a faithful wife, a devoted mother, endowed with all the admirable traits of well rounded womanhood, she will be missed by hosts of people in Sherman, and the memory of her life is a rich heritage for her sons. Surviving relatives of Mrs. Jouvenat are two sons, Paul and Morris, and a brother, M.P. Morris of Texarkana, who is present with his wife. The funeral will take place at her late residence, 111 West Brockett street, at 5 o'clock Friday afternoon, conducted by the rector of her church, Dr. W.J. Miller. Active pall bearers: W.G. Richardson, W.A. Harvey, J.C. Stinson, Ernest L. Jones, J.J. Pittman, Reeves Gibbs, C.C. Brinkley. Honorary pallbearers: E.C. Hunter, C.B. Dorchester, F.Z. Edwards, R.A. Gibbs, Dick Hopson, John Wharton, J.P. Leslie, J.F. Etter, G.E. Hardwicke, C.E. Craycroft, A.C. Buck, W.C. Jones, W.R. Brents. Following is a copy of "My Epitaph," written by Mrs. Jouvenat recently: "I do not grieve This sorrow-haunted world to leave. But, O, that glorious dawns shall rise, And roses wake with glad surprise. That beauty still on earth will be - And I not here to see." And the following appears in her book, "Wing Shadows of Fancy," under the title, "At Evening": "My day is done; Beyond the portals of its sunset fringe I see the advancing gloom. Along the paths which I have come Lie' faded dreams and fragments of the hopes I chased - And scorned. Around on every side I see the fadeless glory Of my changeless change; No storm of memory's pain Swells to my heart, or breaks In rain upon my moveless face. The burdens I have borne Have ceased to gall; the sorrows I have known no more enthrall. The scales of hope and dread Pause in a pulseless breath. And destiny in equipoise Stands waiting." West Hill Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |