 West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas  M.C. Dillingham 13 September 1847 - 23 September 1920 H.C. Dillingham 12 January 1844 - 30 May 1897  Evorie Dillingham 1873 - 1975  February 3, 1975 EVORIE DILLINGHAM DEAD AT 101 Miss Evorie died quietly in her room at a Sherman nursing home about 8:40 Sunday evening. She was in her 102nd year. Mourning her passing are children, middle aged people and the elderly - thousands of them in Sherman who had heaped on her almost every hour withint their power. Evorie Dillingham, perhaps Sherman's best known and most loved resident, had lived a remarkable life, including 48 years as a teacher and coach of football, baseball and track in elementary school. She reached her 101st birthday last September 22. Her enthusiasm and spirit never waned as the years and the honors piled higher and higher. A number of times in recent years she was guest of honor on her birthday (September 22) at student assembly programs at Dillingham Junior High School (now middle school), which was named for her when it was completed in 1960. Upon retiring in 1942 after 48 years in the classroom, 43 years at Jefferson School here, Miss Dillingham launched a new career in public service in a number of organizations in which she was active. These included the PTA, AAUW, B&PW and Delta Kappa Gamma, professional society of teachers. In addition to her role as athletic coach at Jefferson elementary, where her boys included Texas Hall of Fam athlete and coach Cecil Grigg, Miss Dillingham brought into the school the first piano ever to be provided for a Sherman school. It also was under her leadership that Jefferson school became the first public school in Texas to install a cafeteria. She also was responsible for introducing the first physical education program in a Texas public school. Many prominent men and women of the city and state were her elementary school students, Besides Grigg, other members of her athletic teams later won athletic honors in college. Grigg won national fame as a winning coach at Rice. He also coached at Austin College. Miss Evorie, even when coaching, was also a great spirit-builder. She used a wide variety of mottos with her students to urge them on in the field and in the classroom. One of her favorites: "Don't flinch; don't foul; hit that line hard." She had her teams memorize her mottos and they shouted them in unison. Services were held Wednesday afternoon in the Central Christian Church, conducted by Rev. Fred Hall, pastor. Burial was at West Hill Cemetery, under the direction of the Waldo Funeral Home. Miss Dillingham was born in Grayson County, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Dillingham. She attended Kidd-Key College here and began her teaching career in 1894. Miss Dillingham completed high school in Commerce, attended Kidd-Key College in Sherman, received her BA degree at East Texas State Teachers College at Commerce and receiver her MA degree in English from Austin College and did graduate study at Columbia University in New York. She taught her first school at Union Point, a ome-room school south of Sherman, and one and a half years in the Greenville schools before she accepted a teaching position in Sherman. Miss Dillingham contributed much time to civic measures. She served as president of both the county and state organizations of Parent Teachers Association; was active for years in the Sherman branch of AAUW; was a member of the Business and professional Women's Club; a charter member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society for teachers; she worked for 9 years with the State Department of Public Welfare after retiring as a teacher. Miss Dillingham was active in leadership at the Central Christian Church for many years, having been a teacher and administrator in the teaching program. In a 5-minute memorial at the Dillingham school Monday, principal John Hibbert recounted the highlights of Miss Dillingham's life for students. The casket wreath was provided by the school rather than the family, he said. Members of the Dillingham choir san at the funeral service. Surviving is a sister, Mrs. Marcia Reid of Sherman. Pallbearers were Stewart Freeman. O.E. Giles, Carl Perry, Frank Reddell, J.E. Hibbert, and Rochelle Canon. West Hill Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |