 West Hill Cemetery Sherman, Texas   Sherman Daily Democrat September 18,---- pg. 1 ONE OF SOUTH's LEADING EDUCATORS PASSES AWAY AFTER BRIEF ILLNESS MRS. KIDD-KEY PASSES AWAY President North Texas College Dies After only a Few Days' Illness NEWS COMES AS SHOCK Whole City is in Mourning and Business House Close During Funeral Services Which Take Place This Afternoon Mrs. Lucy A. Kidd-Key, president of the North Texas College, and founder of the Kidd-Key Conservatory of Music and Art, died last night at 11:30 p.m. in her apartments at Lois Thompson Hall. Mrs. Key spent the summer in the north and was stricken with her fatal illness on her return trip home. Funeral services are being conducted this afternoon at 3 o'clock at the Travis Street Methodist church, Ministers of all denominations and old girls from all parts of the state are in attendance. Mrs. Key is survived by her husband, Bishop Joseph S. Key; a son, Edwin Kidd, a daughter, Mrs. Holt Versel and two grandchildren, Dr. Joseph Holt and Miss Lucy Kidd. She is survived also by one great-grandchild, Joseph Holt, Jr. For several years Mrs. Key has been preparing for the time when she could no longer continue in active service. Her plans were fully matured for the continuation of the school along the lines she had mapped out when she passed away. Mrs. Holt Versel and Edwin Kidd, who for some time have had charge of the business management of the institution, will continue as financial directors. Mrs. Maggie W. Barry, who has been closely associated with Mrs. Key for many years and Rev. J.O. Leath, A.M., B.D., who is also thoroughly conversant with Mrs. Key's methods, will act jointly as associate principals. There will be absolutely no change in the personnel of the faculty, nor any break in the routine of the work in the college for the year. This is in full accordance with Mrs. Key's wishes. Dr. J.L. Pierce of Denton, formerly pastor of the....here, was chosen to deliver the funeral oration. He will be assisted in the service by Dr. R.G. M----, presiding elder of the Sherman district of the M.E. Church, South. Dr. J.F. Pierce, pastor of the Travis Street church, Rev. W.D. Bradfield, editor-in-chief of the Texas Christian Advocate, Dallas and Rev. H.W. Knickerbocker, pastor of the First M.ED. church of Denison. Rev. W.D. Mountecastle, Paris, Rev. T.M. Morris, Greenville, Rev. T.N. Weeks, Plano, and Rev. P.C. Archer, McKinney, members of the board of trustees, are present for the services. The board of trustees of the college attended in a body. The active pall bearers were all chosen from the college faculty. They are Pettis Pipes, Hans Richard, Ralph Leopold, A. Curry Gracy, Wilson Fraser, and Mr. Dodds. The honorary pall bearers are as follows: Mayor T.U. Cole, C.C. Mayhew, Judge H.O. Head, H.W. Head, C.B. Dorchester, W.R. Brents, Ernest L. Jones, P.D. Hollingsworth, Prof. E.P. Powell, Frank Benard, Rev.J.O. Leath, N.R. Birge, C.A. Sanford. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Mrs. Key has been for long one of the unique and phenomenal figures among the pioneer educators of the Southwest. starting as an unwilling president of a small and unknown school, which because of its indebtedness had been closed for two years. In something more than 25 years she established and developed one of the largest institutions for the exclusive education of girls in this section of America. Before marriage, Mrs. Key was Miss Lucy Anne Thornton of the aristocratic Thornton family of Versailles, Kentucky. She was first married to Dr.Henry Kidd of Yazoo, Mississippi. At the death of Dr. Kidd, with several small children looking to her for sustenance, she became connected with Whitworth College at Brookhaven, Mississippi. It was there that she received her first experience as manager of a school. While at Whitworth her eminent ability as an educator was recognized by the late Bishop Galloway. He recommended her for the position of president of the North Texas College at Sherman. With characteristic courage, Mrs. Key journeyed to Texas in the summer of 1888 to undertake her new duties. The North Texas College then consisted of two small frame dormitories and a tiny antiquated brick chapel at the edge of the small village of Sherman. It was deserted and desolated by a vacancy of two years. Mrs. Key began at once to go the rounds of the Methodist conferences in Texas and Oklahoma, making personal solicitations for pupils and funds. Her first student was Georgia Bonner, now Mrs. Tom Finty of Dallas. Many of Mrs. Key's journeys were made by stage and old-fashioned coaches, and the howls of wolves in lonely settlements in what was then the Indian Territory often struck terror to her heart. In 1892 she was married to Bishop Joseph S. Key of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Galloway, who journeyed from Mississippi to preside over the marriage. The development of Kidd Key as an institution received the constant attention of Mrs. Key. Almost no year has gone by since she became president that...new buildings or....have been made. Two disastrous fires in...dormitories at different times in the history of the school, and the buildings were replaced with...brick structures housing scores of students. She established the Kidd-Key Conservatory of Music and Art as a separate institution, but one conducted in conjunction and by the cooperation of the North Texas College. The North Texas college as it now stands consists of nineteen buildings. They are Lois Thompson Hall, the residence of Bishop and Mrs. Key, Annie Green dormitory, the chapel, Binkley Hall, Kh.... Hall, the music practice building, Northern Hall Orlean, Paradise, and Bliss cottages, the infirmary, Miller cottages, Barry Cottage, Versel cottage, Conservatory, Alanio, Senior Hall, Laboratory, and Gymnasium. The five last named stand on the property acquired from the old Mary Nash college. While she has been president of the college, since she first took it in charge, she has filled practically every position that needed to be filled in the institution. In the words of Thomas Nehune Page: "She was mistress, manager, nurse, counselor, seamstress, housekeeper, slave, all at once. What she really was was known only to God." Certainly her physical endurance, her moral responsibility, her unflagging tact, were often taxed to the utmost. During all of her life, her vitality and interest have seemed inexhaustable. Only a few years ago she made an extended tour of Europe and proved herself a tireless traveler. The following year she decided on impulse to go again and spent three months in Germany and Holland. She greatly admired the orderliness and efficiency of the Germans as a people. Mrs. Key was the first educator to bring artist teachers of the highest standing to the southwest. She maintained a high standard of excellence in both the academic and music departments and hundreds of thoroughly educated and cultured women in all parts of the Southwest attest to the practicality of her methods. She recognized early in her career that women required a type of education...to the education of men, but different. she maintained at all times that the fine arts had a definite place in the training of young women, and many movements for reform in the methods of teaching woman originated in her school. Paramount above everything else, Mrs. Key never failed to urge the young women entrusted to her to...define themselves as women. From the old South she herself inherited dignity and gentleness of manner, purity of heart and nobility of soul. Her contact with and supervision over her girls, the personal care she gave to each and every one of them, enabled her to exert in the full the power of her nature and personality as a creative force in the development of the characters of those in her charge. ANNOUNCEMENT BY BOARD OF TRUSTEES Following the death of Mrs. Key it was announced by the board of trustees of the institution that Edwin Kidd and Mrs. Holt Versel will continue in charge of its business management and that Mrs. Maggie W. Barry, who has been with the school since its foundation by Mrs. Key, and Dr. James O. Leath, who has been working under Mrs. Key for serveral years, will act jointly as Associate Principals. Prof. E.F. Powell wil continue as chairman of the faculty and Miss Bilger as presiding teacher. Llans Richard as director of the Conservatory, will be assisted by Ralph.....renard and others. Mrs. Holt Versel and Louis Versel will continue as directors of the department of voice. In a word, the entire faculty which for so long has been associated with Mrs. Key will continue in charge of their various departments, so that there will be no disturbance whatsoever in the conduct and operation of the school. The work for the year as arranged by Mrs. Key will be carried forward without change or interruption.  Corsicana Daily Sun Corsicana, Texas September 14, 1916 pg. 1 Mrs. L.A. Kidd-Key Is Laid at Rest in Sherman Today By Associated Press Sherman, Texas, Sept. 14 - The funeral of Mrs. Lucy A. Kidd-Key, president of the North Texas Female College, who died last night, was held this afternoon at the Methodist church. One hundred and fifty Kidd-Key girls dressed in white formed a guard and escorted the body in the funeral processions.  West Hill Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |