SHUMLA Drumbeat

REMARKABLE WOMEN REMEMBERED

By Kathleen Burgess
info@shumla.org

Reprinted from the Del Rio News-Herald
Published July 22, 2006

Officially known as the "Bookhouse," the structure affectionately known as "Moms' Place" was completed in June.

Funding for the building began with memorial contributions honoring Jody Boyd, mother of Executive Director Dr. Carolyn Boyd. The idea resonated with many and additional contributions were made by friends and families in honor of a number of remarkable Moms and other special women.

A plaque honoring these women will be placed in the Bookhouse in the near future. Sufficient funds were received through memorial donations to completely fund this $100,000 construction project.

The newly completed 1,800 sq. ft. Bookhouse consists of four rooms: two bungalows, a library and a multipurpose room. The bungalows will house guest instructors and staff.

The multipurpose room will be used as dormitory, dining hall, or conference room. The library and multipurpose room will also be used as classrooms.

The arrangement of classrooms, library and housing will make this building perfectly suited for either long term research by visiting scholars or day use by school groups.

Completion of the Bookhouse led to more construction. The Boyd family traveled to Shumla in June and built six large bookcases that will shelve 3,600 books.

This created a niche for Shumla research materials, as well as the hundreds of books already donated to the School.

Several special collections of books have been donated to our School and soon will be housed in the new library.

Shumla has many people to thank for the construction of our newest addition.

Dominion Construction in Del Rio did a wonderful job on the construction of the building.

T.J. Moore, Del Rio, generously donated all the cinderblock for our building.

Glenn Deaver, nephew of our Curriculum Director, Missy Harrington, donated all the architectural and conceptual drawings.

We thank our staff and volunteers who gave of their time and effort to make this vision a reality.

But most importantly, we thank these very special women who inspired us. The gifts made in their memory made this building possible:

Jody Boyd
Tootsie King
Mabel King
Louisa Zuberbueler
Luella Antrim Hughes Pickworth
Ottis Cordelia Horn Prewitt
Clarice Murray
Sophie Wilborn
Alice Cauthorn
Janee Lacy Finley
Dotty Brotherton
Francis Edwards
Alma Cantu
Mary Granthan
Gertie Riedel
Edith Kulhanek

Shumla continues to receive donations to expand our library.  We hope you will consider honoring a loved one in this manner.