Pan American Round Table
of BeevilleThe following history is an excerpt from The Pan American Round Table, Lois Terry Marchbanks, Avon Behren Press, 1983, (pg. 128).
The Pan American Round Table of Beeville was started after two years of diligent efforts by a number of Beeville women. Mrs. James R. Dougherty, a member of the Corpus Christi Table was vitally interested in a better understanding of relations between Latin America and Texas. She encouraged her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Dudley Dougherty, to organize a like group in the Beeville area. Mrs. Dougherty, along with Mrs. Grove, Mrs. Hause, and Mrs. Turnbow, were successful in finding twenty-five women with similar goals and interests. The San Antonio Pan American Round Table's director, Mrs. Madeline Nelson, who was also the State Director at that time, was extremely helpful in getting the charter given and the Constitution written.
The year 1964 brought the group together for the first meeting and program. By the time of the convention of that year, the State officers were amazed at the variety and scope of the programs and the work already accomplished by a group so newly formed. The Beeville Table has consistently striven to promote the high ideals written in the Pan American Creed.
The Table has continued the early project of establishing in the local library a collection of books dealing with Latin American culture and literature. A children's library of books written in Spanish is a new dimension. A scholarship is given each year to Bee County College to an outstanding high school senior girl. The Velasquez Spanish-English dictionary is presented each year to the high school student with the highest average in Spanish. Through the years the exceptional quality of programs such as: Lowell Collins talking of Pre-Columbian Antiquities, Selma Gutmar's escape from Cuba, and Tom B. Reagon's fascinating South American spur collection. Out of town trips to visit other Tables has contributed to promoting friendship and understanding with our Pan American neighbors.
