EAGLE
PASS, TEXAS PAN AMERICAN ROUND TABLE
History
What follows is an excerpt from The Pan American Round Table, Lois Terry Marchbanks, Avon Behren Press, 1983, (pp. 125-126).
The Pan American Round Table of Eagle Pass was organized largely through the efforts of Mrs. W.H. Hewett and Mrs. Ellis F. Gates. Mrs. Hewett, who became the first Table Director, held the first meeting at her home in May of 1953, where a group of women from Laredo met with sixteen local ladies. Mrs. Raul Montemayor, Mrs. Frank Roberts, Mrs. S.A. Halbrook, Mrs. Estela S. Cobo, Miss Carolina Cerna, Mrs. Morris Riskind, Mrs. Cecilia Rodriguez, Jr., Mrs. Jerald Becker were among those participating in addition to Mrs. Hewett and Mrs. Gates.
The State Charter, dated October 27, 1953, was officially presented to the Eagle Pass Table at the luncheon meeting on November 7, 1953, by the State Director, Mrs. A.B. Pumphry of Fort Worth, Texas, and Mrs. A.R. Hunt of Laredo. Later, the Table received the Alliance Charter, an organization which encompassed all the Tables in the Western Hemisphere.
Our Table meets from September through May on the first Saturday of the month for a luncheon and program. Each member is assigned a country, and programs are given in rotation by members on their particular country. On special occasions, such as Pan American Day, we have an outstanding speaker and guests.
Our main project is the Scholarship Fund, but we also contribute to the Griswold Fund, donate books to the library, and prepare a float for the yearly Amistad parade in Eagle Pass sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. A member of our Table has served on the State Board for several years and on the Alliance Board for the last twenty years. We strive to promote and advance Pan Americanism and understanding. And, we keep in touch with the Piedras Negras, Mexico Table and the Del Rio, Texas Table.
We try to abide by our Constitution and By-Laws and practice the goals and dreams set down by our founder, Mrs. Florence Terry Griswold. We, of the Eagle Pass Table, are very proud of the fact that Mrs. Griswold was a native of Eagle Pass, and that being raised in Eagle Pass bordering Mexico, she foresaw the need of unity among the women of Americas. We are also proud to be a link of the unbroken chain of friendship reaching the length of the Americas, and binding together the women of the Western Hemisphere in a spirit of understanding as planned by Mrs. Florence Terry Griswold, our Founder.