| Notes |
- Reese, Lillian
Lillian Reese, Music Teacher, Dies Here at 90
Services for Miss Lillian Estelle Reese were held at the First Baptist Church Tuesday. The Rev. Gus Prince was assisted in the services by Miss Reese's nephew-in-law, The Rev. Jasper Morris of Freemason Baptist Church, Norfolk, Va. She died Saturday in the Columbus Hospital.
Interment was in the family plot at Weimar. Active pallbearers were Neville Miekow, Hollis Massey, Bob Richardson, Gus Miller, J. D. Seymour, Jr., and Arthur N. Evans. Columbus Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Honorary pallbearers included Dr. Cecil Marburger, C. I. Shult and James H. Wooten, and Ellis Miller, W. T. Richardson, Boyd Smith, S. K. Seymour, Jr., J. D. Seymour, Sr., Lester Bunge, Sr., Marley Giddens, Ford Wegenhoft, E. W. Campbell, Tanner Walker and P. K. Shatto.
Known as "Miss Lily" to her many friends, Miss Reese was born April 26, 1884 at Oakland. Her father, Sam Houston Reese, preceded her in death March 16, 1899 and her mother, Keron Blanche Townsend, died in 1944.
A brother, Spencer Herbert Reese, who married Iva Ilse of Columbus, died in 1912. A second brother, John Walter, died in El Paso in 1919.
Her two sisters also preceded her in death, Mrs. James T. Johnston of Austin was known to Columbus friends as Sadie. Mrs. Joe F. (Nuddie Ela) Lessing of Schulenburg died in 1962 at the home of Miss Reese after having been very active in music circles with "Miss Lily" for many years both in Columbus and Schulenburg.
A nephew, Dr. S. H. Johnston, of Austin, died in 1965.
Survivors include several nieces, great-nieces and many close friends.
Many relatives of Miss Reese have figured prominently in local Columbus history as well as in the history of early Texas. Her maternal grandfather, Spencer Burton Townsend, an Indian fighter
and an officer in the Texas was with Mexico, was wounded at the battle of San Jacinto.
Other relatives served with the Mier expedition to Mexico whose survivors are buried at Monument Hill in La Grange. This was the famous "black bean" expedition described in Texas history books.
Her father served as sheriff of Colorado County during the turbulent 1890's which are described in the book she edited, "Flaming Feuds of Colorado County". The material for this book was largely taken from her brother's notes and diaries at the turn of the century, it is from a diary that was written by John Walter Rees and edited by Lillian Estelle Rees. John's name appears as the author and Lillian's as the editor. It was published in 1962. The fued from what I have been told took place in the decade of the 1890s . It started between two very powerful families of that area the Stafford and Townsend Families. It was the center of a very complicated vendetta over land .
(I will note at this time there were many feuds going on at this time in this very old settled part of Texas in an area from Houston up to Columbus called in the early 1900s the pure fued belt.) This feud somehow spilled over into a shooting feud between the Rees and Townsend families with Keron caught in the middle. It is why I think there was a split in the Rees family that culminated with some Rees's startin to add the final (E) to our name.
In the field of music, Miss Reese was not only a talented pianist, she composed, directed, and taught music until 1972. As a teacher, she leaves behind many ex-students.
She was a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory. After teaching in Columbus several years, she moved to Austin about 1918. In 1920 she founded the Austin Conservatory of Music. She
remained its director until 1940.
She moved to Columbus with her mother who wished to return here to live. During her years in Austin, she was very active in the cultural life of that city. She organized the Schubert Music Club in 1921 and it was federated in 1932.
Other active memberships during this time were held in the Austin Community Concert Bureau, the Texas Manuscript Association, Austin Women's Club, Ex-Students Association of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, First Baptist Church, Texas State Music Teachers Association, and Austin District Music Teachers Association.
After returning to Columbus in 1940, she organized the Columbus Music Club in October of 1941. She remained active in this organization and in giving private piano instruction until several years ago. During the 1940's and early 1950's she also taught classes in Schulenburg.
Colorado County Citizen, August 14, 1975
Submitted by DDLSMITH@aol.com
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From the Dallas Times Herald, April 21, 1985, article by C. L.
Sonnischen "Southwest Letter":
I like to remember Miss Lillian Reese of Columbus, Texas. Only Texas could have produced her. Only Texans could really appreciate her quality. As an outsider, adjusting to Texas ways in 1943, I was slow to understand who and what she was---but I finally did, and I cherish her memory.
I almost didn't get to know her at all. She did her best to see that I didn't, but time and luck were on my side. I was on the road that summer collecting information about Texas feuds, and the trail brought me to Columbus, 70 miles west of Houston, in what has been called the "Pure Feud Belt" of Texas. Columbus, a picturesque town on the banks of the Colorado River, was the center of a complicated vendetta between the powerful Stafford and Townsend families that evolved into a shooting feud between Sheriff Sam Reese and his wife's Townsend kin. ...There were still hot coals among the ashes when I arrived, and a prudent man would have let them lie, but I was a naive outsider from more peaceful regions who was fascinated by this aspect of Texas history and wanted to tell about it.
...At 4 a.m. I dismounted (from the bus from Houston) on a dark street in a town where I have never been (Columbus), but luck was with me, and I found a room at the Liveoak Hotel.
The next morning, I called on the editor of the Colorado County Citizen, who turned out to be Mabel Claire McGee, a red-headed dynamo who knew at once what I should do.
"You'd better start with Miss Lillian Reese," she said. "Her father was Sheriff Sam Reese...Miss Reese teaches music here and directs the Columbus Music Club. She has strong feelings about the family troubles, but she is my friend, and she might talk to you. I will call her and see if she is willing."
I could hear what Miss Lillian said clear across the room:
"No, I won't talk to him. I am writing a book myself and he had better be careful what he says."
I interviewed various old timers that summer, but Miss Lillian's iron gate, across from the Liveoak Hotel, was closed to me....Miss Lillian was not easy to know.
I knew I was coming back, however, and I so informed Miss Lillian by letter, explaining my project and assuring her of my good intentions. I had no answer, and expected none.
A few months later I was back in East Texas talking to old men...In due course I came to Hallettsville, 40 miles from Columbus...(and saw) Doc Houchens (who accompanied Sonnischen to
Columbus to visit Lillian Reese)
"Miss Reese," I told her, "this is your cousin Doc Houchens from Hallettsville. My name is Sonnichsen."
She hesitated for about two seconds. Then she said, "Won't you come in?"
It was the beginning of a friendship of which I am proud. When she found that she could trust me, Miss Lillian...talked about the bad times her people had known. She told me about her book,
which contained a great deal of family information and many newspaper clippings. On the title page she had put the name of her brother Walter--who had been killed in an automobile accident near El Paso in November 1919--along with her own, but it was really her book.
I was able to find a publisher for her and the Anson Jones Press brought out her book in 1962 under the title "Flaming Feuds of Colorado County." Her prologue is revealing:
"I do not intend to shield nor do I intend writing anything but facts, and these facts are going to irk somebody, and you are going to hear a lot of hot air going about on two legs and making a noise like a cyclone that tears down everything in its path. When you hear that, you need not doubt but what some nighthawk or assassin has heard, and the truth contained herein has hurt him and he is awfully mad. Now do not become alarmed at him for he amounts to nothing, and as long as you keep him from your back you are dead safe..."
The final seal of friendship between Miss Lillian and me came a few years later, when I stopped for a visit. We had a good meeting and as I prepared to go, Miss Lillian informed me that she was about to attend a meeting of the Columbus Music Club. No man had ever been invited, but she would be happy to take me if I wanted to go. I went, of course, and had a delightful time. If the club is still in existence, it is still probably unsullied by male presence, for Columbus is a conservative town. I am not sure how the ladies felt about having me with them, but I felt supremely honored.
That was the last time I saw her, but we kept in touch and at Christmas she always sent me a box of homemade cookies. I knew it was a gift from the heart.
She has been gone for a good many years now (she died in the old Reese house) but she is a happy memory, and should I see her again on a farther shore, I am quite sure she will be in charge of music and that I will be invited to enjoy it.
from the Dallas Times Herald, April 21, 1985, article by C. L. Sonnischen "Southwest Letter":
Submitted by DDLSMITH@aol.com
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1884 - 1974 (90 years)
