ELOE & MINNIE STRINGER

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ACROSS THE FENCE
BY ARVORD ABERNETHY

A SALUTE TO OUR TEACHERS

It is always a joy to pay tribute to someone who has helped make a community better by guiding the lives our youth--our school teachers. Such were the purposes of the ones we salute today, the Stringers, Eloe and Minnie.

Eloe was born to W. A. and Emma Stringer on August 4, 1898, in Bell County. When he was 3 years old, the Stringers bought a farm just northwest of Hamilton and here is where the children grew up. Radio Station KCLW is located on part of that land.

Eloe grew up as did most boys at that time, working on the farm and enjoying a fishing or hunting trip to the river. He did some blacksmith work before his graduation from Hamilton High School.

After graduation, he felt the attraction of the city life so he headed for Fort Worth. One of the jobs he held there was working in the stockyards. He liked to tell of the time when a train car load of miniature ponies got loose and the fun they had in getting them rounded up.

In talking with a friend there in Fort Worth, the friend told Eloe that he should go to college and play ball and that all one had to do was to go to classes. This sounded fine to Eloe so we soon find him at Daniel Baker College in Brownwood.

This was a good move for him as he lettered all four years in football, baseball, and basketball. Possibly his greatest achievement of the four years was when he met a young maiden by the name of Minnie Wilkins who was born in 1903 down toward Goldthwaite but grew up in Brownwood. It is not hard to understand why she would want to teach there in Brown County after getting her degree and be near Daniel Baker as she and Eloe were married in 1927.

Through the years of teaching, the Stringers continued their schooling; Mr. Stringer earned him Master=s Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Mrs. Stringer received hers from Baylor University.

The first school for the Stringers was at Caddo where Mr. Stringer coached in the high school. After one year there, they went to Goldthwaite for three years where Mr. Stringer was principal and coach and Mrs. Stringer taught in the high school. Their next move was to Winters where Mr. Stringer was superintendent and she taught in the elementary grades. It was during this time that their only child, Mary Elaine was born. Mary Elaine is carrying on the Stringer profession by being a third generation of teachers and is now teaching in Maryland. She is married to a Mr. Browne and they are the parents of four daughters.

After some time with the schools at Sonora, which seemed to them to be too far from anywhere, the Stringers returned to the Aold home town@ of Hamilton to live out the last 31 years of their lives. During much of this time, Mr. Stringer was superintendent of the Hamilton schools and Mrs. Stringer taught in the elementary grades. Here, as elsewhere, the Stringers were noted for being in close contact with pupil and parent alike and for their desire for good discipline.

These were not only good years for the Hamilton schools, but they were good years for all phases of life here and reaching out over Texas.

Among some of the many of offices that Mr. Stringer held were: member of the Executive Committee of the Texas State Teachers Association and also a member of the Textbook Committee of that same association. For a time he was president of the Mid-Texas Teachers Association and also director of Region XII Regional Services. A great honor was given to him when the people of Hamilton voted him to be the Citizen of the Year.

Mr. Stringer served on numerous other local committees as well as earning a 32nd Degree in the Scottish Rites. They were both active in the First United Methodist Church here in Hamilton. It seems awkward to be saying Mr. and Mrs. Stringer as they were so well known and loved by all the people as Eloe and Minnie. Eloe never lost his desire to be with his friends and tell some of his tall tales. This may be a tall tale or it could be he truth, you be the judge. When he was in college he was playing in left field in a baseball game and they were ahead 1 to 0 in the ninth inning. The other side was up to bat and they had two outs and no one on base and there were two strikes on the batter. On that third swing he hit a real high, long fly ball right in Eloe=s direction. He ran back and just as the ball hit the wood fence it split half in two and Eloe caught the half that fell inside, and the other half went out of the park. Eloe said that that was the only game he ever played in where they won the game by 1 to 2.

He was also a great hunter, but a firm believer in the protection of wildlife. When he would go deer hunting he would only take two shells as he believed that no one should ever kill but two deer. On some occasions when he would be going with someone who was not a good shot, he would take a third shell so he could get one for them.

Eloe had two regrets in his lifetime, he didn=t get to serve in either of the World Wars. He was too young at the beginning of W.W.I and when he became old enough, he and a friend went to Dallas to enlist, but the war ended the day they were to enlist. He was too old for service during World War II.

There were other teachers in the Stringer family and it is our hope that we can learn of them real soon. Stay tuned to his column. It is regrettable that we do not have a suitable picture of Mrs. Stringer at this time.

Minnie Wilkins Stringer passed away December 7, 1976, and Eloe Stringer passed away on October 21, 1977, ending the lives of two fine public servants.

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 Eloe Dodson Stringer 

Born: 4 August, 1898 

Died: 21 October, 1977 

Son of William Alonzo Stringer and Emma Alice Dodson 

Minnie Ella Wilkins Stringer 

Born: 29 December, 1903 

Died: 7 December, 1976 

Daughter of Charles Compton Wilkins and Mary Ella Walling 

ACROSS THE FENCE