Services held for historian, educator Stavenhagen

Memorial services were held Saturday for Jean Bailey Stavenhagen of Clarendon as she was remembered for her contributions as an educator and local historian.

Mrs. Stavenhagen was 81 when she died on Thursday, August 16, 2018, in Clarendon.

Services were at First Baptist Church in Clarendon with Rev. Randy Land and Rev. Lance Wood, officiating. Burial followed in Rowe Cemetery in Hedley. Arrangements were by Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.

Elva Jean Bailey was born September 18, 1936, in Giles, Donley County, Texas, to Elmore and Margie Land Bailey. She attended first grade in Giles before going to school in Hedley where she was a 1954 graduate of Hedley High School. She moved to Amarillo and worked for a time as a telephone operator for Southwestern Bell before she married Mac J. Stavenhagen on June 2, 1956, in Hedley. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from West Texas State University.

Stavenhagen was a “rare individual who produced abundantly yet demanded little attention.” Her life’s legacy is marked by her efforts to improve the lives of her students and to improve her community by protecting and promoting its history.

Stavenhagen began teaching right after graduating from West Texas State University in 1971. Her fun-loving nature, quick wit, passion for learning, and her ability to connect with her students made her a favorite at Clarendon High School, where she became known simply as “Mrs. Stave.”

She taught Speech, Drama, and English before becoming the school’s librarian. Over the course of 29 years, she coached many of Clarendon’s literary teams and led them to excellence.

She once said: “I felt that I have almost had two separate careers in education: one as a classroom teacher and one as a librarian. I have enjoyed doing both, but my constant love has been working with students in UIL – any age – any event – I like them all. I like the competition, whether it is throwing a football or making a speech; competition is the great motivator.”

“Mrs. Stave” produced state qualifiers in Informative and Persuasive Speaking, Prose and Poetry, Literary Criticism, Current Events and coached the only One-Act play cast from Clarendon to qualify for state. She also assisted the elementary students in UIL and her expertise almost always guaranteed UIL winners in Oral Reading.

Her influence as an educator cannot be overstated. US Congressman Mac Thornberry, who now chairs the House Armed Services Committee, was her first student to advance to state in Persuasive Speaking. Typical of her nature, she never took credit for Thornberry’s success, but he has given it to her. Upon her retirement in 2000, the Congressman said he still felt the presence of his former UIL coach at every political speech and every whistle-stop he makes on the campaign trail in the Texas Panhandle.

“For better or worse, Mrs. Stave started me speaking in public,” Thornberry has said. “To this day, I sometimes hear her voice in my head telling me to slow down or be more expressive or something.”

Fourteen years later, when Thornberry assumed his Chairmanship, he again credited “Mrs. Stave” for enabling him to do what he does.

As a librarian, Mrs. Stave was able to share her love of research with students… first through bound encyclopedias, a card catalog, and microfilm and later through the Internet. She compared researching to being on a treasure hunt and loved the satisfaction she got from finding information.

That love carried over into her love of history, to which she devoted much of her time before and after retirement. In 1990, she was researching an unrelated topic when she learned about a Texas Centennial granite marker that had been set up at the Old Clarendon cemetery in 1936. The graves were moved to Citizens Cemetery in 1966 to make way for Greenbelt Lake and the marker had been lost. She tracked it down and got reunited with the graves of the Christian colonists.

She helped compile the Donley County History book in the early 1990s, and as chair of the Donley County Historical Commission, Mrs. Stave was instrumental in… if not largely responsible for… securing the grant that restored the 1890 Courthouse to all its glory. Working closely with Judge Jack Hall, she researched, presented, wrote, raised funds, and did anything and everything she could to help make that project happen… all without wanting any credit for herself. But her love for that project was undeniable. Speaking at the Courthouse’s dedication in 2003, she shined and spoke as only she could, saying: “Let us pay homage to our wonderful “old lady” of Donley County. She has had her arteries of pipes and wires unclogged, the bats taken out of her hair, and a ‘facelift’ of newly painted walls and floors. She is now the “Queen of the Panhandle” – all spruced up, sitting in her courtyard like royalty, waiting for her people.”

With the same passion, she secured and administered the grant that restored the 1887 Clarendon Depot at the Saints’ Roost Museum while serving on that board. She was also responsible for or helped with securing State Historic Markers for the Jericho and Rowe cemeteries, The Clarendon Enterprise, Robertson Funeral Home, Clarendon College, the Courthouse, and St. Stephen’s Baptist Church and she had hopes of securing other historic markers around the county.

Her work as a librarian and historian directly led to the preservation and later digitization of Donley County’s newspaper archives. She was an early advocate of saving the Mulkey Theatre and helped with those efforts through research and promotion and even was featured in a documentary about the theatre last year.

She was the Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year for 2001 and later received the Chamber’s highest honor, “The Saints’ Roost Award,” for her lifetime of service to the people of Donley County.

Her influence is immeasurable, her laughter is unforgettable, and her legacy will be everlasting… through her students and her good works, her memory will stand the test of time.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two infant daughters, Lisa Gay and Mitzi Gail Stavenhagen; two brothers, Stanley and Terry Bailey; and one niece, Cyndy Bailey.

Survivors include her husband, Mac Stavenhagen of Clarendon; a son, Steve Stavenhagen of Amarillo; a sister, Nita Graham and husband Gary of Memphis; two grandchildren, Cody Stavenhagen and Casey Stavenhagen; and a sister-in-law Virginia Bailey of Amarillo; and whole passel of nieces and nephews who were taught to call her Aunt Jean.

The family request that memorials be made to the Rowe Cemetery Association in Hedley.