Two women – Nora Lee Wendland and Raye Virginia Allen – are credited as the “mothers” of the Azalee Marshall Cultural Activities Center.

If they are, then Azalee Marshall was its “nanny,” and Nancy Hanks was its “godmother.”

Azalee Marshall

The building bears Azalee Marshall’s name, but how many nowadays know who she was? Children didn’t call her “Mrs. Marshall”; rather, she was “CAC Marshall.”

For 11 years, she was the heart and soul of the CAC. She imbued the warm, welcoming and nurturing side of the Cultural Activities Center, when it was in its infancy. She is credited with managing the fledgling organization, training a watchful eye on rambunctious children and keeping the doors open to artists and audiences alike.

No wonder, because she did it all: washed windows, scheduled concerts, baked cookies, served tea, recruited volunteers, coped with artists and soothed bruised feelings. Most of all, her friends recalled, she met catastrophes head-on with humor.

The CAC was first housed in the former Central High School building from 1958 to 1961. Then, in 1961, it moved to the Wedemeyer Academy building, a former private boys’ school.

But Wedemeyer came with pesky guests – a colony of bats. CAC co-founder Raye Virginia Allen recalled that Mrs. Marshall would answer the phone: “The bats and I are here.”

She was, at first, an unlikely candidate for the job because she had been a devoted wife and mother who had not worked outside of her home. Nevertheless, she jumped into it with aplomb. Often volunteering by her side was her husband, Robert Keifer Marshall Sr.

Former Mayor Keifer Marshall Jr., their son, said his mother believed in the CAC’s mission and vision. “She was always interested in the community.” That kept her going.

When the CAC moved into the former 7th and G Church of Christ building in late 1964, George Brown, co-founder of Brown & Root and head of the Brown Foundation, he donated $15,000. Brown told Mrs. Marshall he would be willing to contribute more for a new building “if you people are really serious about the CAC.”

“Serious?” Mrs. Marshall replied. “These people are really serious. You can’t believe the volunteer work that goes into this thing. Yes, we are really serious.”

Mrs. Marshall and the CAC board knew eventually the CAC would need a new building, designed especially for a multi-disciplinary arts center. Brown, a Bell County native who started in business in Temple, kept in touch with the CAC’s growth and development.

When Mrs. Marshall died suddenly on Christmas day 1970, many felt the CAC’s heart had stopped, too. Donations poured into the CAC in her memory, and her husband was pleased that her work would go on. However, just three months later, he, too, passed away and was buried beside her in Hillcrest Cemetery.

Brown kept his promise, but with one stipulation: He would donate nearly half a million for a new building if the center would be named in Mrs. Marshall’s memory. The CAC on North 3rd was completed in 1978, and Brown was on hand for the gala opening.

Now, Mrs. Marshall would be delighted to learn that her great-grandson, Robert Keifer Marshall IV, now serves on the CAC’s board.

Her legacy lives on.

Nancy Hanks

Although Nancy Hanks never lived in Central Texas, she left an indelible impact here.

In fact, she took to heart her father’s advice to never lose touch with communities outside of New York City and Washington, D.C.

As chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts and of the National Council on the Arts, Ms. Hanks was called the “mother of a million artists” for her work in building federal financial support for the arts and artists. She advised and guided the CAC’s early leaders, according to Raye Virginia Allen, the CAC’s co-founder.

She also smoothed the path to funding sources. In fact, Temple has a permanent reminder of Ms. Hanks’ fondness for Temple – the landmark Richard Hunt sculpture “Orpheus” that graces the CAC’s front entrance. The work was made possible through a gift from Mrs. Allen’s mother, Vivian McCreary, and a $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Ms. Hanks’ father, Bryan Cayce Hanks, hailed from Gatesville. As a boy, he was close friends with Irvin McCreary, Mrs. Allen’s father. Even though the elder Hanks lived most of his adulthood in Florida, he and McCreary maintained close contact. Likewise, even though Ms. Hanks she was born and reared in Florida, she had many Central Texas connections and kinfolks.

She served as chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Council on the Arts from 1969 to 1977, just as the CAC was building its new home on North 3rd Street.

Mrs. Allen recalled how Ms. Hanks’ father encouraged her to “know what’s happening in the grassroots.” “I’m going to send you a subscription to the Gatesville Messenger [the town’s newspaper],” Mrs. Allen recalled. “Then, he said, ‘I’m going to call you several days after to receive it and ask questions to see if you’ve read it.’ He believed that if the news was in the hometown paper, then that’s what people were thinking about all over the country.” Ms. Hanks heeded well her father’s advice. Mrs. Allen added.

The CAC’s co-founders sought Ms. Hanks’ advice as the CAC’s founders plowed forward with creating the art center. Meanwhile, Ms. Hanks channeled her untiring diplomatic and negotiation skills to parlay funding for the visual and performing arts, especially to America’s Heartland. Her goal was to transform and uplift society through art. D.C. insiders described her as “smart, tireless, funny, impassioned, shrewd and tough.” Under Hanks’ skillful leadership over two terms, the National Endowment’s annual budget grew from $16 million to $100 million.

She worked for 13 years with Special Studies Project set up by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. While there, she directed a pioneering project on the economic and social problems of U.S. performing arts, laying groundwork for federal funding of the arts. Her 1965 study recommended the development of state and community art councils. Temple, with its fledgling CAC, begun in 1958 and housed in smallish, makeshift quarters, was ahead of its time and was used as model of what small towns with limited budgets could accomplish.

Ms. Hanks also made special efforts to reach the poor and the culturally disadvantaged. Her brainchild, the Art Train, carried traveling exhibits into the hinterlands, including Temple. The CAC also benefited from another Hanks-inspired program, the Artist-in-the-School program that allowed TISD and Temple College students to work one-on-one with accomplished musicians, painters and writers.

Ms. Hanks died of cancer in 1983 at the age of 55. She is buried in Gatesville City Cemetery, next to her parents and brother.