READ OF THE MONTH: GRACE & GUMPTION

READ OF THE MONTH: GRACE & GUMPTION EDITED BY KATIE SHERROD (TCU PRESS, $32.50)

In Fort Worth, Tad Lucas rode broncs. Ginger Rogers danced with Fred Astaire. Mary Keys Gipson, born into slavery, worked as a nurse with white doctors. Dionicia Pulido founded a restaurant chain. These and many more women with gumption grace the pages of this work, subtitled "Stories of Fort Worth Women," edited by Katie Sherrod.

Their stories date to the late 1840s when Jane Woody Farmer and her husband, Press, fought the elements (and American Indians) in founding the city. Her story points out that a frontier can prove both fatal and liberating for women, where necessity shows just how much they can accomplish. Fort Worth retains that frontier spirit today. The stories range from women as wildcatters, nuns, benefactors, entrepreneurs, and artists.

I especially admired the life of Pauline Mears Naylor, grandmother of a friend of mine, and a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Pauline wore a hat and fox stole while she banged out stories, often parking her son in the sports department. Her granddaughter, June Naylor, works for the newspaper now, minus hat and stole, but with as much a mix of grace and gumption as her grandmother. -GARY D. FORD

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Mar 2008
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