Former Marble Falls superintendent to give Texas history lesson at club meeting

SPECIAL TO THE PICAYUNE

MARBLE FALLS — A former Marble Falls school district superintendent is teaching a Texas history lesson Oct. 11.

Charles Hundley will be the guest speaker of the Jane Wells Woods Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas when the group meets 10 a.m. at the Marble Falls Public Library, 101 S. Main St.

The public is invited to attend. There will be social time and coffee at 9:30 a.m.

Hundley moved to Marble Falls in 1976 after accepting the district’s top job. He was joined by his wife, Patty, who taught English at Marble Falls High School, and his son, Hal, who attended school in the district from second grade through high school.

“Marble Falls was a big, overgrown, country town with one red light, the Dairy Queen and, of course, the Blue Bonnet Cafe,” he said. “My seven years were characterized by very rapid growth, rapid inflation and a shift from statewide funding of public education to local districts. Fortunately, I had an outstanding school board with such members as Jerry Edwards, Gay Bergman, Richie Giesecke, Nelson Lewis, John Mead, Truman Stinson and others. The staff and the community were excellent and very supportive of public schools. We worked hard on improving academics.”

Hundley remained in Marble Falls until 1983, when he accepted the same post in Abilene.

“Patty and I have very happy memories of those seven years; we especially enjoyed being part of First Baptist Church,” he said about his early years in Marble Falls.

At the time, the Marble Falls superintendent’s office was in the rear of the second high school building on Broadway.

“The Old Granite School, now used as the Falls on the Colorado Museum, was a run-down but functional sixth-grade center. We used every inch of it because we were very crowded,” Hundley said.

He had community and school board support to renovate the old building in 1982. Afterward, the building received an official Texas Historical Marker.

“Money was very tight, so we had to raise most of the money for the restoration,” Hundley recalled. “One Labor Day weekend during a statewide motorcycle rally, we ‘sold showers’ to bikers at Marble Falls High School for $1 per shower. Believe it or not, we raised a pile of money that weekend. I remember spending that long, hot weekend sitting in a chair outside the Mustang field house collecting shower fees and selling cheap bars of soap donated by a local motel.

“Being a school superintendent is never boring,” he added.

Hundley majored in European history at Baylor University for his bachelor’s degree and then received his master’s degree from Texas State University in U.S. history and served as an instructor of high school and college students. In Abilene, he sometimes taught graduate courses at the universities and received honorary doctoral degrees from both Abilene Christian University and Hardin Simmons University.

He served as a Texas school superintendent for 37 years.

He and his wife returned to Marble Falls to retire.

“From the very beginning, we felt at home here and we still do,” he said. “We fell in love with the lake and the atmosphere in Marble Falls.”