Continuing Stability: 1953-1990

After the purchase of the house, the Tejas Club regained the status it was so familiar
with during the thirties and forties. The club continued to have braves whose academic standings
led the university and represented nearly every college on campus. This is a tradition which
continues today, forty years later.

Two other important additions were made to the club around this time period. The first was
Gwen Holmes Jamison who was the much-loved cook for the Tejas Club for twenty-one years. Not
only was she one of the best cooks of any student organization, but for almost every brave she
was a friend, confidant, and mother away from home. At her first day on the job in 1949 she cooked
dinner for six braves, the next night nine, and the night after that fifteen. News of Gwen soon
spread beyond the club and soon she was preparing dinner for sixty-five! It was a rare day during
the fifties and sixties when Gwen did not prepare lunch for thirty and dinner for twice that number.
Sadly, Gwen was forced to retire in 1970 for health reasons. The club was quick to show its
appreciation by voting her the third honorary brave of Tejas in the forty-five year history
of the club. When mounting medical bills became overwhelming for Gwen in the 1980s, the club
helped her out financially as much as possible. Gwen died in 1985 but she continues to live
on in the hearts of hundreds of Tejas men who knew and loved her.

For the first thirty years of the club's existence the university gave special permission for
the club to live without a house mother. The club however received a fresh breath of air with the
addition of Brucie Taylor in 1955. In the five years she was house mother she helped planned parties
and squared off with more than one business manager to help reduce the chronic debt. She left in
early 1960 due to illness and an increased work load. The Tejas Club soon found a new friend in
Mable Boles who became house mother in September of 1960. Throughout the sixties she remained the
"number one friend" of Tejas. In addition to hosting Sunday brunches and weekend parties, Mrs. Boles
was always there to give advise or just lend a listening ear. In May of 1970 Mrs. Boles retired from
her job as house mother. Five years later the club voted her the fourth honorary brave of Tejas.