Mary Anice Barber Read

Mary Anice Barber Read

Service & Contributions: Member, State Historical Survey Commission
Birth: December 24, 1932
Death: November 30, 1999
Burial: December 5, 1999
Location
Republic Hill, Section 2
Row:  F
Number:  7
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Mary Anice Barber Read

READ, MARY ANICE BARBER (1932 ~ 1999). Born on Christmas Eve of 1932, in Fort Worth, Texas, Anice Barber Read attended Sweet Briar College in Virginia and Southern Methodist University before graduating from Texas Christian University. She was a member of Austin Downtown Rotary and University Christian Church.

Active in community and historic preservation activities, Ancie was appointed to the Texas Historical Commission in 1968, by Governor John B. Connally. After serving as commissioner, she accepted a professional staff position where she conceived and created the Texas Main Street Program, which has become a national model for community economic revitalization. One of her trademarks around the State Capitol was her renowned Main Street chocolate cake, which was widely employed to help encourage lawmakers to provide funding for her program in its early days.

While undergoing treatment at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, she became equally persuasive is speeding up appointments and paperwork flow by routinely distributing Hershey bars to staff members.

Upon her retirement, Anice was honored with a ceremony in the Texas Senate Chamber by First Lady Laura Bush, former First Lady Nellie Connally and Jan Bullock, culminating in the naming of the Anice Read Main Street Center adjacent to the Capitol. She has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including presentation last year of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the highest honor accorded by that body. She considered her proudest legacy to be the successes of scores of young Main Street managers mentored over more than 18 years.

Read died on November 30, 1999 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery.

Information taken from Texas State Cemetery file materials.


Read

Mary Anice Barber Read
Born December 24, 1932
Fort Worth, Texas
Died November 30, 1999
Austin, Texas

Julian Otis Read
Born June 8, 1927
Fort Worth, Texas

Back of headstone

Anice Barber Read
1932 - 1999

Texas Historical Commission
Member 1968 - 1976

Texas Main Street Program
Founder, Director 1981 - 1994

Texas Historical Commission
Deputy Director 1994 - 1996

Loving wife, devoted mother
and grandmother, and legendary
preserver of Texas heritage.
Anice enriched the lives
of all who knew her.

Julian Otis Read
1927 -
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