BELOVED EDUCATOR
PASSES AWAY AT 100
Lessie Givens remembered for a life of service
A legendary African American educator whose pioneering career spanned the trials of segregation through the integration of Taylor campuses and beyond has died at age 100.
On Aug. 21, Lessie M. Givens, who dedicated 36 years of her life to teaching in local schools, passed away at S.P.J.S.T. Senior Living, where she lived the past four years.
Her death comes just a little over a month after dozens of family, friends and community members gathered at the facility to celebrate her birthday as a centenarian.
“She was a teacher, a mentor and a civic leader,” said Leslie Hill, 83, Givens’ former student and longtime friend. “Her influence reached across generations. She was a true Taylor treasure.”
Givens was born on July 9, 1926, in Bryan. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school in 1944, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a mas- ter’s degree in elementary education from Prairie View A&M University.
In 1950, Givens began her career in Taylor teaching the second grade at O.L. Price, the all-Black school, where she would remain until integration in 1965.
Up until the mid-60s and 1970s, Texas school districts still practiced segregation, where Black and Hispanic students were separated from White pupils. The landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that arose from the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit led to a widespread federal desegregation order in 1970, according to historians.
Givens was devoted to all students and anyone who desired to learn, said those who knew her.
“She modeled positive core values as she invested her time, talent and skills into our children, at school, at church and in the community,” said former student Laverne Caldwell, 75. “My husband and I were in her second-grade classroom. Our children and grandchildren are products of her impact.”
Throughout her life, Givens is credited with many achievements and contributions, including serving 18 years as president of the Welfare Workers Club, a healthand civic-minded organization founded in 1935 by Givens’ friend, Magnolia P. Dickey, the wife of renowned African American physician Dr. James L. Dickey.
Leslie Hill’s husband Don Hill, 88, who was part of the same Masonic lodge as J.L. Givens, Lessie Givens’ late husband, said the couple went out of their way to help and nurture all of the children in their community—inside the classroom and out.
“They didn’t have children, but they were so in love with kids,” Don Hill said of the pair, who were both educators. “They would see kids with no coats and would buy ones for them.”
Indeed, Leslie Hill, who helped care for Givens in her later years alongside Don Hill, remembers Givens providing the funds to buy the instruments and other equipment she needed as a youth.
“I guess my love for her began while I was in school,” Leslie Hill recalled. “My mom and dad, we were poor. We didn’t have money, but we had a lot of love. But if there were things I needed in the band, in junior high. Miss Givens, who was friends with my mom, made sure I got it. And I wasn’t the only one.”
Great-niece Tamisha Donald Prescott said Givens also served as the matriarch of her family and was there for whatever everyone needed— from financial to emotional support.
“She was always loving, kind and wanting the absolute best for everyone,” Donald Prescott said.
“She was a mentor, an ear to listen and was even admonishing us when she felt we needed to be admonished,” she added with a laugh.
After integration, Givens served at many other Taylor schools until 1988, including Southside and Northside elementary schools, and St. Mary’s Catholic School, the Hills said.
Givens was also the first African American certified bilingual educator at Southside and Northside, and served as the executive secretary for the Central Texas District Teachers Association.
In 2016, a neighborhood center she previously managed was named the Dickey-Givens Community Center in her honor. This year, Givens was also selected to serve as the grand marshal for the Juneteenth Parade.
Despite all these accomplishments, Donald Prescott said that her greataunt was a very godly and humble woman.
“Every phone call always ended with ’I love you’ and ‘Be blessed,’” Donald Prescott said. “It was always a great feeling talking to her and seeing her gratitude.”
Don Hill, a former Taylor mayor and the first Black to serve in that role, echoed the sentiment.
“She prayed about everything,” he said. “She always said, ‘The Lord will always direct my path. He kept me here so long for a reason, and I thank him.’” Services to honor Givens will be held at 11 a.m. Sept. 5 at The First Baptist Church of Taylor, 300 N. Robinson St.
