Aline B. Carter

Aline B. Carter (1892–1972) was a Texas poet and humanitarian, and Poet Laureate of Texas from 1947 through 1949. She also served as a vice president of the Poetry Society of Texas.[1]

Biography

Carter's family was well established in San Antonio history, business, and society. The women especially were well-educated, well-traveled, and well-known. Carter received private tutelage until 1913, when she left home to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She also studied the harp at the Boston Conservatory.[1]

In 1915, Aline returned to San Antonio after the death of her father, Frank J. Badger, to live with her mother and grandmother in the Eagar House at 434 South Alamo. The following year she married prominent local attorney and former president of the Texas Bar Association Henry Champe Carter.[2] The couple resided in what is now known as the Maverick Carter House at 119 Taylor Street. Together, they raised three sons, Henry Champe, Jr., Frank, and David.[1]

Her published works of poetry include Halo of Love and Doubt Not the Dream. Additionally, she wrote a manuscript for a historical novel based on the life of her grandmother, Sarah Riddle Eagar. This manuscript, entitled Light Beyond the Hills, was never published.[1]

Carter had a great love of astronomy, and hosted stargazing parties on the roof of her home, where she had an observatory built circa 1925 by local artisan and friend Ethel Wilson Harris.[3] She also taught astronomy classes at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.

Known as the "White Angel" because of the white organdy dresses she often wore, Carter was a great humanitarian. She taught Sunday School for many years and made many donations to St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Every December, she hosted a Christmas party at the Protestant Children's Home orphanage. Her work with inmates at the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center and Bexar County Jail, and patients at the San Antonio State Hospital, was well known and appreciated.[4] She also established the Aline B. Carter Peace Prize for Aspiring Poets.[1]

A very spiritual woman, Carter had a small chapel built at her seaside home on Mustang Island in Port Aransas, Texas as well as converting her San Antonio home library into personal chapel. Carter commissioned Ethel Harris for both projects. The Port Aransas structure was built in the 1930s and named the Chapel on the Dunes.[5] It was the first church on the island.[4][6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 A Guide to the Aline B. Carter Family Papers, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries (UTSA Libraries) Special Collections
  2. ↑ Pfeiffer, Maria Watson. "Maverick Carter House Historical Narrative". maverickcarterhouse.org. Maverick Carter House. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "Astronomy". Maverick Carter House. Maverick Carter House. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  4. 1 2 "St. Mark's Episcopal Church Newsletter" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-02. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  5. ↑ "Little Chapel On The Dunes". Port Aransas Museum. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Chapel on the Dunes
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