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Levi Jordan
Plantation
Hazel Austin
by Carol McDavid
Hazel Austin serves on the Board of
Directors of the Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society, and is active in many, many other community
activities. She was the principal of Brazoria High School
before her retirement, and holds a Master's Degree in
Education. Because of family obligations, she hasn't had
an opportunity to write her own biography yet, but I'm
hoping that can happen soon!
Hazel gave me a bit of advice early on
that has become a sort of "driving force"
behind a lot of what we (meaning me and other researchers
involved in this) do. She cautioned us to avoid the
pitfalls of most academic work. That is, we do our work,
publish it, get our own rewards and degrees and so on.
Then, all too often, we put the results of our work on a
shelf somewhere, out of sight and unused by the community
it is supposed to serve. It is fair to say that this
advice guides us now, in every aspect of what we try to
do. In addition to her ongoing counsel and involvement,
she spent many hours helping to write the Levi Jordan Plantation
Historical Society's Mission Statement, Long
Range Plan and Statement of Beliefs, and was instrumental in helping us to attract
other Board members, most notably Julia Mack and Morris
Richardson.
Thanks, Hazel, for everything.
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 Hazel
Austin
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