Elizabeth Sorrell
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Nye Sorrell was a high school
English
teacher
for nearly a half century before she launched a second 15-year career as a newspaper
society columnist
in Laredo
, the seat of Webb County
in south Texas
. Odie Arambula, the retired Laredo Morning Times
editor, said of his former colleague: "In my opinion she will forever be a legend in this town because she taught thousands and thousands of students over the years. She was better known than anybody else." She called her popular column "Lines from Liz".
farmer, but both of her parents died young in life. Their farm was on the site of the current Doctor's Hospital in north Laredo. She was descended from settlers aboard the ship which followed the Mayflower
to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her great-grandfather traveled from Massachusetts
to Matagorda Bay
on the Texas Gulf Coast and perished in a hurricane. His son, Thomas C. Nye, her paternal grandfather, fought for the Confederate States of America
and was captured in the American Civil War
. He escaped and went on to become the "Onion King of the Rio Grande," being the first to have planted that crop in the irrigated
Laredo soil. Sorrell said that she acquired her love of learning from this grandfather.
While she attended the former Laredo High School
, Sorrell covered football
games for the local newspaper. She was paid a dime per column inch. In 1927, she graduated from high school and thereafter attended Rice University
in Houston
, where she lived with an aunt and an uncle and worked the switchboard at Methodist Hospital
to help to cover the costs of her education
. She returned to Laredo in 1931 to teach mathematics
at a Laredo junior high school. She switched in 1933 to her real interest, English, which she taught at Laredo High School, which in 1937 was renamed Martin High School
. There she stayed until her retirement in 1979. She also sponsored the school newspaper and yearbook
. She later procured a master's degree
from the University of Texas at Austin
.
Sorrell lived for many years at the family home on Farragut
Street downtown and then on Victoria Street in a house, since demolished, within the St. Peter's Historical District. She married and had one child, Sterling Norman Sorrell (born May 2, 1938), a lawyer
in Colorado Springs. He is married to Myrene Sorrell. Her husband, Norman W.A. Sorrell, who worked in a tax office, died of a heart attack in 1944. Sorrell was hence widowed at thirty-three and never remarried.
, Sorrell launched into a recitation from memory of the witch's poem from Shakespeare's Macbeth
. "You know the talk about 'fair is foul and foul is fair' is the theme of Macbeth. . . . It's about the conflict between good and evil." Sheila Glassford (born 1934), a former student of Sorrell's who has long been active in the Laredo Daughters of the American Revolution
, said that her mentor had "such a tremendous voice, so theatrical. It's like she could have been on stage."
Sorrell wrote a society column for the South Texas Citizen and then for the Laredo Morning Times until she was in her late eighties. She had recently written profiles of prominent Laredoans for Meg Guerra's alternative monthly newspaper called LareDOS: A Journal of the Borderlands. Known for her booming, deep voice, Sorrell would ask people at society events: "Who are you?" as a way of getting information for her columns.
and the Iraq War: "I don't like Bush at all. I think he's awful. . . . He told lies about Iraq, and I don't think we should have gone in there at all. I don't believe in spilling American blood on things like that. I don't think the world has ever looked as bad as it does now."
She also decried the state of affairs in Laredo, damaged in the past several years by the Mexican
drug cartel
s, the border violence, and kidnappings.
"Whether it's in terms of her knowledge of politics or culture or her vital interest in the world, she's a role model for everybody . . . a real activist and always has been," said the poet
Naomi Shihab Nye, whose husband is a distant cousin to Sorrell.
care in February 2007. She died at the age of ninety-eight in Morningside Manor in San Antonio
, where she had relocated in 2003 to live in nearby Helotes
with a granddaughter, Virginia Elizabeth Sorrell Lynn, who later moved to Germany
and then Huntsville, Alabama
. Sorrell then resided in the Meadows Retirement Community. She also had a grandson, Andrew Norman Sorrell of Austin.
A prayer service in Sorrell's honor was held at Christ Church Episcopal in Laredo on July 27, 2007. A memorial service was held at the church on July 28. Afterwards, the Martin High School band, in bright red shirts, played the school's fighting song and alma mater in the courtyard of the church. On Sunday, July 29, a eucharist
ic mass at Christ Church was dedicated in Sorrell's honor. Sorrell was cremated
; her ashes were spread on the gravesite of her husband in Laredo City Cemetery
. She was the oldest living parishioner of Christ Church. After her move to San Antonio, she continued to make an annual pledge and still considered the church her home congregation.
Reflecting on her long tenure in the classroom, Sorrell recalled: "Once I said to a class, 'I love you. I wish I could adopt you.' The next day on the board they had written: Juan Carlos Sorrell, Ma. Luisa Gonzalez Sorrell, Carlos Juarez Sorrell. They adopted me, too."
John Andrew Snyder (born ca. 1950) of Laredo, a student in Sorrell's class in 1964, recalled her positive outlook and vigor in teaching. "She never complained about anything. Life, or work, she never wanted you to complain either. She never forced you to be happy, but just by the way she was, she convinced you to be happy," Snyder told the Laredo journalist Christina Rosales.
Laredo attorney Fausto Sosa (born 1960) said that Mrs. Sorrell inspired him to launch his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for district attorney
of Webb and Zapata counties.
A scholarship was established in Sorrell's name in 1994 for communication students at the Vidal M. Treviño
School of Communications and Fine Arts. Seed money for the awards were provided by the Laredo Morning Times and the Hearst Corporation
. At the time of Sorrell's death, forty-two students had received money for college in her name.
Ray Keck, president of Texas A&M International University
in Laredo, said that he plans to establish the Elizabeth Nye Sorrell Archives to preserve her letters and articles as well as pictures of her.
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
for nearly a half century before she launched a second 15-year career as a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
society columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
in Laredo
Laredo, Texas
Laredo is the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, located on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. According to the 2010 census, the city population was 236,091 making it the 3rd largest on the United States-Mexican border,...
, the seat of Webb County
Webb County, Texas
Webb County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. The official 2010 population for the county is 250,304. In 2000, its population was 193,117, and in 2006 its population had been estimated to have reached to 231,470. Its county seat is Laredo...
in south Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Odie Arambula, the retired Laredo Morning Times
Laredo Morning Times
The Laredo Morning Times is a daily newspaper publication based in Laredo, Texas, USA. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation.The Laredo Morning Times was founded on June 14, 1881 as "the Laredo Weekly," a four-page newspaper published by James Saunders Penn. Two years later, the paper became a...
editor, said of his former colleague: "In my opinion she will forever be a legend in this town because she taught thousands and thousands of students over the years. She was better known than anybody else." She called her popular column "Lines from Liz".
Early years, family heritage, education
Sorrell was born in Laredo to a prosperous onionOnion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
farmer, but both of her parents died young in life. Their farm was on the site of the current Doctor's Hospital in north Laredo. She was descended from settlers aboard the ship which followed the Mayflower
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
to Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her great-grandfather traveled from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
to Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay is a large estuary bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, southeast of San Antonio, southwest of Houston, and southeast of Austin. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Matagorda Peninsula and...
on the Texas Gulf Coast and perished in a hurricane. His son, Thomas C. Nye, her paternal grandfather, fought for the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
and was captured in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. He escaped and went on to become the "Onion King of the Rio Grande," being the first to have planted that crop in the irrigated
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
Laredo soil. Sorrell said that she acquired her love of learning from this grandfather.
While she attended the former Laredo High School
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, Sorrell covered football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
games for the local newspaper. She was paid a dime per column inch. In 1927, she graduated from high school and thereafter attended Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, where she lived with an aunt and an uncle and worked the switchboard at Methodist Hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
to help to cover the costs of her education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
. She returned to Laredo in 1931 to teach mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at a Laredo junior high school. She switched in 1933 to her real interest, English, which she taught at Laredo High School, which in 1937 was renamed Martin High School
Martin High School (Laredo, Texas)
Raymond & Tirza Martin High School, known as Martin High School, is a secondary institution of learning located in the Laredo Independent School District in Laredo, Texas. Grades 9th through 12th are taught there. It serves students living in central Laredo...
. There she stayed until her retirement in 1979. She also sponsored the school newspaper and yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
. She later procured a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
from the University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
Sorrell lived for many years at the family home on Farragut
David Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...
Street downtown and then on Victoria Street in a house, since demolished, within the St. Peter's Historical District. She married and had one child, Sterling Norman Sorrell (born May 2, 1938), a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in Colorado Springs. He is married to Myrene Sorrell. Her husband, Norman W.A. Sorrell, who worked in a tax office, died of a heart attack in 1944. Sorrell was hence widowed at thirty-three and never remarried.
A woman of theatrics
In an interview published on January 8, 2007, with the San Antonio Express-NewsSan Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Express-News is the daily newspaper of San Antonio, Texas. It is ranked as the third-largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in Austin, Brownsville, Laredo, and Mexico City...
, Sorrell launched into a recitation from memory of the witch's poem from Shakespeare's Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
. "You know the talk about 'fair is foul and foul is fair' is the theme of Macbeth. . . . It's about the conflict between good and evil." Sheila Glassford (born 1934), a former student of Sorrell's who has long been active in the Laredo Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
, said that her mentor had "such a tremendous voice, so theatrical. It's like she could have been on stage."
Sorrell wrote a society column for the South Texas Citizen and then for the Laredo Morning Times until she was in her late eighties. She had recently written profiles of prominent Laredoans for Meg Guerra's alternative monthly newspaper called LareDOS: A Journal of the Borderlands. Known for her booming, deep voice, Sorrell would ask people at society events: "Who are you?" as a way of getting information for her columns.
Political iconoclast
Sorrell was a sharp critic of U.S. President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and the Iraq War: "I don't like Bush at all. I think he's awful. . . . He told lies about Iraq, and I don't think we should have gone in there at all. I don't believe in spilling American blood on things like that. I don't think the world has ever looked as bad as it does now."
She also decried the state of affairs in Laredo, damaged in the past several years by the Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
drug cartel
Drug cartel
Drug cartels are criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking...
s, the border violence, and kidnappings.
"Whether it's in terms of her knowledge of politics or culture or her vital interest in the world, she's a role model for everybody . . . a real activist and always has been," said the poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Naomi Shihab Nye, whose husband is a distant cousin to Sorrell.
Death and legacy
Sorell entered hospiceHospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
care in February 2007. She died at the age of ninety-eight in Morningside Manor in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, where she had relocated in 2003 to live in nearby Helotes
Helotes, Texas
Helotes is a city in Bexar County, Texas, United States. It is part of the San Antonio-New Braunfels Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,285 at the 2000 census; the July 1, 2009 Census estimate, however, showed the population had grown to 7,960.-History:According to...
with a granddaughter, Virginia Elizabeth Sorrell Lynn, who later moved to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and then Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
. Sorrell then resided in the Meadows Retirement Community. She also had a grandson, Andrew Norman Sorrell of Austin.
A prayer service in Sorrell's honor was held at Christ Church Episcopal in Laredo on July 27, 2007. A memorial service was held at the church on July 28. Afterwards, the Martin High School band, in bright red shirts, played the school's fighting song and alma mater in the courtyard of the church. On Sunday, July 29, a eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic mass at Christ Church was dedicated in Sorrell's honor. Sorrell was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
; her ashes were spread on the gravesite of her husband in Laredo City Cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. She was the oldest living parishioner of Christ Church. After her move to San Antonio, she continued to make an annual pledge and still considered the church her home congregation.
Reflecting on her long tenure in the classroom, Sorrell recalled: "Once I said to a class, 'I love you. I wish I could adopt you.' The next day on the board they had written: Juan Carlos Sorrell, Ma. Luisa Gonzalez Sorrell, Carlos Juarez Sorrell. They adopted me, too."
John Andrew Snyder (born ca. 1950) of Laredo, a student in Sorrell's class in 1964, recalled her positive outlook and vigor in teaching. "She never complained about anything. Life, or work, she never wanted you to complain either. She never forced you to be happy, but just by the way she was, she convinced you to be happy," Snyder told the Laredo journalist Christina Rosales.
Laredo attorney Fausto Sosa (born 1960) said that Mrs. Sorrell inspired him to launch his unsuccessful 2008 campaign for district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
of Webb and Zapata counties.
A scholarship was established in Sorrell's name in 1994 for communication students at the Vidal M. Treviño
Vidal M. Treviño
Vidal Manuel Treviño was a longtime educator and a Democratic political powerhouse in Laredo, Texas, who served as the Laredo Independent School District superintendent between 1973 and 1995...
School of Communications and Fine Arts. Seed money for the awards were provided by the Laredo Morning Times and the Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation
The Hearst Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in the Hearst Tower, Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Founded by William Randolph Hearst as an owner of newspapers, the company's holdings now include a wide variety of media...
. At the time of Sorrell's death, forty-two students had received money for college in her name.
Ray Keck, president of Texas A&M International University
Texas A&M International University
Texas A&M International University, often referred to as TAMIU, is a public, co-educational, state-supported university located in Laredo, Texas...
in Laredo, said that he plans to establish the Elizabeth Nye Sorrell Archives to preserve her letters and articles as well as pictures of her.