Newsroom

Senator to speak at Davidson meeting

Friday, September 14, 2007
Longview News-Journal

State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, will be the speaker at the annual fall meeting of the Davidson Foundation, which will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Josephine Davidson Memorial Chapel near Harleton.The free event is open to the public, and people who attend may remain after Watson's presentation for a complimentary catered lunch on the chapel grounds.The Josephine Davidson Memorial Chapel was constructed to honor the mother of a Harrison County jurist and political figures. Judge T. Whitfield Davidson was city attorney in Marshall, state senator and lieutenant governor. He ran for governor of Texas in 1924 on a platform attacking the Ku Klux Klan, which was then attempting to take over many state offices, according to information from the foundation. He failed to win the governor's chair but was appointed federal district judge by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Davidson was childless, and in 1955 he decided to use his wealth to honor his mother by building a stone chapel in her name on the farm where he was born. He intended it to last forever, he said, and he was buried there in 1974, two years shy of his 100th birthday.When he established the Davidson Foundation he gave its trustees two tasks: maintaining the chapel and holding two gatherings each year. One was to be in the fall where someone "learned in the Constitution and laws of the land" would speak and one in the spring for a celebration of "the faith of our fathers." He also made sure the guests at each gathering would be fed before they left the grounds.The chapel is located off FM 450 on Davidson Road and follow it until it intersects the entrance to the Chapel property, which is marked with a sign for the entrance.For information, call (903) 938-8321.