In 1974, Edward Glenn Owens was elected first President of what was to become the National Alumni Association of Samuel Walker Houston High School. At the plenary session of that first reunion, six years after the all-Black high school had been closed as a result of court-ordered degregation, the group decided to organize an alumni and ex-students association
was succeeded by Mrs. Mary L. Oliphant, who, along with Mrs Ollie Lacy White, had organized the 1974 school reunion. It was at the 1975 school reunion that alumni and ex-students voted to establish a national alumni association. They also voted to hold reunions every four years. In 1979, five years after its formation, the newly-chartered and incorporated National Alumni Association of Samuel Walker Houston High School became a reality.
irector of the SWH Museum and Cultural Center was elected. That Hence 48 years later, that baton has now been passed through the hands of 8 directors, 4 men and 4 women, who sacrificed much of their time and energy in caring and directing the business of the Center, all done in an effort to preserve the legacy of Professor Samuel Walker Houston.
Each of these directors deserves their due credit. I say, give it up to these fine folks for all their work for the Center, the Alumni, and the Community. They have kept the initial dreams of Professor Houston alive to this very day. After all, they didn't have to do it.
I pose the questions: "What if these folks had not taken the helm???" Would the Center, the Alumni, and the Community be richer or poorer??? The reader can make this call.