Mable Phillips

When Mable Phillips was asked why she chose to attend McMurry, she said, “I graduated from high school on a Friday night. Twenty five of us graduates decided we would visit McMurry. Willard Brown was a senior at McMurry and was in the young people’s department at St. Paul’s Methodist church. He told me he would come by for me on Monday morning if I’d go to McMurry. So he came by for me, and I did.”

Phillips enjoyed the McMurry campus so much she decided to register for classes that morning. “I came home and told Mother, ‘Okay, you don’t have to worry about college anymore. I’ve already registered.’ She said, ‘Where did you register?’ I told her McMurry.”

Like any good parent, Phillips’ mother was concerned about financial aid. “She said, ‘What’d they say about money?’ I said it wasn’t mentioned. She said, ‘It will be. Let’s go back out there in the morning, and we’ll get that settled.’ So we talked with Dr. J.W. Hunt, McMurry’s president at the time. He said, ‘We always need somebody in the library. I’ll just put you in the government program.’ That’s how I got my college education. When we were seniors about to graduate, everybody in my class was on some kind of work program. Dr. Hunt always had a way of keeping students in school.”

Phillips graduated from McMurry in 1934 with an education degree, hoping to find a permanent teaching position during the Great Depression. She says McMurry prepared her for life after college and her first teaching job in Colorado City by giving her confidence.

“McMurry did everything for me. I just can’t thank McMurry enough for everything it did to prepare me to meet the public. I met teachers who had graduated from other colleges. They didn’t seem to have confidence in themselves. We had some great professors at McMurry. You knew where the professors stood, and they were straightforward. Every professor at McMurry was like that. They made the school what it was and still do.”

Phillips eventually returned to and settled in the Abilene area, working for the Abilene Independent School District as a teacher and later as a counselor for many years. Phillips fondly recalls her family ties to McMurry and the Abilene community. “There were seven of us, brothers and sisters - and six of us went to McMurry.

When asked what advice Phillips would give to current students, Phillips jokingly replied, “I don’t give advice.” Then, all joking aside, Phillips had this to say, “Understand that each person is very valuable and has something to offer, and don’t let anyone put you down. If they put you down, don’t pay attention to them. Do your part to contribute to the world in which you live.” Donated to McMurry by the Phillips’ children in memoriam to their parents, the Phillips Family Student Activity Center houses the auxiliary gym and swimming pool and has been enjoyed by students since 1990.