Touched with a Sunset: The Letters of Terrell Maverick and Walter Prescott Webb: A Love Story

Walter Prescott Webb at his desk in Garrison Hall with copies of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and the Junior Historian. Walter Prescott Webb Papers, di 02574, me Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, the University ofTexas at Austin. Touched with a Sunset: The Letters ofTerrell Mavenck and Walter Prescott Webb A Love Story Edited By Betty Hannstein Adams* the first part of the courtship correspondence between Terrell Maverick and Walter Prescott Webb ran in the July 200g issue of the Southwestern Historical Quarterly. She was the widow of Maury Maverick Sr., U.S. congressman and mayor of San Antonio, and Walter Prescott Webb was a professor of history at the University ofTexas at Austin and a recent widower. Longtime acquaintances, they developed a friendship in late ig6o that turned into a love affair in ig6i. They regularly exchanged letters, as she lived in San Antonio and he lived in Austin. In this set of letters, Webb details his efforts to get his affairs in order so that he can ask Terrell to marry him. He finds a job at the university for his daughter, Mildred, and consults an attorney about dividing his property and that ofhis late wife between him and his daughter. He sees a doctor and sends letters reporting about his health. Webb also outlines his financial situation, listing real estate, bank accounts, teacher retirement, Social Security, and book royalties to let Terrell know that she would be provided for in the event that anything should happen to him. In the midst of his careful and detailed planning he pens a heartfelt proposal of marriage, which she eventually accepts, and they proceed with plans about a wedding date and where they will live after the wedding. * An author of books on Latin America, Betty Hannstein Adams was a friend of bodi Walter Prescott Webb and Terrell Maverick. Her friendship widi Terrell lasted well beyond Walter's deadi in 1963. For full biographical information on Adams, please see dieJuly 2009 issue of die Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Vol. CXII, No. 2 Southwestern Historical Quarterly October 2009 2?8Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober The University ofTexas Department of History Austin 12 August i, 1961 2:30 P.M. My beloved Terrell; ... I have just returned from a conference with Chancellor Harry Ransom. He gave me the astounding news that he has put Mildred on the University payroll, beginning in September, for some sort of work in connection with the Confederate section of the new academic center now under construction west of the Main Building. . . . The thing to do now is to get Mildred to accept this appointment. She must accept it, and she'll do it well, and with great devotion. . . . This will give her her own income, social security, more independence, and contacts which she will need, and which will be harder to get when I pass out of the picture. . . . This event, if it does really come to pass, has removed the last obstacle standing in my way, between me and what I so much desire—and that is you. It is a dead certainty, if all this is so, then you are really going to have to answer some questions. I can't stand much more. Devotedly yours, Walter Prescott Webb San Antonio, Texas August 1, 1961 Dear Walter, ... I am so happy for you about this offer for Mildred. She will take it. I know she may dislike the regular hours and the certain lack offreedom, but I know she'll take it and before long will think it was her idea all along. The beauty of it all is that she is so qualified. . . . See you Friday around 5 p.m. Goodnight, T 20ogTL· Letters ofTerell Maverick and WalterPrescott Webb20g The University ofTexas Department ofHistory Austin 12 August 2, ig6i My dear Terrell: . . . There are a thousand things for us to talk about, and many things that I must do here in case you make the decision that I hope you will make. . . . William E. Hinds now has his memorial.1 Among the hundreds of letters I have had, one came from a man in Connecticut who wishes to remain "100% anonymous" with a check for $100. 1...