The Harness Maker's Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas

Epilogue

Et EPILOGUE N ATHAN AND ANNA KALLISON'S accomplishments were not confined within the bricks and mortar of their store nor the barbed-wire fences of their ranch. Their legacy of hard work, solidarity, faith, love of family and country, respect for the land, and compassion for their fellow human beings has flowed through the five generations of Kallisons who continue the journey Nathan and Anna began as immigrants. Much of the ranch still looks as it did when Nathan first saw it. Nearly 1,200 acres of Kallison Ranch's most scenic and environmentally sensitive acres have become part of the Government Canyon Wildlife and Natural Area-a state park created in 1993 and operated by the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. Underneath the land is Edwards Aquifer, an immense and fragile underground reservoir upon which San Antonio is totally dependent for its supply of fresh water. For decades, the quantity and quality of water from the vital reserve have been threatened by a tidal wave of commercial and residential development on ground above the aquifer. Nathan and Anna's descendants made it possible for Government Canyonrather than commercial developers-to acquire this significant acreage for the park.' The state park is dedicated solely to land and water conservation, wildlife preservation, nature studies, and outdoor recreation. Although Perry Kallison's award-winning Polled Hereford cattle no longer graze through the Hill Country, generations of visitors will now camp and hike in that preserve, study flora and wildlife, enjoy a quiet escape from city life, and view the natural splendor that cap- '53 THE HARNESS MAKER'S DREAM tured the heart and the imagination of a young Russian emigre more than one hundred years before. Nathan and Anna surely would approve of the way their values have been carried forward in the heritage they bequeathed the twenty -first century Kallisons. If the family's first realized dream was freedom and the second, success, then the third must surely be the broad opportunities that have allowed succeeding generations to live the Kallison values. Their twentieth-century grandchildren Jimmy, Jane, Susan, Nathan, Maryann, and Bobbi instilled in their own children a thirst for knowledge and a belief in the importance of faith, family, and service to humankind. The fifteen who grew up in the next generation have all achieved success in their professions. Almost all of them are college graduates, including the family's first three PhOs: a mathematician, an economist, and a psychologist. Most have remained in Texas. Although they grew up in comfort, none of their careers have been focused principally on material success. Many have been involved in service to their neighbors-to the needy at home and those across the globe. Morris Kallison's oldest grandson is a distinguished college professor in Texas. Only one of Nathan's great grandchildren has followed Morris's penchant for commercial real estate development and, with his insurance-broker brother, is a major contributor and fundraiser for medical research. Another is the owner of a bindery; he and his wife have been community leaders and have raised four idealistic and accomplished children. After a productive and satisfying career in social work counseling hospital patients, his sister, married to an eminent neurologist, enjoys a new life in residential real estate. Their two sons, both bar mitzvah, attended college: the older, a recent graduate; the younger, a sophomore . Another great grandchild has served as an officer of the World Bank, arranging loans for humanitarian projects in developing countries . One serves the people of Texas as an expert in environmental and energy policy. Another graduated from law school and became an effective advocate for and writer on women's rights and other '54 EPILOGUE causes for social justice. Her brother, who created a court-reporting and conference-recording business, leads an effort to provide instruments to needy musicians. Two are journalists; three are teachers; one is an adoptive mother and facilitator for adoption of orphans by American parents. One great-grandson, who equals Jimmy Kallison in his passion for flight, has been an executive with major aircraft manufacturers and has raised two artist sons. Another great-grandson is an architectural and fine arts photographer and talented musician ; still another, a clinical psychologist. Only one of Nathan's descendants (this author) farms and raises cattle, encouraged by his Uncle Perry who advised that "it's in your blood, boy]" These grandchildren and great...