Mavournee DuBose Scholarship

 

 

Mavournee DuBose, retired Skidmore-Tynan English Language Arts teacher, librarian, and One Act Play director, died December 10, 2017, after a long struggle with Vascular Dementia. Mavournee enjoyed working with dedicated students who shared her love of literature, and helped instill proper spelling and grammar into generations of South Bee County youths whether they liked it or not. Many students wrote years later to thank her for imparting language skills that helped advance their careers. She was one of the first South Texas school librarians to computerize book checkout procedures. Although at heart an introvert who loved nothing more than curling up with a book or a crossword puzzle, Mavournee silenced many rowdy classrooms with a raised eyebrow, danced and sang for her play casts, and made time for students who needed extra help.   

Her serious interest in UIL academics began when her daughter, Jacque DuBose Kosmin, won state 3 years in a row; 1973: Informative Speaking; 1974: Ready Writing; 1975: Informative Speaking, and was part of a OAP cast that advanced to state. After Jacque graduated and her director moved to a bigger school, Mavournee took on the challenge of directing the OAP in 1977. With everything she did, Mavournee never went in halfway, and she spent the next few summers going to UT Summer Theatre Workshop and honing her craft under mentors who became long-term friends, including Lynn Murray (director of UIL drama), Ruth Denney (UT drama professor and founding principal of Houston HSPVA), Jerry Worsham (director extraordinaire at Snyder HS), and Robert Singleton (Houston HSPVA theater department chair). She enlisted parents, many of them former students, to sew costumes and build sets, and got her husband Wayne, the principal and a successful multi-sport coach, to tow a trailer full of theater props to the UIL contests. In the 27 years she directed or co-directed, her plays routinely advanced, winning 15 district championships (plus 2 alternates to area), making regional 6 times (plus two alternates to regional), and advancing to state in 1981, 1984, 1990, 1991---placing 3rd in 1984. One of her most successful UIL academic students was her son, David, who won state championships in ready writing, feature writing, editorial writing (all 1982), and informative speaking (1981-82), plus best actor (1981) and additional placings in informative and typewriting. But her primary focus with her students, including her children, was on the quality of their education and their character rather than on the judges' decisions. For her dedication to her students, she won the UIL-Southwestern Bell Sponsor Excellence Award in 1997-98. 

In 2012, Mavournee and her husband Wayne were honored by the district she worked in for 44 years by having the Skidmore-Tynan ISD Special Events Center named for them. Mavournee would be overjoyed to know that her children were endowing a scholarship in their parents' names so that students from small-town Texas would get assistance advancing their education. She would be pleased and humbled to know that other contributors were helping those students reach their higher-education goals.  

 

If you'd like to make a memorial contribution to the Mavournee DuBose Scholarship fund via credit card or checking account through the PayPal system, please click the button below.

 

 

If you'd like to make a contribution by check, please make checks payable to TILF, noting the Mavournee DuBose Scholarship fund in the memo line, and mail to:

TILF

PO Box 151027

Austin, TX 78715


If you have questions or need further information, contact Trudy Richards, TILF Executive Director, at 512-382-0916 or trichards@tilfoundation.org.