Tenderfoot Teacher: Letters from the Big Bend 1952-1954 (Chisholm Trail Series) (Volume 21)

About this book

In 1952 Aileen Kilgore was teaching fourth grade at a school near where she grew up in Alabama. Her life was busy but she wished to see more of the world. Remembering exciting tales shed heard of the Big Bend region in Texas she wrote to the school board at Alpine near the park to apply for a position there. To her surprise an offer came back to teach at a new school within Big Bend National Park itself. She accepted. The young schoolteacher was at first overwhelmed by Big Bendthe wildness the limitless space the isolation and the exuberant Texas children. But she soon came to love the area and the people. During her first year at Panther Junction she met one special ranger named Art Henderson. When he was transferred to the Blue Ridge Parkway that summer there was a hole in her life. During her two years at Panther Junction Aileen wrote long and frequent letters to her family and the second year to the ranger shed met. Those edited letters make up this book.