COLLEGE STATION — For those who may say, “I don’t know how to do this,” a Bryan woman funded an endowment for Excellence in Extension Home Economics through the Texas A&M University Development Foundation.
Florence Low, who retired from the Texas Agricultural Extension Service in 1975, funded the endowment, which will be used for program enhancement in family and consumer sciences. For example, these funds could be used for a honorarium for a conference keynote speaker.
“These enhancement funds will let us continue to build strong educational programs for children, youth and families of Texas,” said Dr. Jennie Kitching, associate director for human sciences.
Low said she had been hoping to do something to help the family development and resource management program at Texas A&M when she found out about the Institute for Children, Youth and Families, a professional development program for family and consumer sciences specialists.
The institute “did everything I thought ought to be done,” said Low. “The endowment will be for seminars and workshops for those who say, I don’t know how to do this.'”
She credited the Extension Service for helping her lead a full life. “With Extension, every day was a new day,” she said. “There was always something to learn and do every day.”
Low, who grew up on a farm near Troup, graduated from high school in 1928, in the midst of the Great Depression. She studied home economics in college because, “I had never heard of it and one of my uncles suggested it.” It was a fortuitous choice for her. One day after graduating from North Texas State University in 1934, she went to work in Henderson County.
She was told on her first day on the job that she needed to supervise what were called “community canning plants.” She had never canned anything in her life. “It just took me 24 hours to realize I didn’t know much about this.” However, a supervisor took her under her wing and mentored her.
By teaching the basics of food, clothing and shelter — many things taken for granted now — Extension home economists “really changed the face of rural America,” Low said. It was a challenge to get information to their clientele. However, the rural women she taught, “just ate (the information) up.”
In Henderson County, she met and married her husband, Edwin T. Low. She had to quit her job because home demonstration agents were not allowed to be married at that time.
After her husband was killed in World War II three years after their wedding, she became the agent in Fayette County. She moved to Texas A&M University in College Station as the acting landscape specialist in 1945. In that position, she taught homemakers to streamline their skills so they could assist their families with farming and ranching activities, work outside the home or participate in community activities. She also authored bulletins on work simplification and money management.
She was then offered a job at the University of Maryland as the state demonstration agent, where she stayed for five years. While there, she received her master’s degree in 1949 from Cornell University.
Low moved back to Texas in 1956 as the head of the department of home economics at Texas A&M. She retired in 1975.
Even then, she didn’t slow down. She joined the Crestview Nursing Home Volunteers, serving as president for three years. She served as president of the Presbyterian Women, on numerous committees and as deacon and elder for the First Presbyterian Church in Bryan. She’s also a member of the Women’s Club in Bryan.
Her many honors and awards include being listed in the “Who’s Who of American Women,” and “Who’s Who in America.” Also, in 1965, she was named home economist of the year by the Texas Home Economics Association, the association which also awards the Florence Low scholarship to a deserving 4-H member in Texas. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Home Economics Association in 1990.
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