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OBITUARY WILLIAM LOUISE HONEYCUTT BRONAUGH
HARRELL
Carrollton teacher was a mentor to many For those
who knew her, it was easy to see where William Louise Honeycutt Bronaugh Harrell
got her discipline.
Known as "Billie," Ms. Harrell came from "hardy Central Texas farming stock,"
said her son Jim Bronaugh. The toughness she gained growing up made her a mentor
to many of the students she taught during more than 30 years in the
Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.
"We all respected her and feared her - not that we were afraid of her. When she
said, 'Do this,' we hopped to," said Linda Tyler Rollins of Denton, who took Ms.
Harrell's eighth-grade class at Carrollton Elementary. "She was obviously an
excellent teacher and an excellent judge of how to handle children because we
were a handful, but she always had control. She never lost control, and you
never went out of bounds."
Ms. Harrell, 82, died Tuesday of emphysema. Services were Thursday at Restland
Memorial Chapel.
Ms. Harrell began teaching at Prairie Hill near Waco in the 1940s - before
obtaining her degree from what is now the University of North Texas. After
college, she returned to Central Texas to teach in a one-room schoolhouse in
Hillsboro.
She eventually moved to Lewisville, where she spent five years teaching, before
going to the Carrollton school system in 1952. She spent the next 30 years
teaching sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders everything from spelling to
mathematics.
"She was from the old school and demanded discipline," said Mr. Bronaugh of
Lewisville. "She expected people to achieve within their abilities, and if they
were underachievers she would give them all the encouragement they needed."
For many students, Ms. Harrell became an inspiration. Ms. Rollins, for example,
went into education, citing Ms. Harrell's positive influence.
"I wanted to be like Billie. She was a role model," she said.
Despite her formal retirement from teaching in the mid-1980s, Ms. Harrell was
never far from the classroom. She took up tutoring elementary students at the
Friendship House, an after-school program at First Baptist Church of Carrollton.
"She got to go back to teaching for fun," said Ms. Harrell's daughter-in-law
Patty Bronaugh. "She told me all about the little kids. That lit her up."
Ms. Harrell remained active in Carrollton, serving as a member of the Peters
Colony Historical Society and researching for the A.W. Perry Homestead Museum.
She was also a member of the Carrollton library board.
In addition to Mr. Bronaugh, Ms. Harrell is survived by sons Tommy Bronaugh of
Colleyville and Bobby Bronaugh of Carrollton; a brother, Joe Bob Honeycutt of
Waco; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Memorials can be sent to Friendship House, c/o The First Baptist Church in
Carrollton, 2400 N. Josey Lane, Carrollton, Texas 75006.
Dallas Morning News, The (TX) - January 1, 2006
Submitted by Edward Lynn
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