Alice Reynolds

American, (1910–1984)
Alice Reynolds was born in Albany, Texas on January 16, 1910. She was the oldest child in a family with one boy and three girls, and daughter of Andrew Watkins Reynolds and Bertie Herron Reynolds. After graduating from Albany High School in 1927 Reynolds left Albany to attend Baylor University where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music in 1931. Reynolds then returned to Albany, where she taught part time in the local public schools and also gave private music lessons. Reynolds artistic abilities were not limited to the musical arts – she was also a talented painter. Up until the late 1930s, she had been largely self-taught, but new opportunities became available when she entered a painting in a national contest that was part of a New Deal program in 1938. She won a prize of $600, and Reynolds decided to use the money to study oil painting with Xavier Gonzales at the Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans. When she returned to Albany a few years later she carried with her a rolled-up mural destined for the Robstown, TX post office, where it can still be seen today. In 1941 Reynolds moved to New York to continue studying with Gonzales, who was now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bill Bomar, a fellow artist and old friend from Albany was also living in New York at the time, and they often met together or with other artist friends for drawing and painting sessions. In 1946, with the war concluded and productions of the Fort Griffin Fandangle in Albany, TX beginning again, she received a call from her cousin Watt R. Matthews with a request for her to do the music. Reynolds agreed, and eventually returned to Albany permanently in 1948, though she continued throughout her life to nurture her artistic talents, and kept close ties with Gonzales, Bomar, and other members of the Fort Worth Circle. From this point forward, Reynolds was helping with the Fandangle production almost non-stop, from writing music to designing sets and costumes. Some of her original songs include the much loved “Let’s Settle in this Country” and “Texas Central,” among others. She played the organ for every performance, and countless rehearsals, for 45 years. Alice Reynolds died in Albany on May 20, 1984. Her contributions to the arts, the Fandangle, and the Albany community can be seen and felt daily, but never more strongly than in late June, when the sun sets and the cowboys of the flag parade begin to race across the prairie stage.