McAlisters honored with tree naming

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  • McAlisters honored with tree naming
    McAlisters honored with tree naming
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By Anna Noel

The Cuero Record

On Friday, April 29, the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, the Cuero Tree Board held its seventh tree naming in honor of the late Martha McAlister and her husband Dr. Wayne H. McAlister. DeWitt County extension agent Anthony Netardus recognized city and tree board members, as well as family members, then tree board member Henry Luddeke read a write-up prepared by one of the McAlister’s daughters, Jenny.

“Dr. Wayne Hartman McAlister and Martha Kay McAlister lived for some sixty years not far from here on a piece of land overlooking a bend of the Guadalupe River. Our father died in September 2018; Mama died in June 2021. It is difficult to speak about one OR the other – our parents were, as the branches of this magnificent oak tree are – inseparable. Many of you knew our mom as a member of Cuero’s Tree Board. She joined in 2018 to promote awareness for Cuero’s Historic Street Trees in particular, and for all trees and plants, more generally. We remember her excitement and deep satisfaction in early 2019 when the first Street Tree was to be named. This was back in April 2019, when the live oak in the middle of Hunt Street was dedicated to Beulah Margaret McDougal. Then, in August, the oak tree in front of the DeWitt County Farm Bureau in August 2019 was dedicated to Mr. Aubrey Feril.

“Our mother was born and raised in Fort Worth with two brothers and two sisters. She was an artist and a scientific thinker; the fields of study in which our mom was most comfortable were the natural sciences. She met our dad at the University of Texas, where they were each getting degrees in biology. After they married in 1959, you could not find one without the other."

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