CROWELL, GRACE NOLL (1877-1969). Grace Noll Crowell, poet, daughter of Adam and Sarah (Southern) Noll, was born in Inland, Iowa, on October 31, 1877. In 1901, after receiving her B.A. from the German-English College in Wilton, Iowa, she married Norman H. Crowell, with whom she had three sons. She moved in 1917 to Wichita Falls, Texas, and two years later to Dallas, where she spent the rest of her life. Norman Crowell died in 1953.
Grace Crowell's poems appeared in major magazines throughout the United States and abroad. Her first book of poetry, White Fire (1925), was awarded first prize by the Texas Poetry Society. In 1935 she was designated Poet Laureate of Texas. Three years later she was awarded the Golden Scroll Medal of Honor as National Honor Poet. Also in 1938 the Golden Rule Foundation designated her American Mother of the Year, and American Women, a biographical publication, selected her as one of ten Outstanding American Women. Baylor University awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1940. Among many subsequent honors, she was also selected as honorary chancellor of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies in 1965.
In the early 1940s Grace Crowell was called "the most popular writer of verse in America." Dale Carnegie called her "one of the most beloved poets in America." Magazine and newspaper articles often commented on her widespread popularity, on the visitors from other parts of the United States and abroad who stopped by her Dallas home, and on her massive correspondence with grateful readers. Her husband quit his job to manage her career. She published over thirty-five books of poetry, stories for children, and poem and prose devotions. Her Songs for Courage went into twenty-five printings. In 1977 a reprint of her 1965 collection of poems appeared as The Eternal Things: The Best of Grace Noll Crowell. She died on March 31, 1969, and was buried at Hillcrest Mausoleum in Dallas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dallas Morning News, April 1, 1969. Notable Women of the Southwest (Dallas: Tardy, 1938 Beatrice Plumb, Grace Noll Crowell (New York: Harper, 1938 Texas Mothers Committee, Worthy Mothers of Texas (Belton, Texas: Stillhouse Hollow, 1976).
