Brindley, Anne Ammons (1904–1995)

Anne Ammons Brindley, Galveston community leader and historian, daughter of Andrew Jefferson and Mary Ammons, was born in rural Bosque County, Texas, on August 31, 1904. During the 1920s, she earned a degree in journalism at the Baylor College for Women (now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor) and a certificate in nursing (earned in 1926) at the University of Texas. Pursuing a career in the field of medicine, by 1929 she became the supervisor of surgery at Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston.

On July 2, 1929, Ammons married Paul Brindley, a professor of pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The couple had no children, and he died in December 1954, after which she devoted many years to promoting the well-being of her community and Texans in general. One observer said of Brindley in 1974, “She has always been into about everything…,” so only a small list of her community activities can be offered. She served as director of the Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Galveston County, director of publicity for the Galveston Chamber of Commerce, secretary of the Junior League of Galveston, president of the YWCA, president of the Friends of the Rosenberg Library, and as a member of the boards of directors of the Galveston Public Health Nursing Service, Family Welfare Bureau, and the Galveston Community Chest and Council.

Brindley also had an abiding interest in historical preservation, which she demonstrated in working on projects to save historic homes in Galveston. She was president of the Galveston Historical Foundation from 1954 to 1958. Also, in the realm of more formal historical research, Brindley wrote about Jane Long, the heroine of early Texas, in an article that appeared in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly in 1952 and in book form that same year. Her accomplishments in historical preservation and research led to her election as president of the Texas State Historical Association in 1973.

Much as is the case with Brindley’s community services, recognitions of her contributions were too numerous to list. Perhaps the most impressive came on November 20, 1973, when Galveston held an “Anne Brindley Appreciation Night” at the Rosenberg Library. Professor Joe B. Frantz, director of the Texas State Historical Association, offered a beautiful summation: “It was one of those nights to press in the leaves of your emotional memory book….”

Anne Brindley remained active in community service until her death in Temple, Texas, on February 14, 1995. She is buried at the Galveston Memorial Park Cemetery.