Eulogy for Dr. Mary Thomas Luins Small

 

Mary Thomas Luins Small passed away on Monday, March 10, at the age of 80, just two months shy of her 81st birthday.  She was born on May 11, 1933, on her grandparents’ farm near Winona, Texas, a small country town located in the Piney Woods region of East Texas. The namesake and only child of Mary Evelyn Luins and Thomas Luins, Mary L. Small is survived by Robert J. Small, her husband of 58 years; their three sons—Thomas G. Small and his wife Marcia G. Flanigan; D Small and his wife Audrey L. Small; and Evan D. Small and his wife Jacqueline M. Garcia; and four grandchildren—Jasmyne T. Small, Justin G. Small, Joshua E. Small, and Josiah J. Small.

Known mostly as “Mary Thomas,” she grew up in Tyler, Texas, about 18 miles from the family farm, under the guidance of an entrepreneurial father (farmer, barber, tailor, motel /restaurant owner) and his partner wife who had a fully developed career as a teacher and school principal.

As in any life, it is nearly impossible to summarize accurately all the aspirations and achievements that make up one’s life.  That was never truer than with the mother, wife, educator, activist, and mentor Dr. Mary Thomas Luins Small. Following in her mother’s path towards more scholarly pursuits, she became an education historian, colonial historian, journalist, college administrator, and teacher of college English and journalism.  Having served for over 46 years at numerous institutions of higher education, she retired at Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University) as a professor emerita of English.

Her academic preparation includes the BS degree in English, earned at Hampton Institute (now Hampton University); the MS degree in journalism, earned at Syracuse University; and the PhD degree in the history and philosophy of education, earned at Boston College. 

Dr. Small was in the final edit of a 2600-page reference work on colonial education that has now been interrupted by her untimely death. Her professional career included a wide variety of academic appointments in English and journalism, African American studies, and public relations. The following are a few of the institutions at which she served: 

  • Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Texas

  • Howard University in Washington, DC

  • Southeastern University in Washington, DC

  • Georgetown University (Upward Bound) in Washington, DC

  • Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts

  • Semester-long workshops for Goddard College at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts

  • University of Denver in Denver, Colorado

  • Texas College in Tyler, Texas

  • Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee

  • Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia

Understandably, Dr. Small produced far more articles and lectures than books.  She created more than thirty manuscripts on education history, theory, and object lessons.  She has also presented papers on educational technology in conferences held in Brussels, Paris, and London.

Dr. Small also authored, co-authored, edited, or contributed to many publications.  A small selection of her more notable works and publications include:

  • Creative Encounters with “Dear Dr. King,” – A Handbook of Discussions, Activities, and Experiments on Racial Justice, Poverty, and War.   J. Saunders Redding was the general editor for this work.

  • W. E. B. Du Bois: Activist/Philosopher, coauthored with Oswald P. White

  • The Pansophism of John Amos Comenius (1592–1670) as the Foundation of Educational Technology and the Source of Constructive Standards for the Evaluation of Computerized Instruction and Tests

  • Black America-White America:  Understanding and Easing the Discord as a Natural Habit

  • Revolution by the Book:  The Comenian Textbook in the Making of America and Its Diverse Patriots, 1631–1783, a completed education history.

  • Books of Influence in Colonial America:  A Selected Bibliography, 1440–1783.

  • A book-length dramatic poem performed at the First Unitarian Society of Denver, titled, The Children Want Life (And We Are Late).

  • A poetic monograph produced for the First Unitarian Society of Denver, titled What Use Have We for Money?  

Dr. Mary L. Small was a student of and mentored by Saunders Redding, a prominent author, literary scholar, and analyst of race relations during the Harlem Renaissance.  This mentorship would serve throughout her life to fuel the integrity and substance of the many accomplishments that would follow her graduation from Hampton University.

Many of us who feel that we have a mission in this world are often inspired by heroes who lay the foundations for us to follow.   For some it may be historical characters like Benjamin Franklin or Abraham Lincoln or any historical figures that move us from inaction to action.  For Dr. Small, John Amos Comenius, a 17th century Czechoslovakian, was that hero.   Known as the founder of modern education, Comenius invented the modern textbook and encyclopedia.  He showed how the object lesson could be replicated, thus fathering educational technology.  In related developments grouped as pansophism, he laid the groundwork for a universal language. He also revolutionized the home training of preschool children in ways that prepared them for school.  He urged universal public elementary schooling for girls as well as boys.  He advocated for the organization of schools into graded classes.  Comenius argued that education should and can prepare people to live in constructive harmony across divisions of every sort, themes that we now discuss as multiculturalism. 

Comenius believed that education fostered more ways for people to live in unity and peace, and this became a foundation for much of Dr. Small’s dedication to how she would develop her skills and implement the methods she would use as a teacher for literally thousands of students, rich or poor, regardless of color, religion or politics.  In fact, Dr. Small became such an authority on the techniques and ideals proposed by John Amos Comenius that she was invited by Václav Havel, then president of the Czech Republic, to attend the 1992 Prague conference on Comenius’s Heritage and Education of Man for the 21st Century.  Dr. Small has also presented papers at educational technology conferences held in Brussels, Paris, and London. 

In partnership with my father, Robert J. Small, she was a fervent activist during the civil rights movements of the 50’s and 60’s.  She and my father were rarely the spokespersons or the easily seen faces of the leadership; but rather, they were two of the needed many in the backgrounds that helped to articulate, organize, and foster the efforts of a continuing episode in American history.  On some days, this entailed joining the ranks of protesters in support of workers’ labor strikes in Colorado.  On other days, their work required securing transportation for many journeying to Washington, DC, to participate in the “March on Washington.”  During this period, she also served as the program director for the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus.   They were often the behind-the-scene “worker bees” who wrote the letters and speeches and who gave lectures and workshops to promote the likelihood of a more equitable treatment for us all.

Ultimately, her life investment was in her family and her students.  Outside the home or the classroom, huge allotments of her time were spent in continuing her own studies and scholarship with which to make herself a better educator and human with which to promote peace across the malignant stratifications of humanity.