Carolyn Sowell

Carolyn Sowell was born in Bryan, Texas, and raised in Frankston and Tyler. After graduating from Tyler High School and attending Tyler Junior College, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Texas Woman’s University and later received a Master of Education from Texas Tech University in 1966.

Carolyn dedicated more than three decades to education, teaching third grade in Midland, Texas, from 1961 until her retirement in 1994. She was deeply committed to her community and was active in numerous civic, historical, educational, and service organizations, including Delta Kappa Gamma, the Lubbock County Historical Commission, the West Texas Historical Association, and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Education was a cherished family value. Carolyn’s mother, Mabel Williams Sowell, graduated from the College of Industrial Arts—now Texas Woman’s University—in 1926 with a degree in home economics education. Carolyn carried that family tradition forward through her own career in education and her lifelong commitment to learning. Her interests included quilting, genealogy, travel, and her family’s timber farm in Upshur County, Texas.