Aline B. Carter
Aline B. Carter (1892–1972) was a Texas poet and humanitarian, Poet Laureate of Texas from 1947 through 1949. She also served as a vice-president of the Poetry Society of Texas.[1]
Biography
Carter's family was well established in San Antonio history, business and society. The women especially were well-educated, well-traveled and well-known. Carter received private tutelage until 1913, when she left home to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She also studied the harp at the Boston Conservatory.[1]
In 1915, she returned to San Antonio and married local attorney and judge Henry Champe Carter. Together they raised three sons, Henry Champe, Jr., Frank, and David.[1]
Her published works of poetry include Halo of Love and Doubt Not the Dream. Additionally, she wrote a manuscript for a historical novel based on the life of her grandmother, Sarah Riddle Eager. This manuscript, entitled Light Beyond the Hills, was never published.[1]
Carter had a great love of astronomy, and hosted stargazing parties on the roof of her home, where she had an observatory. She also taught astronomy classes at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.
Known as the "White Angel" because of the white organdy dresses she often wore, Carter was a great humanitarian. She taught Sunday School for many years and made many donations to St. Mark's Episcopal Church. Every December she hosted a Christmas party at the Protestant Children's Home orphanage. Her work with inmates at the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center and Bexar County Jail, and patients at the San Antonio State Hospital was well known and appreciated.[2] She also established the Aline B. Carter Peace Prize for Aspiring Poets.[1]
A very spiritual woman, Carter had a personal chapel in her San Antonio home, and also had one built at her seaside home on Mustang Island in Port Aransas, Texas. Built in the 1930s and named the Chapel on the Dunes, it was the first church on the island.[2][3]