Lucretia Donnell Newman Coke

Lucretia Donnell Newman Coke died on April 27, 2016 in Austin, Texas. She was 99 years young. Born March 28, 1917 in Temple, Texas to Lucretia Ayers and Earl Roe Donnell, Lucretia grew up in Oak Cliff, Texas where the family owned Donnell's Ice Cream and she was often seen riding her horse in and around town. Her one brother, Earl Roe Donnell, Jr., was an Eagle Scout, who was killed in action at the beginning of World War II piloting a dive bomber off the USS Enterprise for which he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal. The naval Escort ship, USS Donnell, and a Navy Fighting Squadron were named in his honor.

Lucretia, now considered an important 'early Texas artist', grew up surrounded by art and artists. Her mother, Lucretia Ayers Donnell graduated from Mary Hardin Baylor College in Belton with a Fine Arts degree in 1912, and later founded the International Porcelain Painters Organization. When 'little Lucretia' was six years old, she was spotted by Frank Reaugh, 'Dean of Texas Artists', while busily drawing with pencils during one of her mother's art lessons at his Oak Cliff studio, the Iron Shed. Observing Lucretia's evident talent, Reaugh asked her mother if he could teach the little girl. From that day forward 'Mr. Reaugh' and his teachings were an important part of her life. 'Little Lucretia' became one of Reaugh's prized students and was invited to go on his month-long sketch trips camping out under the stars in West Texas and New Mexico. For ten summers, Lucretia painted in this very rigorous and disciplined program, painting four to five outdoor sketches each day in plain old Texas air along with fellow sketchers, Harry Carnohan, Lloyd Goff, John Douglass, Reveau Bassett, Josephine Oliver, Olin Travis, mother Lucretia Ayers Donnell, and brother Earl Donnell.

During the 1920s, young Lucretia was a member of Mr. Reaugh's Striginian Club, where she learned the formal names of and painted such subjects as birds, spiders, grasses, plants, rocks, clouds, and night sky constellations. She kept many of the sketch trip logs and later wrote down Frank Reaugh's life story, as he told it to her. Two books, "Winged Clouds and Cobalt Skies-the 1930's Frank Reaugh Sketch Trip Diaries of Lucretia Donnell", and "From Under A Mesquite Tree-An Artist's Life on the Texas Plains", both edited by Gardner Smith and Robert Reitz, are important documents of her career.

After graduating from Sunset High School, Lucretia attended The University of Texas where she became a proud lifetime alumnae and in addition, earned a degree in Art and Education from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

In 1942, Lucretia married Charles Bonner Newman of Port Washington, Long Island, New York. Settling in Port Washington, Lucretia attended the Art Student's League in New York City, culminating with a one-woman exhibit in Manhasset, Long Island, New York. The family moved to Frisco, Texas in 1946 and then, after living in Terrell, Texas, built a home in Dallas' Preston Hollow. Lucretia was left with three small children after Charles Newman's unexpected death in 1954 and supported her family by painting portraits and teaching art classes at their home. In 1963, she married Jack L. Coke, a Dallas attorney.

Lucretia Coke exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art with the Frank Reaugh Art Club, Texas Fine Arts, Sartor Gallery, David Dike Fine Art, Artists and Craftsmen Association, and McKinney Avenue Contemporary Art. Recently in late 2009, she was honored with a retrospective exhibit of her paintings at the downtown Dallas Public Library titled "Timeless Style". She was a member of the prestigious Pastel Society of the Southwest and in Austin, she exhibited with the Palette Club, Capitol Arts Society, Lake Travis Arts League, Austin Woman's Club Member's Exhibit, and the Warm River Gallery where she was represented.

Lucretia Coke's portraits and landscapes hang in the homes of many fine people in Texas, Georgia, Montana, New York, Illinois, and other states. Two portraits she painted with Texas backgrounds are in Paris, France! Her painting "Echoes of the Comanche" hangs in the Texas Artist's Gallery of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas. She is listed in the "Dictionary of Texas Artists 1800-1945", compiled by Paula L. and Michael R. Grauer.

In 1990, she and her husband moved to Austin to be near her favorite portrait subjects, her grandchildren, the children of Dr. James K. Pohl and daughter, Bonnie, the former Lucretia Bonner Newman of Dallas. Also, in Austin, is the important Frank Reaugh collection "Paintings of the Southwest" which Lucretia, as one of the trustees of Reaugh's estate, was instrumental in donating to The University of Texas. This historical art treasure, housed at the Harry Ransom Center, shows the cattle drives and scenes of early Texas painted by Reaugh when the longhorn ran wild before there were many fences.

Lucretia loved people and was happiest in the thick of things. She spent many happy times skiing in Aspen, Colorado, where she owned a condominium for decades. She took up scuba diving when she was 60 years old and painted the beauty of the underwater world. She played the piano and had a beautiful singing voice. She loved gardening and sponsored cricket concerts every night. In Austin, she was a devoted Mermaid in Crenshaw's Aqua Fitness Class swimming well into her 98th year. For most of her life, she had a pet dog at her feet.

She was unconditionally devoted to her family and shared with them her wealth of knowledge about the natural beauty of the earth and her gratitude to God for creating it. She traveled in Greece, France, Italy, Ireland, and other countries and she expressed and shared her love of the world by the portrayal of it in her exquisite painting and photography. Although Lucretia was the granddaughter of the Baptist minister, Rev. William Ayers, she was a 71-year member of Highland Park Methodist Church in Dallas.

Lucretia is survived by her three children, Carilane Newman Vieregg (Todd), Lucretia "Bonnie" Newman Pohl (Dr. James K.), and Earl Donnell Newman; grandchildren, Katie Pohl Dahill (Steve), Ginnie Pohl Papen (Justin), Elizabeth Pohl Pauleit (Nick), Mary Caroline Pohl; great grandchildren, Ashton, Graysen, and Hattie Lane Papen, Finn, Emmaline and Mary Rose Dahill, and Anna Pauleit.

The family wishes to express profound gratitude to Edith Vasquez for her loving care of Lucretia for the past several years.

A memorial service will be held in Austin at Lake Travis United Methodist Church on May 3 at 3 pm, with a reception to follow. Interment and a graveside service will be held at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas on May 4 at 2pm.

Honorary pallbearers are: Earl Newman, Bill Osterholm, Todd Vieregg, James Pohl, Steve Dahill, Justin Papen, Nick Pauleit, Gardner Smith, Bob Reitz.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the non-profit documentary "Frank Reaugh: Pastel Poet of the Texas Plains" by visiting http://marlafields.com/frankreaugh/ and clicking the donate button or by check, made out to 'Fractured Atlas' care of Marla Fields, 7527 Oak Street, Frisco, Texas, 75033.

THE SKETCH TRIP DIARIES OF LUCRETIA DONNELL 83

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On the last page of the diary Lucretia has written the following poem:

Winged Clouds

White Clouds drifting against a cobalt sky ---

Endless masses of billowing clouds,

cumulus and high;

Each is softened and shaded with pearly gray

And, could you, up so high, send back a message

home today?

Home is where the hearts of friends

meet and understand;

Then glow and grow, spreading and billowing

Like those white clouds high above land.

Dear winged clouds, relay this message

out over your snowy foam:

"Tell my loved ones my heart seeks home."