Jacqueline Adeene Grogan

In a southern, westward movement fifty miles north of Houston the town of Conroe was established by the trails, terrain rolling west and north. Historically, my family contributed to creating America. They emerged from all areas of the British Isles in the late 1600s, settling in Virginia and Georgia. They fought in both the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and then moved to Texas.

I was born on the 9th of December 1923, in the hamlet of Conroe, Texas. The court house was still a log cabin. My grandfather W. R. Grogan & family migrated from Georgia to Texas helping to establish Atlanta, Texas, and acquired thousands of acres of timberland from Atlanta in Cass County, to Conroe in Montgomery County, including what is known today as “The Woodlands.” My parents moved to Houston in 1925, and established Grogan Lumber on Taft and Navigation Blvd. My parents were Madge Marie Cheatham b. 1903 d. 1975 and Denson Shumpart “Jack” Grogan b. 1901 d. 1981. I loved playing with all of the children in my new neighborhood and taught them dancing in my garage dance school for $.01 a lesson, then had them perform for their parents in the backyard for $.05. The servants’ quarters above the garage was my play house and we all gathered there to decide on who was playing “what part” that day.

As a child, I attended Garden of Arts School, Wharton Elementary, Lanier Junior High, and graduated from Lamar High School in 1941. During those years, I was enrolled in the Able Dance Schools. At three, I won first prize in the Galveston Baby Contest receiving a tall engraved loving cup. Over the years, I danced on every stage in Houston. Also, I studied Russian Ballet for ten years as taught by Alexis Kosloff. During the summer months, my parents lived in Beverly Hills, California, where I studied dance (Alisa Ryn with Shirley Temple), modeling school, and Algebra IV for make-up classes. Two of my summers, I attended Camp Waldemar in Hunt, Texas, learning sports and swimming in the Guadalupe River.

In the fall of 1941, I attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. This was a big game changer in my life; learning and understanding. It was the perfect “all-girls school” for me or in those day “finishing school.” However, it was just the beginning of education for me. I majored in literature, clothing & textile design and performed in a modern dance group although classically trained. When the 7th of December 1941, arrived Pearl Harbor happened. The same day my parents sent me a beautiful diamond ring meant for my birthday on the 9th December. I returned it to them until after the war because I needed to help in some way. I graduated in June 1943, and returned home. My plans were to go to New York to pursue a career in fashion design.

Back in Houston, I worked for Toliver & Hutchinson Law firm, at two banks in the trust departments, and listened to reports about the war at nights. I volunteered at the old Baptist Hospital across from the Library in downtown. When the war was over, I decided to return to the University of Houston receiving a B.A. in Literature & Comparative Religions. Next, I received a degree in Psychology. This wasn’t going to provide a job I wanted, so my father suggested that I become a teacher. So I went back to the University of Houston for a Master’s Degree in Elementary and Deaf Education. I taught for seventeen years in H. I. S. D. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970’s, I taught school because I had the summers to travel. In 1950, I took my first grand tour of Europe, sailing out of the harbor of New York to Northampton, England on the Queen Mary with a small group from Dallas. I kept a daily diary about the experiences and everything I purchased. We traveled to England, Scotland, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Another year, I spent 2 months covering most of South America from Brazil to Panama.

I left in 1964, to be married in Portugal but returned within six months to a bedroom in my mother’s home. Then in the spring of 1965, I received a scholarship to Columbia University in New York (only one from Texas) for a seminar in 1st Linguistics. That summer I spent two months at Columbia University and thought that this place looks interesting. A friend offered me her brownstone on 73rd & 3rd for $300 a month. I found a teaching job at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains, N. Y. and taught there for twenty years as an audiodist, speech, and language development instructor until I returned in 1986. I loved New York for the museums, theater, country side, places to go, and people!

In the interim, I met and married Joseph E. Howard in 1968, son of the famous vaudevillian singer and dancer who was performing leading roles in Germany. While living in Germany and later Luxembourg teaching the American students, I was given the rank of Captain, which provided membership to officer’s clubs all over Europe. In 1971, we were divorced.

During the 1970’s I attended two universities, N. Y. U. and Fordham, then received my certification in Education Administration which I did not purse. Why? Because I returned to my original love of design! I then finished my degree at the New York School of Design in 1975, and started decorating, collecting French antiques, and my next step was to go to Sotheby’s for appraisal of antiques. Other events in my life changed because my father died in 1981. I inherited acres of land, a home, investments, and had to care for my Aunt Mille. I needed to be back in Texas. I purchased my dream home and put a lifetime of collectables in it in 1987. I joined Who’s Who International, Memorial Garden Club and launched a social life.

Then in 1995, I met my future husband Taleb Theodore Bashiti and we were married until his death in November 2020. After marrying Theo, we joined several dance clubs including; Lords & Ladies, Truadrelle, River Oaks Club, The Houston Club, and then The Petroleum Club. In 2015, I became President for all the formal balls, set the themes, and decorated all the tables. What a challenge at 90! But I didn’t tell!

In the meantime, I discovered and documented my ancestry, and I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Confederacy, and Colonial Dames. I am on the Board of Directors for the Heritage Ball held at the River Oaks Club each year. We were the greeters of the ball and January 2017, the flowers were placed in my arms in honor of Lasca B. Burns. In May 2021, I was the Honorary Chairman of the Southern Heritage Ball. For the past 25 years, I have been on the Board of Directors for the Grogan Minerals Company and served as Secretary.

Jacqueline Grogan lived an exciting, adventurous, and wonderful life. She was generous, fun-loving, and an inspiration for all those who were fortunate to know her. Jacqueline will be missed by family and many friends located all over the world.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 17th of February 2022, in the Jasek Chapel and the Republic Wine Room of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A funeral service is to be conducted at ten o’clock in the morning on Saturday, the 19th of February, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.

KINDLY NOTE: Those who are unable to attend may join the livestream whose link will be available in the service information block on her page at GeoHLewis.com.

The entombment will follow, via escorted cortege, at Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Leukemia, to the attention of Dr. Farhad Ravandi, 1400 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 428, Houston, Texas, 77030. In appreciation for the loving care provided by Dr. Ravandi, his team and more recently employees of the Acute Care Center at MD Anderson.