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GENEALOGY FRIENDS OF PLANO [TEXAS] LIBRARIES, INC.

SUPPORTING GLADYS HARRINGTON LIBRARY,

THE LARGEST GENEALOGY COLLECTION IN THE COUNTY

GENEALOGY FRIENDS is not associated with any genealogy societies.

We are certified under Section 501[c] [3] corporation of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contents: Index of Haggard Family History; The Wedding

GLADYS HARRINGTON: A LEGEND IN HER TIME

BIOGRAPHY by Brenda Kellow, 2004

29 May 1901 - 27 June 2004

Gladys Harrington left this life to be with the Lord.

The articulate and legendary Gladys Haggard Bishop, daughter of Nannie Elizabeth Haggard Newsom Bishop known lovingly as “the lavender lady” and Thomas Connor Bishop, was born in Paris, Texas on May 29, 1901, but soon came to Plano where she graduated from Plano High School. Frederick Joseph Harrington took the charming and lovely Gladys to be his bride on October 8, 1919 at the Christian Church in a beautiful ceremony. (See the wedding details at this site.) Fred, born September 19, 1899 was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Harrington, pillars of the community.

Gladys and Fred went to live on the farmland Fred had earlier inherited from his grandfather Silas L. Harrington. Gladys, having some of the same tastes as her mother, collected antiques, nurtured a lovely garden where she grew many varieties of fruit and vegetables, and practiced the art of canning and serving items from her garden.

To the legendary Plano couple were born two sons, Joseph Hunter Harrington, known as Joe Hunter, on August 6, 1921, and Connor Frederick Harrington, called Connor, on January 7, 1925.

Gladys Harrington, a legend in her time, set up a small library in a room about the size of a small closet in the Community House in the 1950s. The building, now a religious building, is located just south of the 14^th Street intersection on J Avenue, facing the tracks. That was where the kids hung out for the Friday night dances after the football games, proms were held there, and casino lock-ins took place there. Everyone knew her, some of us better than others. Her prayers were answered when the library on the east side of town took on her name and called it the Gladys Harrington Library, repository for Collin County’s largest genealogy collection, and supported by Genealogy Friends.

The Board and members of Genealogy Friends salute the legendary Mrs. Gladys Harrington for her watchful attention of the Plano community.

Recommended citation:
"Gladys Harrington, A Legend in Her Time," by Brenda Kellow, 2004. Collin County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl> [Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].

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Post Office Box 860477, Plano, Texas 75086-0477, USA

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