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January 4, 2023
Today in Texas History
By Bandera Spirits of Texas
On this day in 1992, author Elithe Kirkland died. Born Lena Elithe Hamilton near Coleman, Texas, in 1907, she had a remarkable career as a reporter, radio scriptwriter and novelist.
She achieved her first publication while still an undergraduate at North Texas State Teachers College when she wrote a series of features for the Dallas Morning News. Her other publishing credits included articles for Farm and Ranch, Southwest Review, Texas Weekly and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
During the 1940s she worked as script editor for Radio House at the University of Texas and penned more than 500 dramatic documentaries for state and national radio audiences. After her marriage to physician Roy DeFoe Kirkland in 1947, Elithe Kirkland devoted her time to writing.
Her novel Love Is a Wild Assault (1959), based on the life of Harriet Potter Ames, became enormously successful and was translated into several languages. Historian and writer A. C. Greene included the work in his Fifty Best Books of Texas in 1982.
Kirkland moved to Wimberley in 1985, and in 1987 she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.
She achieved her first publication while still an undergraduate at North Texas State Teachers College when she wrote a series of features for the Dallas Morning News. Her other publishing credits included articles for Farm and Ranch, Southwest Review, Texas Weekly and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
During the 1940s she worked as script editor for Radio House at the University of Texas and penned more than 500 dramatic documentaries for state and national radio audiences. After her marriage to physician Roy DeFoe Kirkland in 1947, Elithe Kirkland devoted her time to writing.
Her novel Love Is a Wild Assault (1959), based on the life of Harriet Potter Ames, became enormously successful and was translated into several languages. Historian and writer A. C. Greene included the work in his Fifty Best Books of Texas in 1982.
Kirkland moved to Wimberley in 1985, and in 1987 she was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.