Beauford Halbert Jester (January 12, 1893 – July 11, 1949) was an American politician who was the 36th governor of Texas, serving from 1947 until his death in office in 1949. He is the only Texas governor ever to have died in office. Jester was a veteran of World War I and known for reforms of prisons and the educational system of the state.

Early life, education, and marriage

Jester was born in 1893 to

George Taylor Jester George Taylor Jester (August 23, 1847 – July 19, 1922) was an American businessman and politician in Texas, where he served as Lieutenant Governor from 1895 to 1899. He was born in Macoupin County, Illinois to Levi and Diadema Jester, a ...

and his wife, Frances P. Gordon, in

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 56 miles northeast of Waco, Texas. The population was 23,770 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Navarro County, and an important Agri-busines ...

,Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 288 the seat of Navarro County in east Texas. He attended local segregated schools. Jester attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

, then also segregated, where he was a member of the

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and col ...

fraternity. Jester later studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at Harvard in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

. His studies were interrupted by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the United States entered World War I, he joined the US Army, eventually achieving the rank of captain, and serving from 1917 to 1918. He commanded Company D of the 357th Infantry, 90th Division from organization to demobilization. His unit saw participation in

St. Mihiel Offensive The Battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major World War I battle fought from 12–15 September 1918, involving the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and 110,000 French troops under the command of General John J. Pershing of the United States against ...

and Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In 1919, Jester resumed his law studies at the University of Texas, from which he received his

LL.B Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

a year later. He married Mabel Buchanan on June 15, 1921.

Law career

He returned to Corsicana to practice law. There, he also served as president of the Navarro County Bar Association for many years. Jester also served as director of the state bar association from 1940 to 1941. From 1929 to 1935, Jester was a member of the University of Texas

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual c ...

. From 1933 to 1935, he served as the chairman of that body.

Political career

A Democrat, Jester first won statewide elective office in 1942, when elected to the Texas Railroad Commission. He served until January 1947. He decided to run for governor, winning the Democratic primary in a run-off election in 1946 by defeating

Homer Rainey Homer Price Rainey (January 19, 1896 – December 19, 1985) was an American college professor, administrator, minister, and politician. He served as the president of several universities, most notably the University of Texas at Austin from 1 ...

. As governor, Jester created the Board of Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools, the

Texas Youth Development Council Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

, and reformed the state prison system. He also increased funding for state hospitals and orphanages, enacted strong

right-to-work law In the context of labor law in the United States, the term "right-to-work laws" refers to state laws that prohibit union security agreements between employers and labor unions which require employees who are not union members to contribute ...

s, and supported an antilynching law. Jester was easily re-elected to a second term in 1948. He helped implement the most extensive education reforms in the state through the 1949 Gilmer-Aiken Act, the first comprehensive system for Texas school funding. He is the only Texas governor to have died in office. He died unexpectedly of a heart attack on a train. Jester's body was returned to his hometown of Corsicana, where he is interred in Oakwood Cemetery.

Legacy and honors

*In the 1950s, the

Texas Department of Corrections The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails, ...

complex of prisons, the

Jester Prison Farm The Beauford H. Jester Complex, formerly the Jester State Prison Farm, refers to a complex of Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons for men in unincorporated Fort Bend County, Texas. Individually they are Jester I Unit, Carol Vance Unit (J ...

, was named after Jester to honor his efforts at prison reform. *In 1964, Jester Park was dedicated by the City of Corsicana in memory of Beauford Jester. The park is home to the

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...

Memorial and the Pioneer Village, which recreates the lives of the city's pioneers with replicas of historic buildings. *In 1968, the Jester Center on the University of Texas campus was named after him. This contains

Jester Dormitory Jester Center or Jester Center Residence Halls is a co-educational residence hall at The University of Texas at Austin, built in 1969. The residence hall was named after Beauford H. Jester, who served as the Governor of Texas from 1947 until 194 ...

, the largest college residential facility in the world, housing just under 3,000 students, as well as classroom and faculty space. *Land formerly owned by Jester in the Hill Country just west of Austin (now incorporated into Austin) was developed as "Jester Estates", a neighborhood now of about 1,000 homes. The two major streets entering the neighborhood are Beauford Drive and Jester Boulevard. The neighborhood runs along a ridge of the Balcones Plateau, and is surrounded on three sides by protected endangered-species habitat.

Early life, education, and marriage

Law career

Political career

Legacy and honors

References

Further reading