Sue Margaret Cousins (January 26, 1905 – July 30, 1996) was an American editor, journalist, and writer. Cousins was a member of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is America's oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has counted among ...

, the

Texas Institute of Letters The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most respe ...

, the Philosophical Society of Texas, the

San Antonio Conservation Society The Conservation Society of San Antonio (legally incorporated as the San Antonio Conservation Society) is located in the Bexar County city of San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas. Founding members were Emily Edwards, who became the organizatio ...

, and a trustee of the Wildflower Foundation. Some of her works were published under the pseudonyms William Masters, Mary Parrish, and Avery Johns.

Early life and education

Sue Margaret Cousins was born in

Munday, Texas Munday ( ) is a city in Knox County, Texas, Knox County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,246 at the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census. Geography Munday is located at (33.449292, –99.626028). It is situated at the junction of ...

on January 26, 1905, to parents Walter Henry and Sue Margaret Reeves Cousins. Her father was a pharmacist who published the

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

based Southern Pharmaceutical Journal. She has a brother named Walter Henry Cousins Jr, a niece named Cynthia Cousins Lodge, and a nephew named Walter Henry Cousins III. Cousins develop an interest in literature at an early age. She made her first publication (a

poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

) at the age of 16. Cousins grew up in Texas and graduated from the now defunct

Dallas High School (Texas) Dallas High School is a former public secondary school in Dallas, Texas. It is the alma mater of several notable Americans, including former US Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark. Built in 1907, the 3.5-story classical reviv ...

(formerly named Bryant Street High School) in 1922. She went on to pursue a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

from the College of Liberal Arts at 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, 11,075 ...

. Cousins joined the

Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across ...

fraternity during her time in college. She graduated with her B.A. in 1926, winning the D.A. Frank Poetry Prize in the process.

Career

Cousins began her literary career as an apprentice with her father's pharmaceutical journal after graduation from college. She remained with the organization until 1937, being promoted to associate editor and editor in 1930 and 1935, respectively. Cousins moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1937 to pursue opportunities with the

Pictorial Review The ''Pictorial Review'' was an American women's magazine published from 1899 to 1939. Based in New York, the ''Pictorial Review'' was first published in September 1899. The magazine was originally designed to showcase dress patterns of German i ...

. The magazine ceased publication in 1939, and Cousins went on to work a copy editor role with Hearst Magazines, Inc. While at Hearst, Cousins served as the managing editor of the magazine publications ''

Good Housekeeping ''Good Housekeeping'' is an American women's magazine featuring articles about women's interests, product testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet, and health, as well as literary articles. It is well known for the "Good House ...

'' and ''

McCall's ''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-for ...

''. In 1961, she became a senior editor at Doubleday, and in 1970 she was briefly a special editor at

Holt, Rinehart & Winston Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools. The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of the e ...

. She later worked as fiction and book editor for ''

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

''.

Works

Cousins wrote over 200 short stories, including "The Life of Lucy Gallant," which was adapted into a

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

in 1955. Some of her other notable works include: ''Uncle Edgar and the Reluctant Saint (1948)''
''Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia (1952)''
''We Were There at the Battle of the Alamo (1958)''
''Thomas Alva Edison (1965) ''
''A Christmas Gift (1952)''
''Traffic with Evil (1957) ''
''The Boy in the Alamo (1983)'' In addition, Cousins also edited the anthology ''Love and Marriage'' (1961) and the memoirs of President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

and First Lady

Lady Bird Johnson Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Johnson (''née'' Taylor; December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007) was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 as the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She previously served as Second Lady from 1961 to 1963 when ...

. Cousins also served as a ghost writer for

Margaret Truman Mary Margaret Truman Daniel (February 17, 1924 – January 29, 2008) was an American classical soprano, actress, journalist, radio and television personality, writer, and New York socialite. She was the only child of President Harry S. Truman a ...

's ''Souvenir (1956)''.

Retirement and Death

Cousins retired in 1973 and moved to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

. In 1986, she was inducted into the

Texas Women's Hall of Fame The Texas Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1984 by the Governor's Commission on Women. The honorees are selected biennially from submissions from the public. The honorees must be either native Texans, or a resident of Texas at the time of th ...

. She died in San Antonio on July 30, 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Margaret 1905 births 1996 deaths University of Texas at Austin alumni 20th-century American women writers American book editors American women editors American women short story writers 20th-century American short story writers People from Munday, Texas Writers from Texas