A front-row seat
For 36 years, Mary Starrett saw it all at TRAHC
In Mary Starrett’s nearly 36 years as the trusted, behind-the-scenes assistant for the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council, she enjoyed a front-row seat to the magic TRAHC brings.
Just recently retired at the end of August, Starrett can fondly recall some of those magical moments, such as the time “Cats” came to town for a Perot Theatre show. She and her grandson, only 3 or 4 years old then, were fans. They’d bond while watching the Broadway version of “Cats” on video.
“And then we got ‘Cats’ here … we got front row seats, and he sat there so enthralled,” Starrett recalled. “That’s when you really see the magic of the live performances just really come alive. He just loved it.”
Later, her grandson enjoyed another special moment meeting the actor who played Old Deuteronomy, who told him, “I saw you down there on the front row.”
A young, observant Blake inquired about a plot difference between the musical and the movie. Someone took him onto the tour bus. Magical moments, they were—with insights into how special live theater can be.
“That’s what people don’t realize, I think, if they haven’t been involved in it before. What a difference it can make to actually be in live theater and actually see it all happen,” Starrett said. It’s a “whole different magic” than books and movies, she believes, and that magic is what TRAHC provides.
Or there was the time when she and her husband Leon saw a mime perform at the Perot. Starrett knew what the mime was up to, but nevertheless her husband agreed to follow the mime’s invitation to walk to the stage.
“He went up on stage and the mime put a tutu on him,” Starrett remembers. “And had him dance around and everything.” Leon was a good sport about it as Mary just shook her head at the goofiness of it all. But it was a lot of fun, judging by the laughter it inspires in her so many years later.
“He had a good time with it,” Starrett said of her husband.
Thus, reflecting on what she enjoyed in more than threeand-a-half decades at TRAHC, Starrett points to the people first.
“What I enjoyed most actually is just getting to interact with all of the members of the board, getting to meet all those people over the years, and the volunteers. We could not make it without our volunteers. And the staff. We’ve had wonderful staff,” Starrett said, pointing out that working at a non-profit one simply has to work harder.
“You’re always doing two or three jobs at a non-profit,” Starrett said. There’s much to be done. That said, she always enjoyed it, even if she worked harder there than she worked anywhere else.
“I loved every day that I came to work,” Starrett said. “There’s never been a time that I didn’t love coming to work.” Every day something new was thrown into the mix.
Starrett came to TRAHC at the beckoning of former director Charles Rogers, who encouraged her to interview for a job and join the TRAHC team. She knew a bit about the organization, but not a lot. She knew a few people on the board, though. Thus, she was hired as the office manager.
“I’ve had a lot of titles over the years,” Starrett said. She’s been called administrative
“That’s what people don’t realize,
I think, if they haven’t been involved in it before. What a difference it can make to actually be in live theater and actually see
it all happen.”
—Mary Starrett
assistant, director of administrative operations and then administrative director. No matter the title, she was the person getting it done administratively in the office, helping to run the ship down below the deck, so to speak.
“As time went on and we got more people here, I was able to concentrate a little more on the administrative part of it, which include HR and payroll,” Starrett said, adding, “I never had any free time.” It was much more work than she assumed it would be when she first signed on for the job.
She’d write minutes, send reminders, meet with the executive committee, took care of insurance needs—all that nuts and bolts stuff that’s not as glamorous but still vitally important to a non-profit arts agency.
In those early days for her at TRAHC, Bryce’s Cafeteria was still downtown. She’d eat lunch there. There was also City Bakery, and she describes her feeling about that in this way: “It was almost an occupational hazard working across the street from the bakery.” There were dress shops and the Ben F. Smith
Department Store, too. While Starrett didn’t get as involved in the programming aspects, when Starrett talks about that side of it all, the pride and appreciation is evident in her voice. She’s a champion of what TRAHC does for people every single day.
What made her decide to take the job? Well, her daughter enjoyed what TRAHC could offer, for one thing. “I’ve always been interested in the arts,” Starrett said. “My daughter took dancing, as millions of other little girls around here do.”
Her kids were delighted to come to TRAHC and see the Perot shows. They had to buy tickets at first, and $20, Starrett recalls, was a lot of money back then.
“I was just interested because I thought the arts can enrich lives,” Starrett said, adding, “Actually my grandson, Blake Starrett … one time he said, ‘I love it, Mimi, that you work at the Perot.’” Her first office was at the Perot, where she could see the new shows load in and then, once the curtains came down and the show was done, head out of town. She could see the sound check, light check, all that cool stuff.
“It’s a lot of fun. I really miss being in that theater,” Starrett said.
During her tenure, she saw TRAHC change, grow and adapt. There were a few fires to put out, but she doesn’t relish talking about them. Still, she was a large part of what kept TRAHC together during the agency’s financial difficulties in the 1990s. She points to board president William Morriss as a big reason they survived. He helped out as a “loaned executive,” she said.
She recalls a time when the TRAHC brochure was a simple black-and-white sheet with print on the front and back. Still, patrons bought tickets, she said. Texarkana came through with support, while she was doing the various parts of five different jobs to keep it all going back during those financial troubles.
Starrett credits Women for the Arts as a huge boost to TRAHC’s fortunes. She’s seen “incredible women” serve with WFA and, in particular, notes the financial assistance an event like Party with Picassos brings to the organization.
“TRAHC literally could not exist without WFA,” Starrett said.
TRAHC’s change and adaptations have been an ongoing process, she said, since day one. “It kind of depends on who’s here and the skill sets and the talent that they have and how we use them. I think we’ve always tried to be aware of folks’ talents and skills and use them in the best way. And that’s how we’ve changed over the years,” Starrett said, noting they received a National Endowment for the Arts grant early on in TRAHC’s history. That was special, and it continued.
“We’ve kind of always tried to lead the way,” she said, “and provide leadership for whatever it is we’re working on.”
She remembers when Dr. Rodney LeBeouf, who was hired as executive director before Ruth Ellen Whitt, came aboard in the role. He found out that staff hadn’t seen raises in several years. People don’t get rich working at non-profits.
“He actually arranged to be off on Fridays and he took a cut in pay so we could have a raise,” Starrett said, noting he also got them back in the black financially.
What’s so valuable about what TRAHC does? She senses it when people talk about Jump, Jive & JamFest, art classes, and Perot performances. And in the care with which TRAHC employees treat the setting for their work.
“We think that we work in the two most beautiful buildings in Texarkana, we really do. And so we try to take care of them to the best of our ability,” Starrett said, noting every day on the job was satisfying in those 36 years.
“Doing the work and getting it done, and knowing that I’d done my very best in everything I could do,” Starrett said. That was true on the tough days, too, pulling TRAHC through “the dark times.” She was forever thankful for the volunteers.
People like Brian Goesl, TRAHC’s executive director now, appreciate all that she did to keep TRAHC running. And now he wishes her many years of relaxation and joy as a new grandma.
“Mary is one of those employees who truly loved working for a non-profit organization for all 36 years of her being employed at TRAHC. She dedicated herself to our mission of ‘Growing People and Community Through the Arts.’ As administrative director, she truly understood how vital multiple volunteers and members are to a non-profit, especially a cultural arts entity, along with the many, many staff employees she worked with and supported those many years,” Goesl said.
As Goesl puts it, she was faithful to TRAHC’s mission.
“She strongly believed in the power of the arts and education and she was absolutely certain that TRAHC was instrumental in making Texarkana and this region a better place for all to live. ‘Always doing her best for TRAHC’ was her mantra and she practiced it daily with a responsibility of service to others. Mary openly wanted everyone to know just how hard every volunteer and staff member works to make life better in our region through TRAHC,” Goesl said.