Gateway of honor: City dedicates
Froncell Reece Memorial gateway
By Nancy Flake
Updated: 06.10.09

In honoring a beloved, longtime educator with a memorial named in his honor, the city of Conroe also honored the historic communities whose youths he served for decades.

Dedication of the Froncell Reece Memorial Gateway, located on the city’s east side at Phillips and Sixth streets, took place Wednesday morning. Family members and friends of Reece, city officials and residents of the Madeley Quarter and Dugan communities, the city’s oldest, turned out for the ribbon-cutting under a partly cloudy sky that did nothing to alleviate the oppressive heat and humidity.

“This is a special day for Conroe and a special day for the Madeley and Dugan communities – two great communities that help make a great city,” Mayor Webb Melder said.

The city paid around $105,000 for the gateway, which features a stone arbor, landscaping and sign with Reece’s name. The gateway is not as large as an existing one honoring Faith Walston at West Davis and Dallas streets and has no water features because the Texas Department of Transportation would not allow one on its right of way, Assistant City Administrator Paul Virgadamo Jr. previously said.

A $25,000 grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council partially paid for the new gateway.

Reece, who worked for 30 years in the Conroe Independent School District, taught math and vocational agriculture. He also was a coach at Washington High School, leading the Bulldogs to the state football championship. He organized the city’s Pee Wee Football League and also served as a scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts.

As president for two years of the Conroe Friendly City Kiwanis, Reece, who died in 2001, helped found the Reading is Fundamental program still in operation today at four Conroe elementary schools. As a result, the organization donates 10,000 books a year and each student in those schools receives three new books each year to keep.

He also was a lifetime member of the Montgomery Fair Association and numerous other organizations and was honored by the state of Texas in 2002 for his contributions to the community.

“He couldn’t say no,” said his widow, Dorothy Reece, who spoke at Wednesday’s dedication. “That was one of the things I had to learn as a young bride. He had a certain rapport with people. This memorial is recognition of any ordinary citizen who has made any contribution to make Conroe the ‘miracle city’ it is now.

“The good that you do will live after you.”

A committee of residents, including Dorothy Reece, the Rev. William Denman, J.D. Dixon, Marty Tolbert, Ruby Johnson, Wanda Harris, the Rev. Pete Drucker and Mary Drucker, recommended Froncell Reece’s name for the memorial, Melder said.

Dorothy Reece was joined by son Garry Froncell Reece, his wife Melinda, their daughters Irene and Nancy and son Froncell Reece I. Daughter Yolanda Reece Montez and her daughters were unable to attend.

The new memorial will serve as a point of family pride, Dorothy Reece said.

“Every time we pass this monument,” she said, “we ought to pat ourselves on the back and say, ‘You know, we had a part in that."