1910-2007

Lota Rea Wilkinson:
Preserving the family legacy

 A $1.2 million gift to create the The Charlotte Louise Dashiell and Lota M. Spell Fund in The University of Texas at San Antonio ’s Department of Music celebrates one family’s love of education and carries on the legacy of a prominent Texas music educator who got her start in San Antonio.

The gift from the estate of Lota Rea Wilkinson, whose family has strong ties to San Antonio and The University of Texas, will be used to support music education programs for children ages 3 to 12 and to train music teachers who devote their time to this age group.

“Ms. Wilkinson, whose mother, Lota M. Spell, was a pianist who performed around the world, understood the excellence of our Department of Music and its critical position in South Texas with respect to the advancement of the arts,” said Dr. Daniel J. Gelo, dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. “Her phenomenal gift will ensure the continuance of several current programs that serve young music learners and prepare their teachers, and will also fund innovative new programs that will keep UTSA in the vanguard of music education for children.”

Wilkinson, who passed away at age 97 in October 2007, had a wonderful life, according to her cousin, Rosa Lee Spell of Houston. “She studied in Paris at age 16. She was in Paris and saw Charles Lindbergh land [the Spirit of St. Louis] there. She traveled all over the world and held several advanced degrees.” She also spoke French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Thanks to her parents, who were both educators, Wilkinson’s childhood was immersed in music and education.

Her mother, who inspired the generous gift to UTSA, began music studies in San Antonio and continued them in Austria and Germany . She taught piano to young children in Texas and devoted much of her time developing tools to train them. She was head of the music department at Melrose Hall in San Antonio in the early 1900s and later taught music history and appreciation at the Texas School of Fine Arts in Austin. She worked with the University Interscholastic League to encourage music education of youth throughout the state.

Spell was the author of several books, and from 1921 to 1927 was librarian for UT’s Latin American Collection, now called the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, which houses several letters, books and photos of the Spell family.

Lota Rea’s father, Jefferson Rea Spell, taught classic literature at The University of Texas from 1905 to 1913, and during that time, also taught Latin in area high schools, including ones in San Antonio. He became a full professor at UT in 1944 and was awarded the title of professor emeritus in 1962. Spell also dedicated much of his efforts to helping build the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection from two dozen books in 1920 to more than 25,000 at the time of his death in 1967.

Growing up in Austin, Lota Rea attended The University of Texas, where she met her husband, Todd Wilkinson, who later become a professor and taught at universities in Texas, Illinois, Michigan and Florida. The two, who had no children of their own, divorced in the 1970s, and Lota Rea spent much of her later life in Florida.

The late Charlotte Louise Dashiell, a prominent San Antonian who also is honored by her niece with the naming of the endowment fund at UTSA, was Lota Rea’s favorite great aunt.

According to Rosa Lee Spell, Dashiell took care of Lota Rea while her mother performed and taught music. Dashiell also was the favorite aunt of Lota Rea’s mother, whose most noted book, Music in Texas: A Survey of One Aspect of Cultural Progress, is dedicated to her aunt who she says “sang to me, in my childhood, the songs of early Texas.”

“We are delighted UTSA will fulfill the last wishes of Lota Rea Wilkinson, who made this gift to honor the dream of her mother,” said President Ricardo Romo.  “As one of the leading Texas music educators of her day, Lota May Spell, often told her daughter that she wanted to do something significant to provide good music education for young children.  This gift will make that happen.”

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