Caroline Wadzeck: Teaching job brought her to Dayton; residents made her want to stay

When Caroline Wadzeck arrived in Dayton fresh out of college, she figured she might stay a couple of years.

That was 54 years ago.

She had never even heard of Dayton until the late Raymond Trotter, then principal of Colbert Intermediate, showed up at Sam Houston State University looking for teachers. Wadzeck was preparing to graduate and had planned to continue on to graduate school, but Trotter encouraged her to come take a look.

Her father had some practical advice.

“Go look at it. If it looks good, take the job,” Wadzeck recalled.

So she did.

Wadzeck graduated on a Sunday evening and reported for work in Dayton the following morning. She was 20 years old, knew no one in town and began teaching fifth grade at Colbert, where the classrooms had large windows but no air conditioning.

Teachers sometimes took their classes outside beneath the trees. Inside, desks were positioned to catch whatever breeze might blow through the windows.

That young teacher could not have known then just how deeply her life would become intertwined with the community she had only recently discovered.

She and her husband, Larry, who also grew up in Snyder, Texas, married in the summer of 1972. The two had known of each other growing up but did not really become acquainted until both attended Sam Houston State University.

After Caroline landed the teaching job in Dayton, Larry followed.

“We rode around Dayton, and we thought, ‘Well, we’ll be here a couple of years, maybe, and then we’re gonna probably be on our way,’” she recalled. “Well, here we are 54 years later.”

The reason they stayed, she said, was simple.

“It’s absolutely because of the people who are here,” Wadzeck said. “You make friends so quickly, and you put roots down before you even know it.”

Those roots would eventually stretch into nearly every corner of Dayton — its schools, city government, historical preservation efforts and community organizations.

Wadzeck spent 38 years in education, including five years as a classroom teacher and 33 years as a school librarian.

She knew as early as third grade that she wanted to become a teacher. She remembers loving her own elementary teachers and being delighted when bad weather kept students indoors for recess because they were sometimes allowed to draw on the chalkboard.

“I thought, boy, if I could draw on the board every day, write on that board, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” she said.

After teaching fifth grade at Colbert, Wadzeck earned a master’s degree in library science. She became librarian at Stephen F. Austin Elementary and later helped design the library at the new Dr. E.R. Richter Elementary, where she spent nine years.

She also worked two years at Dayton High School before an opportunity at Barbers Hill ISD came along. With a son approaching college age and a pay increase that would help the family, Wadzeck made the move and spent the final 17 years of her career there.

For Wadzeck, being a school librarian meant far more than checking out books. Her students learned library and research skills through games and activities. She brought authors and storytellers to campus and spent weeks introducing students to their work before the visits so the children would be excited when the authors arrived.

Her goal was straightforward: She wanted children to love literature. Years later, former students still approach her and tell her they became readers because of their experiences in her library.

Even students who are now in their 60s remain “her kids.”

“I can still find that little face,” she said.

Wadzeck was named Dayton ISD Teacher of the Year in 1988 and later received the Texas Library Association’s Hotho Award for her efforts to foster a love of literature.

Her years in education also gave her a front-row seat to watching generations of Dayton children become adults and community leaders.

She recalled sitting at a Dayton Community Development Corporation meeting one day and looking around the table. Of roughly a dozen people in the room, she estimated she had taught nine of them.

“It’s so gratifying to see those kids grow up and become responsible adults,” she said, “and many of them, you knew, would, but some of them, you’re surprised — and just so thrilled for them to become leaders.”

By then, another passion had taken hold.

Wadzeck and her husband were charter members of the Dayton Historical Society in 1983, though raising a family and working full time initially limited how involved they could be.

Her curiosity about Dayton history intensified after local historian Sue Park spoke to one of Wadzeck’s organizations and mentioned that Dayton had once been known as West Liberty. Wadzeck had never heard that before.

She began wondering what else she did not know about the community she called home.

“And it’s addicting,” she said of historical research.

That curiosity eventually led to her book, “The Streets of Dayton, Texas: History by the Block.”

The idea began after Wadzeck came across a book about the history of a Houston street. She started thinking about Dayton and the many local streets named for people whose stories were largely unknown. She decided to find out who they were.

What began as personal curiosity turned into a three-year research project involving roughly 112 streets. Wadzeck said she was able to uncover the history of about 95 percent of them.

She searched courthouse records, appraisal district records, regional library collections, genealogy resources and, perhaps most importantly, talked to people who remembered Dayton’s past firsthand. She required at least two reliable sources for every street included in the book.

“I knew later on that I had too much information just to keep to myself,” she said.

Some of the people she interviewed, including longtime Dayton residents Bobby Harris and M.W. Ford, have since died.

“I’m thankful that I did because I was able to get primary information from people who are no longer here,” Wadzeck said.

Among the stories she uncovered were those of 11 Dayton servicemen who died during World War II. Streets were renamed in their honor after the war.

She also learned the stories behind names people drive past every day without necessarily knowing the people behind them.

Even pronunciation can preserve a piece of history. Waring Street, for example, is often pronounced “wearing.” Wadzeck said the street is named for a member of the Waring family and is correctly pronounced “warring.”

Her research changed the way she sees Dayton.

If she were introducing a newcomer to the city’s history, Wadzeck said she would begin downtown, traveling Main Street and turning onto Depot Street, formerly Railroad Avenue, where much of Dayton’s early commercial life was centered.

Today, much of Wadzeck’s historical work happens inside one of the very buildings earlier generations of Dayton residents fought to save.

The Old School Museum originally served as Dayton’s school from 1900 through the spring of 1910. It once stood facing Main Street near the present-day post office before being moved to its current location in 1911.

Over the decades, the building served several purposes and eventually fell into severe disrepair. By the 1990s, it had been condemned and was headed for demolition. Members of the Dayton Historical Society decided its history alone made it worth saving.

After extensive fundraising, approximately $168,000 was raised to preserve and restore the structure. It was dedicated as a museum in 2007. Wadzeck became its curator in 2014 after Park, her predecessor, approached her about taking over the job. Her background as a librarian proved to be a perfect fit.

When Wadzeck took over, boxes filled with photographs, letters, papers and other historical materials had accumulated over the years. She began cataloging them, eventually creating hundreds of files and even using an old-fashioned card catalog to make the collection searchable.

Things still walk through the museum doors regularly as families clean out attics and discover photographs or documents they know are too important to throw away. Sometimes treasures are hiding in the museum itself.

This summer, Wadzeck finally reached the bottom of one of the remaining boxes and discovered a binder containing color copies of watercolor paintings created by Dayton sixth-graders in 1936.

The children’s art teacher had kept the original paintings for decades. In 2000, while living in a nursing home and putting her affairs in order, she arranged for the originals to go to the University of Texas and for color copies to be sent back to Dayton.

Those copies eventually made their way to the Historical Society and sat largely forgotten until Wadzeck found them.

“It was a piece of gold,” she said. “It’s one of those things that just almost takes your breath away.”

She has since contacted descendants of some of those sixth-graders and shared copies of their family members’ artwork. The paintings will become a new museum exhibit.

Discoveries like that reinforce Wadzeck’s belief that preserving local history cannot wait.

“If you don’t treasure it, you’re gonna lose it,” she said.

That concern extends to Dayton’s historic buildings. Wadzeck worries the community could lose some of the few that remain.

“You have to preserve your history, even though you’re planning for your future,” she said. “You don’t forget about where you came from.”

That philosophy followed Wadzeck into another chapter of her life.

In 2019, she ran unopposed for mayor of Dayton and became the first woman to hold the office. Making history was never the reason she ran.

Wadzeck had already become involved in city committees and community development efforts and wanted to play a larger role in projects she believed were important to Dayton’s future.

When then-Mayor Jeff Lambright decided not to seek another term, Wadzeck saw an opportunity to serve without running against an incumbent council member. She went straight to the mayor’s office without first serving on council.

One project she is particularly pleased to have been involved with is the Highway 90 overpass now under construction in Dayton. Wadzeck is quick to credit Liberty County Judge Jay Knight and others for helping secure the funding and bring the project together.

Like many major infrastructure projects, she said, the work residents see today began years before construction equipment appeared.

Serving as mayor also gave Wadzeck a different perspective on government.

“It’s very difficult to get things done because you’re not just stepping into a void,” she said. “Cities have plans that they have in place, and you’ve got to work yourself into all of that and then try to work some of your plans into the future plans.”

One of the hardest parts, she said, was hearing criticism from people who did not always have all the facts, particularly on social media.

Wadzeck made a decision when she became mayor that she simply would not read it.

When residents spoke during public comment at council meetings, however, she listened. Because council members generally could not respond during the public comment period, Wadzeck said she tried to call concerned residents afterward or have the city manager contact them with answers.

Despite the challenges, she encourages people who care about their community to get involved, whether by running for office or serving on one of the city’s committees. Her knowledge of Dayton’s history, she believes, also made her a better mayor.

“You have to know where you come from to know where you want to go,” she said.

Public service has long been a family affair for the Wadzecks. Larry spent years teaching government in Dayton ISD, served on Dayton City Council and spent more than two decades on the Dayton ISD Board of Trustees. He also spent 30 years announcing Bronco football with Bill Cannon and remains heavily involved with the Dayton ISD Sports Hall of Fame.

The couple are also active members of First Methodist Church in Dayton.

After more than half a century in the community, Caroline Wadzeck has accumulated plenty of titles — teacher, librarian, historian, author, curator and mayor.

But when asked what she hopes her legacy will be, her answer comes back to the little old school building filled with pieces of Dayton’s past.

“I hope this museum, I guess, will be my legacy,” she said. “I’ve put a lot of time and effort into it, and I love it.”

She hopes whoever follows her will continue collecting Dayton’s history so that when someone needs to know the story of a person, place or event, there will be somewhere to find it.

Perhaps 100 years from now, someone sitting inside the Old School Museum will come across the name Caroline Wadzeck while researching Dayton in the early 21st century.

What does she hope that person learns about her?

“That I loved being in this town,” Wadzeck said. “I just have enjoyed it all these years and made so many good friends and learned a lot about the history, and that’s what kept us here.”

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