not kosher
Chances are, if you don’t hail from the Lone Star State, you mightn’t have heard about this lovely lady. Ima Hogg (1882 – 1975), known as “The First Lady of Texas,” was a philanthropist and collector of arts and antiques. Yes, that was her real name. Bless her heart. And you can blame her parents, Sarah Ann “Sallie” Stinson and James Stephen “Big Jim” Hogg, Attorney General of Texas and later Governor. Her first name was taken from The Fate of Marvin, which her uncle Thomas Hogg penned, and featured two young women named Ima and Leila. What was wrong with Leila?
As it turned out, she never married and was saddled with that name for all of her 93 years. Yikes. She knew it was an odd name, and tried to downplay it, using stationery that read Miss Hogg or I. Hogg. Her brother William defended the unfortunate name on more than one occasion, coming home from school with a bloody nose. The oft-told rumor of her having a sister named Ura is untrue.
On the bright side, she was rich! Living in the governors’ mansion, she and her brothers would slide down the banisters, attend operas, and even threw together an impromptu circus on the grounds of the mansion, consisting of their many animals. After a dare from one of her two brothers, Hogg mounted one of their ostriches, but was thrown from its back after one of the boys hit it with a slingshot (per wikipedia). At the age of sixteen, Hogg joined her father in a visit to Hawaii, where they met Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani and attended the ceremony that delivered Hawaii to the United States.
After both of her parents passed away, she traveled to Europe in 1906 and spent two years studying music under Xaver Scharwenka in Vienna. Several years later, her father’s plantation struck oil and made her an even richer oil heiress. Thus began a life of philanthropy. Among her many accomplishments, she:
- Founded the Houston Child Guidance Center, which provides counseling for disturbed children
- Established the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health at the University of Texas at Austin
- Helped establish the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
- Established the Houston Symphony Orchestra and served as president of the Symphony Society
- Earned a seat on the Houston School Board in 1943, where she worked to remove gender and race as criteria for determining pay and established art education programs for black students
- Donated her home with its collection of American antique furniture as well as rare paintings by Chagall, Picasso, Klee and Matisse to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts
She died from a heart attack while vacationing in London at the age of 93. The University of Texas declared two days of mourning and flew the flag at half-staff. Her butler-chauffeur of over 40 years, with the snazzy name of Lucious Broadnax, had to find a new gig.
Here she is in a white hat, holding the hand of her friend, Hazel Ledbetter, in Round Top, TX in 1970.
That’s a stylish Hogg.
The Blog of Funny Names 
i remember the rumor about her sister’s name, and it didn’t seem that unreasonable, based upon the name her father chose for her. i agree, why not ‘leila?’ seems a bit cruel –
Yes. Ima would be an awful name even if your last name wasn’t a beast or even a noun at all.
When your last name is Hogg, I guess you figure when the delivery room nurse asks expectantly, pen poised, what the hell? Yeah, Leila, Kerbey. No doubt.
I wonder why Ima did not spend a good amont of her many blessed years on this Earth and considerable monetary means to convince all that it was pronounced Eee-Ma.
And never to wed? Quite a bit of shocking, that news. All three photos reveal Ms. Hogg to be not in the least porcine.
Not porcine at all! You once again picked the most applicable adjective. Evidently her mother died of tuberculosis, and her aunt (mother’s sister) believed that Ima carried the illness inside of her and so advised that she never marry, so as not to pass it on. Isn’t that dreadful? I did read that in her later life, she added Imogene to her name, which made it seem more normal.
Imogene is much better, Kerbey, but there’s only so much you can do to pretty up a Hogg. Her aunt gave her horrible advice on marriage based on, what? Hello, doctor?
And evidently she had many proposals. It seems like true love would have won over familial advice. It usually does.
Yes, it usually does. That makes me think the right person never asked, Kerbey. Darn.
Imogene there’s no Hogg heaven
It’s easy if you try . . .
No hell below us, above us only swine
Imagine all the pork rinds, eating them all dayyyyy, whu hoooo
Reblogged this on I Don't Get It and commented:
Please visit me today as I guest-post about Miss Hogg.
Omg, dying at this name.
I promise it’s not hogwash.
I have indeed heard of Ms. Hogg,and I thought it was a cruel thing to do. I had no idea the further cruelty visited upon her by her aunt. Indeed a shame. And the boy named Sue thought he had it rough.
At least he could marry! Maybe he hooked up with a girl named Jamie or Terry or Billie? But cruel indeed for Miss Hogg. I guess if you can’t get married, being filthy rich is some consolation.
Well if you have to remain celibate, I’m not so sure. I know Ima pig for even saying that.
One site said her fiancee died in WWI. And read this:
“Many people assume that if one has plenty of money, one’s situation is ideal. They forget that I have no husband, no children, and no close relatives in Houston. On Sundays the servants are off, and if you had not called, I would have been alone all day in that empty house.”–Ima Hogg to a friend coming to take her for a drive
Wow. How tragic. I guess it wasn’t considered proper for a lady to go places without an escort.
Something in the air making all of you write even more superfantastically than usual these days? Nice one!
And swell lady.
She’s a babe, is what she is.
Which is kind of confusing for me because there’s the hog named Babe and the babe named Hogg.
That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.
I dated her grand daughter Sweat.
And each time you saw her, she would say “welcome back”?
what a gorgeous lady. Sounds like a saint–trust she’s living it up in Heaven now!
After looking at the first picture, I’m still wondering how she could breathe with her corset cinched so tight.
Maybe the servant cinched it like Scarlet O’Hara’s Mammy.
One of the greatest names of all time, without a doubt!