Tyler’s first city councilwoman paved the way for women in the future

Published 5:40 am Thursday, February 29, 2024

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series of stories highlighting influential women in Tyler during Women’s History Month.

Mrs. Gladys Mozell Waters Square undoubtedly made history in Tyler, and her legacy continues to live on.

Square, who died in August 2017 at the age of 93, was the first woman elected to the Tyler City Council, serving from 1989 to 1995. She was also an influential educator and was known to carry out her family’s generational commitment of serving the community through civic and social endeavors.

Beginnings

Square was born June 23, 1924 in the New Home community, in between Gladewater and Winona. Her mother, Evalee Jeffries Waters, passed away when she was just a young girl, 7, so she leaned on her father, Felix William Waters, who was a farmer and U.S. Army veteran, along with other supportive relatives who had “a sense of commitment to the community, education of children, and dedication to the church,” according to her obituary.

“I became interested as a youth in rendering services to other people,” Square told the Tyler Morning Telegraph during a February 1990 interview. “I just came from a family that was influential in the community. People came to us to seek advice, and I … grew up around that. It became part of me.”

Family was important to Square, who later became a wife, mother, and grandmother.

In 1946, Square earned her bachelor’s in home economics from Texas College and soon began her teaching career in the Starrville-Winona school district. She returned to school to earn a master’s degree. After graduate work at Texas Southern University, Stephen F. Austin State University, and the University of Texas at Tyler, in 1959 Square earned her master’s in elementary education from Texas College, according to previous reporting from the Morning Telegraph. She took her talents to Tyler ISD, where she worked for 32 years earning numerous honors and awards.

From the classroom to city hall

“When I retired, they asked me what I was going to do. I said, ‘I’m going to city hall,’” Square said in a March 1999 interview with the then Tyler Courier-Times-Telegraph. “I always said that when I retired from teaching, that would be the first thing I’d do, was to go ahead and arrange for a political position.”

But as the filing deadline approached, Square told the paper she “started getting cold feet.” However, a friend’s support would prove to be the push she needed to indeed get into city hall. It was Joan Brooks, former John Tyler High School principal, who gave Square the motivation she needed. Brooks called Square, who was at home sewing, and said, “Get up from the sewing machine and get ready, I’ll be by,” according to Square’s words in that 1999 interview. The pair rode down to city hall, and well, the rest is history.

Although she spent four decades in education before being elected to a position in an official capacity, Square was interested in politics long before 1988. In high school, a teenage Square helped her friends campaign for student government offices – and they always won, she said. She continued learning about politics while furthering her education at Texas College. Her husband, the late Ernest A. Square who died in 1990, was also interested in politics but never sought public office. He was a big encourager for Mrs. Square, who said in 1999 that Mr. Square would tell her, “You know how to deal with the people and you have the tact and the patience to do it.”

And she did just that — for as long as she possibly could. Square served the maximum amount of time allowed for a councilmember.

Making her mark

Square was determined to make a difference during her tenure. She was a little hesitant before attending her first city council meeting as a councilwoman, but that didn’t last long.

Before leaving home to attend the first meeting, she jokingly told the Courier-Times-Telegraph, “I put my boxing gloves in my purse.” She was the first woman after all and had no idea what to expect serving alongside a cohort of male civil servants. “I didn’t know whether they had a whipping in order for me for having the nerve to come down and invade their territory,” she said.

She was pleasantly surprised the men took to her well, welcoming her with open arms.

“When I got there … it was so beautiful until I had to pinch myself to see if it was real. And that’s the way it stayed,” she said in 1999.

Square represented District 3, serving the northwest portion of the city. As a woman, Square brought a new perspective local women’s groups advocated was much-needed on the council.

“I do believe I did that,” Square said of bringing a new perspective. “Men usually get the idea that they’re right regardless of what comes or goes, and women don’t think like men all the time. They have more compassion with their thinking.”

The councilmen were open to Square’s thoughts, and many times her outlook inspired them to look at an issue differently.

“I would let them express themselves and then, if I had a different point of view I would mention it. They would readily change some of the things that they were thinking and they would see it my way,” Square said in 1999.

During her tenure, the Woldert Park swimming pool was repaired and reopened and other parks were improved. She advocated for North Broadway Avenue to be extended to Loop 323, something that “was on the back burner” when Square joined the council. She also supported providing public transportation for senior citizens and expanding the taxi cab system, reorganizing Harvey Convention Center, renovating the Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, and rebuilding the Tyler Rose Garden Center. If it weren’t for voters in District 3, Square said the city’s proposal to rebuild the rose garden center would’ve been defeated. “It had been defeated in every district in the city, and when my district reported, it went over the line. Box 13 gave us the Rose Garden,” she said in 1999.

Square’s time in education was more than three decades longer than her time as an elected official, but she felt her time on the council was just as impactful.

“I stayed with the field of education longer than I did with the city council, but if I had to measure my benefits, I would say that my six years on the city council was equal to a lifetime of experience,” she said in 1999.

Square was all about helping others. From serving civil and social organizations to doing small good deeds and spending her adult life in education and public service, Square’s dedication was unmatched. She always said she had a philosophy of “there are no Big I’s and little you’s.”

Square paved the way for others who would come after her, as seven women have now sat on the Tyler City Council, plus a female mayor, and others have campaigned to serve the city.

In 1990, she told the newspaper she wanted to “make Tyler a better place to live,” and looking back on her life’s accomplishments, it’s easy to see she was a woman of her word.