In a previous biographical statement I placed James Walter Nichols in the context of the Churches of Christ; the main backdrop being that of Abilene, Texas. Rex Paxton Kyker lived out his career upon the same set, but unlike Nichols whose horizons were the United States, Abilene itself was his stage. In order to properly understand the unique contribution of Rex Kyker we need to locate his activities in the context of Abilene Churches of Christ Culture.
Rex Kyker was born In Texico, New Mexico, and graduated from Farwell, Texas, High School, just across the border on the high plains. He received the B.A. from Abilene Christian in 1943 and in 1944 commenced teaching there. He received the M.A. from the University of Iowa (speech) in 1946, and the Ph.D. in 1957 from the University of Florida. He worked in almost all the areas of speech including debate and drama. He chaired the communications department for above twenty years. He married Christine White in 1946 in Abilene. The Kykers have five children: Dr. Jeri Pfeifer of Abilene, Lindy Fullerton of Grapevine, Dr. Jan Bryan of Springfield, Mo., Rob Kyker of Richardson and Ricky Kyker of Abilene.
I first met Rex Kyker in January 1955. Conway State Teachers College (as it was then known) in Conway, Arkansas, was holding a debate tournament. Rex coached debate at Abilene Christian and I at Harding. I had corresponded with Rex because for some reason I had heard that he was considering bringing some debaters to the Conway tournament. It may be that I had learned this at the national convention of the Speech Association held in late December in Chicago in 1954. If so it would have been from Fred Barton. Or it may be that Rex was at that convention and I met him in Chicago. I invited Rex to come to Searcy early so we could stage a few activities between Abilene and Harding. As I recall, we conducted a truncated debate in chapel, and a full blown one or two in the afternoon. That night the debaters stayed with our debaters in the men's dorm and Rex stayed with Dorothy and me.
I had heard of Rex as early as 1951 when we moved to Iowa City, Iowa, to preach for the congregation there and work on a master's in Speech. Rex went to Iowa City in the early 1943. I think he may have spent a year in residence and a summer or two. He was not as well known among the members of the church in Iowa City, however, as Fred Barton (Long time teacher of homiletics at Abilene, chair of the speech department and later Graduate Dean, and sometime elder at the University Church of Christ), Elton Abernathy (who spent his career at Southwest Texas State University, was long time chairman of the speech department, and sometime elder in the San Marcos Church of Christ), or of Orville Larson of Texas Tech, Lubbock. Larson was onetime Speech chair there and an active member of the Broadway Church of Christ, but whether ever an officer, I don t know, or even Thomas Rousse (of Tech's history department and one time chair). All these men took Ph.D.s at Iowa between 1946 and 1951. So I didn't hear much about Rex, but we knew several of the same people at Iowa City and the university. In later years I came to know Rex well, especially from 1967-1986, when we both taught at the Abilene Christian University. My relations with Rex were not so much at the University, though our paths crossed there, but as members of the Key City Kiwanis Club. It is important to write of Rex's role in Kiwanis because that was his unique contribution to Abilene culture in which the Churches of Christ supplied an inextricable part. Both Kiwanis and Churches of Christ, for better or worse, made impressions upon Abilene culture, and they in turn were shaped by it. These were among two among interlocking forces which gave Abilene its distinctive essence. In 1981 Rex was elected Governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District of Kiwanis International, the flagship district in respect to members, size and activities, for the second time, the first being 1967. The president of Kiwanis International was often a Texan. Rex, I think, may have become an international trustee, at least, it was thought he was in line. He may too have had aspirations to become international president. But one did not exactly run for that position. It depended on being a long-time Kiwanian who networked much with the good old boys at the higher echelons. One waited one's turn and then did not always attain the office because, like the presidency of the United States, there were not enough years for all who aspired to the office. Though Rex had impeccable credentials in working his way up, his elevation was not as pressing as some, possibly because it took money. The international president was expected to visit, much at his own expense, the many countries where clubs were located. So most international presidents were in the millionaire category, and though Rex was comfortable, he did not frequent that rare atmosphere.
The year Rex was governor of the Texas-Oklahoma District, and since he was a member of the Key City club, we applied to hold the District convention in Abilene. Abilene had five Kiwanis clubs at that time, the largest being the Abilene Club which sometimes had upwards of 300 members, one of the largest internationally. We were successful in obtaining the convention. I had recently finished a term as president of the Key City Club and was perceived to have the organizing talent to manage the convention. Rex was admired by several of our club including Cleve Cullers and Billie Currie. I appointed them second lieutenants for running the convention and enlisted several other capable persons. We held the premier District convention up to that time and since. We enrolled above 2300 persons. Not all attended, but if enrolled, it meant that some money went into the convention kitty, either from the club or district. We had nationally known entertainment including Jeannie C. Riley, (Southern Baptist) Anson, Texas, famous for her recording of, The Harper Valley PTA. (She wore slacks, not a mini skirt). In some sense the success of the convention was the respect for Rex in Abilene and throughout the Texas-Oklahoma District. Rex was not noted for his administrative skills (in fact, he was not much given to detailed organization), but for his speaking abilities. Almost every year he gave a speech of some sort at the Texas-Oklahoma District, and on occasion the International convention. Rex s speeches tended to be apodeictic (or eulogistic), that is, in support of standard American and Christian values, or appreciation for Kiwanis officers or resolutions of thanks. Rex was articulate, smooth, vibrant, and exhibited variety both vocally and with gestures. He mostly stood in place behind the microphone. He was an orator of the 1950s conversational school but sometimes rose to powerful emotive heights, especially at Kiwanis conventions which probably provided his premier platform. I never heard him preach that much but a few times here and there. He held meetings, but I never got in on one, so I never heard him soar as a preacher as I did a few times before large Kiwanis audiences. Abilene in the two decades I lived there from 1967 was different from any other town in which I have lived. It was an interlocking culture. The aspects, ranked in descending order, consisted of the town fathers represented by Citizens for Better Government, city officials, church leaders, civil club officers, leaders from the three religious colleges: Abilene Christian, Hardin-Simmons (Baptist) and McMurry (Methodist), media personalities, and military officers at Dyess Air Force Base. People from all these groups affirmed the privilege and need of private citizens to address the major needs of the community especially in regard to helping enterprises. Abilene was a city of about 100,000 persons, but with almost all the community activities of a city five times as large. This was because of the initiative of the citizens. People of wealth regularly contributed to help organizations which provided food, clothing and shelter, to major medical care and rehabilitation, to organized youth activities, to the visual and performing arts, and the preservation of heritage in museums. Every citizen seemed to take the responsibility for community improvement in some manner, whether in contributing labor, talent or money. I never experienced the common feeling of the need to make contributions by citizens of a town before or since, and I have lived in fourteen different communities for at least six months or more from London, to Denmark, Maine, State College, Pennsylvania, Thayer, Missouri, and to Malibu, California. Church leaders played an important role in these developments, perhaps often more indirectly than directly. Though in Abilene few ministers, Churches of Christ, or otherwise made a hobby of the social gospel , ministers spoke with some frequency about the need to be good citizens and to help those less fortunate. Statements to this effect could be heard increasingly in Abilene from the 1950s on and apparently were not uncommon almost back to Churches of Christ beginnings in the 1890s. Abilene itself was founded in 1880.
Though not as churched as sometimes supposed, still Abilene was a culture largely fueled by conservative Protestants. The largest group was the Baptists, mostly Southern, comprising almost 25,000 or a fourth of the population. Next came Churches of Christ sometimes reported in at about 12,000. There were no doubt that many or more persons of Churches of Christ heritage, several of whom were not church active, but this was also the case with Southern Baptists. Next in line came the Methodists. The Catholic population was growing because of the influx of Mexicans (about 13,000 population) and persons connected with Dyess Air Force base, home of the famous, or infamous, as the case may be, B1 bomber. Members of the Kiwanis clubs reflected the population, but mostly professional white collared males. They were middle to upper middle class. The wealthy tended not to be in the clubs. The Key City Kiwanis club to which Rex and I belonged was about two thirds Churches of Christ in membership. We were from several different Churches of Christ but probably more from the University Church of Christ than any other. I was a member at Minter Lane and sometimes the only Minter Lane member in the club. Baptists were probably foremost in governmental positions from city to region to state. But persons from Churches of Christ were gaining. Before long Gary McCaleb of Abilene Christian became mayor, Ray Ferguson, son of ACU professor Everett was on the city council and Bob Hunter, retired ACU Vice President was the state representative to the House in Austin. Abilene Christian became the largest of the three private colleges, larger than Hardin-Simmons and McMurry combined. So Churches of Christ culture played a heavy hand and increasingly so in the Abilene culture.
To understand Rex s role in this culture I will offer a specific example in which I was personally involved. Rex was a front man; a spokesperson. I functioned mostly behind the scenes in goal setting and orchestration. I give this personal example because I do not know exactly how Rex became involved in these groups. He was a spokesperson in the help organizations such as March of Dimes, the Taylor County Heart Association, and United Funds. In this way Rex served as a role model for other Churches of Christ leaders to make a dint in the community for good in ways other than through the church. In other words he was one of the leaders of Churches of Christ who changed from a counter-culture, sectarian posture, to acceptance of and energetic involvement in the culture around about. Even in the 1970s Abilene, members of the Churches of Christ were perceived to be born with a burr under the saddle. Rex helped change that image. Since he taught at Abilene Christian he was obviously, to all alike, a Churches of Christ leader. Somehow he managed to be admired by the key players in Abilene, especially the Southern Baptists. Another key player on the Abilene scene was Shelley Smith, president of the West Texas Rehabilitation Center. Shelley attended Abilene Christian and was a member at Southern Hills Churches of Christ, but as an Abilene leader was not often identified as Churches of Christ. The West Texas Rehabilitation Center was a major undertaking and depended much on gifts. Once a year a major media fund-raising campaign occurred which brought in second tier entertainers for the telethon such as Rex Allen and Rex Allen, Jr. Few places in the United States have such a rehabilitation center, supported mostly by private funds. The early 1980s in Abilene were years of decreasing rainfall. The city fathers had had considerable foresight in planning for water. We had three city reservoirs which supplied abundant water when rainfall was normal. We also had a contractual agreement which permitted us to pipe water from Lake Hubbard near Breckinridge. Abilene had a growing population, especially fueled by the oil crisis and the attendant expansion of the regional oil industry. It was apparent that if the rain did not start falling, something had to be done. A new lake was being build by the United States Corps of Engineers to the south on the Colorado River, named the I. H. Ivie Reservoir, and we could arrange to buy water and pipe it to Abilene. We could transport double the acre feet we were now taking from Lake Hubbard, but the existing pipeline had inadequate capacity. What was to be done? The city council decided to appoint a blue ribbon task force to make a recommendation. The committee was not only charged with coming to a conclusion, but with disseminating the decision and gaining support for it. I was asked by one of my fellow Kiwanians who had served on the city council if I would consider being on this committee. I told him I didn't know that I was especially qualified. He told me that I was needed because I represented three component aspects of the power network in Abilene: the Churches of Christ, a service club, and Abilene Christian, and I seemed to have some capacity for doing research and cutting to the heart of a matter. I was invited to a meeting with the city manager and the mayor, along with about twenty others who represented various components of the networking. I decided that though I could think of other things I rather do, for example, write a book, I should agree to serve, since it was perceived that I was uniquely qualified for the task at hand. The committee concluded that first we needed to build another pipeline to Lake Hubbard along the existing pipeline, and purchase water rights in the new Ivie Reservoir on the Colorado. In order to do this we would have to put a bond issue before the city of Abilene. The component parts of Abilene networking would then be mustered to secure the approving vote. The bond issue was put to vote and passed rather handily in a time when bond proposals were being defeated. The oil crisis had passed and the Abilene economy was in shambles. Fortunately, hurricanes commenced entering the gulf of Mexico and Abilene lakes were soon filled to overflowing. It was a few years before the bonds needed to be purchased.
My role was one of providing credibility to the recommendation in my three aspects of interlaced networking. I did not need to collar people, but speak up when asked. My name was on all the efforts to publicize the decision, and that was perceived to provide the credibility needed among my three constituent groups. Most people in Abilene kept up with such matters through the various media. Rex had a different role. I don't remember if he was able to exercise it in this case since he moved to Austin about that time to work with the University church. A reason was that his wife Chris was offered a major office in the Texas state government regarding the elderly and social welfare. The Abilene Christian pensions at that time did not promise a financially carefree retirement. The pension Chris Kyker would receive upon retirement would provide just that. Rex's Abilene task, which he had undertaken in previous situations, if not in regard to the water crisis, was to give speeches to various organizations across the city, setting out the crisis and encouraging support to the blue ribbon task force s recommendation. These included the Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary, Chamber of Commence and other entities.
So Rex was a key spokesperson in Abilene because of his Churches of Christ, Abilene Christian, and Kiwanis connections. Rex held meetings regularly in Churches of Christ, but he was not a key player at the forefront in pushing new directions or in defending the old. But he did helped solidify Churches of Christ positions in Abilene, in Texas, across the United States and throughout the world. He was a teacher of preachers, but not often an acknowledged model. In the Abilene of my time these were John Allen Chalk, Lynn Anderson and Landon Saunders. Among the churches Rex was prized for his constancy, his speaking abilities and for defending consensus views in regard to morality and doctrine. Since at least the 1920s Abilene has made a key contribution to the thinking of the front-running Churches of Christ, especially west of the Mississippi and throughout the world in the mission fields. The Abilene role has been neither left wing cutting edge or right wing reactionary. The left wing cutting edges were and are in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. The reactionaries were mostly located in Fort Worth and environs, and in Houston.
Rex was a legend in his own time. He was something of
a character, but he was well respected as a stable, contributing citizen
leader. A stroke in his last three years left him speechless. Through most
of his Abilene career, however, Rex Paxton Kyker was the voice of concern
in Abilene culture.