February 6, 1894

Kathryne Bess Hail, an artist and teacher who was especially known for her still-life paintings of flowers, was born in Ozark (Franklin County). After she married Olin Herman Travis in November 1916, she and her husband helped establish the Dallas Art Institute, which was the first major art school in the South to offer instruction in a variety of fields. After the couple’s divorce in 1934, she moved to Beverly Hills, California, then resettled in Seattle, Washington, and worked in a number of western states. In 1957, she established the Kathryne Hail Travis Summer School of Painting in Ruidoso, New Mexico, where she lived from 1960 until her death in 1972. She is also known for the collection of quilts she acquired during her many trips to Arkansas.