Clara Driscoll Sevier
Clara Driscoll Sevier--philanthropist, politician, patron-of-the-arts, businesswoman, world traveler, playwright and novelist--was born on April 2, 1881, in a small Irish community on the Texas Gulf Coast.

In 1900, upon her arrival in San Antonio from a two-year tour of Europe, the teenage millionaire heiress contributed over $70,000 of her own money to save the Alamo. Her fight for the preservation of the Alamo sparked the interest of the nation as well as a newspaperman and politician, Henry Hume Sevier, whom she married in July 1906. The couple resided in New York for several years and in 1914 returned to Austin where Hal was to found the Austin American newspaper.

They built their home, Laguna Gloria, on a site originally selected by Stephen F. Austin for his homestead. The Seviers enjoyed sharing the splendor of their Austin home with others and often entertained socialites, artists, politicians, student organizations and dignitaries.

In 1933, Sevier was appointed ambassador to Chile by President Roosevelt, and the couple, then living in Corpus Christi, packed for Chile. Following a heart attack and filing for divorce from her husband in 1937, Clara left Chile for Austin and reclaimed her maiden name. Mrs. Clara Driscoll, as she was to be known, continued her interest in financially supporting political campaigns and in 1939 gave $92,000 to the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs to allow the purchase of their Austin building at 24th and San Gabriel streets. Driscoll returned to Corpus Christi to live out her remaining days in the penthouse of the Driscoll Hotel. She died on July 17, 1945, at the age of 64.