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Many people may not be familiar with the origins and original purposes of our Heritage Association. The roots of HASM began when the concerns for the environment and mankind’s abuse of our common home, the Earth came to become a prominent concern in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The abuse had gotten so bad that rivers, polluted from industrial waste, began to periodically burst into flames (Cayohoga River in Cleveland, 1969). Women, innately understanding the importance of caring for our environment, began to take the lead in garnering attention to our polluted country. The “silk stocking set” (educated women with sufficient time and means, at the time primarily Republican) became strange bedfellows with the hippies to push for radical change, and they were tremendously successful. Landmark laws, passed during the most environmentally- friendly presidency yet, the Nixon Administration, ushered in a paradigm shift: the Clean Air Act (1970), Clean Water Act (1972), creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 1970), Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972) and last, but not least, the Endangered Species Act (1973).
During these heady times, women in San Marcos began to take action to care for their local environment. A group in the Spring Lake Garden Club saw the potential to restore and protect the natural beauty of San Marcos as the nation geared up for the bicentennial celebration. In 1972, Francis Stovall and Virginia Hightower called Mayor Luciano Flores requesting that he appoint a Bicentennial Commission, which consisted of Tula Townsend Wyatt, Mrs. Edward Buckner, Mrs. Edward Cape. The Commission subsequently formed a steering committee composed of Mrs. Florine Othman, Mrs. George Martindale, Mrs. Eleanor Crook, Mrs. Bonnie Longcope, Mrs. Malcolm Sherrill, Gene Phillips, Mrs. William S. Moore, Mrs. Irvin Rylander, Mrs. George Gilbert, Ellis Thomas, Jeff Kester, Mrs. Herbert Yarbrough, Francis Stovall, Mrs. H.S. Thompson and Mrs. Jim Cauthorn. The goal was to become a Bicentennial city, which required that the group give a permanent gift to the city by 1976. It was suggested that the projects be linked to environmental concern or civic improvement.
