A Performance to Remember

By Gary Vaughn and Jeff Whitley for Texas Tech University | November 17, 2009

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Vivacious and high-spirited, Karen Savage came to life when asked about her late mother Betty Clawson Wright. With a smile and a twinkle in her eyes she replied, "Well, what would you like to know about my remarkable mother?"

“She was my best friend for starters,” said Savage. “She was strong, ambitious, smart, and the room filled with sunshine wherever she went.”

An only child, Savage and her mother were inseparable, especially in Wright’s later years, when Savage moved back from Santa Fe, N.M., to Lubbock, Texas, to be near her mom.  Following her mother’s advice of seeking out educational opportunities as a way to overcome obstacles in her life, Savage earned a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in counseling. In her chosen field of education, she devoted more than 31 years to school children with special needs and learning disabilities.

Wright was among Lubbock’s most successful and enterprising business leaders. She also was a lady of firsts. The first female to graduate from Texas Tech with a Master’s of Business Administration in 1955, she was the first woman to serve on the Lubbock Real Estate Board of Directors, the first woman to serve on the Lubbock Country Club Board of Directors and the first woman in residential construction in Lubbock. Wright also was one of six founding members of the Lubbock Apartment Association.

She collected numerous awards over her lifetime, including the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce’s prized Women on the Move award, and the Pathfinders’ Women Making the Most Contribution to the Field of Business in Lubbock award. Of all of her accolades, she was most proud of being named a Texas Tech Distinguished Alumnus in 1989, said Savage.

Besides her fondness for travel, entertaining friends, and a good round of golf, Wright’s one true love was music and the performing arts.

“If there was a live music or a theatre production going on in town you could count on her being there,” Savage said.

Both Savage and her mother have supported the College of Visual and Performing Arts with their gifts through the years. Following Wright’s death on April 9, 2008, Savage established the Betty Wright Scholarship Endowment in the School of Music. A year later, to honor her mother’s legacy further, Savage created the Betty Wright Performance Series Endowment and made the family’s most generous contribution — a $1 million bequest establishing the Betty Wright and Karen Savage Endowed Chair in the School of Music.

“Betty Wright has been an inspiration as a dedicated supporter of the arts,” said Carol Edwards, Ph.D., dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Through these endowments, Karen Savage will touch generations of talented musicians. This legacy of love has added to the foundation of support that Betty so graciously provided to the School of Music throughout her life. We are profoundly grateful for these generous endowments.”

“Mother always felt that our family had been blessed, that we had a moral obligation to give back a portion of what we had,” Savage said. She was proud to serve on the Friends of Music board, and she treasured her affiliation with the School of Music; that’s why I knew I wanted to do something that would leave a legacy of the type of person she was, and to make a gift in her memory toward the arts.”

Savage — who runs the family real estate and investments company her mother founded 35 years ago — continues to volunteer her time on the Friends of Music board. Like her mother, she seldom misses an opportunity to assist the CVPA with outreach and fundraising events.

“Because it meant the world to her, it means everything to me, too,” Savage said. Mother and I have always admired people with great talent. This is my way of helping future generations of talented students reach their potential at Texas Tech, and having Betty Wright’s name on this scholarship fund will honor her memory forever.”

This story originally appeared in the Texas Techsan.

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