Roy B. Wallace
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Roy B. Wallace was born in Coolidge, Limestone county, on October 13, 1901, to Benjamin C. Wallace, Sr. And Mae McCoy Wallace. Roy attended school in rural Limestone County and attended Texas Christian University prior to earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Baylor University in 1925. He also did graduate work at Stephen F. Austin State University and Sam Houston State University. In 1927, he married Clothilde “Clo” Hiser. He began his teaching career in Elkhart in 1932 and taught there for three years, then taught at the Norwood Common School District. In 1936, Wallace became the band director at Reagan Junior High School in Palestine, and in 1942 became the director of the Palestine High School Band. Wallace’s band received first division sweepstakes honors fourteen of the nineteen years that he was band director. Under his direction, the band performed at numerous events, including a 1946 Texas A&M football game and the 1950 Cotton Bowl classic. Roy Wallace was named bandmaster of the year by the Texas Bandmasters Association in 1960. Wallace used recordings of performances for practices and selected a small group known as the “Radio Band” to broadcast music on the local radio station. Due to illness, Roy retired on October 15, 1961 and died on December 15, 1970. He is buried in Roselawn Cemetery in Palestine. On July 22, 2007, Wallace was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame in San Antonio. He will be remembered as a devoted band director and educator who inspired students with his creative methods and positive influence. (2013)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Roy B. Wallace, born in Limestone County in 1901, earned a music degree from Baylor and began teaching in 1932 before becoming band director at Palestine's Reagan Junior High and, in 1942, the Palestine High School Band. Under his baton the band won first-division sweepstakes honors fourteen of his nineteen years and performed at events from a 1946 Texas A&M game to the 1950 Cotton Bowl. Named the state's bandmaster of the year in 1960, he pioneered using recordings in rehearsal and a broadcast "Radio Band," and was later inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame.
Why it matters
Wallace embodies the outsized role of the school band director in twentieth-century Texas community life, where marching-band excellence became a point of local pride.
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