Board of Trustee Evelyn East laid to rest

Board of Trustee Evelyn East Laid to Rest

Board of Trustee Evelyn East was laid to rest on Dec. 13, 2011 at Santa Fe Ranch Cemetery near Linn, Texas. Mrs. East was the widow of Thomas T. East, Jr., a cattleman in the Rio Grande Valley and the great-grandson of Richard King, founder of the King Ranch. She ran the Santa Fe Ranch, which had about 325,000 acres and more than 97,000 head of cattle, until her death on Dec. 10, 2011.

A board member since 1988, Mrs. East was a generous donor to MMA, and a member of the H.M. Smith Award Foundation. The Tom T. East, Jr. Math-Science Building was named after her husband in 1992. She also had a grandson graduate from MMA.

East was preceded in death by her husband and her parents Edward and Lydia Kuenstler. She is survived by her son Mike (Letty) East of Linn and her daughters Alice East of Linn and Lica (John) East Pinkston of Alice. She is also survived by her grandchildren: Thomas East of Dallas, John (Somer) East of Linn, Justus Pinkston of Austin, Wade (Liz) Pinkston of Alice and Adam Pinkston of Denver.

In addition to the MMA Board of Trustees, Mrs. East also served on the board of the Alice National Bank, the Museum of South Texas History, Valley Land Fund, the Linn-San Manuel Volunteer Fire Department and Linn-San Manuel Cook-off.