Farabee, Mary Margaret Albright

Mary Margaret Albright Farabee (née Mary Margaret Carlson) was born in 1939 in Dallas, Texas. She moved to Austin in 1957 to attend the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1961. She later went on to complete a masters' degree in American History, also from the University of Texas, in 1968. She had two children, David and Patricia, with her first husband, James Albright, whom she divorced in 1978. She married Ray Farabee, a lawyer, former state senator, and general counsel for the University of Texas System Board of Regents, in 1991. Her son, David, passed away in 1996.

Farabee began her career as a teacher with the Austin Independent School District. She stopped teaching in 1966, around the time her two children were born. Following her divorce in 1978, she began working as the Director of Volunteer Services at Seton Medical Center.

In 1981, Farabee left Seton Medical Center and took on the role of Vice President of Public Relations at United Bank, where she organized artistic and cultural events for the bank's members, including lectures, seminars, and trips, often in collaboration with arts organizations in Austin. Her next position was Vice President of Development at KLRU, Austin's public television station, from 1986-1990. At KLRU, she was responsible for engineering the Capital Fund Campaign, for which she planned pledge drives, benefits, and other events.

In 1990, she left KLRU to return to Seton Medical Center, where she worked as Development Associate/Special Events Coordinator for the Seton Fund. Following her second marriage in 1991, she resigned from Seton and began to devote her time more fully to her civic and personal interests.

Farabee was involved in numerous civic and arts organizations in Austin. Her professional experience with fundraising, event-planning, and the arts in Austin carried over into much of her volunteer work. Her first major civic activity was participating in the restoration of the Paramount Theater in downtown Austin during the mid-1970s. She remained involved with the Paramount Theater throughout the 1970s and 1980s, serving on its Board of Directors for several years. Farabee subsequently became active in various other theater and historic preservation organizations, including serving on the board of directors of both the Austin Heritage Society (President, 1981) and Live Oak Productions for Theater Arts (ca. 1983-1988). One of her most well-known accomplishments was the Texas Book Festival, which she co-founded with future first lady Laura Bush in 1995.

Farabee's extensive, decades-long involvement in the Austin volunteer community also included work with: AIDS Services of Austin, the Austin History Center, Austin/Travis County HIV Commission, Capital Area Statues, Inc. (C.A.S.T.)/Voices of Texas, Live Oak Productions, National Wildlife Research Center, Texas Fine Arts Association, and the University Club, among others.

In honor of her wide-ranging civic work, Farabee was recognized as Austin's Most Worthy Citizen of 1997, presented by the Austin Board of Realtors. She was also awarded the ARTS leadership award from the Austin Chamber of Commerce Business Committee for the Arts in 1984 and named one of 'Austin's Top Women Executives in Business' by Austin Business Executive Magazine that same year.