Alumna and Artist on Display at White House

Wana Beth Fox received an invitation to the White House from Laura Bush Nov. 1, 2007.

But it wasn’t for any business of state. In fact, the First Lady invited the 73-year-old graduate of Texas Tech and other artists from across the country, to a reception thanking them for painting the ornaments adorning the Blue Room Christmas tree in the White House.

“It was a whirlwind,” Fox said. “How can you expect to ever do that?”

The 2007 White House Christmas ornament theme was “Holiday in the National Parks.” The White House mailed out gold plastic ornaments, 18 and a half inches around, to all of the 391 national parks.

“It was an amazing honor for the National Park Service to be selected as the theme for the White House holiday decorations by the President and Mrs. Bush,” said Director Mary A. Bomar in a news release issued by the National Park Service. “Every park was invited to join in the celebration by selecting an artist to create a park-specific ornament. The ornaments tell the stories of our parks, just as our parks tell the stories of our nation.”

However, in the visitor’s center of the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Park near Mountainair, New Mexico, the ornament was misplaced and forgotten until a reminder call from the White House came only a few weeks before the deadline. The center called Fox, a well-known local artist, who was willing to take on the project even with such a short time frame.

Using a whipped topping bowl to hold the ornament, the retired schoolteacher used acrylic paints to depict each of the three pueblo missions and permanent marker to label each structure and calligraphy the park’s name on the top of the ornament. Fox finished the ornament and mailed it with only five days to spare.

An Artist and Teacher ‘Til the End

Even though she’s lived all around the United States, Fox will always call New Mexico home. For this reason, and her fame in the art community in Mountainair, Fox was the ideal person to complete the mission’s White House ornament. After all, Fox has been an artist since she was old enough to find pencil and paper.

“I remember drawing before I was five,” Fox said. “I’ve wanted to draw things so badly at times that my hands hurt.”

In a time when very few women continued their education past high school, Fox attended Eastern New Mexico University in Portales at the encouragement of her mother and family. After two years she dropped out to get married. She raised four children, while substitute teaching. In 1965, she became a full time schoolteacher, without completing her degree.

“I incorporated art into everything I taught,” Fox said. “I always encouraged students to draw, even around the sides of the papers they turned in to me, because that’s what I always got in trouble for when I was young.

“I think learning should be exciting and your hands should sweat because you want to come to school to find out what we are going to do today.”

Though Fox retired from teaching in 1995, she continues incorporating art into every aspect of her life. Her work has been displayed in several galleries in New Mexico.

Too Old to Go to School?

In the mid-1970s, while living in Shallowater, Fox became the secretary to the superintendent of schools. After viewing some of her paintings hanging in the office, co-workers encouraged her to finish the degree she started so long ago.

Although Fox thought she was too old to return to college, she enrolled at Texas Tech in the summer of 1977. The university had recently started a program allowing high school students in the top one fourth of his or her class to take college courses on campus. Fox’s daughter Dana, a junior at the time, thought this was an excellent opportunity for her to learn more about Texas Tech and accompany her mother, who was insecure about attending classes with younger students.

“She was the one who gave me encouragement and said I didn’t have to do it alone,” Fox said.

In August 1978, Fox finished the 55 hours she needed to graduate. She graduated from Texas Tech with a GPA of 3.85, major in elementary education, specialization in art, and a minor in music. Her son, Neil, who also attending Texas Tech, graduated alongside her with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.

“That was really an exciting year,” Fox said. “After 24 years, I finally got my degree. That was the most exciting, to discover that I could actually do it. For the first time in my life, I guess I really felt smart.”