Our Work with the Odoms

November 19, 2025 • Priscilla Escobedo

The purpose of The Compass Rose is to raise awareness of Special Collections' resources and to foster the use of these resources. The blog series also reports significant new programs, initiatives, and acquisitions of Special Collections.

In remembrance of Mayor Elzie Odom, who passed away November 17, 2025, at the age of 96.

I first met Elzie Odom and his wife, Ruby, in the summer of 2019, my first summer working here at UTA Special Collections. Brenda McClurkin, then manager of the archives, had worked with close associates and family members of the Odoms to discuss the donation of scrapbooks that their daughter had created, which spanned Mayor Odom's campaign for City Council in 1989 to his time as Mayor of Arlington, to UTA Special Collections. Our role at the time was to answer any questions that the Odoms may have had regarding how our archives operated, how we would preserve the scrapbooks, and how we would make these materials accessible to students and researchers.

Alrington City Council group photo, 1998, with Mayor Elzie Odom at center.

Elzie and Ruby Odom made us feel at home from the moment we met them. We talked about our work in Special Collections and how we make archival collections accessible, but most of our discussions revolved around their memories and history. We emphasized that family history was just as important to our collection and to historians and that we would be honored to have materials that reflected their personal lives along with their political work.

Elzie Odom was clear from the beginning: he and his wife, Ruby Odom (Truvillion) were a perfect team, and none of his success would have been possible without her. Therefore, the collection would be named the Elzie and Ruby Odom Papers. He shared stories about their life in Shankleville, Texas, a Freedmen's town established by Odom's ancestors. These stories can be found in his autobiography "Counting My Blessings," copies of which can be found here at UTA Libraries. I learned about their experiences in Texas and California, and the ways that they confronted and overcame Texas' segregationist practices. Their stories truly inspired me.

Elzie and Ruby Odom speaking at UTA.

One of my favorite stories they shared was of their wedding. In "Counting My Blessings", Mayor Odom wrote: "When the ceremony was over, I paid the preacher and had $10.00 left in the world. I remembered what my Dad had told me and I gave [Ruby] half of the $10.00. We had no need for any pre-nuptial agreement; we had "Til Death Do Us Part". Any material things we have accumulated in the last 65 years are ours together."

I am grateful to have known Elzie and Ruby Odom. We are honored that they donated their papers to UTA Special Collections. Mayor Odom's legacy lives on in Arlington, and future generations will be able to comb through firsthand records, listen to his oral history, and digitally browse through the scrapbooks lovingly made by their daughter. Elzie Odom made Arlington a better place through his leadership, and he made me a better person through his lessons. I will miss him.