Historic Laredo

Jovita Idar married Bartolo Juárez in 1917.
They lived in San Antonio where Jovita opened a
free kindergarten for Mexican-American children.
She worked for the Democratic Party and served as
an intepreter for Spanish speaking patients at
Robert B. Green County Hospital.
She became co-editor of a Methodist Spanishlanguage
newspaper, El Heraldo Cristiano.
THE GRANDE DAME OF IT ALL:
MABEL COGLEY WALL
The best remembered chronicler of Laredo
society was its grande dame, Mabel Cogley Wall,
society editor of The Laredo Times for over four
decades. A native Laredoan born in 1887 at the
Cogley family home at Houston St. and Main,
Mabel was the daughter of Miles Thomas Cogley
and Rose Hungerford Cogley.
Just as it was the train that brought Miles Cogley,
the father of Rose Cogley to Laredo, it was the train
that brought William Wallace Hungerford, a civil
engineer for the Texas Mexican Railway, to Laredo.
Rose Cogley’s brother, Louis J. Hungerford, became
President and Chairman of the Board of the Pullman
Company of Chicago Illinois. Born in Cincinnati,
Ohio, Cogley was the only one of his nine siblings
not born in Ireland. His marriage to Rose Hungerford
of the railroad-building Hungerfords brought Mabel
and Daniel Hungerford Cogley into the world.
Miles T. Cogley served as president of both the
Texas Mexican Railway and of the Milmo National
Bank. A tragic firearm accident en route to a hunting
camp on the Zapata Highway claimed the life of
Mabel’s brother, Daniel, when he was 10.
Mabel attended local schools until she left at the
age of 12 for the French convent of the Mesdames of
the Sacred Heart in Cincinnati. Upon her high
school graduation, she returned to Laredo and married
a young West Point graduate stationed at Ft.
McIntosh, Lt. Steven Barlow. They had two children,
Margaret and Rosita. After the Barlows divorced,
Mabel later married Judge John Cowles Wall.
She first came to The Laredo Times as a proof reader
and then moved to advertising sales. “My grand -
mother drove her around on her sales calls, because
my mother didn’t drive,” recalled Margaret Barlow
Tish, the wife of the late Allen K. Tish, former copublisher
of The Laredo Times. “She became society
editor when she stepped in as a substitute for the
society editor at that time. She held that position for
over 40 years,” Tish said.
Petite, vivacious, intelligent, kind, and high
mannered, Mabel Cogley Wall is well remembered
by those who worked with her at The Times and
those who had a social occasion to share with her.
She was a charter member of the Society of
Martha Washington and member of the Pan
American Roundtable. She was a lifelong member
of St. Peter’s Church parish.
Laredo investor E.H. Corrigan remembers the
attention Mabel Cogley Wall accorded every person
who came into The Times with news of a wedding
or a social event. “All brides were important people,
all weddings important events. She made a point of
being accessible to everybody as she sat at that
typewriter and took their stories,” he said, adding,
“She was generous with her time to all who
approached her desk.”
“She grew up here and naturally knew the
background of many of the families about whom
she wrote. Her parents lived here and she had that
additional source of background information,”
Corrigan recalled.
“When she began to work with William Prescott
Allen, the Times publisher, it was a happy combination.
She admired what he was doing for Laredo
and he admired her capability and determination.
She had drive and much energy. She loved being a
Laredoan. She loved Laredoans and it showed in
much of what she had to write,” he said.
“All her co-workers adored her and admired
her. She was focused on the newspaper and on the
pleasant life she lived. She walked from her nearby
home on Houston Street across St. Peter’s Plaza
and down Matamoros to the newspaper office. She
was very trim, always wore high heels, and always
had on a different pair of earrings,” Corrigan said.
“She and her son-in-law had a very special relationship.
Likewise, her relationship with William
Prescott Allen was also a special one, one of friendship
and genuine respect. He was glad she was at
the paper,” Corrigan recalled.
Mr. Allen made a special occasion out of the
observance of the birthday of Mabel’s mother, Rose
Hungerford Cogley. It was celebrated at the newspaper
offices on a Saturday night. “In the party,
there were always politicians, bankers, and business
owners—many with their wives. These were
people who would like to appear in the newspa -
per. Mr. Allen would pass around coins so that
guests could play the slot machines he had
brought in for the party. An invitation to be a guest
❖
Mabel Cogley Wall was a chronicler
of Laredo social events for more than
40 years. An energetic, kind, and
high-mannered woman, Mrs. Wall’s
contributions to The Laredo Times
were well received.
Chapter II ✦ 19