Louise Garwood (1900-1980)

Poet, Author, Newspaper Feature Writer, Teacher
Born January 29, 1900, Houston, Texas
Died March 21, 1980, Seton Medical Center, Austin, Texas

Louise Ford Garwood had an admirable career as a poet, author, journalist, and teacher. She was born on January 29, 1900, in Houston, Texas. Her parents were Judge Hiram Morgan Garwood (1864-1930) and Hettie Page (Love) Garwood (1867-1918). Louise Garwood attended Columbia University, although I'm not sure she graduated from there. In late 1923, she won the Florence Sterling Prize from the Poetry Society of Texas for her poem "Dusty Shoes." She also won second place in the competition for the Alamo Prize for "A Joy Forever." In addition to writing poems and short stories, Louise covered the Broadway stage for newspapers in Texas. She also wrote syndicated newspaper feature articles for Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA). Later on, she wrote for the Houston Press.

Here are some of Louise Garwood's credits:

• "The Miniature," a poem in the Corsicana Daily Sun, December 16, 1922.

• "Do You Know Your Library?" in the Houston Post, May 20, 1923.

• "Mrs. Lovett Warns Against Superficial View of Paris Life" in the Houston Post, June 24, 1923.

• "The 'Makers' of Writers" in the Houston Post, October 7, 1923, which mentions Harry Kniffin, who also contributed to Weird Tales.

• "Rainbow Tears," a poem set to music by Wilson Fraser and published in 1925.

• A syndicated feature article on philanthropist Anne Morgan, 1927 (NEA).

• A syndicated feature article from November 1928 on the play Machinal, written by Sophie Treadwell, based on the Ruth Snyder-Albert Gray murder case, and featuring Zita Johann (1904-1993), who went on to star in The Mummy (1932). The execution of Ruth Snyder in the electric chair was photographed surreptitiously. That photograph became famous.

• "Bond," a poem in Cupid’s Diary, September 4 1929.

• "Reality," a poem syndicated in 1929.

Louise Garwood wrote two short stories and three poems published in Weird Tales from 1925 to 1931. Her story "Fayrian," from one hundred years ago this month, is a poetic fantasy of murder and suicide.

Louise traveled to Argentina with her brother in 1931. Louise also taught dramatic art at the LaSalle School of Music, Dramatic Art and Dancing, in South Bend, Indiana, circa 1933-1934. By 1950, she was hospitalized at San Antonio State Hospital, a Kirkbride Plan hospital for the insane. She lived for another three decades and died on March 21, 1980, at Seton Medical Center in Austin, Texas. She was eighty years old.

Louise Garwood's Stories & Poems in Weird Tales
"Fayrian" (short story, Feb. 1925)
"Candle-Light" (short story, Nov. 1925)
"Ghosts" (poem, July 1926)
"The Living" (poem, Sept. 1929)
"Ghost" (poem, Dec. 1931)

Further Reading
None known.

Louise Garwood (1900-1980), a passport photograph from 1922.

Text copyright 2025 Terence E. Hanley