Old property donated to a good cause

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- It happens every day: We hurry along Austin streets, passing history by without even so much as a glance. 501 E. 32nd Street is a great example.

There is a 100-year-old building nestled among towering oak trees on a hilltop at the intersection of 32nd and Duval streets.

It started out as a somewhat smaller structure, built as a home for Charles T. and Ella Gertrude Rather and their two daughters who were about to enter the University of Texas.

"This was a section of town just North of the UT campus that was a real nice snazzy place when it was established, called Duval Heights," said researcher Susan Alexander.

According to Alexander, the Rathers' two daughters each wound up marrying UT professors and both couples lived on the property. Ethel and her husband Ernest Villavaso, along with their son, Ernest, Jr., lived in the main house, and Alma with her husband, Frederick Duncalf in the nearby carriage house.  Little Ernest, known to the family as Bebe, turned out to be a character.

"He was a rambunctious young man," said Alexander. "He was a wonderful student, he swam, he golfed, he fished and was very gregarious. He was out playing golf one afternoon with a group of his friends and they ran home. In his usual exuberant way, wanted to be the first to dive into the neighbor's swimming pool. But, it was dark by then and he didn't realize that the pool was empty. He sustained a severe head injury that plagued him for many years thereafter. He had to undergo neurological surgeries; he had severe headaches and eventually died at the age of 29."

When Bebe went to his grave, he took much of the joy and laughter from this house with him. As his parents, his uncle and his aunt mourned his passing, they also looked to the future and decided that when they passed away, they would donate the property to some educational or charitable organization and that they would do that in young Ernest's memory.

Wednesday, the original $30,000 Rather property is the home of the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest and at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, the seminary will dedicate a $3.6 million addition and expansion of the Rather House.