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Campus History

Tally Elementary School History

Fred H. Tally was born in Brackettville, Texas in 1923. In 1942 he went into the Army Air Corps and initially trained to be a glider pilot, but when the glider pilot program was stopped he became a navigator bombardier and served in both the Pacific and European theaters. After his service, he returned to college and earned a B. S. in Journalism from Southwest Texas in approximately 1948.

Mr. Tally became a teacher and was first hired in Blanco, Texas. He worked on his Master’s in Education at Southwest Texas. He joined Starkey Elementary School as a teacher in 1950 and became principal shortly thereafter where he remained for 23 years. On July 12, 1952, he married Jean Harris, a third grade teacher. She went on to become the first lead teacher of the Doyle school. They raised four children that went through Kerrville ISD schools. 

Mr. Tally oversaw integration at Starkey in 1965 and was the first campus to have special education classes, before it was even required. Tally helped open Doyle Kindergarten when Texas began offering kindergarten for low socio-economic children. He retired in 1972 and passed away November 23, 1974. Tally Elementary School was named in his honor and opened to students in 2002.