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C. H. and Caroline Yoe Foundation
HALL OF HONOR 2003
Louis Wiltz Kemp
Cameron High School Class of 1901
Texas
A&M System chancellor Gibb Gilchrist wrote, ‘By any yardstick Lou Kemp
was for 25 years the top citizen of this state.’ He spoke thus as Lou’s
remains were re-buried in the Texas State Cemetery, then unknown honor for a
man not in official State service. He worked for Texaco as manager of
asphalt sales. At the same time he effectively brought popular Texas
history, long neglected, to public attention. He produced facts and required
politicking to cause re-burial in the State Cemetery of over 100 forgotten
veterans of Texas’ fight for its independence. He helped create the Texas
Centennial in Dallas and San Jacinto monument near Houston. He was
influential in getting the first real drives built in the San Jacinto
battleground. He led the effort to definitively locate the massacre site at
Goliad. His papers are in the archives at UT-Austin and Texas State
Archives. His seminal work contributed to citizen-led, state level efforts
that came after him including what became today’s Texas Historical
Commission and a suitable building for Texas State Archives. He obtained the
heroic statue of Ben Milam that stands on the Milam County courthouse lawn.
The Kemp family lived in Cameron 3 generations, and included County Judge
Jeff T. Kemp (1869-1946).
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Mission Statement