The Martin and Frances Lehnis Railroad Museum curator Mary Irving is retiring this week and she was recognized on Tuesday for her accomplishments during a retirement luncheon.
Brownwood City Manager Bobby Rountree noted Irving’s commitment to the museum.
“I think she saw an opportunity here to really create something that has never been here before,” Rountree said. “You can look around this place and see Mary’s fingerprints everywhere. I don’t know if we could have anybody else come in and take just a raw building and turn it in to the museum that we have today except for someone like Mary.”
Irving thanked the community and volunteers for helping her make the museum what it is today, and pointed out that the museum is a hidden treasure in the state.
“It is, and don’t you forget it, the best railroad in the state of Texas,” Irving said. “We have a little gem in Brownwood that people don’t expect.”
The city hired Kim Peterson, executive director of the Brownwood Reunion Celebration, to take Irving’s place at the museum.
The Lehnis Railroad Museum opened in 2007 and features extensive exhibits and history of the railroad in Brownwood and across the state.
