Interviews · Good Neighbor · Brownsboro
Morgan’s Mission: Keeping the Beloved Traditions and Welcoming Spirit of Brownsboro Alive
Quilter, mom of nine and Brownsboro Chamber chairwoman, Morgan is busy reviving the hometown traditions she grew up loving.
When Morgan Smith’s aunt, Shanna Smith, nominated her as a Good Neighbor, she put it simply: “She is an amazing person & is loved by everyone!!” Spend a morning visiting with Morgan and it’s easy to see why as she gently tended to her newly adopted daughter, Raneleigh.
Morgan is Brownsboro through and through. She grew up in Leagueville, did all 13 years of school in Brownsboro, graduating as a Brownsboro alum. After marrying her husband, Dennis, she lived in Louisiana for about eight years before the family moved back home in 2019.
“I was a very young adult whenever I left, so I didn’t realize the importance until I actually came back,” she said. “People at Brownsboro are so welcoming. It doesn’t matter if you’re from here or if you’re transplanted from somewhere else.”
A big, full house
Today the Smiths count nine children in all. Three are grown and out working on their own, and at home are a 17-year-old son, sons ages eight, six and four, a five-year-old daughter, and Raneleigh, the baby of the family, who turns two next month. Three of the nine joined the family through adoption, including Raneleigh and her brother, whose adoption was finalized last November.
Raneleigh spent time in the NICU and made frequent trips to Dallas during her first months, so Morgan moved her sewing business home to be with her. “The quiver is full,” she said with a laugh. “It’s been very cool.”
The years have taught her patience, she said, and she is grateful for the strong bond she and her husband have built for their kids. Through all of it, she credits their faith and their church family at Union Hill Baptist Church. “Day by day, just taking it one step at a time,” she said.
Faith and family at Union Hill Baptist Church
That church family goes back to the Smiths’ first days home. Soon after moving back, a fellow baseball mom, the late Jennifer Reynolds, invited the Smiths to Wednesday night supper at Union Hill Baptist Church. “She said, ‘Come on Wednesday nights. It’s free dinner and you won’t have to cook,’” Morgan said. “We went and we just never stopped.” Supper is still served Wednesdays at 6 p.m., and today Morgan helps with the kids’ ministry.
The Bear Nation spirit
Alongside faith and family, so much of what makes Brownsboro special for Morgan starts at school. After years away, she said, “it was so different to me going to somewhere who was not spirited like Brownsboro is.” School spirit, she said, has been part of the community for as long as she can remember. “Like you saw at homecoming, that’s a thing for all of our community.” Newcomers sometimes don’t understand why it’s such a big deal, she added, “but it definitely is.”
Putting her kids in Brownsboro schools was the top reason the family came home. “Especially in our school system, I just feel like we have such a good core,” she said. She is quick to credit Dr. Hampton. “Our superintendent is awesome,” Morgan said. “So kind and so helpful.” It was Dr. Hampton who opened the gym doors on the day of the fall festival when heavy rain forced it indoors, and Morgan has talked with her about one day bringing Pioneer Day back during the school day so students can enjoy it again. “I love our school,” Morgan said. “That’s what makes me the most excited about Brownsboro.”
Sew She Can Sew
Morgan’s business, Sew She Can Sew, turns treasured T-shirts into quilts. Right now she is working on one for a 2026 Crossroads senior, stitched from his football and cross country shirts.
It started, she says, as “kind of just a God thing.” While pregnant with her now eight-year-old son, she made him a quilt, the first she had ever made, and posted it on Facebook. A lady asked if she would make a T-shirt quilt. “I would just stare at it and think, oh my gosh, I hope I don’t mess this lady’s stuff up,” Morgan said. However, she trusted the Lord, and the result is a passion for helping folks cherish their history and heritage through these quilts. “Ever since then I’ve just never had a moment where I haven’t had an order to fulfill,” she said.
Today she sews from a building beside her home. Neighbors who would like a quilt can find her on Facebook at facebook.com/sewshecansew (Sew She Can Sew).
Bringing Pioneer Day back
Morgan serves as board chairwoman of the Brownsboro Chamber of Commerce. Her passion project is Pioneer Day, held each April.
She remembers it from her school days, when Betty Eberhart started the event as a project for her gifted and talented students. Kids from kindergarten through seniors got out of class to visit stations set up between the junior high and the fine arts building: little ladies churning butter, square dancers in the gym, candle dipping, horse rides. “It was a huge thing, and we all looked forward to it,” she said.
When Morgan first asked on Facebook what people remembered about Pioneer Day, “people just flooded” her with answers. The event has grown every year since. Today it includes a car show, a weaver who spins alpaca fiber and works her loom, tomahawk throwing, gold panning, a mobile fur trader’s museum, Native American relics, and outdoorsman Nat Hart, who has helped her build out the pioneer side. And yes, Morgan dresses up in her bonnet and churns butter herself. “That’s what’s fun to me,” she said.
She hopes the 2027 event in April can grow even more and maybe one day welcome students during the school day again. She is looking for help: anyone with a covered wagon, goats for a petting area, a cow to milk, or a pioneer skill to share and demonstrate.
Spooks in the Boro and more
Morgan also helped bring back the fall festival she loved as a kid, with the jail, the cakewalk and the haunted house in the old gym on Ingram. After two years of rain at the park, the event moved indoors with help from Brownsboro ISD Superintendent Dr. Keri Hampton and got a new name, Spooks in the Boro. Vice chair Kristi Gates, owner of The Turquoise Leopard, now leads it. Treasurer Deedra Owens is planning a chamber banquet shortly after the first of the year, and the chamber co-hosts the Christmas tree lighting at City Hall with Keep Brownsboro Beautiful.
Morgan once served on Keep Brownsboro Beautiful too, and she is quick to brag on that group, which she said has earned gold status with Keep Texas Beautiful. “They do a better job supporting us than we do supporting them,” she said. “They are really, really good about just showing up and helping.”
The chamber’s biggest need is people. “You don’t have to have a business,” Morgan said. “You just have to be kind of passionate about your town and your community, and having fun and doing fun things for other people.” To get involved, contact brownsborochamber@gmail.com.
Tradition and a welcome
Asked to sum up her hometown, Morgan landed on two things: tradition and welcome. Brownsboro is the oldest existing town in Henderson County, she said, and she wants to honor that history while reaching out to newcomers. “I love people,” she said. “When they come in, I just want to make them feel welcome.”
Her advice for bringing neighbors together is simple: pray for one another, especially people you may not agree with, and look for the respectful middle ground. “It’s small-town America for me,” she said. “This is where it’s at.”
