Jack Lee Pope and Dorothy Marie Pope Endowed Scholarship

Jack Lee Pope, a dedicated peace officer, married Dorothy Marie James on June 18, 1939. Their only child, Dorothy Lee was born in 1942. For much of the 45 years they shared, Jack Lee had been in the field of law enforcement. As World War II escalated, Jack Lee enlisted in the United States Army Air Force. He received his military police training at Moore Field near Mission, Texas, as a member of the 1019th Guard Squadron. Jack Lee began his civilian law enforcement career following a brief period after World War II. Jack joined the McAllen, Texas police force in 1949 where he worked his way up over the years until he concluded his career in 1971. Dorothy Lee Pope, daughter of Jack Lee and Dorothy Pope of McAllen, Texas was born in 1942. She passed away in 2021, in San Antonio. “Miss Pope,” as she was known to her decades of third-grade students, was recognized as an outstanding teacher devoted to her Milam Elementary students in McAllen. She graduated summa cum laude from Pan American University. In 1970 she was named an Outstanding Young Women of America, and in 1971 she published Rainbow Era on the Rio Grande, based on her research and interviews of Valley pioneers and their descendants. She continued to serve in leadership roles in several teacher organizations before and after retirement. Miss Pope established the Jack Lee Pope and Dorothy Marie Pope Scholarship Endowment at Sam Houston State University in the College of Criminal Justice to honor her father’s career in Law Enforcement.