Lamar University alumna Maxine Johnston has been honored with a 2018 Terry Hershey Award by the Audubon Texas.

Johnston, a tireless advocate for the Big Thicket since 1964 and twice past president of the Big Thicket Association, has worked diligently to ensure its preservation and to promote public education and understanding of the ecological treasure it represents.  

Her lifelong advocacy has, along with other achievements, resulted in the creation and expansion of the Big Thicket National Preserve, a jewel of the National Park System.  

The 112,000-acre Big Thicket is one of the most biologically diverse places on earth, one steeped in the history of early Texas.

Born in 1928 in Gillham, Arkansas, Johnston attended Lamar College, 1946-1951, and completed her Bachelor of Science at Sam Houston State University, 1953. She earned a Master of Library Science from the University of Texas in 1958.

Before becoming a librarian, Johnston worked as an office assistant at the Tyrrell Public Library in Beaumont, 1947-1953. She began her career in 1953 as assistant librarian at South Park High School in Beaumont, before joining Lamar University’s Mary and John Gray Library in 1955 as reference librarian. She became associate director of the library in 1970, and served as its director from 1980 to 1988.

Her enduring fascination and love for the Big Thicket began when she wrote a paper on the folklore of the Thicket for a class in high school.

Johnston, now 88, and her colleagues built a broad coalition of people pressing for federal legislation to create a national park. In October 1974, President Gerald Ford signed PL 94-439 to establish the Big Thicket National Preserve (BTNP), the first-ever National Preserve in the National Park System. 

Her passion for the Big Thicket resulted in the creation of a unique archive at Lamar University documenting many aspects of the Big Thicket, including the industries of the region, its folklore, and its place in Texas history, with a special emphasis on documenting the long history of preservation efforts for this special region.

Johnston has been a member of the Big Thicket Association since 1964, serving twice as its president (1972-75 and 1994-98). She also served in 1994-96 as a member of the State Executive Committee of the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter to press for statewide public health, habitat and wildlife protection.

She received the NPCA’s Margery Stoneman Douglas Citizen Conservationist of the Year Award in 1996 and awards from the Kodak American Greenways, Lone Star Chapter Sierra Club and Texas Conservation Alliance.

Audubon's Texas Women in Conservation Program began in 2015 to honor the role that women play in the conservation field in the Lone Star State, and to inspire the next generation of female conservationists. Audubon Texas held the fourth annual Texas Women in Conservation Luncheon in Houston on March 29, 2018, honoring three 2018 Terry Hershey Award recipients, Johnston, Claire Caudill, and Linda Shead, who each exemplify the very best in conservation leadership.