Betty Jane Blazier Memorial Play Wall

Betty Jane Blazier, Daedalian, 1962. 

Betty Jane Blazier (1915-1964)

Betty Jane Blazier was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on September 30, 1915 to Albert and Goldah Blazier. After a 5-year battle with breast cancer, she died on July 20, 1964 in Denton, Texas.

A graduate of the University of Minnesota, she joined the Texas State College for Women (TSCW), now Texas Woman’s University (TWU), as a staff member in the Nursery School in 1945.  She worked at the Nursery School for 18 years, eventually becoming its director. She was also active with the local Girl Scouts.

Upon Blazier’s death, a memorial fund was established by the Denton Unitarian Fellowship, of which she was a member, for the construction of a sculpture designed to encourage creative play. Friends and parents of children that had attended the nursery school wanted a memorial fitting of someone that had devoted so much of her life to children in a place that was “accessible to all children.”

The play wall was designed by Dr. Richard Laing, a member of the art faculty at North Texas State University (NTSU), now the University of North Texas (UNT) and constructed by plasterer Alvin Ellis under the supervision of Mount-Miller Architects. The design and placement were approved by O’Neil Ford who was concurrently designing the Civic Center Municipal Complex which included City Hall, the Civic Center, Civic Center Pool, Senior Center and renovation of the 1949 Wyatt C. Hedrick designed Library building.

The play wall is surrounded by sand and was purposefully designed to encourage active play “with holes to crawl through, curves to investigate and a surface that invites exploration.” It was dedicated by the City of Denton on December 13, 1970. The plaque adorning the wall reads, “In Memory of Betty Jane Blazier, Teacher and Friend of Children.”