Capetown to Houston to be closer to
their American family. While her
mother worked two jobs, Liz obtained
a full scholarship from 1971-1975 to
prestigious St. John’s School in
Houston. Her preferred subject was
English, and she was captain of the soft
ball team. Overall, Liz recalls “having
a great education in spite of myself.”
The St. John’s experience defined her
education and led later directly to the
Montessori project in Alpine.
Upon graduation at age 17, she
enrolled at the University of Texas,
Austin, studying French and
International Business. She rode her
bike to her evening job at Mike and
Charlie’s Restaurant and made friends
easily. At a debutante’s party in
October 1975, she first set eyes on
Hiram Sibley, with whom she later
would share her life.
After her sophomore year at UT,
Liz moved to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin
Islands, for 2 years, shipping her yellow
car to use there. She earned $100 per
night as a bartender and enjoyed island
life, scuba diving and sailing. Now 21,
she realized she needed to complete her
degree, so she reenrolled at UT Austin,
graduating in 1981 with a BA in
French and International Business.
In October 1981, Liz and her room-
mate were assaulted by a mugger on an
Austin street. While the attacker held a
knife to her roommate’s throat, Liz
swung her hefty purse at him and he
fled. The local press made a big story
about this example of energetic self-
defense by women. Hiram Sibley,
hearing of the attack via his mother,
flew the young women out to Alpine
for some R & R.
The couple were married in 1983 at
a large wedding in St. David’s
Episcopal Church, Austin. A three-
month round-the-world honeymoon
followed, with the first stop in Clare,
West Suffolk at the old family “Bell
Hotel.” On return to Texas, the couple
set up shop in a “beer can trailer” in
South Alpine, enrolled at SRSU and
started feeling their way through their
shared life. Liz and Hiram spent a lot
of time outdoors hiking and camping,
two of Hiram’s favorite activities.
The Sibley family is from Fort
Stockton. Hiram, the youngest of three,
was born there on January 1st, 1957.
Hiram’s grandfather and father were
respectively a dentist and physician,
both passionate about the land, lucky
to acquire it and find it productive in oil
and gas. The family acquired land
around Fort Stockton and ranched for
3 generations. Hiram’s father, DJ, was
a brilliant, philanthropic man and his
mother, Jane (91), has been a major
contributor to the arts and social scene
in Austin, and continues to do so.
Around the same time that Liz and
Hiram’s first child Rachel Anne was
born (1986), followed by Chris two
years later, they decided to start the
Alpine Montessori School in Alpine,
catering to pre-K and (later) elemen-
tary school ages. What followed was a
back-breaking fundraising effort, the
restoration of a burned-out building
west of Alpine and finally the opening
of the Alpine Montessori School in
1989, with 12 kids from the family and
from friends in the first enrollment.
Liz served as volunteer administra-
Cenizo
tor for 13 years. Over the last 27 years,
the school has encountered many chal-
lenges, including a change of address
and various mortgages, and enjoyed a
succession of gifted teachers and friends
that give relentlessly. Alpine’s
Montessori School currently contains
55 students, ages 2 ½ through 12, and
is a proven success.
More recently, the ever-active and
creative couple have turned to the
Murphy Street Project. Betty Gaddis,
who spearheads the operation, cannot
praise their involvement too highly.
Apart from general support, they have
restored and opened two old properties
on Murphy Street as bed & breakfast
places: the Alpine Studio and the his-
toric Bottle House.
In addition to being in the hospitali-
ty business, Liz and Hiram run the
Galeria Sibley downtown, are perpetu-
ally connected with the Montessori
School and, more generally, are a lead-
ing force in community activity in our
town.
Fourth Quarter 2015
9