The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 61, July 1957 - April, 1958 Page: 163

                                
aexrs Collectiol
H. BAILEY      CARROLL
SEw men have had a more constructive impact upon our time
in Texas than Louis Wiltz Kemp, a former president of
the Association. Dr. Seymour V. Connor, former State
Archivist, was closely associated with Lou Kemp who was a mem-
ber of the State Library and Historical Commission which had
in charge the archives. Dr. Connor has written the following sum-
mary and interpretation of the life of this esteemed and revered
Texan:
IN MEMORIAM
Louis WILTZ KEMP, 1881-1956
Louis Wiltz Kemp died on November 15, 1956. Temporarily
interred in a cemetery in Houston, his mortal remains will be given
a final resting place in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Lou Kemp was one of the most respected and beloved men ever
to grace the Texas scene. He was born at Cameron, Texas, on Sep-
tember 4, 1881, the son of Dempsey and Martha (Taylor) Kemp.
In 1901 he matriculated at the University of Texas, where he was
enrolled as an engineering student until 1903. As a student he had
the same honest good humor (touched with Puckish mischief) that
throughout his life endeared him to so many of his fellows. One
of his University pranks-bringing Carrie Nation to address the
students and faculty on the campus-has become legendary.
After leaving the University, he worked for a while in San Antonio,
and then for a railroad company in East Texas and Louisiana. In
1908 he began a long association with the Texas Company and de-
veloped a keen interest in road construction activity with which he
was concerned, directly or indirectly, for the rest of his life except
for a short period during World War I when he was an officer in the
aviation section of the Signal Corps. From 1923 to 1925 he was
manager of the Texas Rock Asphalt Company of San Antonio.
In 1925 the Texas Highway and Municipal Contractors Associa-
tion employed him as executive secretary. Almost immediately he
plunged into a controversy raging over the manner in which state
funds were used for highway and road construction. Numerous small
contractors had complained of what they believed was unfair treat-
ment in the awarding of state contracts. Lou Kemp fearlessly headed