Trustees Honor Schell Family

December 20, 2006

The Plano ISD Board of Trustees honored the family of late civic leader A.R. Schell, Jr., who is the namesake of the district's newest elementary school under construction at Renner and Brand Roads. Schell Elementary is scheduled to open fall, 2007.

A.R. Schell, Jr., Elementary School family members were honored at the December 12, 2006, meeting of the Plano ISD Board of Trustees.

A. R. Schell, Jr. (Alexander Robertson Schell)

• Mayor of Plano – (1932-1948) 16 consecutive years – longest term for mayor
• Plano Citizen of the Year – First award recipient (1951)
• A. R. Schell, Jr. Park (City of Plano)
• NTMWD – Founding/Charter member - Plano’s sole representative to a multi-city group of leaders that in the ‘40’s and early ‘50’s spearheaded the founding of the North Texas Municipal Water District (the entity that supplies Plano and many other area communities its fresh water, sewer and solid waste services). Then served as one of its first presidents, and Plano's sole representative on that board until his death in 1964. Succeeded by his son A. R. Schell, III, from 1964 – current.
• Plano Chamber of Commerce – Founding/Charter member – Also served as one its first presidents.
• Plano Rotary Club – Founding/Charter member – Also served as one its first presidents.
• Collin County Association of Realtors – Founding/Charter member and first president
• LegacyTexas Bank - Founding/Charter member of investors and Board of Directors in 1963 of the original bank, Plano National Bank, and served on the board until his death in 1964. Succeeded by his son A. R. Schell, III, from 1964 – current. (Bank later changed name to Plano Bank & Trust, then Legacy Bank of Texas before becoming LegacyTexas Bank.)
• Plano’s American Legion- Harding Blaine Post – Founding/Charter member
• Plano’s Masonic Lodge and Scottish Rite – member
• A. R. Schell Insurance Agency, Inc. – founded in 1930 (77th year in 2007) – at height of the great Depression, in downtown Plano.
• Moved to Plano in 1921
• Married Irene Martha Schimelpfenig (youngest child of Fred Schimelpfenig, Plano Mayor 1904-1908, and LER Schimelpfenig, for whom Schimelpfenig Middle School and Schimelpfenig Library are named, respectively). Had son, A. R. Schell, III, in 1922.
  

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Schell Elementary School Principal Susan Dantzler (right) greeted family members following the December 12 school board recognition.