American concert pianist, music professor, and fashion model Lois Towles Caesar was born in Texarkana April 4, 1912. She obtained a degree at Wiley College, Marshall, in 1933, and then studied at Julliard School of Music in New York.
Her musical accomplishments took her to Nashville, California and Paris, France. While in Paris, Towles, like her sister Dorothea, became one of the first internationally-known black models in the world of high fashion and wore the clothes from famous Parisian designers, including Christian Dior.
Back in the U.S., she regularly hosted fashion shows and piano recitals (often combined). After marriage and a move to San Francisco, she helped establish several philanthropic and arts organizations.
In 1978 she was honored with the American Institute of Public Service’s Jefferson Award for Community Service.
Towles became a “Founding Patron” of the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra, sponsored by the Junior League of Texarkana, by a donation from her sister Dorothea in memoriam. She died March 18, 1983 in San Francisco. One month later the chapel at the Youth Guidance Center in San Franciso was renamed the Lois Towles Caesar Memorial Chapel in her honor.
Source: Texas State Historical Association
