Professor Cassius Boone Hughes dedicated his life to Christian Education
and served as the first Principal, 1894, of  Keene Industrial Academy
which is now Southwestern Adventist  University, Keene, Texas

Cassius B. & Ella Hughes
Cassius was a member of the first year faculty of Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington
as a Professor of History
It was at WWC that he met and married Ella Evans

Ella, Emma, C. B. Hughes

From the Alumni Bulletin of Southwestern Adventist University

Hall of Fame

Ella Evans Hughes, posthumous
faculty 1893

Born in 1864, Ella Evans Hughes attended Battle Creek College for two years and finished her education in Missouri where she received a lifetime teaching certificate. She taught public school briefly before entering denominational service.

While preceptoress (Dean of Women) at Walla Walla College, Ella met Cassius Boone Hughes, preceptor and Bible teacher, who became her husband in 1893. Together, on December 23, 1893, they came to the new community of half-completed homes that would become Keene. The first official act of the new faculty was to conduct a week of prayer, just prior to opening Keene Industrial Academy on January 7, 1894. Ella became one of two elementary teachers and later preceptress, while her husband was principal and upper grades teacher.

In 1897 the Hughes accepted a call from the General Conference to help pioneer Cooranbong School* in Avondale, Australia. During their six years in Australia they developed a close friendship with Ellen White.

Their next move was to Huntsville, Alabama, for five months, back to Keene Academy for three and a half years and then the received another call from the General Conference, this time to start a school in Jamaica*. After three years the returned to Keene for a six-year period, in total of thirteen years serving Southwestern.

After Keene, the Hughes family moved to Pacific Union college for a year and a half, then spent two years in Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, before returning to Jamaica for two more years. Health problems then forced them back in the States and to a slower pace. Before he died C. B. worked at the intermediate school in Loma Linda. After her husband's death, Ella stayed in Loma Linda where her two children, Emma and John, attended medical school and became physicians.

During the Loma Linda years Ella began a tradition of inviting all "Keenites" to her home for a reunion one Sabbath each year, thus originating the Loma Linda chapter of SWAU's alumni association. In 1942, she moved to Washington, DC to live with her daughter, who worked at the Washington Sanitarium. Ella died December 23, 1962.

When Southwestern's Normal Building was replaced in the 1950's the new elementary school was named the Ella E. Hughes Elementary Training School. Ella visited the school in April, 1958, at age 94.

* actual name of the School was: "Avondale School for Christian Workers"  
Name of Jamaican School was: Northern Caribbean University
(notes mine)

Ella Evans

Ella Evans' family
Ella (rear right looking away from camera)  

Pictures above courtesy of Mary Ann Hadley, SWAU Historian

Cassius & Ella (front row left) 1897 
Cassius was the first Principal of the Avondale School for Christian Workers
now, Avondale College, at Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia  
Cassius (front left) Ella (2nd from left)

Cassius Boone Hughes
College Graduation picture taken at Battle Creek, Michigan

Cassius and Ella with staff and students at Keene Industrial Academy, Keene, Texas
Keene Industrial Academy opened in 1894, the forerunner of Southwestern Adventist University
Cassius is in second row, in front of the tree, with a beard
Ella is on his right, looking sideways ( her normal pose)