Dr. Tyra Manning’s story is both unique and universal, as it demonstrates the pervasive devastation of loss while demonstrating how courage and love can triumph. Tyra’s husband was shot down over the Laotian jungle while flying a top-secret mission during the Vietnam War. She learned of his death while she was hospitalized at the Menninger Clinic, where she was being treated for depression. Tyra’s worst fear had come true.
Determined to fulfill the rest of the dreams and promises she and her husband had made to one another, that she get well and become a teacher, Tyra persevered through the darkest of times. Ultimately, Tyra earned a doctorate in education from the University of Kansas, becoming one of the nation’s top school superintendents.
She has devoted her forty-year career to helping children achieve their highest potential. Since retiring in 2004, Dr. Manning’s mission has been to share her personal journey of hope with people who are experiencing depression, addiction, and loss.
Though she travels around the country delivering the messages and lessons in her new book, Where the Water Meets the Sand, Dr. Manning is a born and bred Texan. She currently resides in the Texas Hill Country.
Resources
Need help? Check out these resources:
- Operation Homefront for military families
- SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator
- National Eating Disorders Association
- Alcoholics Anonymous Near You
- Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance Locator
- Boerne Impatient Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers
- Texas Withdrawal Treatment Options
Blog Archives

An Update On My Blog – A Brief Hiatus
It goes without saying that this year has been full of many ups and downs, and unfortunately a few more of the latter than the former. However, I have always found solace during troubling times by focusing on the silver linings – after all, every cloud has one, as they say! One silver lining is […]

Fall One-Year Anniversary Book Sale from She Writes Press
I recently shared a review that my book, Your Turn: Ways to Celebrate Life Through Storytelling, was reviewed in the Wisconsin Book Review. I am thrilled that my stories continue to impact readers even one year after Your Turn was published. Ever since I began writing, my mission has been to bring people together, reduce […]

The Arrival of Fall
As a child growing up in West Texas, there were a few things that signaled to me that Fall was coming – Labor Day, the beginning of the school year, and the Summer heat giving way to more temperate weather. However, there was only one thing that meant to me the season had finally arrived. […]
- Nennie’s iris, 1954
- Cessna O-2A flown by 1st Lt. Hull in Laos, 1970-1971
- Larry’s new sideburns, Da Nang, 1971
- Laura and Tyra, 1972
- MIA 1st Lt. James L. Hull comes home, Arlington National Cemetery, November 2006
- Rolling Thunder, Arlington National Cemetery, 2006
- Seven Honor Guard airmen execute the three-volley salute for Lt. Larry Hull
- Presentation of the flag to Laura Hull, Arlington National Cemetery, 2006
- Retired Colonel Yarborough says good-bye to his friend and brother-in-arms, 1st Lt. James L. Hull, Arlington National Cemetery, 2006
- Tyra’s final good-bye, Arlington National Cemetery, 2006
- Tyra’s doctoral regalia, Dominican University, River Forest, IL, 2007 TT
- Larry in his dress blues
ART
Determination By Tyra Manning
I’ve always been fascinated by hands; they reveal so much about an individual’s character. In fact, I often make a point of tightly clasping the hands of those I first meet, discreetly glancing down to check out the unique pattern of wrinkles, scars, callouses or arthritic bends etched in their skin. These imperfections offer an amazing view into the kind of life that person has lived.
This fascination with hands goes back many years, to when I was a patient at The Menninger Clinic. As part of my therapy, I was required to take sculpture classes. I soon found that the tactile sensation of working with clay, rolling and flattening it on a table and then shaping it into another form was very therapeutic.
I also learned that my favorite inspirational subject, by far, was hands. In fact, for many years, my favorite piece of art from that period–a clenched fist sculpted out of clay–followed me wherever I went. The fist became, for me, a symbol of my own determination to overcome life’s challenges and a reminder of how far I’d come in my own journey.