Hendricks studied French literature at the University of Toulouse and also enrolled in a course to study French history and culture. On the side, she taught English in the American library to locals who wanted to learn. As a thank you, her students rewarded her and the other teachers with a ski trip to the Pyrenees. “It was beautiful with all the snow, but my attempt at skiing was not a great success,” Hendricks recalled.

Hendricks traveled quite extensively with the other Fulbrighters living in France, including a friend she made from Millsap College in Mississippi. She visited Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, England, Morocco and the island of Mallorca.

World War II had ended only eight years earlier, so Hendricks and her cohort strived to be good ambassadors for the United States. “It was important to demonstrate goodwill because Europe was just beginning to rebuild,” she said.

One of Hendricks’ favorite memories from her Fulbright experience was meeting and interacting with so many people from different places, such as Spain, Germany, Switzerland, French Indochina (now Vietnam) and Africa. “It was fun to get their ideals and perspectives,” she said.

Once her Fulbright year concluded, Hendricks returned home on the French liner, the Liberté. She kept the invoice from that trip, which showed a passage price of $185.

After returning home, Hendricks wrote a letter to Senator J. William Fulbright thanking him for beginning the program. To her surprise, he wrote back.

Because of Hendricks' association with the Fulbright Program, the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) superintendent mailed her a letter to France offering her a job, but she never received it because she had already returned to the United States. Years later, when she applied for a job in the FWISD, she learned of the missed letter.

Instead, Hendricks secured her first job teaching English at a school in Ohio, an opportunity she credits to her Fulbright participation. She eventually moved to Hobbs, New Mexico, where she met her husband, a petroleum engineer who had just returned from serving in Korea. After getting married, the couple transferred to Roswell, New Mexico, and later moved to the small west Texas town of Monahans. In 1976, they settled in Midland, Texas, where Hendricks still lives today. 

The legacy of Horned Frogs in Hendricks’ family continues: her daughter, Mary Lynn Hendricks Murray, attended TCU from 1976 to 1978, and her grandson, Mark Murray '11 '12, graduated with both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the Neeley School of Business.

For any student interested in applying to the Fulbright Program, Hendricks says to go for it. “Sometimes, when you think you don’t have a chance, things happen!” 

Decades later, Hendricks still thinks back on her time as a Fulbright recipient with great fondness. “I am now 90 years old, and I can say that my Fulbright experience was one of the highlights of my life.”