At one point we had a “club” and built some sort of underground “fort” across the street from the school. To be a member of the exclusive club one had to be initiated. This entailed having hot wax dripped on your ankle. If the initiate yelled, you might not get to be a member. I’m sure the fort situated on a vacant lot covered a very small number of square feet, but to us it seemed massive, a complex of underground rooms in the darkness. It was probably no more than a few feet deep, covered with boards and metal, with dirt thrown on top. But it served its purposes to hide out and use when we had “clod fights.”
I was blessed to have the best set of friends one could ask for. Some of them, in no particular order, were: Cheryl Little, (well, maybe she did top the list) followed by Jerl Franklin, Gary Morris, Dale Craik, Jerry GILBREATH, (“Jerry G.”) Jerry Burrow (“Jerry B.), John Marshall, Marian and Harold Hann, Wade Frey, Billy Dean Hunt, Lana Jordan, Frank White, Kay Hubbard, Jimmy Helton, Jean Cloyd and Joe Honeycutt.
The classroom itself was secondary. Sure it was a place to learn in the classroom, and I suppose I did, despite myself, but primarily it was the hub from which the spokes of extracurricular activities flowed. Obviously these were my time with these childhood friends, in class, on the playing field, and in the neighborhood, occupied most of my waking hours.
Jerl was probably the closest friend. We went to school together from the first grade on. He and his parents lived across the street from us. His mom and dad owned and operated the Grape Inn, the finest hamburger stand in town, situated on the corner of North 10th and Grape, next to Bourland’s Grocery Store, which later became Pearce’s Food Palace. They had hunting dogs in cages in the corner of their backyard. On the weekends they would often go coon hunting. I always regretted I was never along on those nocturnal excursions into the country.
Dale Craik lived on the corner of North 11th and Merchant; Jerry Gilbreath, one block due south, at 1749 North 10th, and Gary Morris lived a few blocks west on North 10th.
Valley View Elementary was a red brick building with a long hallway running down the middle with the classrooms on each side. It was un-airconditioned and heated in the fall and winter with radiators along the outside wall. They rattled when first turned on in the mornings, but once warmed up, kept the classrooms nice and toasty. The desks were dark wood; all attached to two “rails” so you couldn’t scoot them around and mar the floor. They had lift-up desk tops and seats with an ink well in the corner. That showed their age, because we didn’t use the hole except to stuff things in.
I was at Valley View the first through sixth grade with very good teachers: Miss Heathington in the first, Mrs. Pearce in the second, Miss Calfee in the third, Miss Collins in the fourth, Miss Ellis in the fifth and Miss Lance in the sixth. I assumed they had first names but that was something that was not shared with the students, or if it was, long forgotten.
My mother’s parents were the other two special people in my developmental years: George and Ethel Morris (Po Po and Mo Mo). Their home was a weekend retreat and a special place because of its location, being as close to the heart of downtown Abilene as a residence could be. They lived a half block from the Paramount Theatre, next to the Wooten Hotel. In the next block south on Cypress was the Majestic Theatre, across from Grissom’s Department Store. On the corner was the Queen Theatre and one block over on Pine was the Texas Theatre across the street from the other main department store, Minters.
Jerl and I took piano lessons at Miss Lasley’s Little District School of Music. Miss Nancy Craig Lasley lived in a beautiful white house in the second block of Grape. I’m sure this was an effort by my mother to try and get me cultured and instill some discipline in me. No matter how much Miss Lasley would get on me to practice, practice, practice, I seemed to always find other fun things to do other than stay cooped up in the house pounding away at our stand-up piano.
My piano lessons took place at an obscene time of day: 7:15 in the morning two or three times a week. I would ride my bicycle the nine blocks or so south. In bad weather my dad would pack my bike in the trunk of his 1949 green Chevrolet and take me on the way to work. As instructed, I would ring the front door bell three times to alert Miss Lasley I was there. I would go in and fire up the space heater, warm my hands and start playing. Soon she would enter from another part of the house and clap her hands to the rhythm of the piece. It was all classical music by the masters. All of the music books had yellow covers. I would labor through the lesson for thirty minutes or so before hitting the road on my bike to make it to school on time for Safety Patrol.
Wednesday afternoons was the time for more class in the building in the yard behind her house. There were many pianos there and we would play through chords and learn the circle of keys. That is where I first met kids, mainly girls, from the south side of town. Molly Caldwell and Linda Wright, among them. Later we would graduate to criticism class. We would have to perform pieces to the satisfaction of Miss Lasley and more “senior” students before we could move to the back row. After every one had performed, we would have hot cider and cookies for refreshments before our parents would pick us up. It was about the only time we were able to stay out on a school night.
Safety Patrol was one of the first big deals I was able to participate in. We got to wear white helmets and white belts, which held a big badge. This made us feel very important. I “made lieutenant,” after some period of time with duty on my own corner. This meant I got to check the “patrol boys” at two corners on Merchant. I was never promoted to captain, to have responsibility for all four … that remained outside my pay grade.
The good thing about this experience was that I had the corner of North 10th and Merchant and Cheryl Little had to approach the school from that direction. That meant that I got to see her at least once or twice a day and no doubt it was there that she first came to my attention.
Cheryl had beautiful brown hair and a charming smile. I would say she was proper and reserved, rather than call her shy. I eventually got up the nerve to ask her to “trade discs” with me and we began to go steady. Mother would take us to the “picture show” on Saturday afternoons. I would splurge and send 25 cents and take her to the Paramount. We would walk home afterwards and sometimes I got up the nerve to hold her hand. Even getting her to the movie was a major accomplishment. I would call her house and if her parents or brother would answer…. I would hang up. Either I didn’t know what to say or else I was afraid they wouldn’t let me talk to her.
- John Odam, Valley View [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
The first house I remember was at 3010 South 10th. Great place – the zoo was close by, as was Cat Claw Creek, and “The Football Stadium” was just across the street. Next door was Leldon Kelso, they had the best car in the neighborhood a Hudson Hornet. Down the street was Bill Teague and Benny Roe, across the street was Charles “Sonny” Williams and Bobby Martin, Jackie Harrison lived on South 11th, Eugene Purcell was west over to Albany Street and there were a lot of others. There had to be more as we never failed to have enough to make up a game of baseball or football as well as the Cowboys and Indian chases throughout the neighborhood.
The street was that nasty old caliche gravel that was either a mud pit or so dry dust clouds were always present. South 10th was a great street though there was a hill from Sayles Blvd. all the way down to my house.
School was started at Alta Vista for the first two years. Fairly long walk across Sayles Blvd. The neighborhood went as a group; gaggle is more like it, with the older kids in charge. What a drag. My sister was four years older and that was even worse, as she was in charge. After that a new school was built, Crockett Elementary. Best teacher I ever had was the third grade, Mrs. Christopher. She was the best as I gave her the rubber lizard on the shoulder treatment in the lunch room and she did not kill me.
Jackie Harrison somehow made a crow into a semi-pet. It would sit on your arm and we could feed it bread. The crow got to be a regular visitor at our house also. Does anyone not remember having a Horned Toad in a shoe box. Remember Easter and getting new shoes at Thornton’s department store. We got two colored chickens with the shoes one year. Being original we named them hunt and peck. Not sure what happened to them but we had an extra chicken dinner a couple of times that year.
The zoo and the animals was also a place to visit regularly. I remember the Lions roar as have others. Windows were open at night and all kinds of sounds were present to go to sleep to. Never will forget the chimpanzee that people gave cigarettes to and he would smoke them. Between my house and the zoo was an old horse race track. Jackie had a flying saucer model with some kind of engines that we lit and the silly thing flew so far out into that old race track we never did find it. The track wasn’t there long as it was torn down just as it was becoming a great fort of the old west.
The milk was delivered to the house every other day. Left the bottles on the porch at night and next morning it magically appeared. I will bet everyone in the class made it to Mrs. Baird’s bakery at Christmas, freezing your back side off, waiting to go through the bakery and getting that little loaf of bread they gave everyone. That brings me back to Thornton’s department store and their windows at Christmas time with all of the animation.
Who else was a safety patrol crossing guard? Wearing that white belt with the badge was just like being King Kong.
In the summertime you never stayed in the house, too much to do outside. The only in house entertainment was a radio, which sat on top of the refrigerator, and Saturday mornings you could listen to “Big John and Sparky.” The best thing of all for me was being in the Knot Hole Gang and going to the baseball games for the Abilene Blue Sox. I even got to be bat boy for a couple of games for the visitors. At one game my cousin from Amarillo was visiting and we were bat boys for the Amarillo team. They gave us all of their broken bats, and a glove. We spent the next day nailing the bats back together to hit rocks with out in the parking lot of the football stadium. Many a home run went over the rock fence of the stadium.
There was a grocery store on South 11th with wood floors. This was a favorite spot for the smells and being able to sell the soft drink bottles we had gathered up from everywhere to sell for two cents apiece for bubble gum with baseball cards and hopefully enough extra for a movie at the Metro Theatre. As I recall my first movie was only 10 cents. You used some of the baseball cards to attach to the fork of your bicycle with a clothes pin as an engine noise maker.
- Dennis Pope, Alta Vista and Crockett [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
Don Connelly lived across the street for awhile. He and I got in trouble once for putting sand in my dad's gas tank. Dub Galbraith lived right behind me across the alley. He was usually in more trouble than I was. Dub often challenged me to race him to school at Bowie. For a long time I was faster and would win. He was so happy on the day he finally beat me. We used to trade funny books. Mother would get annoyed because I would have really nice books with the covers intact and his were kind of beat-up looking. It didn't really matter to me because I hadn't read his. Sometimes I got to go in his back yard and play touch football. He had enough brothers and sisters (Gervis, Julia, Deborah and Candy) that with a few other kids we had enough to play. Dub would come and swing on the big swing set Daddy had made for me. Once when we were swinging he accidentally kicked one of my cats real hard and hurt it so bad that Daddy had to put it out of its misery with a hammer.
Our address was 1926 South 19th. Evidently Abilene wasn't prepared for all the "war babies" so the schools were overcrowded when I started to 1st grade. I went mornings only in 1st grade at Alta Vista and in 2nd grade I was an afternoon student. My husband says we were the Alta Vista Roosters but I don't remember that. He was a year and a grade older and was in the old building. First and second graders were in the new building and really didn't take part in much since we only went half a day. When I went to third grade Bowie Elementary was finished so I became a Bowie Bobcat.
The community seemed to be a lot safer for kids in those days than it is today. I guess Mother drove me to Alta Vista and picked me up in 1st grade, (no school buses) but I remember walking home by myself in 2nd grade, and it was pretty far to our house. I always hurried so I wouldn't miss my favorite radio program--Big John and Sparkie. It came on at 5 or 5:30.
Carol Ann Little lived 3 houses down across the alley. Her parents owned the wrestling arena in Abilene. Sometimes I would go over to her house and help her fold, address, and stamp the wrestling circulars they sent to their regular customers. They had a little travel trailer in the back, and sometimes we spent the night in it.
-Holley PURCELL, Alta Vista and Bowie [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
Crystal graduated AHS as an honor student and attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. An AHS cheerleader, she married Michael Ed Bryant, a star Abilene High football player.
Crystal retired as a public affairs manager from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association in 2005 after 20 years of outstanding service. Prior to that, she worked for Percival Tours, where she received an Addy Award for copywriting. She traveled the world during her career, including trips to Singapore, England and the Bahamas.
Unfortunately she was lost to the world on November 6, 2013.
*Michael Lee "Mike" RAGSDALE
Mike was born in Abilene, Texas to Mildred Irene SMITH RAGSDALE and Willard RAGSDALE who died in 1944 during WW II. After the death of his father, Mike's mother, Mildred, married J.D. SNODGRASS in Abilene in 1946 and Mike was sometimes known as Mike SNODGRASS, during his Elementary school days in Abilene. He was a member of the Abilene High Class of 1961 but, also attended Cooper High.
He later earned a degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and began working in 1972 for the US Treasury Dept. in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). In 1975, he was promoted to Program Analyst where he was tasked with finding ways that the ATF could more efficiently collect the federal excise tax on liquor and tobacco. One of his tougher assignments was designing a new method for the calculation of alcohol tax due from Shiner Brewery, Shiner, Texas.
Mike learned to love baseball at a very early age and continued to be involved in different forms of the sport most of his life. He married Dinah SHIELDS and they had a daughter and twin boys. The family moved to the Tyler, Texas area in the 1990's.
In 2014, Mike reported that he very much alive and still married to his first wife and has 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Mike is retired and lives in the Hideaway Lake golf and lake community just north of Tyler, TX.
Dr. Gene RISTER, PHD has had a very successful life long career in academia - starting at McMurry College, Abilene where he earned his Bachelor's Degree and has been known to compose a few poems, along the way. See below.
Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas • Page 11
Publication: Abilene Reporter-News Location: Abilene, Texas Issue Date: Wednesday, February 6, 1974 Page:11
Dr. Gene Rister, chairman of McMurry division of language and literature.
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Creating a Learning Centered College Faculty at Paradise Valley Community College.
Published by Logan McDowell
Gene Rister: Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers ~ 1996, 1998, 2002, and 2005 Marquis Who’s Who in America ~ 2000 through 2005 Marquis Who’ s Who in the World ~ 2003, 2004 and 2005.
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2017 Paradise Valley Community College, Phoenix, AZ - Retired Faculty, Awarded Emeritus Status
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My world was ending; I had to move from North Louisiana where my extended family lived way out west to Texas. I only knew about Texas from cowboy movies. When we finally got to our new home, Abilene, we lived in a rented house at 1641 North 21st St. My mother enrolled me in College Heights School. My new second grade teacher was Mrs. Morton. For the first time in my life I was in a new school that was really new. My classroom was in a new addition that had been recently opened. I didn’t get to know many people before school was out for the year. I do remember Allison Kay Tartt; it is hard to forget a pretty girl, even at seven years old. That summer my folks bought a house on the south side of town, at 818 Grove St.
When school started in the fall of 1951 I was enrolled in Crockett Elementary school, another new school along with Bowie and Fannin and a year or two later Bonham in Elmwood West. My home on Grove was just two houses south of South 8th St. My neighbors on the other side of 8th went to Fair Park. That third grade year was one of many new friends and experiences. Friends, Jack Harrison, Frank Teagarden, Nell Ann Walter, Pat Wright all of us in Mrs. Armstrong’s class. Others joined us there over the next three years, Don Rogers, Jerry Don Griffith, Jerry Paris and others I can’t recall.
The boys participated in sports in school and during the summer played Little League Baseball. The Key City and Dixie Leagues held sway on the south side of town. I was in the Key City League. The two leagues shared a park off South Treadaway behind Mrs. Baird’s Bakery. During these summer games we got to meet folks from other schools. Jerry Fitzhugh and I played for the Gooch Packing Company team the first year I played. The next year the team sponsor became McIlwain Ford. We were called the Crestliners, after a new model of Ford. We learned sportsmanship, some times the hard way. We won a lot of games over the years, but we always had a tough time with the Dividends team, led by Billy Monk and Gerald Williamson.
- Larry Scott, College Heights, Crockett and Fannin [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
‘END OF AN ERA’
Retirement for Seale
April 5th, 2017
Dr. N. Sue “Suzi” Seale’s first day of dental school was in 1966. That day — like many to follow — she crossed Hall Street to make her way into the building, then just four stories.
“I’m still walking across that same street 51 years later,” Seale said to an audience of colleagues, students, family and friends during a March 29 reception recognizing her retirement from Texas A&M College of Dentistry. “It’s hard to leave when you enjoy what you do, but it’s time. I was so lucky I got to stay right here for my career.”
What a career it has been.
At a time when only 1 percent of students in any given dental class were female, Seale ’70, ’72 (Pedo) forged her way in the profession, joining the college faculty in 1974. She went on to become chair of pediatric dentistry in 1986, a post she retained until 2009, in addition to her 17-year role as the department’s graduate program director.
During her tenure, Seale was named a Regents professor by the Texas A&M University System in 1997, an honor held by just nine of 5,000 faculty members at the time. That same year she received the Distinguished Alumna Award from the college’s Alumni Association, and in 2001 she was named Pediatric Dentist of the Year by the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Foundation. Seale was inducted to the dental school’s Hall of Fame in 2010. Her leadership extended into organized dentistry with a role as president of the Texas Academy of Pediatric Dentistry and, on the research front, a known track record for her impassioned studies on primary tooth pulp.
Dr. Alton McWhorter ’85 (Pedo), current pediatric dentistry department head, first met Seale during his grad school interview in 1983, and has worked with her to some extent ever since.
“We developed this communication over the years. Right when I came back in 1986 to join the faculty, we figured out we needed to develop a special mode of communication that was clear to both of us,” McWhorter said.
Of her leaving, he added: “It’s the end of an era for the school, the end of an era for you, and the end of an era for me. I’m happy for you but heartbroken at the same time.”
McWhorter concluded his remarks by presenting Seale with a contribution of $8,500 from colleagues and students toward the N. Sue Seale Endowed Professorship, for which fundraising began in 2012.
Seale, a newlywed, will spend retirement with husband Dr. James Coll, a pediatric dentist she met through their mutual work with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. After marrying in April 2016, Seale says she has gained an entire family of children, grandchildren and siblings.
“It feels like I’ve spent my whole life at the college,” Seale said. “So I leave my Baylor family for my new family. I’ve got a beautiful life, and I truly saved the best for last.”
— By: Jennifer Fuentes
My block, 1800 Chestnut, was the perfect place to grow up. There were playmates to find and adventures to be had in nearly every house on the block. Traffic was light and there were concrete sidewalks populated with horned toads. It was easy to learn to skate, ride a bicycle, and to find one's place in the social structure of the time. I had Kay Altman across the street, Bob Denham next door, Alice Fisher across the alley behind, and Teresa Smith one house away. There were others and I loved to play with all of them.
I remember very little about the first grade at Travis Elementary School. My teacher was Mrs. Day and she had to bathe and delouse some of the students in a metal washtub on the playground. Some of them did not know how to talk so she spent time working on that as well.
It was a cold day when the fourth grade began and I had Mrs.Caffey for a teacher. Saying that she ran a tight ship was an understatement. Academically it was a successful year but not without a price. Miss Caffey called anyone who appeared to be slacking in any way to the front of the class and made them bend over and receive "licks" with a large board. This included girls, but I managed to be very invisible so was not afraid for myself.
Life went on and another high point was the fact that when I walked home from school with Carolyn Featherston, we stopped at the Dixie Pig and got a cherry coke. I think it only cost a dime. Later our block was transferred to Bowie Elementary and things were never the same. Fifth grade at Bowie brought slumber parties in Linda Simmon's basement where we discussed the facts of life. Linda was very well informed.
I was consumed with jealousy over the fact that Gena Jay had Miss O'Lachlin for her third grade teacher at Alta Vista. According to Gena, Miss O'Lachlin spoke in an Irish brogue, was beautiful, and told wonderful stories about life in Ireland.
I felt very deprived because I had Miss Jackson at Travis. Never mind that Miss Jackson held us on her lap, taught us to pray daily, told us that Coca Cola would rot our stomachs, allowed us to push our desks next to our best friend's, let us bring bottles of water with us to class, and read to us daily from politically incorrect books like "Billy and the Major." She also shared the view that Vonnie Looper's golden curls worn in the style of Goldilocks was just the best thing ever. She let Vonnie explain to the class that her mother rolled up her hair with rags.
I too remember the sound of train whistles, Fair Park lions roaring, and some kind of horn blown at the State School to mark the time which I could hear from my house on Chestnut.
The guest list at my third grade birthday party included Gena and Janice Jay, Jarry and Billy Tiffany, Nell Anne and Elaine Walter, Linda Wright, and probably Carol Kerfoot and Eddie Krieger. I do remember the birthday parties. There were no cakes from Krogers or mothers in capri pants. The mothers wore dresses and heels to these occasions and only the fancier parties had sugar spun flowers on the cake. The social event of the year was Barbara Brooks' party. She had every toy known to the time and we all found ourselves playing with them in the social pecking order that was ours.
I remember when margarine had an orange circle at the top of the container and you had to mix it with the contents. I remember when milk was delivered to our homes and thick cream was at the top of the bottles. I remember the Banner Company on the corner that turned from South 14th street to Belmont Blvd. At one point blocks of ice could be bought on that site, but I think it was before Banner took over the corner.
Next to the presents, viewing the Thornton's Christmas display window was the most important thing about December in my childhood. We had a Christmas ritual in which we squeezed grandparents, parents, the whole family into the car to see Thornton's display. It seemed magical at the time. (Now it just seems magical that we could all fit into one car!) Thornton's began to build the display right after Thanksgiving. They built suspense by putting up a curtain to cover that corner window as they worked. Crowds gathered just to look at the curtain. Everyone was hoping to be the first to see the wonderful scene.
The display most prominent in my memory is that of a large, beautifully dressed Santa in a lovely Christmas setting of tree, fireplace, and stocking-hanging elves . They were all moving to the sound of very loud Santa laughter. We were not used to seeing windows
with moving parts, much less ones that laughed raucously. "Ho, Ho, Ho" could be heard for blocks and disturbed neighbors as far away as Amarillo Street. After many phone calls complaining of mysterious laughter, Thornton’s quieted Santa's joy a little. This slight adjustment did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds. Five years after the event, my little sister was still insisting that Santa's true name was "OH HO HO," and that perception continues to be a family joke to this day.
Eddie Krieger and I were forced to take "speech lessons" at Caroline Blair's house on Sayles Blvd. I am not sure what our mothers were thinking and I only remember that I got to wear an evening dress at the recital and that Eddie was pretty miserable about the whole thing.
The all important third grade changed my life forever. Gena Jay and I became best friends even though she attended Alta Vista. We spent every Friday night at one house or the other. She lived on Sayles Blvd. and we were allowed to play on the boulevards. The most memorable game for me was one in which we kissed the lampposts on Sayles. We were practicing in case we ever had the opportunity to kiss a real person. (We did and I'm sure we were well prepared.)
I do remember living close enough to walk to the Metro Movie Theatre where I watched movie marathons every Saturday for twelve cents. You had to pay twelve cents instead of nine when you turned eleven years old.
- Nancy Shoemaker, Travis and Bowie [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
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Nancy's Grandparents built an unusual home in Abilene, where Nancy spent a lot of time during here childhood - enjoy the history. Top about 1959 and lower photo, in 2020.
Horace Clifton SIMS, Jr. "Cliff"
Cliff was born on 26 Jul 1943 in Dallas to Horace Clifton Sr. and Nana Ruth AMOS SIMS. His family moved from the Dallas area to Abilene, TX in 1957 and he attended South Jr. High and graduated from Abilene High School in 1961. Cliff attended Hardin-Simmons, where he was a Cadet in the ROTC, and Texas Tech. He served in the US Army as a 1st Lieutenant in the Vietnam Conflict.
Cliff married Carolyn MEREDITH on 1 Aug 1970 in Carolyn's hometown of Roscoe. They made their first home in Dallas. Together they had a daughter, Susan, and son, Steven.
Later the family lived in Crowley, TX and Cliff was employed in industrial sales for a Fort Worth hydraulic component manufacturer.
He died in Dallas on 18 May 1995 and was buried in Restland Memorial Park, Dallas.
Cliff is survived by his mother, Ruth PATTON; brother, Steve; wife, Carolyn and their children; among others.
Note: Cliff was employed in industrial sales most of his career. One of the companies that Cliff represented was a Fort Worth hydraulic component manufacturer owned by T. Cullen Davis. You may remember T. Cullen Davis as the person who was accused of shooting his wife and her boy-friend in the chest and killing his step-daughter, or you know that Cullen, as the person that many people believe to be the model for J.R. Ewing of "Dallas" fame. Alamo Group Inc. of Seguin was one of Cliff's customers. In 1993, I asked Cliff about Cullen Davis and he was very protective of Cullen Davis (the "party line" I'm sure) but, it seems apparent that Cullen committed the crimes.
~~~Logan
NRA and Military Warriors Support Foundation 
General Leroy Sisco is currently retired from the military after completing a forty-two year career. Born in McAlester, OK, he moved at the age of fourteen with his family to Abilene, TX. He graduated with a BS degree in 1967 from Abilene Christian U.
Close to the end of his senior year in High School he joined the Texas Army National Guard. During his first three years as an enlisted soldier he rose to the rank of E-5 and was selected to attend OCS. General Sisco's military experience spanned command positions from company to Deputy Commander 49th Armored Division and Commander of the TXSG.
His other commands include the 231st Engineer Company, the 386th Engineer Battalion, and 111th Area Support Group, which required a lot of time in Germany working with the 21st TAA COM. He has served in a variety of joint and combined assignments that included major staff positions with the 71st troop command. General Sisco served on the National Guard Association of Texas Board for six years and five of those years he served on the executive board and was President in 1996.
In his business and private community activities, he has received many awards for his support, performance and dedication. He has several business interests from Texas Trophy Hunters TV Show, Ranching, Military Warriors Support Foundation, which helps our Wounded Heroes with homes, jobs, activities and scholarships, and is part owner of several other companies. To date his Foundation has given 375 homes away to wounded Heroes. Their goal is to give away 1,000 homes to wounded Heroes and 500 to Gold Star Family members over the next four years.
He has an honorary doctorate of military arts and science from TMA. He has also been made the honorary President of the Republic of the Rio Grande by the city of Laredo. Abilene Christian U. honored him with Distinguished Alumni of the year Citation. The Texas Legislature has honored him twice with a joint resolution on the House floor from the Senate and House for his duty and dedication to the State of Texas and this Country. The State of Texas inducted him into the Texas Infantry OCS Hall of Fame.
Currently he serves on the board of the Code Talkers Association for the Choctaw Nation and on the Texas Military Forces Support Foundation Board of Trusties. Recently he has been elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association. He is serving on one of the advisory boards for the Texas Parks and Wildlife. He is also serving on an advisory board for the Texas Veterans Commission. General Sisco's awards include, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Lone Star Distinguished Service Medal, and many others. General Sisco and his wife Frances have two sons, a daughter and five grandchildren He and his family reside outside of San Antonio.
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Here are some of the things Leroy Sisco does to help the Military Warriors Support Foundation... Clay Walker and George Strait are both good friends and great contributors...
Hallmark Channel...
http://www.hallmarkchannel.com/homeandfamily/episodes/2045
Here is one with George Strait in front of 76,000 fans. It was special...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gxuFO-3KxM&feature=youtu.be
This was the Mike Huckabee show last weekend and we surprise a Hero...
http://video.foxnews.com/v/2965708514001/wounded-vet-shares-his-story-of-finding-a-home/
This was the Today Show Christmas Morning...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x18uljf_nbc-today-show-veteran-gets-a-new-home-thanks-to-nonprofit_news
Lewisville, Texas
I was looking through the AHS website and clicked on the “Fallen Eagles” link, perhaps to make sure my name wasn’t in there.
I was saddened to see the ever-growing list of names. Ours was such a large class that many of the notices I get from John Odom are about people I didn’t know and can’t recall who they are. Sometimes seeing their picture, as they were back then, reminds me that I did know them.
Looking through the site I came across a few names that brought back some memories. Jimmy Bramlet and I worked together one summer at a steak house on South First Street. I don’t remember the name of the place but we bussed tables and washed dishes and took room service orders to the motel rooms.
One night an Assistant Manager (older than we were) got into a squabble with Jimmy for some reason and the argument escalated into fisticuffs out behind the place. Jimmy beat the snot out of the guy and he came limping back into the kitchen and I heard him tell the Manager, “I must be getting old because that kid just beat the hell out of me.” There were no repercussions from the incident.
There was an older man there who was the official Pot Washer. He was a cantankerous old fellow who was always yelling at us younger guys; he was always telling us how he worked harder than we did. He was harmless but annoying. One night I was washing dishes and Jimmy came over carrying a big pot and motioned for me to come with him. We went over to the gas stove and held the pot handles over the flame until they were almost red hot then we set the pot on the old guy’s pot table and Jimmy told him that the cooks needed the pot washed right away. The old man grabbed the pot by both handles and then screamed loudly and chunked the pot all the way across the kitchen. We should have gotten fired but we didn’t.
I remember that Jimmy played in a band; he was the drummer I think.
Bruce Thuesen, Walter Childress, and I spent the summer of ’62 in Austin. We rented a small house in a neighborhood that is no longer there just east of the Capitol. We worked at the Rome Inn, which likewise is no longer there. Bruce was a Math whiz. I used to tell him he was so smart he was stupid.
Peggy Cook was shot to death in a home robbery in 1982. I didn’t know Peggy very well but I remembered her from her picture. Reading that broke my heart.
I went on active duty to the Navy in October of ’62 and I never saw any of them again.
I went to Bowie. I started there in the 3rd grade and we lived at the very end of Sayles Blvd. It was a perfect place to ride our bikes all over, play football, baseball and walk to the Metro Theater. Linda Simmons moved in in the 4th grade and I was forever late getting home because I had to see one more show. She, Max Mossholder, my brother David and I used to do everything together. We would usually meet at Linda's house because her parents and ours were friends and would play croquet for hours.
We would walk over to the Metro for Sat. shows and as I recall I could see the movie, buy a pickle and pop corn for a quarter. The two old maid owners would come through with their flashlights and whap us on our knees if we had them on the back or the seats in front of us or if a boy had his arm around a girl they would take care of that too. I was always jealous of Linda Simmons - was sure she looked like Elizabeth Taylor.
- Barbara STEVENSON, Bowie [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
I loved the promise of a Saturday morning spent in a darkened theater, enjoying Junior Mints, Candy Cigarettes, popcorn, and a coke while watching a new Western or war movie, a serial like Superman, and cartoons, like Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck! No special computer graphics for these movies and cartoons! Afterwards, I never got used to coming out of the movies into that bright West Texas sunshine!
Since we lived on the south side of Abilene on Oak Street, the Metro Theater, located on Butternut and maybe 10 blocks away from my home, was my “cultural” Mecca where I was entertained, educated, and informed about the bigger world. (Remember the News Reels?) [I do want to say that the Metro wasn't run by "two spinsters". The Colemans (husband and wife) and the wife's sister ran the Metro. It was a great place and the Coleman's were the very best "baby sitters" that Butternut neighborhood had. (Now this will really date me) I remember paying 9 cents to sit and watch cartoons all day (it seemed like) on Saturdays! Yes the floor could get sticky on the weekend for sure. Years later I took my two oldest sons there and the ladies took us on a tour of the building and projectors and gave the boys film clips from some movies. The Colemans were great folks!]
One of the funniest moments I remember in the Metro came during a movie about an Egyptian princess who lived very lavishly in her court and dressed (for the 1950s) very revealingly. It was a tense, dramatic moment: her court advisor had just told her army had lost the battle with the invading Roman army, and now the country was to surrender to the victors. After a dramatic pause, the Princess, racked with emotional duress and concerned about the future, asked: “But who will cook for me? Who will bathe and dress me?” while gesturing to her handmaidens. It was deathly quiet until a young, male voice from the audience yelled out: “I will! I will!” No one could hear the movie for the next 5 minutes because of the audience’s laughter!
Many hours from ages 5 to 12 were spent near the radio. There were kid shows like the Lone Ranger and Space Cadets that were great. Listening to the action on the radio, you had to paint your own universe. In your mind, I could see the Space Cadets finding a source of rocket fuel on the surface of Uranus to escape back to earth. I could see Silver and Scout with their riders, Lone Ranger and Tonto, thundering across the plains even to Fort Phantom Hill. And late in the evenings, the Shadow knew what evil lurked in the hearts of man! And don’t forget the Inner Sanctum, either! It was really scary in a darkened room! It would, to use a modern term, “creep me out”! And that creaking door they used to open and close the program would send chills down my spine and pop out those goose bumps!
------- Hilmer SWENSON, Travis [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]--------------
Here are my elementary school teachers and the years I attended. Any fellow classmates out there? 1st grade Travis - Miss French 1948-49; 2nd grade Travis - Mrs Alford, 1949-1950; 3rd grade Bowie -Mrs Christopher, 1950-1951; 4th grade - Bowie -Mrs Braumbeau 1951-1952; Fifth Grade - Bowie - Mrs Dunn, 1952-1953; and Sixth grade - Mrs ??? Bonham, 1953- 1954.
What Once Was - Very near my first elementary school, Travis, was a nice druggist store, Robinson Pharmacy at 929 Butternut around 1950. I don't remember much about it, but my Cub Scouts den somehow found tire ruts out back of the Pharmacy filled with water and TADPOLES! We all collected bottles and scooped some up. We all got to watch these critters eventually turn into little frogs.
I went to see "Destination Moon" at the Paramount in 1950. After the show, my Dad said "I'll never live to see a real landing on the moon." In 1969, I called my Dad that night in July to remind him that he did get to see it! That movie got me interested in science, and I eventually worked for the AF and NASA for 40 years for various space programs. Just because of the Paramount!
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A Short Biography
Born in Sweetwater, TX but raised in Abilene, TX from 4 yo to graduation from AHS in 1961; My Dad was a Linotype Operator and Page Composer for the Abilene Reporter-News almost 25 years.
I went to Bonham Elementary in 1953/4, and I remember Elmwood West shopping center was next door to one of my friend's home. I remember a lot of good times in that center from just going for a haircut to meeting friends in the parking lot when we all had cars.
Graduated from The University of Texas in Austin, TX with a B.S. in Physics; Sam Houston State University, M.A. in Physics, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Florida State University.
I served in the USAF as a commissioned officer and retired, after 20 years, as a Lt. Colonel. My last assignment was at the Pentagon where I was the Program Element manager for Infrared Sensor Technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative. I have been working in the Aerospace Corporation for 15 years as a Senior Project Leader, and am currently assigned to NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center and working on the next generation, GOES-R, Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellite.
I have three sons, two of whom currently live in Houston, and a third, who attended the University of Maryland, College Park.
My wife and I have endured many years here in Maryland, and I look forward to moving back to Texas as soon as I retire!
My Hobbies include: General Aviation - Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor; Amateur Radio - K5MEW since 1957; Military History and Genealogy.
Just remember, kids, right now is your good old days: "enjoy them now and remember them later."
Hilmer J.r. Swenson
Mary "Glenda" Taylor (1944 - 1963)
Mary "Glenda" Taylor was born Oct. 21, 1944, in Dallas, the only daughter of her parents. Glenda moved with her parents to Abilene in December 1956 where her father was to become manager of the Wooten Hotel in downtown Abilene.
In 1960, Miss Taylor attended a 4-½ week course at the Loretta Young School of Drama in Hollywood, where she took courses in speech, modeling and stage and television drama. She attended the Powers School of Modeling in Dallas.
She graduated from Abilene High School in 1961 (probably the youngest graduate of the AHS Class '61). Following graduation, from Abilene High, she attend Mary Baldwin College 1961-62 school year, Hardin-Simmons University the summer immediately following graduation and the Colorado university the 1962-63 school year. She was nominated as football queen at the Colorado university in 1962. Glenda was majoring in foreign languages, concentrating in French and Spanish and minoring in biological sciences. She was a member of the Alpha Phi social sorority. She was a member of the Episcopal Church in Boulder, Colorado and attended First Baptist Church with her parents in Abilene.
She was a candidate for graduation at the University of Colorado in the spring of 1964. She was attending a Summer session at the International University of Saltillo, Mexico at the time of her death on June 21, 1963. Glenda apparently died from a diabetic stroke after becoming seriously ill, even though it is reported that she had no known history of diabetes.
At the time of her death, Glenda was engaged to Raymond "Rip" Thomas from the AHS Class '60.
Counting Doug and me there were 5 people there that were in my wedding party 41 yrs ago that day. The others being Doug’s cousin Ronny Beyer, our classmate Richard Crowell and a friend named Herluth Faulks.
After his marriage to Gayle, Spencer joined the Abilene Fire Department.
We (Doug and I) sometimes went years without seeing one another but always stayed in touch by Christmas cards. Doug‘s wife Betty, was great at keeping us informed about what was going on with their family and Gayle would do the same. When he retired in 2000 at Lake Brownwood we got back together and saw each other often. He and Betty came to Colorado to visit us in the summer and we spent a couple of New years eve’s with them. We met at different places to eat during the year and I know I really looked forward to our times together.
Mary Virginia "Ginger" was born on September 22, 1943 to Eugene "Gene" and Melba Thornton in Abilene, TX. She was the only grandchild of Elt Lee "E.L." Thornton who founded Thornton's Grocery & Department Store chain.
She graduated from Abilene High School in 1961. In 1962, she married Lanny Baber, an earlier AHS grad. Ginger graduated from McMurry University with a bachelor's degree in secondary education. She taught most of her career in the Abilene ISD as a special education teacher. During college and before her career as a teacher, she worked as a Vice President for Thornton's Department Store, her family owned business. Thornton's was a mega department store in Abilene from 1937 to 1985. Most people remember Thornton's for their Christmas window display.
Ginger later married Ken Scroggs.
She is survived by one son, Matthew Scroggs and wife, Mia, of Austin, TX; one daughter, Melissa Smith and Greg Collins of Abilene, TX; six grandchildren at the time of her death.
San Angelo was my birthplace and for the most part my known universe. Then on an early spring day in 1952, I learned that my father was moving us lock, stock and barrel to a town called Abilene. I clearly remember hearing him say that the family and his new shoe store would fare better in this far off place.
For an eight year old boy, moving was a fate worse than death. How could a person possibly survive a summer in a strange place and with no buddies to explore for good crawdad fishing holes?
My father rented us a place on Jeanette Street, not far from South Junior. There were few kids my age on the block. So, my sister and I entertained ourselves by listening to music on the Motorola. There were nighttime serials along with frequent updates on General Eisenhower’s run for president plus how things were going in another far off place called Korea.
A Jeanette Street neighbor was in the produce business and knew that this new kid needed a distraction. So, he offered me a python snake that had taken a ride in on a fresh stalk of bananas from South America. Wow! My summer just got interesting and having a snake attracted lots of new neighbor’s interest along with guys my age from several blocks around. Buddies at last! My sister and I had started a little bi-weekly neighborhood newspaper so we could get to know people. So with great fanfare we announced the arrival of the feared python snake in our newspaper. What got the neighbors really upset was the headline several months later telling of its escape!
The summer of 1952 ended and the new house out on Buffalo Gap road was ready. Yikes, another move to a new home… plus I learned that I would be riding a bus to a school called Wylie, since we now lived “out in the country.”
Actually, Wylie was a great place to make friends. The bus ride collected everyone who lived nearby so it was not long before there were lots of guys to go shooting our b-b guns with or fishing for catfish in local stock tanks. Many of the nearby families had cattle and horses, so I took a liking to both. Before long my father decided that he wanted a horse hobby. Quarter horses became his passion and I quickly became his full time barn boy...rising for chores early each morning with the radio alarm set for “On the Farm” with Harry Holt! We started out with a cutting horse that was too much for any of us to ride without praying for our life, so after a trade or two we had several great horses.
The family joined the “Range Riders” where there were weekend rodeos and quarter horse shows at the association grounds located somewhere off (South) Treadaway Blvd. or the Winters highway. By now I had a Palomino horse named Pinky, learned to ride barrels and to do a little roping. There were other events too, like catching greased pigs! Believe it or not that event was my first memory of meeting Jimmy “Bubba” Partin! However, the big deal about living in the country was that after school and on weekends (after chores and homework were done), friends and I would be off for hours on end exploring Elm Creek or Lytle Lake or just me riding Pinky with my dog Bingo following close behind. Even Charlie, the white rock barn rooster, often tried to join us. We went everywhere… and the only caution I remember getting from my folks was to be sure to close any gates I opened to ride on others property! Freedom! No Fear!
When living in San Angelo, I had been a Cub Scout and earned all three levels of achievement (Wolf, Bear and Lion) along with numerous arrowheads. Well, through Aldersgate Methodist Church I learned about Boy Scouts and Troop 72. Now this was a place to meet up with great guys! It was with Richard Crowell, Bill Autry, Tony and Bill Bell, Bill Lebus, Truett Austin, Johnny Gerhart and many others that I learned of Camp Tonkawa, explored for flint arrowheads on the cap rocks around Buffalo Gap, camped out (making sure to trench around the tent just in case it rains) and built survival skills like cooking with a cast iron Dutch oven over a campfire made without matches.
- Dale Thorp, Wylie [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
When growing up on 1200 block of Amarillo Street I had the following neighbors. Linda Davis whose dad worked at D & W Tire & Appliance, Jim Hardy, the Rudd brothers, Phil Bledsoe (killed in a car wreck) and Louie (Billy Bob) Davis who's father owned a cattle ranch around Albany. Also Carolyn Stamm and Bob Rice.
Clinton Trigg
During the war, we lived with my grandfather on Orange Street, and I started first grade at Lamar. Then we built one of the first houses in Elmwood West, at 4090 Monticello and I went to Fair Park, Crockett and Bonham because Abilene just kept building closer schools as the population grew. I was in the first fifth grade class in Bonham, and we got to decide on the school colors, mascot and song. I remember my teacher, Mrs. Dotson, went to OU so we plagiarized the OU school song, and I gave an impassioned speech to the student body advocating the adoption of the song, and it won. Truly I thought I had won a Grammy!
My mother's family were all Baptists but Mother said as a child she would look out her window every once and a while and Parson Gerhart would be standing in the middle of my grandmother's rose garden with garden shears cutting my grandmother's roses to take to someone sick in the hospital. When my sister was involved in a serious automobile accident in college and had to be hospitalized in Hendricks for weeks, she always had a roomful of floral arrangements. The Parson would arrive on the scene every few days and ask Elaine which arrangement she could do without because he had just discovered one patient who was very sad and had no flowers, and he would be more than happy to take one of hers to them for her.
Parson Gerhart was a devout Episcopalian but he was totally devoted to ALL the faithful. There were only three families in Abilene who belonged to the Greek Orthodox church, and they all ended up at the small Heavenly Rest church. He was such a scholar that he loved the Old Testament and made friends with the Jewish families in town. I remember him saying that one of his greatest thrills was when the First Baptist Church's minister had an emergency, and he called The Parson to see if he would mind preaching at the service. Of course, he said yes, because he said he could hardly imagine getting to preach in front of so many people!
- Nell Anne Walter
Eddie's memory of the Boarding House is a favorite memory because after Confirmation Classes, the Parson would always take all the class to lunch there. To this day I don't remember a thing I learned in Confirmation Classes, but I'll never forget all the fun we had at lunch afterwards.
Nell Anne WALTER, Lamar, Fair Park, Crockett and Bonham [Special thanks to the "The Sovereign Neighborhoods" class project - Editor, Michael Grant (Mike Wayman)]
A look at Nell Anne in 2008.
Ann was a senor transfer from Corpus Christi, TX. Her father was an Optometrist for Texas State Optical and he and Ann moved to Abilene, in 1960 leaving the rest of the family in Corpus Christi for a few months. Ann was an ardent supporter of John F. Kennedy and worked hard in the 1960 Presidential campaign. The family returned to Corpus Christi and she later married Col. Gerald Hipp.
See Mike Grant
After graduating from Abilene High School, David attended Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) and received a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. He obtained his CPA certificate that he held for over 50 years. While at Tech, he was a member of Delta Tau Delta social fraternity and Saddle Tramps. David was recruited and later employed by Ernest and Ernest, CPAs accounting firm in Dallas. Subsequently, after Texas Tech, David proudly served his country in the US Army Reserve from 1967 through 1971. During David’s successful business career, he obtained his Real Estate and Broker’s licenses and returned to his "hometown" Abilene where he continued in business.
In Oct. 1965, David married Rebecca Gentry of Throckmorton, TX. Together they has to sons, Glen Webb and Russell Webb.
David Welch, superintendent of the Sweetwater Independent School District for nine years, has submitted his resignation, effective the end of the current school year, May 31, 1998.
"I don't have any plans right now -- except to not leave Sweetwater," he said Wednesday. "After 32 years in education I just feel like it is time to take off a few months and then consider employment options outside of public education."
"I'm 55 years old and I just feel the challenge to try something else," he added.
He emphasized that his wife, Judy, plans to continue teaching at Southeast Elementary School and that the couple will not move. They are both active in First Baptist Church and he said he will consider some lay ministry opportunities.
"We both love Sweetwater and consider it our home. So do our kids," he said.
Born in Abilene, Welch is the son of Lucille Welch, now of Anson, and the late J.Y. Welch. He graduated from Abilene High School, where he starred in basketball, in 1961. He played basketball at San Angelo College for two years and at North Texas State University for two, graduating from North Texas in 1965.
"Tom Ritchie and I started coaching football together in junior high in Euless in 1965," he said with a laugh. Ritchie has been Sweetwater High School's head football coach for 12 years and recently reached the coveted 200-victory plateau in high school football.
The Welches' son, Mike, was an all-state fullback on Sweetwater's 1985 state championship football team and later played at Baylor. Their daughter, Jana, starred in track at SHS. Both were honor graduates of SHS and are now in graduate school at Dad's alma mater, now the University of North Texas.
David Welch was with the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district for 13 years, then at Paris for a year before he came to the SISD as assistant superintendent in charge of business in 1979.
David was elected Mayor of Sweetwater in 2004 and served until 2008.
Source: Abilene Reporter-News October 23, 1997
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(from L to R) Zach Welch, David Welch, Jake Welch & Michael Welch
January 2, 2013
Pictured here from left are Zach Welch, David Welch, Jake Welch and Michael Welch at Prestonwood Stadium in Plano where Jake’s football team, the Chargers, recently won the sixth grade championship while being coached by Michael, his father and a former Sweeetwater High School and Baylor University star athlete.
Zach was the quarterback for his Shadowridge team that finished as the eighth grade runnerup in the Lewisville ISD.
David and his wife Judy, not pictured, still live in Sweetwater and are the parents of Michael Welch and the grandparents of Zach and Jake Welch.
I had a Miss Ruby Range, sweet older single lady, a Ms. Gay and Mr. Fannin (who was also the sports Coach) in 6th grade at Anson Jones Elementary. We lived off Old Anson Rd. and I walked to and from Anson Jones Elementary School at 2002 Jameson St. each school day. I remember I was crowned School Queen and Weldon Pace, was King in the 6th grade, which was the first year the school opened and only year I attended there. I went on to North Jr. High, then graduated Abilene High School in 1961, last class before Cooper High also had a graduating class.
2017 update: I’m a happily married pastor’s wife with 8 wonderful grandchildren age 5-20 and am still living in Texas.
(Note: Linda married Ed Rister before she graduated AHS so, she graduated as "Linda Williams Rister".)
Williams-Rister - Wedding Set (Nov 25, 1960)
Announcement of the engagement of Linda Ann Williams to Edgar Arnold Rister has been made by the bride-elect's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Williams, 1141 Westview. Rister is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Rister, 3602 Pine. Both the bride-elect and her fiance attended Abilene High School. He is employed by Thomas Neon Sign Co. The couple will be married Nov 25.
Abilene Reporter-News, Abilene, Texas Sun, Oct 30, 1960 Page 34
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Linda and Ed Rister divorced after the birth of three sons and more than 20 years of marriage, in 1982. Later in 1984, she married Ronald E. Riley. Sadly, Linda passed away on 15 May 1989 in a hospital in Fort Worth.
Richard Earl YOUNG (10 Dec 1942 - 19 Sep 2012)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Obituary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Richard E. Young
December 10, 1942 - September 19, 2012
Richard Earl Young, 69, passed away on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, in Abilene. Visitation for family and friends is on Friday, September 21, 2012, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM at Elmwood Funeral Home, 5750 Hwy 277 South. Funeral service is at 10:00 AM on Saturday, September 22, 2012, at Elmwood Funeral Home Chapel, with Mike Woodard officiating. Entombment will follow in the Mausoleum at Elmwood Memorial Park.
Richard was born on December 10, 1942, in Stamford, TX, to parents A.B. and Faye WILLOUGHBY Young. After he graduated from Abilene High he joined the TX National Guard. Shortly after, he met the love of his life Sue Mills Young. They were married on October 8, 1965, in Amarillo, TX. Richard was the kind of guy that never met a stranger; he was a kind, loving man. He was a hard worker; he started at the bottom of the grocery industry, but didn’t stay there long. He went all the way to the top as director of operations. He leaves behind a trail of precious memories with his family and loved ones; such as family vacations, his famous jokes, and his love for doughnuts.
Richard is survived by his wife, Sue Young; his children, Pam Coats and husband Kevin of Wichita Falls, Kim Potter of Abilene, Rick Young and wife Merrideth of Abilene; his grandchildren, Kelsey and Kolton Coats, Christopher Wise, Cody and Casey Potter, Tyler and Tiffany Young; his mother, Faye Young; one brother, Randy Young and wife Rose; and one sister, Linda Berger.
He was preceded in death by his father A.B. Young.
In lieu of flowers memorials contributions are suggested to the American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Ste 300, Rockville, MD, 20852 or online at www.kidneyfund.org.
The family would like to extend their thanks to Southside Dialysis Center, Southwest Park Baptist Church, Dr. Fakhoury and the staff at Hendrick Medical Center.
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