Howard
ABEL – 12/02/1998
We have learned that Howard ABEL died in Arizona on December 2, 1998.
|
John
Franklin ALLEN – 4/21/2001
Franklin Allen died on April 21, 2001 at his farm in Schulenburg. He was a graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown. Throughout his career he
was involved in banking, real estate investments and ranching. He was an avid sportsman including hunting
and golfing. He was a longtime member
of the board of Clarewood House and a member of Chapelwood Methodist Church.
|
Robert ANDERSON – 12/13/1985
Native and lifelong resident of Houston, died December 13, 1985. He was president of Bob Robertson
Chevrolet and was a member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church.
He was a member of the Houston Country Club, and was a graduate of Trinity University. He was involved in
many civic and charitable organizations.
|
Jim
ATWELL - 04/19/1995
Jim Atwell died April 1, 1994 in Wichita Falls. He was vice
president of sales for Coastal Transport Co, a graduate of the University of Texas and a member of the “T” Association, a member of the Baptist Church and of the San Antonio Gun Club, and he had served
in the United States Army.
|
Jim BARNES – 10/26/1999
|
Becky
BEELEY Watkins – 12/11/1986
Rebecca (Becky) Beeley
Watknis, 42, passed away December 11, 1986. She was born May
6, 1944.
A native Houstonian, Becky attended River Oaks Elementary, the Kindaid School, and Lamar. She
graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1967. She was a
member of St.
Martin’s
Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday School,
sang in the choir and assisted in many activities. She belonged to
Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority and was active for many years in the Theta Charity
Antique Show. She was also a member at River Oaks Country Club.
Becky was a Texas Real Estate Broker for fifteen years and a longtime
employee of the Children’s Collection. She was a past president of the
Friends of Briarwood School Organization and past chairman of the Briarwood
School Benefit. She participated for many years in the St Francis
Episcopal Day School Parents Organization and St. Francis Day
Benefit. She also volunteered unselfishly of her time to the American
Red Cross, The Museum of Natural Science and the Channel 8 Auction.
Becky was truly an Angel, a devoted wife and mother, and was beloved and
admired by her family and many friends.
|
Mark
BELTON – 8/03/2003
JOHN
MARK BELTON, 59 passed away Sunday, August 3, 2003 at UTMB Hospital in Galveston.
He was born in Houston, Texas on January
13, 1944. He graduated from Rice University in 1966, and then went on to get
his masters from Emory University in 1977.
He
taught for GISD for 33 years the majority spent at Ball High School, where he believed, "I Have
thrived on the emotional energy which is generated by the connected processes
of teaching and learning. I have been
fortunate to share the odyssey of discovery with hundreds of willing
participants", including family, friends and students.
"Collectively
and individually these people have contributed greatly to my
development."
Although
he felt this way, we who kenw and loved him felt
that his contribution to our lives and development far outweighed what we
gave him.
A
scholarship fund has been established in John Mark Belton's name at Hometown
Bank of Galveston (409) 763 1271.
+++++
Aubry
Fisk provides the following comments about Mark BELTON:
Mark
Belton and I first met in the third grade at Roberts Elementary. The friendship that developed continued for
the next 50 years until his death in August, 2003. During the course of the early years,
Pershing Junior High, he and I had a fantastic time enjoying not only our
athletic endeavors, of which he excelled, but the countless hours we spent
riding my motorcycle through many parts of Houston.
The fun continued at Lamar as he excelled in athletics and I remained
part of the program as a student athletic trainer; however, instead of a
motorcycle the fun continued in my 1951 Plymouth.
Approximately
three weeks before his death Mark, M'Lou,
Priscilla, and I had a good visit during which we recalled a time when I was
driving in the rain and the windshield wiper on my side quit working. Mark was watching the curb side to make
sure I didn't go in the ditch and I was looking out my side window for any
large moving obstacles. Mark decided
at this time that he needed a chew of tobacco and as he was continuing to
watch his side of the road the time came when he needed to spit, which he
did. The only problem was that he
forgot to roll his window down. We had
a great time remembering this story as it was just as funny in 2003 as it was
almost forty years ago.
There
were many fun stories and adventures from the third grade on but the most
important thing to remember, especially for me, is that Mark was a giant of a
man with an equally big heart and wonderful smile which he shared with all
who knew him.
I can
truly say that If it had not been for the warmth, kindness, caring, love and
friendship of Mark Belton following my motorcycle accident; I would not be here today.
|
Betty
BORDAGES Bartlett – 1/11/1998
Betty Bordages
Bartlet was born in Dallas on July 23, 1944 and died on January 11, 1998. She was married to Craig Edsall
Bartlett for thirty-one years. She graduated from the University of Texas where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. She served as past chairman of the Theta
Charity Antiques Show and was president of the Kappa Alpha Theta Alumnae
Association. She was a lifelong member
of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. She had
been a realtor with John Daugherty and with Zarr
and Company. She belonged to the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
|
Beeann BRAWLEY Morgan – 11/10/2001
Bill Morgan
sends us the following about his wife, Beeann BRAWLEY
Morgan:
“My wife, Beeann BRAWLEY Morgan passed away on November 10, 2001. She was quite a lady--full of energy, love
and compassion for all people. Beeann devoted over thirty years of her life to the
public school children of Texas, first
as a teacher and for the last twenty five years as a counselor. She spent the last decade of her life
working solely with ‘at risk’ teenagers.
She rarely missed a day of work, and no matter how she was feeling,
she always had a smile for those kids.
After leaving Lamar
High School
in 1962, Beeann went on to earn a master’s degree
and over seventy post-graduate hours.
During her career she impacted the lives of literally thousands of
people-- children and adults alike. Since
her death I have received numerous cards, phone calls and drop in visits from
people who were total strangers to me, and they all came with essentially the
same message—“You don’t know me, but Bee was my best friend!” I do not want Beeann
to be forgotten. I was fortunate to be
her husband for fifteen years. She was
truly an angel who walked this earth.
Thank you. Bill Morgan.”
|
Carl
BUTERA
|
Arthur
BYRD
|
Gay
CALDWELL Roper – 1/12/1991
Gay Caldwell Roper died on January 12, 1991.
She attended the University of Texas and was a member of the
Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority and a member of the First Baptist Church of
Houston.
|
Nancy CARLISLE
Dickerson – 11/17/1992
|
Flemming
CARPENTER – 12/27/1993
|
Judy
Ruth CLARKE Curry – 09/20/2001
We are informed that Judy Ruth CLARKE
Curry died in 2001. “She was a
wonderful, loving person and mother who was always
supportive when someone was in need.
She was the true definition of a special person.”
|
Dianne
DEMME Woodward – 11/24/1989
Dr. Genevieve Diana Demme Woodward died in Media, Pensylvania
on November 24, 1989. She graduated in the Liberal Arts Honors
Program of the University of Texas, received a degree of Master of Philosophy and Information Science
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and a Ph.D in Philosophy from Temple University in Philadelphia. She was an
assistant professor of Library and Information Science at Drexel University, teaching courses in philosophy, logic, ethics,
information systems analysis, language processing and artificial
intelligence. She was a member of the
American Philosophical Society, the Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical
Association The American Society for Information Science, the Instrument
Society of America, the American Library Association, the
American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the Society for the Study
of Professional Ethics and the Fullerton Club.
|
Tom
EARMAN – 1970s
Jim Earman
informs us of the following about his brother, Tom EARMAN:
My brother attended UT in Austin for two years after
graduating from Lamar. He joined the US Navy in 1964. He served on a destroyer
out of San Diego. I don't remember the
name of the ship. He made two West Pac cruises during the Vietnam days. I believe he was an
Electronics Tech on the ship. After his enlistment was over he left San Diego and went to live with our
mother and stepfather in New Jersey. He was attending Rutgers at the time of his death.
He died of a self inflicted gunshot. He was a pretty troubled young man in
the final year or so of his life. I don't think anyone really understood the
reasons for his depression.
|
Hal
EDDINGS – 12/1985
|
Beth
EVANS - 04/19/1996
|
Margie FRANKLIN Ross – 04/11/2004
Margie FRANKLIN Ross, age 60,
native Houstonian, died Sunday, April
11, 2004 in Houston.
She
was preceded in death by her parents Paul E. Franklin and Leta
Margaret Franklin, and is survived by her husband Richmond W. Ross, daughter
Daisy Ross Moreno and husband
Rene; brother James Franklin, cousins Ann Brazzel,
Mary Sue Wald, Chuck Britain and Bill Britain,
nieces and nephews Cissy Stillman,
Debbie Green, Bart Franklin, Mark Ford and Doug Ford.
She
was a graduate of the University of Houston with a Masters Degree in
Psychology. She was member of the St. Vincent De Paul Society and St. Francis
De Sales Catholic Church. She was
very involved in H.O.P.E., active in several church organizations and enjoyed
traveling, painting and photography.
|
Bob
GERNER – 04/1980
Bob Gerner died
from a heart attack in April, 1980 while living in Springhill, Virginia. He is survived by his only daughter, Sandra
Marie Gerner Richardson, now of Orlando,Florida.
|
Mickey
GREABER - 1987
|
Ronald GREENFIELD – 1/17/1992
Ronald
H. Greenfield was born in Houston on November
1, 1943
and died on January 17, 1992. He was a graduate of the University of Houston and was a member of
Congregation Emanu El.
|

WICK GRETHER – 07/12/2002
Jan Wichert
Grether
27 March 1944 – 12 July 2002
by Henry Guest, Classmate
Wick Grether and I were in homeroom together through junior
high and high school. We knew each
other well. I celebrated Wick’s final
passage in July 2002 but I remember an earlier Rite of Passage, when we
were about 13 years old, a passage known as Full Blown Puberty.
One weekend, three of us stayed over at Wick’s house and we
slept on pallets in the basement.
Actually it was a split-level house with the basement opening up on
the downhill side in back. At night,
it would get pitch black with the lights off.
Well, Wick had invented this game where everyone puts on boxing gloves, turn off the lights
and crawl around on your hands and knees to protect your vital parts until
you ran into someone, and then slug it out.
Who else would think of a “Fun Game” like that? Wick had 4 sets of boxing gloves. I don’t know anyone else that had that many
sets of gloves. Wick was stocky and
strong, so you tried to stay away from him.
During the Slug Fest, Garrett got too close to a concrete block
wall, hit it and fractured his wrist.
Either that same weekend or perhaps
another, Wick had gotten the brilliant idea of egging the neighborhood.
His mother said later that she thought it was a little strange that he
asked her to buy a couple of dozen eggs because the guys were coming over,
but, she thought we were just hungry growing boys. Wrong!
That night we went out and egged the neighborhood within a 50- yard
semi-circular radius of Wick’s house.
Some hit windows. Some hit
brick walls. And I remember at least
one that hit a wood-louvered screen door.
Saturday morning, when neighbors went out to get the paper and
discovered the mess, they also realized that the house at the center of the
mess was untouched. The epicenter was
Wick’s house. We were real smart. We had been up till about 5 in the morning
before we faded off to sleep. About 8:30, Wick’s mother
came down the basement stairs screaming.
I won’t go into what she yelled but it would put a sailor to
shame. After she got a few calls from
neighbors, she checked the refrigerator, found all the eggs were gone and
knew she had been had. We came
off our pallets half asleep, pleading, “Don’t tell our parents Mrs. Grether. We’ll
clean it up. Please don’t tell our
parents.” Have you ever tried to clean
dried egg off anything? Took the half
the day and no breakfast. There wasn’t
any breakfast. It was all up and down
the street.
Wick was a likable, gregarious fellow and
plenty smart or we wouldn’t have been able to get into the depth of trouble
that we did. At Lamar, Wick was a
member of the PowWow service organization and Kachina drama club (Yep! “No business like show
business” for Wick. He was also an
organizer of the famous/infamous off-campus fraternity called the ABC’s. The ABC’s always did their best to keep the
alcohol flowing by choice at weekend parties and, as a Spring
ritual, they threw the famous Luau at Wick’s house off Memorial
– two live bands, an exotic dancer, tables of catered food and one Tanglewood cop to please the city (although it wasn’t in Tanglewood). 15 bucks a couple.
There was soda and punch but mostly byob. There were few, if any, tables or chairs for
the partygoers. You brought your own
blanket and sat, rolled or wrestled with your date on the grounds and maybe
the neighbor’s yard. Cars lined both
sides of Glenwood Street and spilled onto
Memorial Drive. Neighbors could hardly drive between them to
get in and out of their driveways. One
neighbor was kicking couples out of his yard.
Good thing ‘62 was our senior year because the neighborhood got a
court order banning future parties.
After graduating in the upper quartile
from Lamar, Wick thought he would teach the Methodist at Southwestern University, Georgetown, how to
party. Well, they had other ideas and
Wick found himself a candidate for the draft.
The Vietnam War was
going strong and, rather than be drafted, he joined the Navy. Wick scored exceptionally high on
qualifying tests and was put into Electrical Tech, Navigator-Bombardier
training at Grumman Aircraft’s campus in Seattle. Grumman made the big fighter-bombers used
by the Navy. Wick was no stranger to
personal pain or death around him.
During his service, he was in an auto accident and they had to re-build his face. He knew the
pain of recovery from multiple operations early in life.
He was assigned to the 1st nuclear
aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN
65), off the Vietnam coast and was on
the flight deck a lot of the time attending the Grumman fighter-bombers. Occasionally, he flew non-combat missions
as navigator-bombardier when pilots needed to get in their flight hours. You sat side-by-side with the pilot on the
big Grummans and Wick talked about the rush you get
from the “G” forces when being catapulted off the flight deck; how dangerous
it was coming in and landing on a moving/tossing deck and the “G” forces
coming to a halt in a couple of hundred yards after you hooked the cable
arrestor.
The USS Enterprise’s keel was laid
February 1958, Newport News, VA. She was launched September 1960 and
commissioned November 1961. She was
powered by 8 nuclear reactors and 4 steam turbine driven propellers. Overall length: 1,123 feet (almost 4
football fields). Flight deck width:
257 feet. Flight deck area: 4-1/2
acres. Beam: 132.8 feet. Draft: 39 feet. 93,500 tons displacement fully loaded. Speed: 35 knots. Planes: approx. 85. Crew: Ship 3,200 plus Air Wing 2,480 (a floating city
of approx. 5,700 people). Homeport: Norfolk, VA. From 1961 to 1972, she was the biggest
warship in the world.
(http://navysite.de/cvn/cvn65.html)
Wick was like a “Cat-with-9-Lives.” On 14
January 1969, he just went down off the flight deck when a horrific
accident happened. To start the jet
engines, they used a machine called a Huffer that they would place
in front of the engines. It blew hot
air into the engine to help get it started.
Some how, a Huffer got too close to a Zuni
missile mounted under a wing of an F-4 Phantom jet. The missile detonated and a fire
ensued. Most of the planes on deck
were loaded with bombs and missiles.
The F-4 blew up setting off a chain reaction, blowing up planes around
it and, then, planes around them, killing any personnel around. When the planes exploded, they blew up, out
and down through the flight deck killing men below where Wick had just
entered. There were eight
explosions. In one day, Wick lost 27 shipmates with scores
of others injured. 15 aircraft were
destroyed of damaged.
After his service in the Navy, Wick
returned to Houston, entered the
insurance business, and eventually formed a partnership named Grether/King Insurance, specializing in the
business insurance market. Wick
married Susan and they had a daughter, Taylor, both now of Dallas. After the marriage dissolved, Wick married Vonnie. Wick sold
his interest in the insurance business went into real estate, then foreign
currency exchange. Wick won a courageous
battle over a cancerous tumor in the sinus area but succumbed to cancers of
the lung and colon.
It is said,
“Pain is inevitable; Misery is optional.”
Wick always got up on his feet and went through life living it for all
it was worth. He was an
adventurer. And, understandably, on
occasion, the “Cat-with-9-Lives” came home to a “Cat-of-9-Tales.”
|
Carol
HAMIL Callaway – 01/08/1998
Michael
Callaway informs us that his wife, Carol HAMILL
Callaway died on January
8, 1998 from cancer. Carol graduated from Mills College
and married Michael in 1967 while she was getting her Master’s degree in art
history at Tulane. She taught art
history in various colleges for over twenty years. After their children were in elementary
school, she returned to the University of Maryland
to pursue a Ph.D. which she completed in 1993. She and her family spent numerous summers
in Oaxaca,
Mexico,
where she did the research on her dissertation. At the time of her death, she and Michael
were residents of Washington,
D.C.,
where she served as a curator of the pre-Columbian collection of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum,
a research institution which is part of Harvard University. In 2000 Harvard dedicated a colonial
Mexican mask in her memory.
|
John
HEAD – 08/02/1988
John
William Head died August 2, 1988 at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston. He was born in Houston on January
9, 1945. He attended Our Lady of Fatima Catholic
School and Texas City High School before graduating from
Lamar. He received a BBA degree from
the University of Houston where he was a member of
Sigma Nu fraternity. He served as a First Lieutenant in
Intelligence in the U.S. Army in Viet Nam and received the National
Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal,
the Air Medal, two overseas Service Bars and the Bronze Star.
|
Jay
HEARD – 3/1989
|
Martha JENNINGS Guentzel – 03/1985
|
Don
JOHNSON – 08/07/1994
Donald
Gene Johnson died on August 7, 1994. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at
the University of Texas and served in the Air Force
Reserves at Ellington Air Force Base.
He was executive vice president of Johnson Comer Company. He was a
member of the Houston Yacht Club and the Galveston Bay Cruising Association.
|
Gaither
JONES – 4/2/1963
Gaither L. Jones, III, died on April
2, 1963
in an automobile accident near Laredo, Texas. He was a freshman at Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos.
|
Marcia
KENDRICK Gilchriest –
06/1987
|
Gary LAMBERT
– 4/23/65
|
David
LAND
|
Laura Louise LaPRELLE – 01/31/1985
|
Jack LOVE – 12/18/1998
|
Karen McCONNELL – 10/14/1993
|
Mary PORTER Montgomery
|
Sara Ellen NORMAN Edman – 07/11/2000
Sara
Norman Edman was born in Houston on December
9, 1943
and died July 11, 2000. She attended Texas A & M University.
|
Gary O’BRIEN – 12/03/2001
Patricia O’Brien, the wife for twenty five
years of our classmate, Gary O’BRIEN, reports from Simonton, Texas that Gary passed away from a heart
attack at his office on December 3, 2001. Gary was dearly loved and is
greatly missed. He leaves behind two
sons, Ricky (36), and Shawn (23), a daughter, Kelly (20) and three grand
children. Two more grand children
(twins) are expected in August, 2002.
|
Ricky ORR – 02/1982
|
Larry PENNEY – 1/23/04
Larry
Edward PENNEY died in Houston on January 23, 2004. He was born on November 3, 1943 in Evansville, Indiana and moved to Houston at six weeks of
age. He always said: “I got to Texas as fast as I
could.” He was a founding Board Member of the Lamar Alumni
Association. He attended the University of Houston for two years and
enjoyed his career as real estate broker and loan officer. He was an
active member of the Houston Realtors Association, National Association of
Realtors and the Houston Area League of PC Users. Larry was also
proud to be a crewman on the Tall Ship Elissa based
in Galveston. He was a
skilled pianist and played for many years. He religiously read the
daily paper and was very interested in politics, history and continuous
education. Larry was proud of his country and of his time as a U.S.
Marine.
Larry Attended Second Baptist Church since birth and
was enrolled in the Basic Training Sunday School class. He was always
regular in attendance until he became too ill with Lymphoma Cancer to be
present. He thanks the many people who befriended him during his last
months.
|
Brooke PHELPS – 03/03/1996
|
Bill PITTMAN – 03/26/1999
Bill Pittman was born in El Dorado, Arkansas, on February 18, 1944 and died on March
26, 1999. For many years he served as the director of
medical photography at The Methodist Hospital.
|
Elizabeth Dianne RICHARDS – 11/05/2001
Elizabeth Dianne Richards
died November 5, 2001
after a long illness. She attended Trinity University and graduated from the University of Houston and South Texas School of Law.
She was a past member of the Executive Committee of the Texas State
Democratic Party, a past board member of the YMCA and a candidate for the
U.S. Congress in the 1980’s.
|
Byron Campbell RIPPY – 01/07/2000
|
Rob ROBERTSON – 12/13/1985
|
Sharon ROE McLemore – 03/19/1980
Rique Carson tells us the
following about Sharon Ann ROE
McLemore (1944-1980):
“Sharon will always be remembered
for her beautiful smile and her unique personality. Before coming to
Lamar, she had a great circle of friends at Rogers and Pershing. After
graduating from Lamar, Sharon attended Baylor University where she met and married
Frank McLemore. They had three wonderful sons-John, Steve, and
Frank. During the great times that they had together, they lived in Little Rock, St. Louis, and Houston. In the late 70's, Sharon found out that she had
cancer and she started her treatments in Houston. She was so
courageous and was such an inspiration to everyone that knew her. She
fought a gallant battle and always carried herself with grace and honor.
Unfortunately, after a short time, she passed away on March 19, 1980. She will be remembered for her kindness
and loyalty to others. Her three sons honor her in the lives that they
live today. Thank you Sharon for the unforgettable
memories!”
|
Ronnie ROTEN – 09/29/1969
|
Elizabeth SAFFORD Elliot – 01/10/2001
|
Donald SCHMIDT – 01/13/2003
Donald Schmidt was born in Houston
on October 18, 1944 and
died on January 13, 2003. He was a graduate of the University
of Texas. His career began at Weyerhauser,
where he worked as an accountant and salesman. His success in sales led him to open his
own businesses, Triangle Packaging and later D.S.E. which became the largest
stock box provider in Texas. He sold D.S.E. in 1996 and retired to Lake
Tahoe, Nevada. In 2000 he moved to Katy,
Texas.
He was an accomplished accordionist.
He enjoyed conversation, music, reading and his daily laps in the
pool. He took pleasure in good food
and had barbecuing down to an art.
|
Ric SCHUBERT – 01/20/1999
|
David SCOTT – 12/09/1988
David
Scott graduated from Southwestern University at Georgetown and was a member of Palmer
Memorial Episcopal Church. He was
Sales Manager for Security Couriers, Inc., and was a Veteran of the U.S. Army
during the Vietnam Conflict. He was a
former member of the Houston Grand Opera Chorus. His surviving mother, teacher Mabel Scott,
died in Houston on February
27, 2002.
|
Suzy SHIPPEE Sheppard – 02/17/1980
|
Claire SINGLETON Craft – 10/29/1969
We have learned that
Claire SINGLETON Craft was a school teacher in Galveston I.S.D. at the time
of her death.
|
Carol SPAW Droker – 04/09/1997
Carol
Dianne Spaw-Droker was born in Houston on December
31, 1943
and died at her home in Seattle on April
9, 1997. She was a graduate of Rice University and in 1982 was awarded a
M.T.A. degree in Biology at the University of Washington. In the process of earning her degree and
working with faculty and staff at the Burke Museum for Ornithology, she became a
Curatorial Assistant and Preparator of Birds, and
became involved in collection of bird specimens in Washington, Alaska, the Cook Islands, Russia and the Soviet Republics. She was a leader in field research and
participated in writing of articles for publication. She was a member of Cooper Ornithological
Society, Washington Ornithological Society, and Society for Northwestern
Vertebrate Biology.
|
Winston STELTER –11/04/1993
Winston H. Stelter
died peacefully on November 4, 1993 after a three year battle
with cancer. He was a life long
resident of Houston. He loved racing motorcycles and would like
to be affectionately remembered as number 88N.
|
Ralph STERNBERG – 11/20/1999
Ralph M. STERNENBERG, 57, passed away on November 20, 1999 after a brief illness. He was reared
in Houston and received a Bachelor of Art’s degree
from the University of Houston studying languages and
psychology. Soon after graduating, he traveled extensively throughout Europe where he fell in love
with Germany and its language.
After attending the Universitat Berlin in Berlin, Germany, he pursued a second
career teaching German in Houston at Rice University’s Continuing Education
Department. Years later he found himself in the hotel business in Houston working for large
corporations as an outside consultant in management and accounting. His
true love remained the classics-music and languages, particularly Latin,
Shakespeare and his favorite composer, Mozart. He was deeply
compassionate for the less fortunate and took great pride in his ability to
offer encouragement and hope to those in need. Ralph had the uncanny
ability to see the innocence of the world through the eyes of a child and to
express his thoughts to others through his wit and is keen sense of
humor. Anyone who was lucky enough to know Ralph and to experience his
delight with life will never forget his vulnerability and sensitivity, which
also was part of his charm. He will be sorely missed for his quick wit,
his untamed spirit and his unwavering loyalty to family and to friends.
He was truly an angel from Heaven that God shared with us for too brief of a
moment.
|
Troy STOKES – 11/24/1992
Troy STOKES,
long time gay rights activist, died November 24, 1992, of AIDS related complications. Troy was born in Houston on July 17, 1944. He
graduated from Rice
University in 1966.
Troy's battle against HIV had lasted eight
years. Always a fighter on the side of
socially important,
if controversial causes, Troy participated in the Selma Civil Rights
March while attending Rice University. Troy began his gay rights activism as one of
the founding members of the Gay Liberation Front at the University of Texas at Austin in the late sixties. He continued the struggle for gay rights
until his illness prevented him from further efforts. His activities included being active in the
Gay Switchboard in San Antonio and Gay Community Services of Austin in the
seventies and as a co-director of Gayline in the
late seventies and early eighties.
Often a pariah even among the gay "community," Troy always stood by his principles. In one instance he steadfastly pressed for
the inclusion of people with AIDS in a buddy program of the AIDS Project
until the exclusionary policy was changed.
He was also a strong proponent of early testing for HIV before it became
popular among early AIDS activists. Troy's activism extended to religion too. He was the first, and only, openly gay
person elected to the board of the Southwest Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. He
fought many years trying to get the United Methodist Church to treat its gay and lesbian members
decently. The causes for which he
fought have yet to see a successful completion, but the struggle is
considerably farther along than it would have been had Troy not been with us. Always a defender of the underdog and always
ready to give a gentle, listening ear to the troubled, Troy will be sorely missed.
|
Sandra SWANLAND – 3/7/1984
Sandra Lee SWANLAND, 39, died March
7, 1984.
She was a native and life long resident of Houston and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin in 1966.
|
Tommy TAYLOR – 4/21/03
Tommy Taylor was born in Houston on October 31, 1944. He
attended school at St. Johns, Grady, Lanier, Lamar and
Texas Tech University. He enjoyed all sports, playing Little
League as a youth and later golf at Lamar.
He served in the U.S. Army Reserves and was a longtime member of St.
Luke’s United Methodist Church. He was President of Capital City Mortgage.
A NOTE FROM TOMMY PRIOR TO
THE 40TH REUNION:
Tommy
TAYLOR reports from Houston that “After leaving Lamar, I attended Texas Tech University, in Lubbock (during the week)
and THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, in Austin (on the week-ends). I had a lot of fun. In 1969 I joined the 4005th U.S. Army
Hospital Reserve Unit in Houston. I served six years and
was happy to get out alive. In 1979 I
married my wife, Linda, and have been happily married ever since. In 1981, we had a daughter, Allison, who is
presently a student at Stephen F. Austin StateUniversity. In 1995 we moved to Katy, Texas. Linda owns and operates Taylor
Insurance Agency, and I own and operate Capital City Mortgage, Inc. Both
companies are in Houston. In 2001, it was
discovered that I have cancer. I had
surgery on December 20, 2001 and just recently, September
17, 2002
had a second surgery. I am presently
taking treatments at M.D. Anderson Hospital. I still play golf and shoot in
the 70's, ‘when my putter is hot’".
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Bill TURNEY – 08/25/2002
Mary Turney reports from Rusk, Texas, about
her husband, our deceased classmate, Bill TURNEY:
After
Lamar, Bill Turney attended and then graduated from
Texas A&M in the class of 1966. He ran track for the University. Upon
graduating, we moved back to Houston where
he worked first at American General Insurance and then served as Employee
Benefits Administrator for Houston Natural Gas. In 1978, we decided to move
to a less stressful environment and came to Rusk where he then went into
advertising for the next twenty-two years. Bill was a wonderful Christian
man, husband, father and grand dad. He had served as City Manager for
Rusk for a year and a half. During that time, he successfully completed many
projects and gave good beginnings to others.
He still ran as often as he could and still
loved it. He taught a Sunday School Class at the First United Methodist Church in Rusk and ran the radio
broadcast. We would have celebrated our thirty-fifth anniversary on September
2, 2002,
a week following his death in a car accident while returning from a church
retreat on August 25, 2002. We have a
daughter, Amy and son, Ben and three grand daughters, Sierra, Savannah and Hannah. Bill
had looked forward to the reunion and enjoyed the information he received on
classmates. He was the best and will be so missed.
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Peter VANDERMARK
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John (Skipper) VAUGHN - 11/02/1999
Skipper Vaughn was born in Norman, Oklahoma on June 12, 1944 and died at Seton Hospital in Austin on October 2, 1999. He
attended the University of Texas until losing his sight at
age nineteen, but returned between illnesses for several years. In his youth he was a competitive swimmer,
Boy Scout and DeMolay. He was a member of the Founders Lion Club
of Austin.
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Michael VICK – 10/20/87
Michael Vick received a
B.A. in Art as a graduate of the University of Houston, and attended Bering Memorial Methodist Church. He was a
long time educator in the field of art, creative dance and special education.
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Robert VINCENT – 09/02/1974
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(Robert)
John WALTER
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Terry WHITE – 07/1985
I
would like to contribute some notes about Terry White.
Terry
died in 1985 leaving two children and his wife Jamie after a short illness
with heart disease. Terry moved to Houston from Lulling, Texas in the second
grade and that is when we became the best of friends. I think the fact that
we were both being raised by widowed mothers gave us a lot of common
experiences etc. In fact, I can say he was the best friend I ever had.
When one of us was dating and the other was not, the one that had a
steady would always get the other one set up with somebody. This lasted
all the way to college until we both met our spouses. Terry attended UT
for two years after graduation and then transferred to the U Of H. He
met Jamie at the U of H and I believe he graduated with a business
degree. Throughout his career he worked in some form of sales or he managed
a retail facility. Terry attended Wilson Elementary and
Lanier Jr. High before attending Lamar. He was a real "stand
- up guy" that many people called a friend.
Tommy
Baccaro
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Kenny WOOD – 06/02/2001
Kenny
Wood was born in San Antonio on September
30, 1944
and died at his home on South Padre Island on June
2, 2001. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy
and was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force.
He served in Viet Nam and was awarded the Bronze
Starr. In 1977 he moved to South Padre Island and became involved in the
restaurant industry, beginning with Cappuccino’s. In 1978, he established Blackbeard’s
Restaurant which he still owned at the time of his death. He loved the sea and enjoyed the time he
spent deep sea fishing in Mexico and Costa Rica. He traveled extensively in search of new
species of birds. He was an avid
golfer, tennis and racquetball player.
+++++
Robert Rieke provides the following regarding Kenny WOOD:
“Kenny Wood and I had a lot of fun in high
school. Our friendship began in junior high school when he was trainer
for the basketball team. It continued in high school again because of
sports, but we also were in major works classes where our grades were
consistently a buoyancy to others. The truth
is we rarely studied as hard. We had fun. More than once we were
caught having lunch away from campus – a “no-no” unless the enforcing faculty
member was Coach Sandy Sanderson. I think that we skipped school as
well to attend the first game of the “Colt 45s.” We never fully
understood the lecture we received about the importance of missing math
class. I was especially thrilled when Blackbeard
received his appointment to the United States Naval Academy well before I understood
the honor in its entirety. I lost track of Blackbeard
until I learned that he had left the Navy, journeyed to South Padre Island, and opened Blackbeard’s – a great restaurant but an even greater
bar! It was always fun.”
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