Category: Commentary

Linay Williams, (daughter of DHS graduates Vance Runnels and LeeAnn McReynolds), a Texas Tech alumna and seasoned agricultural marketer, has been named Director of Strategic Marketing & Communications for the university’s Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources. She will officially step into her new role on July 5.

While Williams has many objectives for the college’s marketing and communications efforts, her primary goal is to tell the world about the innovation and limitless potential that Davis College provides both its students and the future of agriculture.
Prior to her new role at Texas Tech, Williams owned Black Creek Innovations which specialized in marketing for agricultural organizations such as Purina Animal Nutrition, Cosequin Equine and Nutrition Plus. She worked with a wide range of clients within various agricultural industries including livestock production, wildlife conservation, and equine health. 
With these different clients, she provided a wide range of services, including digital marketing and advertising, along with event marketing, graphic design and brand management. Williams also served for a brief period as a Field Representative for the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The Hondo, Texas, native also launched a business development organization for rural business women known as ‘Unbridled,’ and is President of the PanTex Buyers Group, a non-profit dedicated to supporting stock show youth of the Texas Panhandle and South Plains. Williams now lives in Quitaque, Texas, with her husband and two young sons where they raise Angus cattle.
During her time as an undergraduate at Texas Tech, Williams participated on the horse judging, meat judging and livestock Judging teams, all while pursuing her degree in agricultural communications. A 2016 graduate, she continues to lean heavily on her collegiate experiences. These, combined with her collective career experience, will serve Williams well as she works to elevate the representation of Davis College and all its departments and programs.

I moved to Devine High School to teach because I needed to leave the politics of South San, where I had been teaching high school English – all four grades – for three years. When my husband mentioned to Dr. Charles Crouch, who was on the DISD school board at the time, that I was looking for a new school, he relayed that the high school was needing a freshman English teacher. I set up an appointment with the superintendent, Mr. Barnhart. That was 1975.
Even though teaching freshmen wasn’t my preference, the job was a refreshing change, (even the pay cut), as I found it a joy working with the teachers, administration, and students of Devine. Then, the next year, I was blessed to be able to move to the junior and senior levels.

My first memories of DHS were of the teachers: Don and Gayle Sessions, Coach Jay Patterson, Dalees Moore, Brenda Gardner, Phil McAnelly, Mrs. Smith Moorehead, Dora Fernandez and JoAnn Bean.
I smile when I recall lunch in the cafeteria when someone harassed me, and I retaliated by “playing lookie” with my cherry cobbler. Don said he had thought me sophisticated until that moment! LOL.
Brenda and I connected right away, and our argumentative antics just about drove Mrs. Moorehead crazy. She often left the lounge, thinking we were fussing. We were just noisy. Of course, my most vivid memory of B.G. (Brenda Gardner), is, shall we say, her “raising her voice” at her students from her tiny journalism/English classroom in the Multiple Purpose Room next to the cafeteria downstairs.
My husband, Franklin, was a high school basketball coach at the time, so he loved visiting with the inimitable Coach Gayle Sessions, who, in the 70s, was already a legend. And he also enjoyed Coach Jay Patterson, having attended college with him at Sul Ross.
Because Franklin was in the coaching scene in San Antonio, he knew Rudy Davila, who was with the Spurs, which was owned at the time by Red McCombs. Thus, when Rudy reached out to Franklin about any jobs he knew of for a Spanish and history teacher, Franklin pointed them toward Devine. Red’s daughter, Marsha McCombs Shields, and her husband, John, were needing jobs, having just graduated from Duke University. And that’s how Marsha and John came to Devine to begin their short stint to the world of education.
One year, Marsha, plus the drama coach, Al Holman, and the typing teacher, Dalees Moore, and I shared the same conference period, and we had a blast while unsuccessfully attempting to use our time constructively. But hey, one does need a little levity. And we found just that by playing “The Number Game”. The loser had to buy sodas for the others. How do you lose? Well, the leader chose a number, somewhere between one and 100, and we went around the table, choosing a figure that we hoped was not the right one. “No; higher. No; lower,” until someone unfortunately guesses the number. The resulting shouts and hollers often brought principal, Mr. Groogan, into the lounge to see if the paintings were still on the walls! Over the years, Marsha and I, as with so many others I taught with, like B. G., Gayle, and Phil, have remained friends.
One of my greatest joys and memories is that the freshman kids I taught in my first year, I also had the honor of teaching in their junior and senior years. Those kids, the Class of ‘79, are so very dear to me. I often said that anything they didn’t know was on me, as I had taught them for three years!
Other student joys were my honor of being NHS sponsor and UIL poetry coach – where we always went to Regionals, thanks to students like Sherrie English and René Irwin. I was also Senior Class sponsor, which took me “Around the World” for five of my seven years at Devine. Of course the students did attempt to pull pranks on me like trying to throw me in the pool at Scott Weber’s home. Thank goodness I didn’t take off my camera, which they did try to get me to do!
I had my own pranks to pull. Like the year I had taken the NHS class to Schlitterbahn, and on the bus trip home, all chatter ceased when I pulled out my red nail polish and began to paint the toe nails of Kevin Graham, who was asleep in the seat behind me with his long leg and big foot propped on the arm rest beside me. The sudden hush woke him up. He still threatens to “paper” my house!
Every year I took the seniors to San Antonio to the public library for research for their term papers. (Remember, this was before computers and Google.) The library was located on the Riverwalk at that time, and I’m glad they didn’t include ALL their research on notecards!
I fondly recall taking Cindy Moeller home with me every Tuesday night during basketball season to “babysit” and stay the night while I went to Franklin’s games. What a great setup. We all rode back to school together the next day.
I remember the gentleman, Byron McAllister, who once threatened to beat up another boy who was rude to me. Then there was the time I threw an eraser at Ronnie Harrell – just funning – which he dodged. It hit the wall behind him. I guess I would be arrested for that today! I used to tease Carolyn Fargason by often smearing her glasses until one day when she licked her finger and smeared my cheek! Lesson learned! Frances Navarro adopted me as my other daughter! Rodney Scantlin adopted Franklin and me as our foster son for a short time. Cindy Minton and Jeanne Weaver gave me a Christmas decoration that I use to this day. It always makes me smile.
Since we lived halfway between San Antonio and Devine, Franklin and I began a tradition that lasted through our own kids’ graduation whereby we hosted a 3:00AM breakfast on prom night for the students who were typically traveling back to Devine from San Antonio. We felt that it got them off the roads for a break and gave them a positive activity.
As an English teacher, one assignment I required was that my students write three entries a week in a journal. This exercise was to help them in communication, mechanics, and grammar skills. They could write on any subject (so long as it was not about drinking, etc.), And I promised not to share anything that they shared with me. (And some of the things they wrote about were quite poignant.) The results were that, not only did it improve in their writing, but it gave me insights into their hearts. I found that, although I may not have approved of some student’s behavior, I learned to love each one unconditionally.
At the close of every school year, I wrote a poem to the senior class, often naming each student, highlighting in an amusing way how they fit into the group. I would read it to the class at graduation rehearsal. I got as much kick out of it as they did.
Teaching high school English had always been my dream, and I realized that dream in the most superb way at DHS. I loved my students and I loved teaching English. I left teaching in 1982 with the best of memories, and, even after 40-plus years, I always proudly identify with the role of high school English teacher who was blessed at having taught at DHS!

After 49 years in education in many different capacities, one can imagine that there are so many memories. In fact, after this many years, I have probably forgotten more than I remember. I retired in June 2022 after 48 years and now work part time for DISD

I think I will go backwards in time. After I went to the intermediate and elementary in 2006, I decided the name of my book would be “Nobody Told Me”. I had been at DHS for 32 years—I wasn’t in any way prepared for the difference.
Nobody told me kids line up—for everything! When I asked why, I was told, “You’ll figure it out.” And, I did. So many times as principal, I told staff—“be sure you line them up and count.” We had to be sure we came back with the same number we went with.
Nobody told me there are no bells at elementary. How do you keep up? For high school teachers, the bell ending class means a restroom break or a chance to go get a Diet Coke (that was my beverage of choice). At elementary, teachers have to wait for an aide to come to the classroom or ask someone to cover for them for a couple of minutes. In high school bells signify the passing of the day. Elementary teachers have a built-in clock. They just know—I never did figure out how, they just do.
Nobody told me there is “bodily fluid” duty every—single—day. Wiping noses, tears, scraped knees, and lots of other stuff is on the daily regimen of things to do.
Nobody told me what holidays, Meet the Teacher, and Public School Week are like at an elementary. There are no crafty gifts for moms or dads at high school for Christmas. High school teachers throw up a few posters for Meet the Teacher, and wait. Elementary teachers go waaaaaay beyond. The first year or two I walked around with my mouth hanging open.
Nobody told me I would go home crying lots of days. Sometimes little kids tell more than you want to know.
BUT—nobody told me of all the joy children create in another person’s life. They want to learn; they have such a wonder about the world; they thought I was beautiful!
Being an elementary principal were some of the most gratifying years in my career. Before those years, came many at the high school. There were so many things I learned from teachers and staff members at CES. To name a few—Becky Tyler, Gail Cooley, Melissa Lyles, Betty Morgan, Claudia Holzhaus—were all about my age. So I didn’t feel quite as stupid asking them a question. I remember Betty telling me to NEVER drink from a water fountain. When I asked why, she just pointed to a child drinking. Children put their entire mouths on the water flow. Now water fountains are a rarity—there are bottle fillers.
I came to Devine High School in the fall of 1974 as a journalism and English teacher. I spent 32 years there. I knew how many ceiling tiles were in each hall—not really, but that is lots of time spent walking those halls.
I had many principals, but Bob Bendele stands out as the best. I learned so much from him that I would use later when I became a principal. I will tell you that he got mad at me a few times. When he came to the lounge and said, “Mrs. Gardner…”, I know I was in trouble.
There were so many wonderful staff members. I don’t dare start naming them because I would have to make too many apologies for leaving many “someones” out.
My first classroom was downstairs in the multi-purpose room in what is now the technology department. I loved it because the room had windows—I could see every person who walked in the school. Just so you know—all journalists are curious (an euphemism for nosey)—that’s what makes us good at what we do. And, yes, I know I could have covered them, but that wouldn’t have been as fun.
The band hall was in the MPR—forget about having first period anything on Fridays. It was soooo loud.
Jo Ann Burleson was my first yearbook editor and Laureen Chernow was my first newspaper editor. I learned from them and maybe, they learned a little from me. Jo Ann went on to be a journalism teacher and Laureen worked in the field in Austin.
During those years, things were far different from today. When I got pregnant with Jimmy, Matt Hales would go get me a hot fudge sundae from Dairy Queen every day during yearbook. That might explain those 50 pounds.
I moved to the ag building after about nine years downstairs. If you remember that old building, it was certainly was not sealed well. When we would get heavy rain, it came in under the wall that faced the outside. There were mice—families of them, and bats in the ceiling.
There was the time we saw a mouse, and Shannon Rackley climbed up the wall. And, I mean literally up—the—wall. Marly Davis and Kyla Perry named them when they were in newspaper.
In the early days teachers could have student aides. I had many. Jolinda Center would go pick up Jason from the babysitter and take him to school. Buddy Wheeler and Johnny Byrd would go buy groceries for me, take my dry cleaning—all kinds of errands. Those were the days of film and wet darkrooms, so there were always the trips to Conoly Drug to drop off color film to be developed.
Selling ads for the newspaper and yearbook was a key event. Yes, kids drove their cars and went out to make this happen. Jim Sessions and Joe Navarro prided themselves on being the top salesmen ever. I also had them for English III. Always remember why Thoreau went to the woods.
And, oh, the darkroom–I don’t even pretend to know everything that happened in there. I knew that sometimes kids—Audra Terry, to name one—would go out the back door that led to the ag hall and go buy tacos. The dead giveaway is that they would leave the foil by the enlargers—duh!
I got certified in speech and taught that for several years. Obviously, kids had to give speeches. I recall that Larry Burford just would not give his. It was a two-minute deal. He was going to fail. At that time this was a required course for graduation. So, I called his mom, Brenda. I told her that I did not care what the speech was about—tying his shoes would work. And, so, the next day Larry gave his demonstration speech about tying shoes. And, he passed.
I coached UIL events—lots of them and traveled a lot with kids on buses. Probably, I spent more time with them than I did with my own family. Lots of Saturdays we left at 5 or 5:30 a.m.—way too early! And we got home around 7 or 8 p.m.—lots of long days. But we won lots, so it was worth it. There were lots of two-day meets. I would sleep in my clothes so I could get up and go after only four or so hours of sleep.
During the time when Jay Dee Hicks was counselor and went with us to regional UIL, we had to stop at the creek between Jourdanton and Devine and have a “ceremony”. It was quite formal with lots of lamenting. Harvey Lynch wrote a song about this creek, which Jay Dee sang.
Back in the day before computers, we had files for informative and persuasive speaking—big bins of file folders filled with news articles. We had to use a dolly to get them and in and out of schools. I loved the bus drivers who helped me load and unload all those boxes. Prose and poetry kids were a lot easier—just a notebook. And journalism kids just had to have a pen and paper.
In LaVernia one year Allison Lyles had made it to the finals in informative—not her favorite event. She came out of the library and told me she couldn’t do it, that she was going to throw up. I told her to suck it up, get back in there and do what she needed to do. I know it sounds harsh, but, oh, well… Allison later told me that those words stayed with her, and when she had to do something she really didn’t want to, she would remember. Allison went on the win prose at the state meet her senior year.
I helped with one-act play for many years. My main job for Marion Randow was to be sure there was an adequate supply of Diet Dr. Pepper. There may directors—Deanna Kempen, Mary Rowell, Lori Marek, Kary Yourman—most of the time I really did what I was asked. I was also contest director for many years. I got to see so many talented and dedicated young people—not just Devine’s, but from lots of schools.
We had some fun times on all our trips. I will tell you that most of this was before air-conditioned buses. The trip to regional in Kingsville every year was more than hot. Anyone who has been any kind of club, athletic, any organization sponsor and taken kids on overnight trips remembers staying up until the morning hours making sure all kids were really asleep. As I got older, smarter, and perhaps more cynical, I would tape the doors. Then we could tell if someone had opened one.
When I first started and until just several years before I left the classroom, we “pasted up” the newspaper. The Devine News would “set” copy for us in long galleys. We would cut and use rubber cement to paste those on pages. Toward the end of my career, computers made it to Devine. My first Mac had a screen just a little larger than a postcard. I remember taking it home—it had a carrying case—so I could learn Adobe Pagemaker, which is what we would use for the newspaper. We were going to ILPC, and I was taking a course in that program. I sat at my house at a card table determined that I would not be the dumbest one in that class. I cried over learning that program. There were others who knew less than I did. It was still a few years before we would use a computer to do the entire newspaper. Doing yearbook digitally came even later. Now, it’s hard to imagine doing things any other way. Melody Shultz was the editor of the yearbook when we started doing them electronically. It was way more of a learning curve for me than it was for her.
I was very privileged and blessed to take more than 30 kids to the state UIL meet. I took many newspaper and yearbook staffs to the summer ILPC conference at UT in Austin every June.
Devine ISD has been my “home” for many years. I have had so many wonderful opportunities, and worked with some amazing and dedicated educators.
I am beginning the 50th year in DISD. Thanks to all of you who have made a difference in my life. I am so blessed to be a part of this district and this community.

I will always regard the years I taught at Devine High School as the very best years of my 43-year teaching career. Those years are filled with memories of many wonderful students, coworkers and Devine community members. It was definitely a more casual, relaxed, fun filled environment than exists in many school districts today. There is no doubt in my mind that my time at DHS was a blessing to me. I would like to share a few of those special memories today. To this day we subscribe to the “Devine News”. It is fun to read the honor roll, check sports page and look for Lewis Stroud’s picture in the paper.
First of all, I will always be grateful for the absolute best principal ever, Bob Bendele, and the best superintendent, Dr. Steele. I was also lucky enough to have many outstanding co-workers …. Nancy McGowan, Mary Rowell, Myra Waters, Richard Malone, Kay Schultz, Gordon Schultz, Susan Frazier, and Bill Lorraine, Beulah Anderson, Phil and Linda McAnelly, to name just a very few.
Devine is certainly the most sports-loving town I have ever been in. Football games seem to rule in the fall. Spirit ribbons I think sold for a quarter. There were decorating contests during homecoming week. There was the weekly pep rally with spirit sticks awarded…. I think I still have mine. One time we even had won a pep rally sponsored by 92.9. The DJ’s name was Catfish something or other. It is a little late but I apologize for not arranging that ahead of time with the administration. I didn’t know I was going to win the contest. At the games, former players, some wearing their old letter jackets, were lined up by the fence. Band parents were selling popcorn, pickles, and frito pies in the concession stands. Cheerleaders were throwing little footballs into the stands. I was passing out Bozo Bucks. Ralph Reyes’ mother was ringing a cowbell in the stands. A good time was had by all. The excitement when Devine beat Hondo for the first time in a long time in ’86 was unbelievable!
The Talent Show was a lot of fun. Gary English was on drums singing “You Have To Fight For Your Right To Party”. Mary Rowell had a group of teachers pantomime ”Leader of the Pack”. Mr. Hicks sang “Old Man Lucas had a lot of Mucus”. Lots of other “talent” was shown as well.
It was a more relaxed time. There were pickups in the parking lot with guns in the gun rack and nobody felt threatened. I was able to send two of my aides to Dairy Queen to take lunch to my junior high kids. Garret Pye dashed over to the junior high to get one of his mother’s hubcaps to illustrate a property of circles during geometry class. Shannon Rackley brought her two-wheel bicycle for the same reason.

Once there were several goats loose on the city street. The animal control officer was not available to catch them. The City Administrator (my husband Bob) came over to the high school and talked to Travis Byrom. Field trip! Travis and his class grabbed some rope, jumped into their pickups and took care of the situation. I think Travis may have given Matt Barber a lesson in roping that day.
I only had 5 students, maybe 6, in my trig class one year. One day we all got in my car and I just drove us around town with maybe a stop at Dairy Queen. It was a great study break.
UIL was a fun time. Brenda Gardner was an awesome coordinator for that. One time we were I think in Kerrville for a meet. I do not like to drive and was more than a little unnerved about driving back to Devine. I made 16 year-old Royd Graham drive us all back. Maybe he volunteered. I am not sure. I think he had a license…lol. I just know I didn’t drive.
One of the reasons I really appreciated Bob Bendele is because he let me hang up a bunch, a whole bunch, of posters in my room. Neva Sessions, as a little girl, would come over in the summer and help me put up posters and words on the wall. I am guessing Jim was hanging out in the gym shooting baskets.
I loved the fact that because of my teaching schedule, I could end up teaching some students three years in a row. One year TEA mandated a teacher evaluation form that had 75 components. One of the biggies on the list was Per Cent of Student Participation. I was due for an evaluation, and since I had a good relationship with this one particular class, I devised a way to get that item checked off. It was like a game to me and still makes me smile to remember it. I told my students that when I asked a question during the evaluation, that if they knew the right answer, then they should raise their right hand. If they did not know the right answer they should raise their left hand. Voila ! 100% participation. Unbeknownst to me, the kids had their own little plan. When I asked the first question, they all raised their left hand. I just said “Great, since you all know the answer we will just move on”. Everyone had a big smile, including me. I actually wanted to laugh out loud.
Zero hour was a fun addition to the schedule. One time my daughter Margaret was not in class. I gave my car keys to Holly Graham and had her go to my house and wake up Margaret. Luckily, the Graham kids were good drivers. Robert Diaz was late to zero hour one time. His excuse was that he was delayed due to a bunch of chickens being on the road. I questioned that. He said that one was still attached to his vehicle. So, we all went downstairs to the parking lot and sure enough, there was a dead chicken wedged under the grill. Excuse accepted.
Getting a computer lab was a big step forward. So then we had a Computer Club. It was a pretty active club, even if we didn’t spend time on computers. One of our first fun activities was a snipe hunt at President Maggie Whitaker’s ranch. I had never been on a snipe hunt, nor had our foreign exchange student, Hakon Rostad. Haven’t been on one since.
One of the Computer Club activities was the annual trip to A&M. One time Brenda Weinstrom did not make it back to the bus. Hmm. Don’t think her brother Bruce was too concerned. Maybe he thought it was typical. I believe Kenny Saucedo was the hero of the day when he found her wandering around campus somewhere. Those were fun trips, even if someone did have motion sickness and threw up on the bus. The details escape me, but somehow we managed to hose down the floor. Onward!
One of the final grades in my geometry class each year was Hat Day. Students needed to construct a hat using as many different geometric shapes as possible. It was a relatively easy grade and a chance to boost your grade to passing if you needed it. One student, who shall remained nameless, did not pass geometry the first time. I remember the second year when I discussed Hat Day with the class, he turned around and said “She will fail you if you don’t do it, trust me” and then did not do it. He did pass the third year.
During our annual awards ceremony, each teacher gave an award to the most outstanding student and to the most improved student. I decided the above unnamed young man would definitely be my most improved (maybe of all time). When I called his name during the assembly, I was told that he was in the Ag barn working on a project there so that he would pass that class.
I liked that as a teacher, we would be a sponsor to the same class for all of their four years in high school. There was a lot of fundraising involved during that time. Page Pye showed her business skills early on. I heard her sometimes going down the hall reminding others about paying dues, or working at a fund raiser, etc. One time Andy Zapata, Dawn Hoog and I were in Andy’s truck late at night moving chairs from a fundraiser. We were stopped by the police who were wondering why we were out riding around that late, I guess. It was a little awkward to me to admit that my husband was their boss. All was well though.
My son Chris told me an interesting story that I had not heard before. He called it The Lawyer’s First Loss. In one of his classes they had a mock trial. Chris and Greg Estes were on one side. Paul Noak (lawyer’s son and future lawyer) and Chris Navarro were on another side. David Yarbro was the judge. Apparently Paul and Chris N. really had the better case; but David ruled in favor of Chris and Greg. It seems there had been a bit of bribery involved.
One of my best memories from our time in Devine was when we moved from our rent house to our new house. Instead of hiring a moving company, a bunch of my students came over and moved us. It was a trail of pickup trucks all day Saturday. When I went to school on Monday, I had to ask each class if anyone knew where my coffee pot was.
I have tried my best but some of these facts may be a little off. I just know I loved my time in Devine. I will always miss it. It was such a great pleasure to meet some many wonderful people. I have loved seeing those “kids” grow up and have kids and grandkids of their own (thank you FaceBook). I have thought of many other former students and associates as well. I would love to hear from you. I am on FaceBook under Sandy Miller .