I’ve always loved chickens. It goes back to my daddy’s having been a chicken farmer raising White Leghorns when I was little. At the time of this incident, we had a nice flock of a variety of hens and a shiny black rooster that we called Blacky. So, when I was gifted a white Brahman rooster, I was quick to make him a home with my 20+ hens. Knowing that one rooster per up to 10 hens is ideal, I saw no issue in bringing another rooster into the flock. I was wrong. On any given day these two fought like fighting cocks, very much to my distress. One day, apparently there had been a vicious fight as Blacky was barely standing alone in the barn with his feathers all fluffed out and eyes not even open. Surely, we thought, he was about to die. He did not. He recovered! Blacky was resilient and must have been filled with resolve, because a few days later Franklin and I arrived home to find Whitey dead-dog-dead with his legs straight out stiff and naturally not moving. That was so sad. So, needing to humanely dispose of Whitey, Franklin got an empty feed sack, tossed the dead Whitey inside, tied the ends with string, and hauled him out to the back pasture. The dirty job was done. But wait. There’s more. The next day Franklin hollered for me to come help him because apparently Whitey was NOT dead. Franklin saw him running around near the place where he had been summarily dumped. What? So, I got a pet carrier, stuffed some hay inside, and prepared to nurse Whitey back to health. (I’ve even been known to take a rooster to the vet!) The two of us rode out in the Mule where I easily picked up the poor thing, held him in my arms to settle him, and when we got back to the house I put him in the above-mentioned pet carrier with food and water for him to recuperate from his ordeal. After just a couple of days, Whitey was ready for his freedom, and I turned him out where he was quickly accepted back to “his” flock. You know, a rooster has his own hens. As for Blacky, I soon found him a rescue home, so Whitey then had the entire flock to himself. And that’s where his name was changed to Lazarus. Don’t you think that’s fitting? Today, I have another white rooster, a White Leghorn, and in homage to my daddy, I named him Hubert, my dad’s name!
For the umpteenth time I recently watched “Elvis – Aloha from Hawaii”. Whether or not you’re a fan – and why on earth would you not be – Elvis was a quintessential entertainer! Engaging with the audience, melting your heart when looking straight into the camera, performing with powerful energy, and just breath-taking to look at!
That live performance was done in 1973, and Yes, I watched it live. But in addition, my friend, Sharon Vetters Dunnam, and I went to see him live in San Antonio at the original convention center on three occasions! Yep. Three times I had the pleasure to see Elvis live! His performances were exactly like what you see on his satellite show. My only regret was that I always took my binoculars and Sharon did not (!), so I had to share! That’s what you call real friendship!
Looking back to Elvis’ beginnings, I was 12 when I saw him on our black and white TV while living in Southtown, Texas, as he performed on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey show. He sang “Heartbreak Hotel”, and at the end he bowed so low his hair almost touched the ground. I told my mother that this guy would be famous some day, and I went to the desk and wrote down his name. Later I heard that a girl from our high school, East Central, took a razor blade to cut his name into her thighs and pour ink into the cuts! I guess that’s the old-school way of tattooing! But rest assured, I’m not that much of a fanatic!
Now Elvis’ movies never appealed to me except for “King Creole”. I have that on VCR and I do watch it from time to time. I love the score in that movie. But as for his singing, I have every album Elvis made, and more importantly, I have every 45 rpm! When a new 45 would come out, I would hurry down to Sears on SW Military Dr and go to their record department and purchase my copy. Do I ever listen to them? Yes, I do. I actually have the “Stereo” that my dad gave me for my 16th birthday.
So, it’s August, and August marks the 48th anniversary of Elvis’ death at the untimely age of 42. My dad called me to break the news. I well recall that when his mother died at that same age, Elvis said he would not live past 42. Interesting. To think that he’s been dead longer than he lived. But boy, Sirius FM channel 79 sure does keep him “alive” as well as the amazing exhibits at Graceland. All of the exhibit buildings display fascinating memorabilia, not just the mansion, which today seems ordinary, but in its day was just that.
Listening to Elvis takes me back to those impressionable (and mostly enjoyable) high school years, and his music always touches me, whether it’s from his first recordings or his later ones, like “Just Pretend”. I only wish there had been more live performances recorded.
So, here’s to all you Elvis fans, those of my generation and younger!
Freeman White was born on March 19, 1930, and passed away on November 24, 2024. His lovely wife of 66 years, Wilma, preceded him in death on September 9, 2021. Freeman’s legacy as a Purple Heart recipient is an appropriate story to retell, as this is the season for the Wreaths Across America event.
Being chosen as a member of WRANGLER’S “The COWGIRL 30 UNDER 30 CLASS OF 2025” is a prestigious accomplishment. WRANGLER COWGIRL magazine seeks outstanding young women from around all America to feature as “trailblazers who open doors for others, share their enthusiasm, and embody the qualities that keep the Western industry thriving.”
In our days, only the rich could go to kindergarten. With me being the third of six kids, I didn’t really know what kids today know when they enter first grade. To learn to count, the teacher had us go around and count each desk! I believe there were 32 desks in our first grade room! We took packed lunches because back then my elementary school had no cafeteria. We had three recesses a day – half an hour mid morning and mid afternoon and an hour after lunch. We enjoyed jump rope, hop scotch, hoola-hoop, while the boys enjoyed playing marbles, etc. Each morning we said the pledge to the flag and sang My Country Tis of Thee. And we prayed. Before eating lunch, we all said a prayer together. “God is Great, God is Good, and we thank Him for our food, Amen” In the third grade, I was chosen to be the queen of my class. My mom borrowed a fancy pink dress for me to wear. The boy who was my escort… lol the king… kicked me real hard.. lol. So I was kicked by a king. Also while I was in the third grade God kept impressing on my heart that He wanted me to commit my life to becoming a missionary and to go to a country where the Gospel had never been taught. I struggled with that decision because I was so young. After three days of not being able to concentrate on my math, I finally said yes to God. This decision helped me so much during my life because it gave me focus, and I knew that I had to only marry someone who was also committed to be a missionary, or I would stay single.
By Gayle Sessions I started first grade in 1948 at Center Grove Elementary in Tullahoma, Tennessee when I was only 5 years old. My brother, Billy, was 2 years older than me and we did everything together. The year he started school in 1947 I was lost and very unhappy. So my mother talked to the first grade teacher, Mrs. Tubbs, and she thought it would be ok for me to start the next year even though I was really young. So mother let me start school. We lived on a farm about 7 miles from Tullahoma, but we had to attend school in the county where we lived. The elementary school was close but the high school was in another town, Winchester, which was about 20 miles away. In 1948 we were fortunate to have a vehicle, but it was for all family activities, so we had to ride the county school bus to school. The elementary I attended was only three miles away, but the bus picked up all students in our area and dropped us off at our elementary and continued on to Franklin County High School in Winchester. We caught the bus at 6:30 each morning and were dropped off early at the elementary 15 minutes or so later.
Phil McAnelly claims that the skills for becoming an athlete were “spawned” at elementary school recess. I [Phil McAnelly] was born in Hondo, Texas, in 1946 and lived the first three years of my life right across the street from the old school, where the track now is. The house is still there. My dad was the Ag Teacher in Hondo High School, and he walked across the street to work. Sometimes I would accompany him to a class or two when my mom had something she had to do, or maybe he was just indoctrinating me early on to be an Ag teacher myself. Don’t know. The Ag Building, or Ag Shop as everyone called it, was in the same building as the old gymnasium that later served as the band hall until just a few years ago. I remember one time when I was four years old I crawled up on one of the tables that was used instead of desks and told my dad, “You teach that side, Daddy, and I’ll teach this side over here.”The ag boys all loved it, and I was told about it many times down through the years.
OK, I’ll go first. My family lived about five miles south of Somerset in the Blackjacks on our 100-acre family farm when I started first grade. My paternal grandmother lived down the lane from us under a grove of Oak trees, and we lived under another. A Mr. Frank James (of the ubiquitous James family of Somerset) was our bus driver, and I recall we meandered amongst the family farms for about an hour before reaching the schoolhouse in “downtown” Somerset. The main schoolhouse was a three-story, 11-classroom building that housed second through 12th grades. The first grade met in a two-room building (which was probably an old barracks) down below the official school house. There were two rooms. Miss Winnie was my teacher and Miss King was the other. Unfortunately, the Hispanic children were segregated, and they were Miss King’s students.
Rebecca and Danny at Rebecca’s Promotion to Major at the Alamo. Photography by Erika Michelle Photography (On Instagram @erikamichelle_photography)
As told by Major Rebecca Saathoff Monroe Rebecca Saathoff Monroe is a 2010 graduate of Devine High School. Growing up, her father, Maj (ret.) Gary Saathoff, served as a C-5 pilot in the Air Force Reserves. In addition, Rebecca’s family has a long history of military service, with generations of service members in her ancestry, to include both her grandfathers, Arthur Ehlinger and Hugo Saathoff. It instilled in her a deep appreciation for service, and the military. After graduating from Texas State University in 2013 and the University of Texas School of Law in 2016, Rebecca earned her law license and joined the…
When Kathleene asked me to share my DISD recollections, I wasn’t sure that there was much that I would recall from those early years. However, I did know that relationships with the DISD staff and my students are and were my most important memories. Relationships with students, staff, and parents are the greatest and lasting reward of the “call to teaching”.
Mrs. McAnelly served 8 years as the Devine ISD Superintendent.
My career began at Devine Junior High School in 1977 with staff members: Linda Stanton, Richard Malone, Louis Stroud, Bill Herring, Kathleen Outlaw, and Cynthia Strait along with many others. It was an interesting start to my career because no one knew on which campus I would work. There wasn’t a room for me at Devine Junior High (now DMS), so Principal Gordon Bryan sent me to the elementary school. I met with John Ciavarra, the elementary principal, who also had no job for me on his campus and sent me back to Devine Junior High. I was quite frustrated for several days about my “job” and no classroom. I resorted to a visit to Mr. Barnhart, superintendent, to determine if I had a job or not as I had signed a contract. Mr. Barnhart told me to report back to Devine Junior High for a new position called Title 1 Reading for which no one had information. I received a notebook of Title 1 information to read and follow as I set up the new Title 1 Reading program for grades 6-8. Mr. Barnhart told me to follow the Title 1 Reading program guidelines in the notebook and identify which students in grades 6-8 qualified for the program. I was sort of on my own with this new Title 1 program. Imagine my frustration as I returned yet again to the junior high, and Principal Bryan told me to find my own space to teach reading. Thankfully, I met Mrs. Alta Chant, a kind, knowledgeable, and highly efficient paraprofessional, who assisted me in locating a space to teach. With Mrs. Chant’s help, we moved the teachers’ mimeograph (copier) machine into the smokers’ lounge and set up a classroom in the teachers’ workroom, locating and moving desks on our own. After a few days, Mrs. Chant and I had a classroom with desks, developed my student roster, and created my own schedule. Without Mrs. Chant’s help, I am unsure how long I would have waited for a room, the desks, and students. I worked at Devine Junior High for only one year, and I was forced to seek a job in Hondo ISD for the next five years; DISD didn’t accept transfer students, and our older son was entering first grade. Finally, I returned to Devine ISD in 1982 when Superintendent Byron Steele hired me to teach G/T grades 1-8 and several English classes for grades 7-8; board policy now allowed student transfers and our two sons became Warhorses to my delight! I enjoyed setting up the Devine G/T program with Mary Conrad, and I had wonderful support from parents for many interesting projects! Beth Ann Noak helped me with many projects including a Christmas gingerbread project that would make Bobby Flay proud, and Joyce Bendele added her “artistic” talent to my limited art skill set! For two years, I had great support from many people for the G/T program; however, I knew that I was a secondary person and was better suited at grades 9-12. By 1984, Bob Bendele was DHS Principal, and I approached him about teaching English or speech. I offered to take any job that he had as I wanted to work for him at DHS. Bob had five different English classes with one each of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 along with a CVAE English as the fifth class. Also, if I took this position, I would not have my own classroom (here I go again without a room) and would share five other teachers’ classrooms during their conference periods. The difference on Bob’s campus was he offered the solution to my room problem. Bob reminded me that I would move every hour (five times each day), and I would have five different grammar books and five different literature books. I was thrilled to be on a high school campus; I took the job regardless of not having my own room. In typical Mr. Bendele style, he took care of “his people”. Bob provided me a two-drawer rolling file cabinet which he happily delivered to me before classes began; I was in business as the itinerant English teacher. With five different preps, I was often at school late in the evening; unfortunately, my room light was visible from highway 173 as Mr. Bendele drove by DHS. One evening about 7:30 PM, there was a rapid knock on my door. It was Mr. Bendele, who asked what I was doing on campus alone so late; I told him that I had five different six-weeks tests to prepare and print for my students. Bob told me to go home now, and to ensure my departure he escorted me outside to my vehicle. His parting words were that I needed to be home with my children, and he didn’t want to see me there alone late at night again! After that, I took all my work home for fear that I might get another visit from Mr. Bendele and another escorted walk to my car! How Bob cared about us all-students and staff! I taught a variety of classes for several years but never had five preparations except those first two years. Eventually, I was moved to the English IV teacher in 1989-90 school year, and I loved that job. I had wonderful students, and I worked them hard to prepare for college English. In summer of 1993, I was trained at the Advanced Placement Institute at Texas A & M, which allowed me to add AP English to options for DHS seniors. Our first year, I had about 15 students take AP English and then sit for the AP exam; these students scored 4 or 5 (with only one 3) on the AP exam! DHS students proved themselves on the national level with those AP scores, which gave them college credit; I was so proud of these students in the first year of AP English. I continued AP English only two years. We learned some universities wouldn’t accept AP English except as an elective. Dual-credit English was a guaranteed English college credit course; therefore, I began work on a master’s degree in English so I could teach dual-credit English. This extra degree work required nightly drives each week to UTSA after teaching all day (no virtual classes in the 1990s or early 2000s); the highlight of my M.A. English work was my summer study abroad at Oxford University in England. I was able to bring dual-credit English to DHS and the wonderful students met the challenge and excelled! I loved the classroom, the students, and the content! The classroom was always a joy for me despite the long hours of grading compositions and research papers, and I believe that God called me to my teaching career and into education. Teaching was not all that I loved at DHS; Mr. Bendele praised our students and celebrated our staff for successes! UIL Academics became a huge focus with Mr. Bendele’s leadership and with Mrs. Gardner as UIL Director. I loved working with Brenda on UIL Academic events for 18 years; we rode countless miles on unairconditioned buses and spent many Saturdays at UIL tournaments from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. We usually traveled about 12-15 Saturdays each year to UIL tournaments; all that practice paid dividends as our students excelled in their events, winning district year after year! DHS students were winners at district, regional, and state competitions. I call these years the “golden years”, and it was grand to take my UIL Poetry and Lit Crit teams to these competitions. A number of poetry readers made appearances at state UIL, but only one of my students, Edie Bramhall, placed at state. A state UIL appearance allowed students to apply for a UIL scholarship for college whether they placed at state or not. There are so many wonderful memories of these poetry readers-mostly girls-including two whom we’ve lost: Rachel Ramirez and Kim Hamilton. Both were in many UIL events, and both were very successful. Brenda and I both coached them in different UIL events, and they were extremely talented young women! UIL was not the only thrill of working at DHS. In the mid-1990s, Marion Randow, Joyce Bendele and I began to take DHS girls and some of their mothers to England on summer tours. These trips allowed me to share my love of all things British and help prepare these girls for English IV the next year. These trips were a great adventure for girls and adults alike. The teenage girls tolerated being lectured to about British literature/history from me, art from Mrs. Bendele, and drama from Mrs. Randow. These trips were a wonderful experience for the girls and the adults. These are still great memories for me to this day as I hope we enriched these young ladies’ lives with these trips. In 1998, Bob retired, and I was heartbroken to lose his leadership at DHS. I considered leaving DHS and applied for jobs in the area as well as in San Antonio districts. I had very favorable interviews at Northside with two different directors; I attribute my successful interviews to being from Devine. Both directors knew Louis Stroud from officiating; I will never know if I interviewed well, or if knowing Louis got me the job offer. Both directors recommended me for the position, and I was offered a final interview for a Reading Coordinator. I didn’t take the position even though I knew that I’d make more money in Northside ISD, but my commute would be over two hours per day. The money wasn’t worth my leaving all the Devine friends who cared for us throughout our careers in DISD. I remained at DHS in English IV, and then I had a call from Devine Central Office. Superintendent Jim Davis offered me some administrative work while I remained the English IV teacher. I served as the DISD District Testing Coordinator for the state testing (TAKS at that time) grades 3-8 and high school EOC tests; and I also coordinated all dual-credit courses during my last two years at DHS. Then Mr. Davis offered me the curriculum director position, which I accepted. It was very difficult to leave DHS; I knew that I’d miss my DHS family and my students! However, I truly felt that I could contribute in the area of curriculum, so I started a new chapter in my educational career. At central office, I was blessed to work with Jim Davis, Dora Fernandez, Marie Talamantes, Debbie McCormick, Mamie Navarro, and Pat Brown in those early days, and I knew all of them well. I had been blessed to teach at least one child or more of every central office person! Three other great ladies, Glenda Allen, Elaine Hoog, and Kelly DuBose, joined the central office team a year or so later after I moved into CO. It was a great group of caring people! The quality people in DISD have been the key to years of student and district success through many changes and new requirements. There have always been mandates and programs with which Texas school districts are to comply, but no matter the challenge in DISD, people stepped up and helped solve the issue! The DISD staff has always been wonderful and so supportive through the many challenges we faced in curriculum, finances, testing, or each new mandate. I loved working with the DISD staff to solve problems, which they always faced with optimism and hard work. I don’t believe that there are better people than those in Devine ISD and the Devine community. To serve the students and people in Devine is a great reward in itself, but little did I know the new service area that awaited me. In February 2008, I received a call from Board President Cindy Morales to consider serving as interim superintendent. At that time, I was the assistant superintendent and quite satisfied with my position in a back office. I was unsure that I wanted the front office with the superintendent’s stress and knew that position would require longer hours with many difficult issues to resolve. I agreed to the interim position temporarily with the caveat that I could return to my assistant superintendent’s position if either the board or I wanted to terminate the agreement. I continued with my duties as assistant as well as assuming the duties of the interim superintendent from February until August. In August 2008, I began a new challenging chapter in my career as I agreed to take the superintendent’s job. The Devine Board of Trustees, the DISD staff, and Devine community all contributed to making those rewarding years for the district and for me. My first board was comprised of a great group of people all of whom were either DHS graduates or a parent of a DHS graduate; this led to a greatly invested group of people, focused on students not politics. My first board consisted of: President Cindy Morales, Vice-President Wayde Anderson, Secretary Nancy Pepper, Trustee Carl Brown, Trustee Dwayne Gardner, Trustee Eva Marquis, and Trustee Henry Moreno. Other board members who followed included: Rhonda Korczynski, Paula Samudio, Robert Morales, Gina Champion, and Wes Herring. With these dedicated board of trustees, the Devine community members passed two bond elections in four years, providing funds to renovate every campus, add the new DMS west wing, and build the DSAC complex. Despite some very difficult financial years and the many challenges that a school superintendent faces each year, my eight years as DISD Superintendent were a wonderful time in my life. My greatest hope is that I treated all people fairly and kindly, that DISD made some lasting improvements, and that student achievement improved. Thank you, Devine, for being a wonderful community in which to live and work; I was so blessed to have a career serving in Devine ISD! .
