OurCelina - May 2021

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OurCelina.com | May 2021

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By Lisa Ferguson

Save for the occasional vehicle rattling over the brick pavers on West Walnut Street, or trains rumbling through nearby railroad crossings, for the most part Celina’s downtown square is usually rather quiet during the overnight hours.

That wasn’t the case on April 21, 1932, however, when shortly after midnight a trio of men descended on the square, intent on breaking into the Patrick & Seitz Hardware store to pilfer guns and ammunition.

Among the crooks was none other than notorious bank robber Clyde Barrow. That spring evening, he and cohorts Ted Rogers and Johnny Russell also kidnapped four Celina residents.

Eighty-six years later, the event is regarded as little more than a footnote in the violent, fabled history of the Barrow Gang, which weaved its way through Texas and several other states knocking over banks and murdering those who got in their way. That is, until Clyde and his literal partner in crime, Bonnie Parker (who happened to have been locked in a Kaufman County jail cell on the night of the Celina heist), died in a hail of gunfire during a 1934 law-enforcement ambush in Louisiana.

Members of infamous bank robber Clyde Barrow's gang reportedly sat outside the Nelson Hotel building (current Valley Vines) in Celina before burgalizing a local hardware store. Photo Credit: Lisa Ferguson

“No one would have known who Clyde Barrow was” when he made his way to Celina, explained John Neal Phillips, author of the book Running with Bonnie and Clyde, during a 2016 interview with the Celina Record newspaper. “In fact, there was no `Bonnie and Clyde’ until the last few days before they were killed. … The fact that they were killed together was the thing that sealed the deal.”

According to published reports, here’s how the 1932 Celina crime spree went down: Two members of the Barrow Gang were seated outside the Nelson Hotel building on West Walnut and North Ohio streets, which is now home to Valley Vines. The city’s night watchman, Floyd C. Perkins, happened upon the pair around the same time that Celina Mayor S.M. Francis was exiting the building directly across the street, which is now inhabited by the Celina Economic Development Corporation office.

One of the criminals pulled out a gun and swiped Perkin’s service weapon. The watchman and mayor were marched east toward the railroad tracks. Perkins, who was injured when his head was smacked with the butt of a pistol, and Francis were then loaded into an empty railroad boxcar nearby. In a case of simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, two other citizens - later identified in the Celina Record as Carl Patrick and Byron Douglas - also crossed paths with the outlaws that night and were loaded into the same boxcar.

Barrow and the others “didn’t go to Celina to abduct anyone,” Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, author of the book Gangster Tour of Texas, told the Celina Record in 2016. “It was just their convenience that there was a boxcar … that was not locked that they could put people in as a temporary calaboose.”

Barrow, Rogers and Russell then made their way to an alley off West Pecan Street behind Patrick & Seitz Hardware, which was located on the site of what is now the patio area at Papa Gallo’s Mexican Grill. Once there, they mistakenly broke into Choate Pharmacy, formerly located in what is now the restaurant’s main dining room. Recognizing their error, the men quickly backed out of the space and made their way next door, where they successfully stole the pair of shotguns and ammunition they had sought. On their way out of Celina, the criminals also snagged the keys from the patrol car of Deputy Sheriff Frank “Dutch” Stelzer, who was unable to give chase as the men drove away.

S.M. Francis was the mayor of Celina in 1932 when he was kidnapped

by Clyde Barrow and members of his gang. Francis, along with night watchman Floyd C. Perkins and two citizens, was briefly held captive in a railroad boxcar near Celina’s downtown square. Photo Courtesy of Celina Area Heritage Association.

Barrow had reportedly been collecting weapons for use later that year during a planned armed raid on the Eastham Prison Farm north of Huntsville, a facility at which he had previously served time. The raid was thwarted temporarily when lawmen began apprehending members of the Barrow Gang – except for the elusive Clyde, that is.

An exhibit at the Celina Museum details crimes committed during the 1930s by Texas-born Clyde Barrow and members of his murderous, bank-robbing gang. Photo Courtesy of Celina Area Heritage Association.

The firearms stolen during the Celina burglary were recovered the following day. That’s when the Denton County Sheriff’s Office learned that gunshots had been heard near Lake Dallas. It turned out that members of the Barrow Gang had been holed up there and were practicing shooting their newly acquired weapons. Officers arrived at the location and arrested two gang members who were not connected to the Celina heist. Meanwhile, Clyde escaped by fleeing to a nearby highway where he commandeered a vehicle and drove away. In January 1934, he carried out the raid at Eastham and succeeded in breaking out five inmates from the facility.

Four months later, Bonnie and Clyde were dead.

A small exhibit about the burglary is displayed at the Celina Museum. Otherwise, the crime has largely been forgotten locally – much to the surprise of Phillips, who spent a fair amount of time here during the 1980s conducting research for his book.

“Every other place I went to, I always found somebody who had a reasonably clear memory” of events involving Barrow and his crew, he said. “Celina is unique in that nobody seemed to remember a darn thing. You would think that somebody would remember the mayor being locked in a boxcar.”

This piece was previously published in the April 2018 issue of OurCelina.

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OurCelina.com | May 2021

OurCelina.com | May 2021

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May 2021 Vol 4, Issue 5

WHAT'S INSIDE? 4

Clyde Barrow Makes History in Celina

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Scouting - Troop 296 Recruiting

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Welcome CPD Chief Cullison

10-11

Meet Gina Overstreet, Cajunfest Creative Genius

12-13

Celina ISD School Zone

Celina State Track Qualifiers

14-15

The Stalcup Family: Doing Band for Two Decades

19

Celina EDC

20

The Bridges Golf Club Scramble

Celina Prom Photos

21

Celina Citizens Government Academy

Friday Night Market

Published By 4CMEDIAGROUP, LLC Editorial & Design Renee Marler Renee@4cMediaGroup.com Production Jimmy Marler James@4cMediaGroup.com Contributing Writers Renee Marler | Jill Roza | Lisa Ferguson

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OurCelina.com | May 2021

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HISTORY: Clyde Barrow Gang comes to Celina

PEOPLE: Celina Cajunfest Creative Genius, Gina Overstreet

BAND LEGACY: The Stalcup Family's decades-long committment to Celina Band

ON THE COVER:

Celina High School State UIL Track Qualiifersw Photo by: Brad Kaufman

Contributing Art & Photography 4CMEDIAGROUP Renee Marler | Jimmy Marler Camden Caldwell | Brad Kaufman | TXMileSplit UIL Editorial Submissions Please send editorial considerations to Renee@4CMEDIAGROUP.com Advertising Information Contact us at 214.592.7512 or email us at Renee@4CMEDIAGROUP.com

OurCelina 114 N. Ohio, Suite 100, Celina, TX 75009 214.592.7512 | www.OurCelina.com A 4CMEDIAGROUP, LLC Publication

Visit our website at www.4CMEDIAGROUP.com

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Troop 296 is based in Celina, Texas. We offer Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA. Message us on our Facebook page at Celina Texas Scouting for more information! Everyone is welcome. Scouting is all about building Youth to be tomorrows civic leaders. There is no alternative Youth leadership program.

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OurCelina.com | May 2021

Welcome Celina Police Chief John Cullison John Cullison began his law enforcement career with the Irving Police Department in 1995. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree from the University of Texas at Arlington.

During his tenure with the Irving Police Department, he served in a variety of roles. As a detective, he worked in the Criminal Investigations Division, was promoted to sergeant, and served in Patrol, CID, and Internal Affairs. Upon promotion to lieutenant, he served as a Patrol Watch Commander and then led the SWAT team as Commander.

John was promoted to deputy chief, led the North Patrol Division Operations, and was appointed to the Technical Services Division Commander position to lead the Communications Section, Records Section, Jail Operations, and the Personnel and Training Section.

He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Leadership Command College, and the Senior Management Institute for Police.

John served in the United States Air Force on active duty and in a reserve capacity. Following the 9/11 event, he was called back to active duty and served in the theater of operations during several deployments. He ultimately led the 301 SFS/ 301 Fighter Wing as a Chief Master Sergeant, United States Air Force’s highest enlisted rank.

John also serves as an adjunct instructor for Dallas College at the Brookhaven campus, and he serves on the Law Enforcement Advisory Board for the Irving Independent School District. Finally, he is married to Alice Cullison for the past 28 years. Alice is a Partner Sales Manager for Cisco Systems.

John and Alice have two children: Preston is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and is a First Lieutenant assigned to the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia. Lauren is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, and she is a Security Sale Rep for Cisco Systems and resides in Austin, Texas.

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Let's be honest, Crawfish are probably not one of the the most visually appealing foods. But since 2013, Celina native, Gina Overstreet, has found a way to make a food nicknamed a "mudbug" look incredibly...well....AMAZING! Gina's mother moved here in first grade and attended the Alla School so Gina was born and raised right here in Celina, graduating from Celina High School in 1991.

At a young age, she took an interest in art. In the 3rd grade, she remembers practicing calligraphy. While in high school, she recalls painting the side of the building that is now occupied by Hey Sugar with names of all the students in the extracirriculars.

"OSHA would die now," she laughed "A bunch of cheerleaders on scaffolding in the middle of the street for lord knows how long."

After graduating from Celina, Overstreet attended the University of North Texas where she graduated with a BA in Communication Design.

Since college, she has been asked to work on projects for her hometown of Celina, such as creating the very first Main Street logo, Chamber of Commerce logos, Golf Tournaments, Balloon Festival, Oktoberfest, Art Fest, Celina Fun Day and many others.

When she was asked to work on the Cajunfest design in 2013, she had no way of knowing that it would take on a life of it's own. Each year as the event grew, she was tasked with creating a new design while keeping the feel of the festival and Celina the same.

"I start with words. I always start with words," she said. "When you want something to have meaning you start with words every time as visuals and words go hand in hand."

Her favorite design for Cajunfest so far, if she had to choose one in particular, has been the one she did for the 5th annual event where the design created the number "5".

This year, she was inspired with an idea to do a painting. She said she has done painting off and on, but had never done pallet knife painting and wanted to try it. After a quick weekend self-taught lesson, she started to work on her painting for the 2021 Celina Cajunfest. She calls the painting, "CrawDance".

The painting has been proudly displayed in the window at Two29 on the Square event center in the downtown square, which also holds special significance for Overstreet.

"This building was my grandfather Walter Hamm's hardware store. My cousins and I would run around and my Memaw was always running the cash register," says Overstreet. "I spent a lot of time in here. I love what it has become now as there are many people making memories in here. Memories different than mine, but memories nonetheless."

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OurCelina.com | May 2021

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Celina Independent School District

SCHOOL ZONE

From The Desk of Dr. Tom Maglisceau Dear Bobcats,

What a difference a year makes when we recall our spring one year ago--with closed schools and cancelled competitions, events, and end-of-year celebrations. One year later, the pendulum seems to have swung back, and many dreams we had for our kids have slowly come back to reality.

We have had so much to celebrate this year, and we are proud of how hard our students have worked to maintain a focus on learning. We celebrated our younger students last month who performed so well in academic competition, and now many of our CHS students also placed at the UIL Academic Regional Competition: Copy Editing - Corinna Martin - 5th Place; Current Events Team - Aaron Ojeda, Caleb Coke, Grayson Baird - 5th Place; Journalism Team -Corinna Martin, Ava Miller, Judith Matehuala, Karla Presa - 7th Place; Literary Critique Team -Angela Stalcup, Sarah Coblentz, Mekdes Woldesunbet, Ava Miller - 4th Place; News Writing -Judith Matehuala - 3rd Place/State Qualifier; Ready Writing - Angela Stalcup - 1st Place/State Qualifier; Prose Interpretation - Serena Musunza - 2nd Place/State Qualifier; Social Studies -Sarah Coblentz - 4th Place/State Alternate; Social Studies Team - Sarah Coblentz, Corinna Martin, Trevor Wigginton, Mekdes Woldesunbet - 3rd Place; Speech Team - Bekah Stuart, Ellie Hughes, Serena Musunza, Ethan Andrejack - 6th Place; Spelling & Vocabulary - Corinna Martin - 4th Place/State Alternate.

On the state level, Judith Matehuala finished 5th in state in News Writing, and Angela Stalcup 9th in state Ready Writing. Competing in state competition later: Olivia Snyder in Theatrical Design and Serena Musunza in Prose Interpretation.

Our boys and girls soccer teams made CISD history by advancing to the State UIL Semi-Finals round, proving that Celina plays futbol as well as football. The girls team broke three records this year: Ashlyn Vana broke the state single-season assist record with 51 assists, beating the old record of 41, and just seven assists away from a national record. Junior Taylor Zdrojewski broke the Texas record for goals scored in a season with 114 goals, which broke the previous state record of 109. Our girls team did achieve one national record also, breaking the old record of 238 single-season team goals with 243 team goals.

The CHS Baseball and Softball Teams are completing their first full seasons at their new complex with extended seasons. The girls are Bi-District Champions and the boys finished their regular season as District Champions. We also had a big send-off for our track athletes heading to state after both our boys and girls teams were crowned District and Area champions.

As we prepare to cap off a year of learning and activities we probably thought we wouldn’t see one year ago, we celebrate our seniors with CHS Graduation Friday, May 28, at Bobcat Stadium starting at 9:00am. The ceremony will be streamed on YouTube and Facebook for those who cannot be in attendance.

As always, we thank the community for all the support our schools receive throughout the year, perhaps highlighted by this year’s Celina Education Foundation (CEF) gala. If you were not able to attend this year’s gala at The Venue at Waterstone, plan to attend next year as Jennifer Thomas and her CEF team put on an amazing evening of fun and fellowship. This event grossed over $90,000 for the Foundation that evening alone, and these funds provide teacher grants and student scholarships. We appreciate the many community members, sponsors, and donors who generously supported our students and teachers--both that night, and throughout the year. What a true showing of what it means to be Celina Connected!

Go Bobcats!

Sincerely, Tom Maglisceau Superintendent, Celina| ISD 12 OurCelina.com May 2021

Photo cred:Brad Kaufman

Adele Clarke - STATE CHAMPION 1600m Photo cred:TXMileSplit/UIL

Congratulations to our CHS Athletes that competed at the State Track meet in Austin.

1600m (Mile) - 1st place - Adele Clarke - STATE CHAMPION 800m -2nd place - Adele Clarke 300 Hurdles - 2nd place - Grant Williams 1600m Relay Girls - 5th place - Brooklyn Babb, Adele Clarke, Lily Green, Lily Neidhart 1600m Relay Boys - 5th place - Collin Urich, Grant Williams, Casen Wright, Christian Cunningham

BOBCATS OurCelina.com | May 2021

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On May 28th, when CHS Senior Angela Stalcup walks across the stage, two decades of recruitment, uniform fittings, fundraising, bandwiches, and contests will come to a close. The last of Wes and Becky Stalcup’s four children will be off to college signaling the finale to the many hours the family has dedicated to the Celina Band program.

They say the journey began when their oldest child Logan, participated in “Instrument Day.” After having tried all the different instruments, he confronted the band director and said, “Mr. Rutherford, I want to play the tuba!” The band director chuckled due to the fact that the young man had to sit on telephone books just to play the instrument. The enthusiasm that he witnessed in Logan made him say, “Okay, let’s see how you sound on it?” Logan grabbed the tuba and proceeded to make a huge sound and with that, entered his parents into the band booster world. From those humble beginnings, Logan continued his musical career at the University of Oklahoma where he studied Music Education and served as Drum Major for the Pride of Oklahoma University Marching Band. He is now an Associate Director of Bands for Marcus High School.

Next, was Ethan who chose the trombone and followed older brother Logan to OU where he played alongside his brother as a member of the Pride of Oklahoma University Marching Band. Graduating with a Business Degree, he combines his passion for history and his love of coins working for Apmex Gold and Silver in Oklahoma City. Following Ethan is Glenna, the first of the Stalcup girls. Glenna spent 3 of her 4 years of high school as the Drum Major for the Bobcat Band. She chose not to deviate from the brass family of instruments played by her older siblings and chose the french horn. She currently attends Texas A&M Commerce, majoring in Music Education and is a member of the Texas A&M Commerce Marching Band.

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Last, but not least is Angela who literally grew up immersed in band thanks to her three siblings. When choosing an instrument, the trombone was her first pick even if it towered over her small stature. She will graduate in the top 3 and will be joining her big sister at Texas A&M Commerce. She was accepted into the Honors College and plans to major in Secondary English with a minor in Music.

When asked about the time spent as a band booster, Becky couldn’t begin to calculate the thousands of volunteer hours logged over the past 20 years. Many days started at 5am and ended well past midnight. Those long hours spent with parents like herself made the hours go by effortlessly. She shared that, “Band parents are great volunteers and I have appreciated every single one I have worked with over the last twenty years.” That makes for a long list and contains many special friendships that have developed along the way.

Next year, the Stalcup Family will watch their two daughters perform on the college level. Joining them will be former CHS Band Director Russ Rutherford whose daughter will be rooming with Angela at the University of Texas A&M Commerce. Becky is excited to be able to enjoy this experience with the one that started her children on this musical journey. For the first time, they both will be able to sit in the stands and enjoy their children’s performance without mentally checking off a To-Do’s list of what they need to accomplish prior to and after the performance has concluded.

As the finale comes to a close, the Stalcups have enjoyed a front row seat watching countless students not only growing as musicians but as wonderful, caring human beings. And she wouldn’t be a band parent without wanting to end on a good note… “Volunteer! You’ll be glad you did!”

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As you know, the winter freeze has been hard on so many of us and it has proved especially difficult for golf courses throughout the state. Golf course maintenance can be tricky to understand, but we want to thank you for your patience with us as our team works hard each day to get the course back to the pristine conditions you expect at The Bridges Golf Club.

We currently have some of the best greens in the area after the harsh winter, so come out and enjoy!

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