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Heights icon Cohen dies at 98 By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
The Heights is a beloved part of Houston because of its style and charm, historic character and balance between being elegant and down to earth. Those were all qualities embodied by Melvalene Cohen, who helped shape the neighborhood into what it is today. Cohen, who died Monday at age 98, opened a grocery store in the Heights in the 1950s and remained in the area throughout the rest of her life. She helped revital-
ize the neighborhood along with her husband, Carl, as founding members of the Houston Heights Association (HHA) in the 1970s, and she also was active with the Houston Heights Woman’s Club, for which she once served as president. Melvalene Cohen was politically involved as well and helped to beautify the Heights while nurturing its children. She did so while often dressing to impress and charming friends and neighbors with a quick wit and easy smile. “We wouldn’t be here today
if it wasn’t for people like Melvalene. We wouldn’t be here at all,” said Heights resident Laura Virgadamo, a friend and fellow member of the woman’s club. “The Heights would be nothing or nobody. It would be torn down and there wouldn’t be any history. They’re the kind of people that fought to preserve this neighborhood.” Cohen, affectionately known as a “grande dame” of the Heights, Photo from Viula Torgerson was a recipient of the Leader of the Year honor, awarded by The Melvalene Cohen, a founding member of the Houston Heights Association and longtime member of the Houston See Cohen P. 4A Heights Woman’s Club, died Monday at age 98.
Sprucing up Shepherd
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Photo by Adam Zuvanich Facing the outdoor nursery and parking lot at Wabash Feed & Garden, 4537 N. Shepherd Dr., is a mural painted by Houston artist Emily Ding. It aims to beautify the street while making use of a long-dormant billboard on the property. Perfect 10. An exhibit showcasing 10-inch by 10-inch paintings is scheduled for Saturday.
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Blood needed. There are several upcoming blood donation events in the area.
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Flying high. Two talented forwards lead Booker T. Washington’s boys basketball team.
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Wabash commissions murals to beautify street By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com Kayla Johnson noticed something different about Wabash Feed & Garden when she arrived at the store late Tuesday afternoon. The two-sided billboard on the southeast edge of the North Shepherd Drive property – which recently became a two-sided mural – immediately caught her attention. Painted on the south side are the heads of two hens with a green background. On the north side, facing the Wabash parking lot, are colorful flora and fauna, along with two bees and a butterfly. “That was the first thing I saw when I got out of the car, so it definitely draws your eye to it,” said Johnson, a former Independence Heights resident who had been to Wabash a couple times before. “It looks really, really nice.” That’s the kind of reaction Wabash owner Betty Heacker was hoping for when she decided a couple months ago to turn the billboard, which had long been painted white, into a work of public art. One of her employees at Wabash is roommates with muralist Emily Ding, who was commissioned to do the work, finishing the north side before the end of December and the south side earlier this month. It’s part of an ongoing effort to beautify the property and make improvements at Wabash, 4537 N. Shepherd Dr., which in December also acquired the lot imme-
By Adam Zuvanich
Church....................................................... 4A Classifieds.............................................. 5A Coupons. ................................................. 3B Food/Drink............................................. 1B Obituaries.............................................. 8A Opinion. ................................................... 3A Public Information......................... 2A Puzzles...................................................... 3A Sports. ....................................................... 4B
Janavi Folmsbee is intertwined with everyone and everything, and they are intertwined with her. That’s the way she views it, at least. The 34-year-old Oak Forest resident and artist has had a deep fascination with the world’s waterways and their ability to help connect people and worlds - no matter who someone is or where they’re traveling from - since growing up near the Indian River in Mumbai, India. And by the end of next summer, she hopes to make international travelers feel invited and welcomed into Houston with a mural inspired by that spirit of mutual connection. “My work is all about how our oceans and waterways connect us all,” Folmsbee said. On Dec. 29, Folmsbee was one of 10 artists selected to complete sitespecific art commissions across Houston airports as part of the Houston Airports public art program and the City of Houston’s Civic Art Collection. Beginning in May, Folmsbee and her team will create a 240-foot-long marine biology-inspired mural inside the International Terminal Connector Tunnel between Terminal D & Terminal E at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). She and the other nine artists’ proposed pieces were selected out of nearly 350 applicants. “I’m really excited,” she said. See Folmsbee P. 5A
Photo by Adam Zuvanich The south side of a billboard on the property of Wabash Feed & Garden, 4537 N. Shepherd Dr., features a mural of two hens that was painted by Emily Ding.
diately to the north. Heacker said she plans to use the 41,000-square foot space, where used cars previously were sold, for customer parking, storage and eventually a place to hold gardening classes and community meetings. Manager John Berry said Wabash has seen an uptick See Wabash P. 5A
Photo by Jay Marroquin Oak Forest’s Janavi Folmsbee is creating a mural at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Dirt piles aim to deter trail users during construction azuvanich@theleadernews.com
THE INDEX.
Oak Forest resident’s art commissioned for IAH terminal
The grassy mounds of dirt that have spent months atop part of the White Oak Bayou Trail are taller than Jonathan Moore and stretch across the concrete path he likes to use when jogging. On Tuesday evening, though, they didn’t exactly get in his way. Moore, a Heights resident who said he had run more than 4 miles to the north and was
starting to head back home, merely stepped off the trail to the side to avoid the series of mounds on the section north of West Tidwell Road. Then, after running past each mound, he veered back onto the paved path. “I think it’s more annoying than anything,” Moore said. “I just run around it.” The reason the dirt piles are there, according to a spokesperson for the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), is to deter people
like Moore from using the trail. It runs along the west side of a bayou that is under construction, with the flood control district making channel restorations and improvements as part of two related flood mitigation projects. More than $33 million in federal funding is being used to restore White Oak Bayou to its originally designed conditions, according to HCFCD spokesperson Sheldra Brigham, who said the conSee Trail P. 4A
Photo by Adam Zuvanich Heights resident Jonathan Moore sidesteps a dirt mound while jogging Tuesday on the White Oak Bayou Trail north of its intersection with West Tidwell Road.
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