January/February 2007
H i L ife
Vol. 81/Issue 4
2305 East Main League City, Texas 77573
CCISD remembers Art Goforth Tori Wycoff
A very important person in the history of Clear Creek ISD passed away on December 20. He was a World War II veteran, a thespian, an avid reader and a marathon runner. He was a religious man, an artist and a member of the United States Marine Corps. He was Arthur Goforth and CCISD will never forget him. Mr. Goforth came to Houston in 1938 to attend Rice University and play football. He can be found in the school’s football hall of fame. He graduated in 1942 and was drafted by both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Marines. He chose to defend our country and spent two years in the South Pacific and four in the Corps. He was an amazing runner and loved running the New York City Marathon. He ran it nine times and was able to complete it seven. “The New York marathon is habit-forming,” said Goforth in a recent interview with the school district. His jerseys from all of the marathons can be viewed in the library of Goforth Elementary. Mr. Goforth was a member of MENSA, a group of highly intellectual individuals, along with his wife Pat who was the first female administrator of the
district when she was the assistant principal at Clear Lake High School. Art Goforth began working for the district in 1955 and was only paid $3,400 a year. This was at a time when there was only one high school in the district and Goforth has said, “CCHS nailed everything together and it was the driving force behind Webster, Seabrook, Kemah and League City becoming one.” He taught English and coached football and basketball at Creek then became vice principal and eventually principal in the 70’s. “The Clear Creek experience has been great for me,” Goforth once said. He remembered all of his former students and could usually recognize one years later at local events. He worked in CCISD for 44 years and said that the district has, “a reputation for greatness and when I say greatness I mean outstanding students who achieve, outstanding faculties, and outstanding administrators.”
A few years after his retirement, the Goforths received a call that an elementary school was to be named after them for all they did for the district. Goforth said that he and his wife were “absolutely dumbfounded” at the idea of a school being named for them at it was an “unexpected honor.” The Goforth family could often be found at the campus, and after his wife’s death in 2001, the principal of Goforth Elementary, Cheryl Stephens and other faculty members were allowed inside the Goforth family home to collect memorabilia for the school. When asked about Mr. Goforth, Mrs. Stephens said that he was, “a really interesting person, very gifted in many ways.” Mr. Goforth loved the school, which has now been open for six years, and was invited to school functions and luncheons. Christopher Blackburn, an instructional mentor at Goforth Elementary,
said that Mr. Goforth was “always very insightful in speech and he had a smile in his voice.” He loved the building and once described it as a “complex design to be a teaching and learning instrument and if you don’t learn here, you don’t want to.” He would visit the school and look at the display that had been put up for his wife and only had one suggestion, that the staff add the words “righteous woman” to the list of words that described her. On one trip, Mr. Goforth even brought some shoes that his wife had worn in their travels to Europe, Japan and the Great Wall of China to be put up for display. Mr. Goforth was very active up until his death and was even able to drive his car. He is survived by his son, Bart, who went to Creek, his daughter, Cathy, and his granddaughter, Patricia, who is named for her grandmother. Services were held at Seabrook United Methodist Church. Mr. Blackburn attended the event and was shocked at the caliber of people that were there. This was a man that made a huge impact on this district and without him CCISD might not be what it is today.
Al’s Formal Wear (who supplied our contestants in tuxes) & Starlit Soiree (who supplied our escorts in formals). Our judge panel consisted of the following judges: John Wycoff, Mayor Jerry Shults, Delva & George and Toni Sonnega. So, if you would like to know who our handsome nominees and lovely escorts were, they are as follow: Michael Beach escorted by D’lexis Kernan, Brandon O’Quinn escorted by Jessica Tallman, Ty Halford escorted by Tara Wright, Brandon Puzzo escorted by Laurel Sturrock, Austin Nardone escorted by Brittany Olsen,
Stephen Weigman escorted by Roseann Nauta, Van Blackman escorted by Hannah Wilson, Andy Collins escorted by Marial Biard, Robert McLemore escorted by Jenna Rissky, Creighton Brooks escorted by Brittany Bradshaw, Colton Wegner escorted by Aurora Krog, Josh Hale escorted by Darin Montemayor, Andrew Jones escorted by Angela Brown, Adam Dodds escorted by Brittany Libby, And Matt Couch escorted by Shade Powell. For the competition the nominees strutted their stuff to try and steal the audiences and judges hearts by showing us their talents, which consisted
of dancing and surprisingly there was a little bit of acting by Michael Beach and his escort D’lexis Kernman, the couple acted out the skit “Valentines Day Song” done by Jimmy Foulet, but they weren’t the only couples acting that night. Robert Mclemore and his escort Jenna Risky acted out the play “The Spartans” done by Will Ferrell from Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, for this competition there could only be one winner going home that night. This year Senior Andy Collins was crowned as the one and only Mr. Clear Creek. If you would like to get a better look at who the contestants were for the Mr. Clear Creek competition turn to page, and see whom you would have voted for. Overall this years competition was successful, not only by the contestants, but the turnout of the crowed was just as awesome. Read more on page 11
Creek kicks off a new soccer season. Read more on page 15.
The Bears, the Colts and several firsts in the NFL history at Superbowl XLI. See page 6 for more.
Three Creek atheletes all from one family. More on page 7.
Photo courtesy of CCISD Office of Public Information.
Who is Creek’s Hottest Hunk? Andy Collins Sarah Cisneros Do you ever walk into class, take a seat and notice that there is always a really good-looking guy in your class? If so, you probably would have enjoyed attending the Mr. Clear Creek competition. This is an event where we get all of the most attractive guys attending Creek, and we find out who is the most charming, and most persuasive guy that should be crowned as this year’s Mr. Clear Creek. The Mr. Clear Creek competition was held this year on Saturday, February 17th at 7pm in the auditorium, the tickets for the event were selling at the price of $10.00 each. Mrs. Latulipe introduced this competition in the year 2005 it has been a Creek tradition ever since. Last year the Mr. Clear Creek award was presented to Senior Jon Rackman. This year the event was sponsored by the following companies: Wycoff Construction,
Clear Creek celebrates because Mr. Majewski is here to stay as the new Associate Principal! Read more on page 7. Photo by Bobby Murphy
Photo by Destinee Walker
Photo courtesy MCT campus
Photo by Sarah Cisneros
Clear Creek HiLife