Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 1G
Na c o g
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s e h c do
t io n a c u Ed & Community
John Hazlewood By Kim foli
oNce a moNth, music-lovers of all ages meet iN aN old church at millard’s crossiNg for the PiNeKNot music co-oP. at left, Country Willie Performs
Tom Segady By Kim foli
dr. segady teaches sociology at stePheN f. austiN state uNiversity. he ofteN BriNgs iN iNterestiNg guest sPeaKers aNd is a favorite Professor amoNg studeNts.
Photos by Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
stePheN f. austiN state Professor dr. tom segady Poses feB. 12 iN his office iN the dePartmeNt of social aNd cultural aNalysis oN camPus. segady teaches a course oN gloBalizatioN at the uNiversity, which exPlores how cultures iNteract, aNd what those iNteractioNs meaN for the future.
2G • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
“Country” Willie Edwards performs on stage with the lights of the audio control board in the foreground Feb. 28 seen through one of the John Hazlewood plays his mandolin at Millard’s Crossing Historic windows in the old church at Millard’s Crossing Historic Village in Nacogdoches for the monthly PineKnot Music Coop performance night. The Village on Feb. 25 in Nacogdoches. Hazlewood is the founder and cooperative is celebrating its 13th anniversary of roots music in Deep East Texas on the fourth Friday of the month. driving force behind the Pineknot Music Co-op.
‘Let’s play some music!’
John Hazlewood’s PineKnot established as creative outlet By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com From bluegrass to folk music to good old rock and roll — there’s something for every music lover at the PineKnot Music Co-op. And that’s just what John Hazlewood was hoping for when he drummed up the idea for the monthly event 13 years ago. It all began in 2001 when Hazlewood was hanging out with friends Wally and Cele Knight. A discussion ensued about how great it would be to have a “living-roompicker-style” music get-together, without the bar scene. “I just ran with it,” Hazlewood said. “I started calling around and talking to my musical friends. It got started on a whim.” Without a venue, the PineKnot moved around in its early days. The first show was at Liberty Hall, then Knights of Columbus Hall, and then for about six years it stayed in the Mill Room at Banita Creek Hall. This was before the building was purchased and turned into a bar. “We really built our reputation there,” Hazlewood said of the Mill Room venue. “That’s where
people really found out about us. We did it the fourth Friday of every month.” Then, when the building was sold, Hazlewood asked former director of Millard’s Crossing, Susie Lower, if they could hold the event at the old church on the property. She agreed, and that’s where it’s been ever since. Every fourth Friday, except for a brief hiatus in the winter, the PineKnot draws in music lovers of all ages and creeds.
“We’ve always had a pretty good mix of audience, but since we’ve been at Millard’s Crossing, that cross section has grown more,” he said. “Even in the last couple of years.” Hazlewood, who is affectionately known as “Nacogdoches Red,” calls the PineKnot a “big community party,” and that’s what he likes the most. “It’s always a real good vibe,”
he said. “It’s a place where people really go to sit and listen to the music instead of playing pool and watching TV. I think that’s the main draw.” Hazlewood said those in attendance are usually pretty quiet and attentive. Toward the end of the night, feet start stomping and college students often fill the aisles, dancing until the last note is played. “At this point, it’s kind of got a life of its own,” he said. “I basically just kind of oversee it.” Hazlewood said a lot of times, musicians will approach him saying they want to play. Rarely does he have to put out a call for musicians. “A lot of times you’ve got to make your own fun around Nacogdoches, and this is just another example of that,” he said. Hazlewood plays mandolin, harmonica, accordion and sings. Every now and then he can be seen playing along with fellow musicians on the stage. He says Nacogdoches is full of “artsy folks,” whether musicians or sculptors or painters. And the PineKnot is just another creative outlet. “I think it’s a nice outlet for folks to come out and embrace that,” he said. There is no cost to attend the PineKnot. Instead, Hazlewood asks people to bring canned goods that he takes to the Women’s Shelter of Nacogdoches County. “I just wanted to have something to tie back to the community,” he said. “We’re about music
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and giving back as much as we can, or a little bit at least.” Hazlewood said he is grateful to local businesses that sponsor the event. Their sponsorship covers rental fees to use the church at Millard’s Crossing. “That was all part of it being a community thing,” he said. “I
didn’t want it to be a commercial thing. People could just come and if you didn’t have money it’s okay.” Hazlewood said he paid a lot out of his own pocket in the early years, but with the help of sponsors, he rarely has to chip in these days.
“I wasn’t trying to start some kind of a bar or business,” he said. “It was solely out of ‘Man, let’s play some music!’” The PineKnot takes place the fourth Friday of the month. For more information, follow their Facebook page called “The PineKnot Music Co-op.”
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Owner of the Lamp-Lite Theater, Sarah McMullen, claps as she watches the cast of “The Bells are Ringing” rehearse Wednesday for their upcoming production in Nacogdoches.
Pair devotes lives to young people By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com Husband and wife duo Judy Bowman and Milton Pitts have been stalwarts in the Nacogdoches community for decades. He a retired insurance agent and she still serving as regional director for Child Protective Services, the couple met and married almost 25 years ago. “I met my hero in 1986 at The Daily Sentinel sponsored Do Dat Barbecue fundraiser for foster parents of East Texas,” Pitts said. “After the auction that I was working, Judy Bowman, program director of the local Child Protective Services (CPS) office at that time came up to thank me. It was love at first sight.” Bowman has worked for CPS for more than 35 years, serving in many capacities in various parts of the state. Her current position as regional director for 38 East Texas counties “involves the oversight of over 600 staff, 2,300 foster children and the investigation of approximately 1,200 reports of child abuse and neglect per month,” Pitts said. “Judy has a strong devotion to the children and families she works with.” Pitts is no less devoted. Born in
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Milton Pitts and Judy Bowman pose March 5 on the front porch of their insurance office on North Devotes » 4G Mound Street in Nacogdoches.
Lets get creative.
Grande dame of the stage
For 45 years, Sarah McMullen brings live productions to the Nacogdoches community By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
an experience she calls “liberating,” husband. adding that she learned how to build “He was in politics,” she said, sets and do everything on her own. adding that they eventually moved to Sarah McMullen is most at home After two years, however, her father Washington, D.C. while he attended in the spotlight. became concerned that she would law school and worked on Capitol Hill. For 45 years, she has provided live meet someone and marry in Virginia, “I saw numerous openings,” she entertainment, and the opportunity to so she had to return to her home state said of her time in the capitol. “They take the stage, to the people of Nacog- and attend the University of Southern would try out in Washington and then doches. It’s something she is passion- Mississippi. Dame » 4G ate about, and that passion is evident It was there where she met her first as soon as one walks through the door at the Lamp-Lite Theatre. Black and white photos adorn the walls of the lobby and theater — images of past shows and child actors who are now romantic leads. The name “Sarah” is embroidered on a director’s chair in the corner of the lobby. And when asked where she’s most comfortable — in the director’s chair or on stage Angela Cooper Sheri Mullican Anna Donihoo — she does not hesitate.
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“Oh, both,” she says. “But nothing is as thrilling as being on stage. It’s such a thrill to make people laugh and cry.” McMullen sat down recently to reminisce about her life, and most specifically, her years on the stage. Her interest in theater began at an early age, when she was growing up in the small town of Newton — “near Meridian and Jackson on the old Highway 80” she said in a thick, unmistakably Mississippi accent. This was during the second World War, when tensions were high. She recalls, as a small girl, smashing a Japanese trinket on the ground following the attack on Pearl Harbor. And she remembers the day Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Her principal sent everyone home that day. It was a simpler time, when McMullen would ride her bicycle to the “movie house” after a music lesson. There, she would see films for 15 cents, and later 35 cents. “My parents were really wonderful,” she said. “They read a lot, and they took us to many concerts and plays in Jackson.” It was there where McMullen saw bygone performers Martha Graham, Fritz Kreisler and Peter Lawford, experiences she calls “inspirational.” “I studied music as a child, was in choirs and plays,” she said. “There was a lot of public interest in entertainment.” McMullen had her directing debut in high school, putting on productions the whole community would come out to watch. In college, she studied theater at a women’s college in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It was
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Sarah McMullen, left, listens as Bill Small, right, makes suggestions for the set during the rehearsal of “The Bells are Ringing” Wednesday at the Lamp-Lite Theater in Nacogdoches.
Dame » From 3G
Church. “I was teaching children at Christ Episcopal Church,” she said. “We started the theater over there in go to New York.” the parish hall, because I just really Later, McMullen would remarry, missed it and wanted to do it.” this time to a professor who took a job In 1976, the City Spirit Arts teaching theater at Stephen F. Austin Center was formed at the old Phelan State University. She never moved Warehouse, then downtown near the away from Nacogdoches, and said fire station. But torrential rains put a she expects to spend the rest of her damper on that plan. life here. “Then they decided everybody had to move out of the flood plain,” she said. It was 1971 when the theater began So they did — and they took their in the parish hall of Christ Episcopal theater with them.
The Lamp-Lite
McMullen points to the hardwood floor in the theater. “These boards here — these are the old heart pine,” she said. “These are probably 100 years old.” The building process took about a year. “And nearly all of us were over 40 when we did it,” she said. “It was like a big barn raising.” McMullen said her five children helped, along with the Abernethy family and numerous other volunteers. On May 19, 1979, the theater opened with “The Last of the Red Hot Lov-
ers,” with Hazel Abernethy playing a lead role. “We used lawn chairs for our first show,” she said, laughing. It’s been 34 years since that first show, and the theater is still going strong. “People come up to me and tell me they want to help,” she said. “Many times, people that sent their children really want to be on stage themselves.” People who are retired often help too, and McMullen said it’s inspirational to see people take the stage for the first time in their 50s and 60s.
“We’ve had superior actors by having performers from the college,” she said. Professors, teachers and lawyers often make excellent actors, she said. “It brings out a whole side of people,” she said. “They can be performers, and do things they can’t do in every day life.” The actors grow very close during shows, she said. “It’s like a lifeboat,” she said.
“When you do a show, everybody’s in danger of making a fool of themselves. So when you go through it, you get real close. They go through a lot.” McMullen said the theater often brings people together that may have never been friends. “And we really do have all kinds of people out here,” she said. “I think Nacogdoches has a great pool of talent. It’s just a really good town to live in.”
School Alumni Association in 1995. “The primary purpose was to award scholarships to NHS graduating Nacogdoches, he served for six years seniors,” Pitts said. “(We) endowed the in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves Founders Scholarship, which is given and became deeply involved in youth each year at the Awards Assembly, programs before and after returning to along with many other scholarships his hometown. made possible by gifts from friends and “Most of his volunteer work has been alumni.” Bowman was born and raised in Cendevoted to organizations benefitting tral Heights and graduated from Texas kids,” said Barbara Ball, a friend who A&M University. She works closely still nominated Pitts as a Nacogdoches standout. “He served on the board of the with the Nacogdoches County Child WelYMCA in Houston and was instrumen- fare Board, Nacogdoches County Community Partners, the Child Advocacy tal in setting up after-school activities for latchkey kids in the fourth ward. He Center, and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Deep East Texas. also spent many years coaching Little “While traveling around NacogdoDribblers Basketball and Little League ches, we frequently run into foster and Baseball at the Post Oak YMCA.” adoptive families that Judy has worked Starting in 1966, Pitts became very with and it is clearly visible the respect active in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and was elected to the event’s and admiration these families have for her and the work that she has done with board of directors in 1977. “(Stephen F. Austin State University) them,” said Pitts. “We also get to see many of the children (many are young has benefitted over the years from the adults now) whose lives have been forHouston Livestock Show and Rodeo ever changed because of the advocacy by receiving gifts of over $1.8 million that she has exhibited.” for agriculture and forestry research They have two children: Charley Pitts projects, graduate assistantships, and of Singapore, and Carson Bowman of scholarships,” he said. Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel Fort Worth. The “joy of (their) life” is Along with Bob Morgan and VardeMilton Pitts and Judy Bowman work on the computer in Pitts’ Nacogdoches insurance office March 5. Their work protecting and supporting their 14-year-old grandson, Bryson Bowmann Johnson, Pitts was also central youth in Deep East Texas has made them Daily Sentinel Real Life Heroes for 2014. man Drury of Nacogdoches. in chartering the Nacogdoches High
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Passion for music When not building houses, Miki Lynn performs/teaches budding musicians
By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD “That’s where the name Grandpa’s “I teach here two to three days a cbroussard@dailysentinel.com Legacy comes from — all those grand- week,” she said. “I teach bass, guitar, When not donned with a hard hat and poring over the blueprints of Habitat for Humanity’s next home construction project, Miki Lynn is making music. Steeped in generations of talented musicians, the Western Kentucky native said her rich Irish heritage lent itself to a lifelong pursuit of music. “I grew up in a family to whom music was very important,” Lynn said. “I sang in the choir at church. My mother was musical; my siblings all were in band and choir. My mother very much liked classical music and really hoped that I would be an opera singer. I showed early aptitude — they told me when I was little they could always find me because they could hear me singing. So from a very early age, I was training to be a classical musician.” Lynn originally attended Murray State University in Western Kentucky to pursue a degree in opera performance. After transferring to Iowa State University, Lynn ran across the recordings of Kentucky folk musicians and immediately fell in love. “Western Kentucky has a very rich musical culture, but I didn’t really embrace that heritage until I found in the library of Iowa City, Iowa, a folkways recording of a singer called Sarah Ogan Gunning,” Lynn said. “She was a protest singer in the coal mine country of Eastern Kentucky, and I was blown away by the passion in her voice. And for me, it was very similar to the kind of passion that you found in opera. Extremes of emotion, life and death situations — this was really compelling music.” Immediately Lynn switched from opera performance and took up a string of folk-type instruments before successfully converting seven of her 10 siblings into the folk music world. The family troupe even formed a band called “Grandpas Legacy” named in homage to three separate musically inclined grandfathers.
pas that played various instruments in the southwest in the 1930s and before,” said Lynn. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to study with any of them, but we do feel like it sort of traveled through my mother into us and she certainly instilled in us a great love of music.” Though she is invited to play with an assortment of Nacogdoches-based musical talents, Lynn’s own two-piece band with musician Mark McClain, goes by the name of Red Flat Cats. “I have been a member of several bands in town back in the day, like Druid Hills Coop Revival,” she said. “We had a band for a time called Needs More Cowbell. We don’t take it too seriously as you can tell. I’ll go down to the string shop whenever I can and play with Steve Hartz and that bunch on Saturday afternoon, too.” When not at Hartz’s General Mercantile and Old Time String Shop, plucking away with the Red Flat Cats, or sawing and hammering at a Habitat for Humanity project, Lynn is teaching in her classroom at Encore music.
banjo, fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer, piano, voice, and even a little accordion.” Susan Ogan Gunning may have initially goaded Lynn deep into the folk music world, but every musician she has the fortune fiddling on a front porch with she said is what truly keeps her inspired. “I owe a debt of gratitude to every great player that I’ve ever played with, and especially the ones here in this town,” said Lynn. “I play the banjo because Charlie Jones encouraged me and showed me some tricks and gave me some pointers and just played in front of me and let me borrow his talent. “I’m very lucky to have had some innate talent, and I’m also very lucky to have been in the presence of a lot of great people. But I don’t want to minimize either. It’s a lot of hard work, and talent by itself isn’t enough.” Lynn is also a member of the Fredonia Rotary Club and an active participant of Austin Heights Baptist Church, where she has served as the music minister for 20 years.
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Music instructor Miki Lynn poses Feb. 6 in her studio at Encore Music on North University Drive in Nacogdoches. Lynn teaches voice as well as a variety of stringed instruments to budding musicians of all ages from around Deep East Texas.
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Dr. Tom Segady talks to his globalization class, part of the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, on Feb. 18 in the Ferguson Building on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus in Nacogdoches. The course explores how cultures interact, and what those interactions mean for the future.
Our place in the world Professor teaches how societies and cultures shape lives By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
Light streams through the windows of Dr. Tom Segady’s office, feeding his numerous plants with life giving sunshine. Books line the shelves of one wall, and artifacts from his travels are found around the room. The sociology professor has a friendly smile and welcoming demeanor. He’s been teaching at Stephen F. Austin State University for 25 years, and recently introduced a new class to the university’s offerings — globalization. “I wanted to teach globalization because we didn’t have a course in globalization, and there really is a need to teach it from that perspective,” he said. “We also have excellent courses in world geography and cultural anthropology, so I wanted to add to the mix with a sociological perspective. That means, along with other things, we take a look at the shifting power dimensions between societies — which societies have risen to positions of dominance in the world, and what kinds of problems have and will come out of all of this, such as climate change, inequality and even slavery.” Slavery, he said, is an issue many thought had disappeared long ago, or at least was on the decline. “However, it seems to be increasing, and you don’t have to look much further than the billboards across Houston that identify slavery in Houston as a major problem to see how far it’s spreading, and how slavery can still be found in the most developed societies like the United States and Japan.” Segedy said he first became interested in sociology when he was a freshman in college. “The first thing that drew me to
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studying sociology and culture was a fantastic teacher,” he said. “He was able to weave together explanations between social life and personal life that, at the tender age of 18, amazed me. And now, all these years later, I’m just as amazed at how he inspired all of our students to think differently about societies, our place in society, and how and why we came to be shaped in certain ways by social life.” Segady also teaches courses on classical sociological theory, honors course on genetics, ethics and identity, one on comparative religions, as well as introductory sociology classes. Segady said things have become more dynamic, more interesting and more connected since the introduction of the Internet. “And that’s changing all the time, letting us do more things across distances,” he said. Segady plans to discuss 3-D printers in his globalization class. “Let’s take an example of an underdeveloped country, like Kenya,” he said. “Let’s say that someone needs a special tool to finish off a complex task. But let’s say this person has access to a 3-D printer, and contacts someone in the U.S. who then sends to his printer the program for the tool.” At that point, Segady says the person in Kenya could have that tool printed out on his own computer, ready for use. Segady said his class will also look at how several countries have “leapfrogged” the U.S. because they never had older styles of technology and went immediately to new technology. “For example, there are many countries (South Korea is an example), that have had very sophisticated cell phone networks — some would
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Students listen to a guest speaker Feb. 18 in Dr. Tom Segady’s class on Globalization at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. say much more sophisticated than ours — but never had many land line phones,” he said. “So they could concentrate all their efforts on the newest technologies.” He spoke of a CEO for Cisco in India who had a company meeting with 42 other business executives, except none of them were in the room. Instead, there were 42 flat screen monitors and all the executives were in different countries. “SFA has much of the same technology, and a few of our classes are
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truly global, being taught by someone here and someone in, say, India,” he said. “So we’re not just studying all these advances in the global community — we’re a part of it.” Segady has many guest speakers visit his class as well. Recently, FBI agent Gamal AbdelHafiz visited the class. He is very deeply involved in the questioning of some of the major suspected terrorists who have been detained or captured. “This year, he gave us a country-
by-country analysis of the Middle East and what sort of factors may cause increased terrorism or may lead to a more peaceful region,” he said. “He has, in fact, hope that the ‘Arab Spring’ will ultimately be successful, but cautioned us that this will take time and short-sighted political solutions could actually cause more harm than good.” Segady said he sees a hunger in his students to travel and see the world. “This is very good, because it’s
estimated that over 5 million people from their generation will live, study and work abroad at some point during their lives,” he said. Segady has traveled quite a bit himself and sometimes teaches at a university in India. His wife, Gayle, lives and teaches at Colorado State University in Pueblo. Though some may see their more than 20-year long distance relationship as unconventional, Segady just shrugs and smiles. It’s just another interesting aspect of his life.
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Bridging the culture gap
Dr. Airen celebrates diversity By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
As director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Stephen F. Austin State University, Dr. Osaro Airen’s job is to celebrate diversity and bridge the gap between different cultures. It’s a fitting job for the son of Nigerian immigrants who has spent a lot of time traveling. Airen sat down recently to talk about his career and how he was led to Nacogdoches. He said he and his wife, Rachael, love the East Texas community and have made themselves right at home in the piney woods.
The early years
Kim Foli/The Daily Sentinel
Mary Martha Motley sits in her living room and laughs as she discusses her career in education.
Music as a tool Motley inspires students with melody
By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com Her driveway is easy to miss, off a county road near Appleby. It’s the kind of place that one needs landmark indicators to find. Mary Martha Motley, Nacogdoches native, spends her time these days at her little cabin in the woods. Guitars can be found in every room, along with colorful art, books and open windows — the smell of pine trees wafting throughout. Motley is a Texan through and through. Both of her great-great-grandfathers signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Though born in Nacogdoches, she grew up a few miles north of Port O’Connor, a coastal town between Galveston and Corpus Christi. A folk singer and songwriter, Motley said she’s been around music her entire life, listening to the likes of Bob Dylan while growing up in the ’60s. She’s still a flower child at heart, and this little cabin in the woods is where she longs to be. Motley first became interested in education when her son attended Christ Episcopal School in Nacogdoches in the early 90s. He had a teacher, Craig Wilson, whose methods were “so far outside the box,” she said. “I remember asking how he came up with all of his ideas, and he said it was simple common sense,” she said. “But I believe it was way beyond that. It was creativity on steroids.” So she became an educator herself, taking her first job in Presidio, a border town in Southwest Texas. It was 1994, and she had two of her three children with her when they packed up and moved to Shafter, a ghost town near Presidio. They lived in an old saloon that was attached to a post office. The post office was open for three hours, one day a week, she said, and the town’s population was 15. Overhead were thousands upon thousands of stars — more stars than she had ever seen anywhere else. She began to recall her youth, walking along the beach in Port O’Connor, being close to nature. Though she was a high school English teacher, something inside began to stir. During her time in the Big Bend region, Motley played a lot of music. “I was part of a duo with a local musician and we had opportunities to play at venues that were entirely unique — one leg of a train bound for Copper Canyon in Mexico, and a Halloween party for the cast and crew of a Larry McMurtry film.” Then she went solo and played around the campfire for people attending workshops with Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Blending music and science
It was 2002 when she went to Port Lavaca and took a position teaching elementary English language arts. After one year, the principal asked for one teacher to take over a science course. Motley agreed. “I thought science would be fun,” she said. “It would be my
own way of learning.” It was then that Motley began incorporating her lesson plans into music. Every day she pulled out her guitar. She would sing about the water cycle, the food chain, the planets — and as a result, her class’s TAKS scores began to rise. Before long, the school was listed as “exemplary.” For five years, Motley taught science. She also taught a special education class, and she incorporated music into that class as well. “I had this one student named Zack,” she said. “He was medically fragile.” The 13-year-old was on a twoyear-old’s level intellectually, she said. “Zack had this plastic Tupperware lid,” she said. “They did everything they could to get it away from him.” It wasn’t until Motley introduced him to “percussion eggs,” or shakers, that he lost the lid and never picked it up again. He started responding to music. He danced. And one day, they discovered that he could count. Motley’s eyes tear up when she thinks about the advances she made with Zack. The boy later died, but she never forgot about
him. It’s those stories that have driven her to tackle a much larger project, one that could have far reaching effects. So she’s taking a break from teaching, spending time in her cabin writing music. One day, she hopes to sell science units. Each unit — whether the water cycle, carbon cycle or food chain — would include a song, PowerPoint presentation with lyrics, a video of former students doing hand motions to the songs, vocabulary words that grow more complicated with each unit and all of the TEKS, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, included. She hopes to teach workshops someday, so other teachers can use her methods to teach science. It’s all about repetition, she said. Motley said she isn’t ready to hang up her hat just yet. She hopes to find another job teaching science and developing units she can later sell to different schools. It takes work, planning, collaboration and inspiration, but she’s ready for the challenges ahead. And in the long run, she hopes she can inspire generations to come to not only learn about the natural world around them, but to learn to love their planet, too.
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Airen’s father first traveled to the U.S. on a student visa from Benin City in Southern Nigeria. “He’s a psychologist and got his doctorate at Pepperdine University,” he said. His mother is a social worker. Airen said while he did not live in a Nigerian community, his parents were in a Nigerian club, allowing him to be surrounded by his heritage and West African culture. Airen has three siblings, all of who have at least a master’s degree. “My parents — they’re so humble,” he said. “They set it up so we would lean on each other. We didn’t realize they were doing that when we were growing up.” Airen said his parents understood when to loosen the reins and allow their children more independence. He credits that with his ability and desire to travel. “They taught us all to be independent, which made life so easy,” he said.
Thirst for knowledge
Airen first attended the University of California Riverside for his bachelors, then the University of Southern California for his masters. While living in California, Airen met his wife through a family friend. “A family friend knew both of us and was like ‘You both are single.’ It worked out,” he said. After a two and a half year long distance relationship, the couple married. It was another year and a half before they could both live in the same city. For his doctorate, Airen attended Virginia Tech — a far cry from the Southern California lifestyle in which he was accustomed to living. “Virginia was culture shock,” he said. “When you say a college town — that’s a college town.
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Dr. Osaro Airen, director of the office of Multicultural Affairs, speaks about his background.
It’s literally just a college and they built the town around it.” But Airen said he loved his first taste of small town life. On April 16, 2007, Airen was in his dorm room when the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history unfolded a short distance away. He recalls the campus being on lock down and watching the news, hardly believing the
Gap » 8G
8G • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Raguet Elementary principal Kristi Shofner poses Feb. 25 as students pass in the hallway at the school.
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Principal Kristi Shofner records video of a first grade teacher.
Never a dull moment for principal By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
Kristi Shofner said her favorite part of her job is being around her students and teachers. The principal at Raguet Elementary School said she’s been in education for 20 years and has taught 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th grade students in that time. She’s been principal at Raguet for six years. Shofner said education was her calling.
“I would have to say that I believe my career in education is a mission,” she said. “I believe God drew me down this path. I feel extremely blessed that I get to work with children and teachers all day. It truly is a joyful ‘work.’” Shofner attributes the character of her parents with her desire to work hard. “I learned how to love and serve others from my daddy,” she said. “He always put others’ needs and his love for God ahead of his own. My mother taught me about
Gap » From 7G events that were unfolding. A day felt like a week, he said, and in the days that followed, a week felt like a month. “I tell people it’s as surreal as it can get,” he said. “It just made me appreciate life, and it let me see the maturity of students.” After the shooting, Airen said the students were told they could go home for the rest of the semester. But the students all returned after one weekend to comfort each other. “Virginia Tech made sure those people weren’t forgotten,” he said.
His journey to Nacogdoches
After getting his doctorate from Virginia Tech, Airen worked at a university outside Pittsburgh and then at another university in Philadelphia. “Then I worked as a professor in New York City,” he said. Airen is a certified counselor, and he worked as a counselor while also teaching at the City College of New York. After completing his Master of Business Administration at Wayne State College in Nebraska, Airen FREE app
finally made his way to Nacogdoches a little over a year ago. Airen said he loves his job at SFA. Not a day goes by that he isn’t planning something, he said, but he likes to stay busy. “Every day is different,” he said. “Some days I don’t even see my office.” Airen is also an adjunct professor in the human services department, currently teaching Group Dynamics. This summer he’ll be teaching a graduate course on multicultural counseling, which focuses on how to respect clients of different cultural backgrounds. “I tell people, diversity is so much deeper than what they think it is,” he said. “It’s regional. It’s not just race, it’s culture.” Nacogdoches has it’s own culture, as does SFA, he said. “I was flying to Nebraska, and this one guy told me — he said, ‘You’re there to learn and respect their culture, they’re not there to learn and respect you.’” That comment made him think. He realized how important it is to understand the culture in any place where you live. And that’s why he and his wife enjoy Nacogdoches so much, he said.
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hard work and love for your family.” Shofner’s father was a Baptist preacher, she said. “I was born in Houston and lived in Conroe until my daddy began preaching at a church in Lufkin when I was 15 years old,” she said. She graduated from Lufkin High School. Shofner said it would be difficult to recall one specific experience that stands out during her career.
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“It would really be hard to write about a single experience when every day is full of 4-year-olds through 11-year-olds — there is never a dull moment,” she said “Seeing amazing teachers give their heart and soul to read each and every student, listening to students read for the first time, hearing them sing, seeing them find success after struggling and watching them build relationships with each other is a gift,” she said. Shofner said it’s important to have teachers who want to dedicate their lives
to serving others. “The best teachers help kids to get what they want and need to be successful,” she said. “It is really not about them — it’s about the difference they can make.” A love for learning is also essential, she said. “The best teachers are readers and they constantly want to learn more about teaching and learning,” she said. “Teaching is a mission and not for the faint of heart.”
Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 1H
Na c o g
DailySentinel.com
s e h c do
e n s i s s u B Antonia Garcia By Kim foli
aNtoNia garcia owNs Beautiful you saloN dowNtowN. she’s always BeeN iNterested iN cosmetology aNd has had to Beat a lot of odds to opeN a BusiNess at such a youNg age.
eNgrid garcia, 4, smiles with aNtoNia garcia at her New hair style at Beautiful you saloN & spa tuesday feBruary 25 iN Nacogdoches.
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
featuriNg
Jose Gomez
Angela Bradford
Jeri Larabee
manager of la pasadita restaurant, gomez makes customer satisfaction his top priority
angela Bradford doesn’t refer to her business as a restaurant, but a “gathering place”
something texas-themed for everyone
Aaron Perdue
Ramido Ortiz
hobby turned business
la michoacana meat market offers a wide variety of choices
By JustiN iKpo
By christiNe Brousard
By Kim foli
By JustiN iKpo
By JustiN iKpo
2H • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Antonia Garcia poses outside of her salon, Beautiful You, in Nacogdoches.
Antonia wants to make you beautiful By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com Growing up, Antonia Garcia was always doing her sisters’ hair. “They were my two mannequins,” she said, laughing. And even though cosmetology is something she has been interested in for a long time, the 27-year-old didn’t necessarily anticipate follow-
ing her dream of opening a salon. In fact, she got a degree in criminal justice and traveled abroad to England, Scotland and Brazil, all before opening Beautiful You Salon and Spa at the age of 25. The chatter in the downtown salon is like most others. Sentences starting with “did you hear ...” and “she said ...” are common, in both English and Spanish. That’s all a
part of what makes Garcia’s job interesting. “You get to know different stories,” she said. And she becomes close to her clients. “People come hang out,” she said. “They’ll come and sit and bring us drinks. Sometimes they don’t bring us anything. They just come and hang out, get their makeup done.”
Last year, Garcia and her four employees all participated in a weight-loss challenge. Before long, their clients were joining in too. Everyone put in $20 and started working out. Sometimes they would do Zumba inside the salon. Other times they would go running after work. But just about every day, they would try to sabotage each other’s chances by bringing in latte’s and
treats. Garcia laughs when she talks about the eight-week challenge now, saying they need to do that again this year, even though she didn’t win the last time. Garcia said she took cosmetology classes at Nacogdoches High School, something that planted the seed to open a salon later in life. But when she went to college, she thought
about being a paralegal. For now, that’s her backup plan. While studying abroad in the United Kingdom and Brazil, however, Garcia said she was always looking at how people run salons. In London, she said they use razors that are not allowed in the U.S. “Even while I was studying an-
Antonia » 3H
Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 3H
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Antonia » From 2H
other degree I was looking at salons,” she said. “I didn’t really think of the future, I was just going through what you’re supposed to do — go to school.” Garcia said traveling really opened her eyes. “I love to travel to different parts of the world,” she said. “It just gives you a different perspective. You go over there and you learn.” But Nacogdoches is home for Garcia. “I have a lot of family here,” she said, adding that she is very active in her church. The salon allows her to do cuts and color, massages, waxing and facials. They also sell mineral makeup and do manicures. She’s hoping to add pedicures soon, further adding to the all-inclusive experience. “When I was in massage school, I worked in Houston,” she said. “So I got some experience there. I really liked it. It was very structured.” She said working in that kind of environment really prepared her for opening her own salon.
“That’s how I got the idea of trying to have everything included here,” she said. Garcia stays very busy. “If I go outside for 5 or 10 minutes, I feel like I didn’t work,” she said. “I try to stay booked.” One of the biggest challenges Garcia faced when opening her own salon was her age. “Since you’re younger, people don’t really think that you’re serious,” she said, adding that people often mistake one of her employees as the owner. “They say I look too young to be the owner,” she said, laughing. “Is that a compliment? I don’t know how to take that.” Regardless of her age, Garcia has successfully run her salon for two years, gaining more clients and adding more services. And for her, that’s a dream come true. “I always liked making people feel better, and making them look pretty, and brighten up their day,” she said. Beautiful You Salon and Spa is located downtown at 407 E. Main Street. Garcia can be reached at 205-9825.
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Manager Jose Gomez works at the front grill on an order of tacos at Taquitos La Pasadita Monday in Nacogdoches.
Authenticity at La Pasadita By Justin Ikpo reporter@dailysentinel.com
Those living in the oldest town in Texas do not have to go out of state to enjoy authentic Mexican food. In fact, Taquitos La Pasadita restaurant owner, Jose Gomez challenges new customers to walk in and find out for themselves. According to Gomez, the word “pasadita” means “passage.” Gomez wants his restaurant to be a passageway that everybody goes through. “We have something for all customers — no matter what they might be into,” Gomez said. “Every day we cook and make sure our food is made with the best ingredients.” Taquitos La Pasadita’s menu consists of a number of Mexican dishes including: tacos, burritos, tortas, quesadillas and homemade tamales. Gomez also prides his restaurant for its numerous choices of meats including: steak, roast beef, chorizo, barbacoa, pastor (pork) and chicken. “We prefer doing authentic Mexican food rather than Tex-Mex,” Gomez said. “The food has more culture in it, which makes it taste better.” When dining in, customers are surrounded by an array of traditional Mexican-styled paintings on the walls, meant to embody the feelings of comfort and tradition. “I have been doing this for a long time,” Gomez said. “This business came all the way from our families in Mexico City. It’s something authentic and original.” Walking through the front door, customers are immediately greeted with the smell of roasted onions and sizzling meats from the grill up front. “I think our grill makes a difference because we cook the food right away,” said Gomez. “The
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Taquitos La Pasadita is located at 1006 South St. customer can always see what we do as we make their food right in front of them.” According to Gomez, the most popular items on the menu are the pastor tacos and the fajita tacos. Both dishes can be made on a corn or flour tortilla, and are served with a complimentary side plate that includes: grilled onions, potatoes, cactus and fresh jalapenos. “We marinate the meat with a special sauce to make it tender and full of flavor,” Gomez said. “We concentrate on the food because that’s what’s important.” If customers want to add all of the fixings to their tacos, they can also request a special pineapple salsa made with jalapenos, lemon, salt, habaneras and cilantro. In addition its food menu, Taquitos La Pasadi-
ta also gives customers plenty of drink and dessert options. They offer different fruit flavored sodas, a homemade, creamy rice water drink known as horchata, and Mexican Coca-Cola. “We like our drinks because they aren’t concentrated,” Gomez said. “Same goes for our flavored popsicles.” Gomez makes customer satisfaction his top priority. He tries to make his restaurant echo the culture of food that he enjoys so much. “The customer really does come first,” Gomez said. “It is important to me to have a family-oriented atmosphere here.” Taquitos La Pasadita is located on 1006 South St. and is open Sunday-Thursdays from 11 a.m.11 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
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4H • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Man’s hobby grows in popularity, demand By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com Life often requires batting at whatever pitch is thrown. Nacogdoches native Aaron Perdue has swung at a number of curve balls in his life without knowing which direction the ball would go, and it’s only led him in the right direction. “I turned down an offer to be drafted by the San Diego Padres and honored my baseball scholarship to Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University) in San Marcos,” Perdue said. “After my two years of
baseball eligibility were up and another knee injury later, my baseball career ended.” An end to Perdue’s baseball career served to be the beginning of fruitful pursuit of art as the thencollege student quickly refocused his major toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. “Growing up, I loved to draw, so I had somewhat of a background in it,” he said. “Once I started painting, I loved it. After countless paintings on canvas, I wanted to do something different so I decided to paint on glass. My first painting with this idea was a picture of Babe Ruth
with Yankee Stadium in the background.” Meticulously, Perdue painted Babe Ruth on a piece of Plexiglas and Yankee Stadium on a separate piece of canvas. “I then made a frame where the painting of Babe Ruth sat around two inches in front of the painting of Yankee Stadium, creating a cool 3-D effect,” he said. “To this day, it is still one of my favorite paintings that I’ve done and laid the ground work I am currently doing now with my shadow boxes.” Perdue’s pursuit of art went on a seven-year hiatus after college while
he toured 48 of the 50 United States working for a softball and baseball bat manufacturer. In fall 2011, the 1999 Nacogdoches High School graduate returned to his hometown and was hired by R&K Distributors. This time, it was a company Christmas party that served as an artistic catalyst. “One of the prizes was a Budweiser cornhole board set,” Perdue said. “I ended up not winning the boards, so I thought I would just make my own. I got the bright idea to make a few washer board sets and hopefully sell them at Trade Days one weekends. I looked up the measurements and got busy.” A work associate of Perdue’s mother bought his first, custompainted cornhole board set. “After that, my sister asked if I could make her a set of washer boards with a Texas theme,” he said. “They turned out better than I expected and I thought I could have something worth doing here. I put the pictures on Facebook and slowly started getting orders for other custom painted washer boards and cornhole boards. Between Facebook and word of mouth, I had to start a waiting list. I never expected that.” Perdue’s custom pieces quickly took off and even expanded into other creations. “This past Christmas, I was thinking of what to get my girlfriend and I got the idea to make her a shadow box with her college logo on it,” he explained. “It turned out well. We put the picture on Facebook, and again, I received interest in making more.” When Perdue is not working his busy schedule at R&K Distributors, he spends what time he can whittling away at his customized corn hole boards and shadow boxes — the latter of which he sells in Brick Street Antiques, 316 E Main St., in a booth titled A Small Favor. “This past year has been a very busy time,” said Perdue. “I never expected that I would have had this much interest in a hobby of mine. I feel very fortunate and blessed. “I truly enjoy being productive, creative and making these products. Every product gives me another idea of a different way to paint or create. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have a little extra gas money or money for slow-pitch softball season.”
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Aaron Purdue carves decorative designs before staining the top of a washer game Feb. 26 at his home shop in rural Garrison.
You Don’t Have To Do It Alone! Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Aaron Purdue checks the fit of the top for one of his custom-made game sets Feb. 26 at his home shop near Garrison. Purdue, who works full-time at R&K Distributors and holds a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, decided he could make the games himself after he lost a raffle where the prize was a custom washer set, he said.
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A gathering place
Angela Bradford, left, is the owner of Appleby Sand Merchantile Cafe on Appleby Sand Road north of Nacogdoches.
Like A Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There
By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
several other businesses, she said. They own another restaurant in Timpson — the Frontier Cafe — as well as a self-storage business Angela Bradford does not call Appleby and rental properties. Sand Mercantile Cafe a restaurant. Instead, “I came from a big family, and my grandshe refers to her business mother’s idea was ‘If you as a “gathering place” love ’em, you feed ‘em,’” where her friends pay she said. “It just comes to eat. from a servant’s Built in 2001, the heart.” cafe dishes up SouthThe cafe serves ern, home-cooked up more than catmeals from Monday fish. They also offer through Friday. At chicken and dumpfirst, Bradford said lings, fried chickher husband had a en, baked chicken, hardware store in stuffed bell peppers one half of the build— and Bradford said ing. the recipes come “It literally just from her family and grew one table at a her husband’s famtime,” she said. ily. Until finally, the “We cook everything hardware store was here from scratch,” she pushed out of the said. “We hope that when building. people come in, they remember things about “I told him I could sell more catfish than he their childhood and spend time with their does nuts and bolts,” she said. Gathering » 7H Bradford and her husband, Kevin, have
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Job Number: 200116 Customer: NORBORD TEXAS LP Phone: (936)568-8038
Norbord is an international producer of wood-based panels with assets of US $1.0 billion Norbord is an international producer of wood-based panels with assets of US $1.0 billion and annual sales of approximately US $1.0 billion. Norbord has 13 operations in the United States, Europe and Canada. Norbord brands build value into every project. Energy efficiency, reducing waste, material and labor costs for builders is our focus. Solutions with real value! At the Nacogdoches plant, about 70 truckloads of pine trees a day are de-barked, flaked, blended, pressed and sawed into what are called “oriented strand boards” of various thickness and dimensions that are used for roofs, floors and interior walls in homes and commercial construction. It takes two loads of logs to produce one load of board. Furnish is 100% southern yellow pine (Loblolly, Shortleaf, Longleaf and Slash Pine). Ninety-nine percent of Norbord’s wood comes from Pro Loggers and eighty percent of that comes from thinning operations. Thinning operations have many benefits. It reduces stand density; healthy trees are at less risk to insect infestation and reduce wild fire risks. Private land owners are encouraged to participate in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) by following best management practices to protect their soil and water resources. In 1996, Texas Forestry Association through its SFI State Implementation Committee developed the Texas Professional Logger Program to provide continuing education for loggers. Norbord encourages all loggers to voluntarily implement best management practices (BMP). The BMP program was established in 1989 by Texas A&M Forest Service to focus on minimizing any threats to water quality form forestry activities. A person must attend four (4) core courses in order to be classified as a Texas Pro Logger.
Best Management Practices – 8 hours Silviculture, Wildlife, Wetlands, Endangered Species, Invasives, Special Sites, Aesthetics – 4 hours Safety Training – 4-6 hours Continuing Education annually to maintain Pro Logger status – 6 hours
The Nacogdoches Norbord mill has an infallible commitment to safety which reflected in their impeccable safety record. In eleven years, or about three and a quarter million working hours, not a single employee has had to miss work due to an injury on the job. There has also not been a single safety incident recorded in the past year and a half, or the equivalent 375,000 working hours. Norbord certified the Nacogdoches mill as the company’s first Safety Star Plus facility, which combines with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Star Program with Norbord’s own rigorous safety expectations. OSHA has recognized the mill’s safety record for the past 11 years. Norbord acquired the operation in 2002. “When it comes to safety, the most valuable resource here at Norbord is our people,”
Walt Ward, new Norbord general manager said. “This is attributed not only what we do here; it’s also what we do at home and away from here.” “The fact that safety is paramount is evident in the continued exemplary safety performance here at Norbord Nacogdoches” he added. The Nacogdoches plant employs 127 people locally with an annual payroll of $8.4 million.
Humanity through board membership as well as a Platinum sponsor of the Habitat Golf Tournament since 2011. A current team member sits on the board of Habitat for Humanity and several others have served on the United Way board at various times over the past 15 years. Norbord consistently finishes in the10 awards for donations to the United Way for employee contributions of $10,000 to $15,000 annually.
Photo above: State Representative Travis Clardy, left, visits with Bo McBride, operations manager for Norbord Texas Nacogdoches, Inc., sponsor of the 2014 Lone Star Legislative Summit. (Photo by Bruce R. Partain)
The fifth biennial Lone Star Legislative Summit, February 19-20, 2014 was recently presented by Norbord Texas Nacogdoches Inc. The summit brings Washington and Austin to Nacogdoches. The event was co-hosted by State Sen. Robert Nichols and State Rep. Travis Clardy and produced by the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce. Norbord is an avid supporter of Habitat for
Norbord also participates in the Texas Cooperative Extension Service Ag Tour Big Agribusiness annual tours. Norbord welcomes the annual tour in order to share the process of producing OSB (oriented strand board). The program was set up to give local officials and Ag Lenders a better understanding of how important the operations are to Nacogdoches County and the entire state.
6H • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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La Michoacana: Restaurant, grocery, bakery and meat market rolled into one
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Customers walk into La Michoacana Meat Market in Nacogdoches. By Justin Ikpo reporter@dailysentinel.com For those looking for authentic Mexican food, there is no need to head to the border. La Michoacana Meat Market offers a wide variety of meat, groceries and produce for the everyday shopper. The store is separated into different sections. As customers walk in through the front door, they are immediately greeted by multiple sells including the smell of sizzling meats at the dine-in restaurant within the store. “Many new customers go straight to the restaurant in the front,” said store manager Ramido Ortiz. “The taste of our food is really something different. People have told us that it tastes very authentic.” Ortiz believes that options are important. The restaurant offers a selection of dishes including: barbecue, chili rellenos (stuffed poblano peppers), tortas (Mexican sandwiches) and traditional plates of meat served with rice and beans. According to Ortiz, the restaurant also serves noodles and shrimp on the weekends. “I have different foods to offer,” Ortiz said. “People like to eat in a lot, so I like to give them a lot of choices.”
Senior
Ortiz, who has managed the store since its opening 10 years ago, says that the store not only brings in customers from out of town, but also from different countries. “We don’t just get one type of customer, we get people from all over,” he said. “We get a lot of customers from El Salvador and Colombia. People choose us because they are looking to feed their families for a cheaper price.” A significant part of La Michoacana lies in its meat section. Customers have quite the selection to choose from, according to Ortiz. Steak, pork, chicken, fish and quail and dried meat jerky are only some of the choices. With so many different cuts of different animals, Ortiz says that there is something every customer will enjoy. “We marinate all of our meat with our secret seasonings for three days,” he said. “One of our most popular choices is our fajita steak and chicken.” Customers can also bring in their own cuts of meat and have La Michoacana marinate it for them. “I really love their butcher shop because they have different specialty items,” said local customer Cynthia Hughes. “It’s a unique shopping experience because I can go in and get as much as I want.”
La Michoacana’s produce section is something that Ortiz is also very proud of. Customers can handpick their own produce from racks holding fruits and vegetables that seem almost color coded. The he produce comes from different places all across central and Latin America. “All of our produce is fresh,” Ortiz said. “Customers always like it because we have fruits from many different countries.” Located on the right side of the store, lies La Michoacana’s bakery. Ortiz describes it as one of his favorite things about the store. “Each day we make everything from scratch,” Ortiz said. “That area smells so good because many times it just came from the oven.” The bakery offers multiple selections of American and Mexican style pastries. The self-serve area showcases: churros, sweet breads, cakes by the slice, and pastries with filling. The bakery also offers different cake options. “Some of the things we bake, can’t be found in other stores around town,” Ortiz said. “We bake tres leches cakes, pecan cakes and strawberry and vanilla cakes.” La Michocana Meat Market is located at 1000 North St. and is open every day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
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One-stop shop for all things Texas By Justin Ikpo reporter@dailysentinel.com
For almost 20 years, The Heart of Texas Gift Gallery has been a one-stop shop for all things Texas. Owner Gerry Larabee is proud to offer Texas souvenirs and memorabilia that capture the hearts of her shoppers. “There’s something Texasthemed for everyone here,” Larabee said. “For whatever you’re looking for, we can usually fill it.” Larabee says that her joy comes from showcasing not only the Lone Star State, but also Nacogdoches for her customers. “Nacogdoches is one of the most historic towns around, it’s not that hard to sell it,” she said. “We are friendly staffed and we are not opposed to sharing our viewpoints about the town.” Larabee says that because she runs into so many new faces at her store, she never knows who will walk through the front doors. “So many people don’t realize how much international travel we get,” she said. “One of the coolest groups we ever came across were six cowboys from Italy who were in town for a rodeo in Lufkin.” Larabee believes that her customers are one of the best parts of her job. “We have a very fun clientele,” she said. “The fun thing about this store is that most people who come here are in a good mood because they are on vacation or are going on vacation.” Larabee opened the store in 1994. After a number of location changes, she finally settled her business in downtown. “My husband actually suggested the idea when we first started,” she said. “We went in very small at first and we realized that there wasn’t anyone else doing souvenirs. We liked the Texas-themed stuff and decided that it was the way to go.” Earning many local accolades over the years, including, “Small business of the year” and “Best downtown business,” The Heart of Texas houses a very diverse inventory — much of which comes from private vendors who work closely with Larabee. “There are a number of things we carry that are custom-made,”
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Jeri Larabee poses at her Heart of Texas Gift Gallery in downtown Nacogdoches. Heart of Texas offers a variety of gift and decorative items. she said. “We work with a company out of New Hampshire who do a lot of original artwork only for me.” This partnership has allowed Larabee to sell original items that can’t be found anywhere. Larabee says that some of her customers like to buy more of her off-the-wall items. “We are constantly trying to
find new things,” she said. “And dens out in Rusk. Those prodour products are made here in ucts are private labeled with my the U.S.” store’s name on it.” The Heart of Texas also carThe Heart of Texas Gift Galries numerous food items. Customers can purchase salsas, dip mixes and even scoops of Blue Bell ice cream. “All of the food we carry is Texas-based,” she said. “My biggest supplier is Gourmet Gar-
lery is open Monday-Saturday from 10-5 p.m. and Sundays noon to 4 p.m. It is located at 110 S. Pecan St.
Gathering »
From 5H
family.” Bradford said it’s very common for people to sit down to eat and then start a conversation about the way their grandma made that dish. “I think that’s something we all have in common, especially in the South — our food and memories bond us all together,” she said. Bradford said the cafe is a team effort. “No one person can do it on their own,” she said. “We have a team, and of course, we can’t do it without a customer base.” Bradford said they are very fortunate to have a successful restaurant in Nacogdoches for the last 13 years. “We have people every Friday night drive from Diboll,” she said. “It’s a blessing.” Friday night is the only day they are open for dinner. They often have live music, she said. Monday through Thursday, the cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. They are closed on weekends.
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NA c o G
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s E h c do
H e a lt h Brandy Lawrence By chRIsTINE BRoUsARd
mEmoRIAL hospITAL NURsE pLAys A spEcIAL RoLE.
cERTIFIEd BIRTh REGIsTRAR BRANdy LAwRENcE hoLds cAsTEN RoBERT sTockmAN oN FEB. 6 IN ThE NURsERy AT mEmoRIAL hospITAL IN NAcoGdochEs. cAsTEN, ThE Two-dAy-oLd soN oF mEmoRIAL hospITAL EmpLoyEE JAmEs sTockmAN ANd hIs wIFE, kENdRA, Is A hEALThy LITTLE Boy BUT, whEN ThE woRsT hAppENs ANd A NEwBoRN dIEs, LAwRENcE pUTs ToGEThER mEmoRy BoxEs wITh mEmENTos oF ThE INFANT To hELp ThEm dEAL wITh ThE pAIN.
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FEATURING
Kathy Strong
Dr. Carl Davis
Nacogdoches Treatment center director committed to Alzheimer’s patients
Family physician uses medical background to help missions overseas
By pAUL BRyANT
By pAUL BRyANT
Dr. Arlis Hibbard Dr. Vijaya Pokala By chRIsTINE BRoUsARd
By chRIsTINE BRoUsARd
Ear, nose and throat doctor switched from pastoring to medicine
cardiologist goes above and beyond
Jim & Judy Buckingham By chRIsTINE BRoUsARd
Local couple work with grief counseling.
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Lawrence: Above and beyond Birth registrar’s calling comforts families in time of grief By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
James Stockman, left, holds his two-day-old son Casten Robert on Feb. 6 while visiting with his friend and coworker Brandy Lawrence in the nursery at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital. Lawrence, who’s regular job is registering birth certificates for the hospital, makes memory boxes with mementos for parents of infants who die, something Stockman and his wife Kendra are familiar with after the death of their first child shortly after birth several years ago in Tyler.
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Only a parent can truly understand the crushing emotions tied to the loss of a child. When what is supposed to be a parent’s most treasured day turns tragic, Brandy Lawrence, Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital’s certified birth registrar and mother of three, is there to help. Though birth certificate filing and record keeping is Lawrence’s main responsibility, she takes on the burden of respectfully preparing for the families the bodies of babies who are stillborn. “If it were me, I would want somebody to hold my child even though he or she didn’t make it,” Lawrence said, sitting in small room within the labor and delivery department. “When you are carrying your child you have an image of what they look like, and you have an image of what they’re going to be. And when they’re born, that’s still there, even if your baby is no longer.” Comments of love and gratitude poured out on to the hospital’s Facebook page when Lawrence was nominated as the hospital’s “Wow” moment of the month recipient in December for reaching beyond her job description to prepare the bodies of babies who died before their time. Lawrence assures the families that the child will remain with her at all times until the funeral home arrives or unless the parents wish to stay with the baby. “The nurses are the real angels here,” she said. “They are the ones that are there from start to finish, wiping mom’s tears and being the shoulder to lean on, and staying strong. I help when they need me. These nurses are what inspire me to do the things I do.” Though it affects her, Lawrence said there is something peaceful about the preparation
Beyond » 5I
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“
I picked a career as a teacher because I wanted to work with children who had special needs. That has led me to now helping older individuals with special needs.” Kathy Strong
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Kathy Strong poses March 4 in the activity area at the Nacogdoches Treatment Center on Hughes Street in Nacogdoches. Strong serves as director for the not-for-profit organization which provides day services for individuals with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia and physical or mental challenges along with monthly support groups for home caregivers.
‘Natural-born caregiver’ Strong attributes longevity to influential parents
By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com
love. My job brings me great satisfaction and personal joy. I know when I go home each day that I have made a Entering her 17th year as executive true difference in someone’s life.” director of Nacogdoches Treatment Nacogdoches Treatment Center is Center, Kathy Strong attributes the governed by a board of directors. One longevity to her influential parents. of its members is Frances Nations. “I so appreciate Kathy and her “My mother, Scotty Sherrill, was ability to work with NTC clients, the first director for 24 years and then when she retired, they hired me NTC staff and our community,” Nations said. “She is always caring and to take her place,” Strong said. “So I have been associated with the center positive with everyone and devoted to meeting the needs of all clients. Kathy since its conception. I think that my parents and the beliefs they instilled also is excellent in writing grants and successful with securing funds with in me have led me to this job. My her work ethic. Her background as a father is a minister and my mother worked for the center, so I was taught Christian and her academic training the greatest joys are serving the Lord and delightful personality make her my hometown hero.” through helping others.” An Arkansas native, Strong atNacogdoches Treatment Center tended Abilene Christian University provides several services to people before graduating from SFA in 1980. with Alzheimer’s, a progressive disease that causes memory loss and She also attended Nacogdoches High School. interferes with other intellectual “When I was 8 years old, my father abilities, according to the Alzheimer’s took a job as the minister at the North Association. “We also provide support services Street Church of Christ as its first minister,” she said. “We were moving to their families,” Strong said. “We here for a year for my dad to help use a social model for our program get the church established and then so we begin the day at 10 a.m. with move back to Arkansas.” something to eat and drink. DiscusBut the family remained in Texas. sion follows as we read ‘today in his“The church will celebrate 50 tory.’ We then have exercise, music, craft time and lunch before we break years this year, and he still works as the family minister. I graduated up into small groups to play games, from SFA with a degree in special (have conversations) or one-on-one education and taught school for seven activities.” years. I picked a career as a teacher The clients leave four hours later. because I wanted to work with chil“Our programs have allowed our dren who had special needs. That has clients to be able to remain active, led me to now helping older individuto continue to engage in meaningful als with special needs.” activities and to belong to a group,” Strong said. “I can’t imagine going to Caregiver » 6I work every day to a job that I didn’t
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Director Kathy Strong, left, and cook April Hayter fill plates at the Nacogdoches Treatment Center on Hughes Street in Nacogdoches.
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Dr. Arlis Hibbard uses a lighted probe during an examination March 11 at his office in Nacogdoches.
From pastoring to medicine
Dr. Arlis Hibbard took roundabout path to health care By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com
making the trek from the East to West Coasts. And for two years in colSituated along the bustle of lege, Arlis Hibbard catered to I-10 in Houston at the height the passing masses. of the hippie movement was “Thousands of young a 24-hour ministry called The people during the summer Landing. Known for its coffee of love were hitchhiking and day-old pastries, The down I-10,” he said. “So a lot Landing grew in reputation of times, they’d be caught as a pit stop for passersby in the middle of the night in
downtown Houston and were looking for some place to ‘crash’ as they’d say. We just passed out free donuts and free coffee and free everything — and of course, we taught them the Bible.” For the past 25 years, Hibbard has run an ear, nose and throat practice in Nacogdoches, but before choosing
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in Houston Baptist University with a major in chemistry and mathematics. He worked as a lab technician at Southern Memorial Hospital while in college. “But on weekends, I pastored First Baptist Church of Hibbard attended and grad- Montgomery, Texas,” he said. uated from John H. Reagan “I felt a very strong call to High School before enrolling teach the Bible.” medicine, pastoring was his career of choice.
Pastoring and the early years
With a bachelor’s degree secured, Hibbard pursued a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth when a horrible accident occurred. “I was pastoring very close to Houston and driving back
Pastoring » 6I
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Beyond » From 2I
that drives her to take on the responsibility. “If it were me, I would want somebody to hold my child even though he or she didn’t make it,” she said. “I would want them to hold the baby and love it just like they would any other child and treat my child like it deserves. I guess that’s the way I look at it. I just try to make it a little better. It’s just something I have to do.” The preparation is simple, but goes a long way to comfort the families who have lost the child. “I always wrap them in warm blankets ... and the baby stays with me.” She also gathers items to put in a memory box families are given the option to take with them. Inside the memory box are photos taken on the hospital’s Mom365 newborn photograph machine or a smaller digital camera. “I usually put pictures, the baby blanket that our volunteers knit for us, the hat, and if I take a picture or (the family does), we put that in a memory box along with the complimentary birth certificate,” Lawrence said. Of course Lawrence said she has received mixed reactions from families. Some are too distraught to consider accepting photos or memories of the child. Often enough, however, families gush with grateful tears. “I try to make sure that they always have the memory.”
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Family medicine physician Dr. Carl Davis poses Feb. 21 in the reception area of the clinic he shares in Nacogdoches. Davis, a graduate of Nacogdoches High School, shares his time with local patients and overseas as a medical missionary through First Baptist Church.
Helping you
• • • •
Nacogdoches doctor mixes medicine, missions work Eleven years after Dr. Carl Davis returned to Nacogdoches to practice medicine as a family physician, he has made international mission work a priority. “We love our church deeply and have had the opportunity to do various projects with First Baptist Church over the years,” he said. “But I am a relative newcomer with international missions. For the last three years, I have had the privilege of traveling with an outstanding group to do medical missions in Ecuador.” Davis, 38, graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1993 before attending The University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He joined Polk Davis Medical Practice in 2004. “I lived in Nacogdoches from the time I was 3 years old through high school, and eventually came back to practice medicine here,” Davis said. “It has been a real joy and privilege to serve the wonderful people in this community. I am truly blessed to call Nacogdoches home.” Working with Xtreme International of Virginia, FBC has participated in missions overseas. “Our church had one non-medical missions trip before my first year,” Davis said. “My friend and youth minister at FBC, David Reed, decided to try to make this a medical outreach in 2011. In 2012, we were able to add a pharmacist and dental care with Mayor Roger Van Horn. And in 2013, we had a group of 39 team members — 30 from Nacogdoches and nine from Virginia. That’s a full bus in Ecuador.” Davis said his commitment to missions work is entrenched in his faith. “As a Christian, we are commanded to share the good news of Jesus Christ. We desire to meet some of the physical and health needs of the beautiful people of Ecuador and thereby have an opportunity to share the love of Christ with people who have never heard the gospel.”
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Meanwhile, Davis has formed relationships with some of the people he’s met overseas. “Along the way, we have developed many friendships and relationships with the Ecuadorian nationals,” he said. “They are a very kind, loving and gracious people. It is fun to keep up with them a little on Facebook. I have also been blessed to have our local orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ed Ferren, by my side for every trip. I have had a blast doing primary care with him, and he has taught me some good orthopedics along the way.” The next trip is scheduled for May. “But as it looks right now, I will stay here during
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that week unless the Lord directs otherwise,” Davis said. “I will miss being a part of the team this year. Meanwhile, my wife, Marcy, will have an opportunity to go on her first international mission trip to Tanzania with (e3 Partners) and other local believers this June.” However, plenty of ministry opportunities remain in Nacogdoches, Davis said. “I am also reminded that important missions work goes on right here at home every day. All people need the Lord whether they realize it or not. (According to Romans), all have sinned but one — Jesus Christ.” Davis and his wife have been married for 15 years. They have two children — Ellie, 9, and Luke, 7.
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on life’s
PRECIOUS MOMENTS
International mission By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Certified Birth Registrar Brandy Lawrence holds Casten Robert Stockman on Feb. 6 in the nursery at Memorial Hospital in Nacogdoches.
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Pastoring
an engineer anymore but wanted to go to medical school and was turned down,” Hibbard said. “It was an age discrimination case and and forth (to Fort Worth), and I he won. And all of a sudden I get hit a large bull on the freeway at phone calls by medical schools saynight,” he explained. “They said ing, ‘we need you to fill our quota.’ I should have been dead, and I alAnd that’s how I got into medical most was dead. I wound up in John school.” Peter Smith Hospital up in Fort Hibbard was offered spots by sevWorth.” eral medical universities, and evenHibbard recuperated and spent tually enrolled in the University of a total of 11 years in the ministry, Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in pastoring in various places and Galveston. It was there he met his even living in Nevada for a short second and current wife, Jeanne, time to start a new church. who worked in the university’s ear, At almost 30 years old, Hibbard nose and throat (ENT) department. and his first wife divorced. “My original thought was I was “It was a very traumatizing going to be family physician, but on time,” he said. “You get very disweekends, when the other medicouraged. I couldn’t pastor anycal students would leave town or more and I didn’t want to be a mugo party some place, I would scrub sic director. So I prayed, and I said, into surgery,” Hibbard said. “I ‘well with chemistry and math, and would scrub in with the guys in I’ve already worked at a hospital, ENT and so that’s how I got into maybe I’ll be a doctor.’” ENT.” Hibbard made his way to Nacogdoches 25 years ago. His office, located on Russell Blvd. behind Nacogdoches Medical Center, has A 30-year-old in the 1970s atbeen in the same location for 14 tempting to pursue a medical docyears. torate was rare and even frowned He and Jeanne have three chilupon by medical schools, Hibbard dren: Doug, a civil rights policy said. Though he did well on the attorney in Virginia; Meredith, an MCAT, medical schools at the time employee of the Organization for just weren’t interested. Security and Co-operation in EuA U.S. Supreme Court ruling rope (OSCE) based in Vienna, Ausmade in 1977, however, turned the tria; and Hayden, the lead scribe at tides. Nacogdoches Medical Center who “A Supreme Court decision came recently made in the 99th percendown in which an engineer in Cali- tile on his MCAT and has plans to fornia decided he didn’t want to be attend medical school.
» From 4I
Pursuit of medicine
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Dr. Arlis Hibbard poses at the reception desk of his ear, nose and throat practice on Russell Boulevard in Nacogdoches.
Caregiver » From 3I Another board member, Robbie Goodrich, said she admires Strong. “She is caring and compassionate, and an extremely hard worker, and a devoted mother and grandmother,” she said. “And you can absolutely tell that she loves her work at the Nacogdoches Treatment Center. Throughout Kathy’s personal and professional life, she has cared about and for those who cannot not care for themselves.”
‘Natural-born caregiver’ Strong has served on the Nacogdoches Mayor’s Committee on People with Disabilities and remains a member of the Texas Governor’s Committee on People
with Disabilities. “I was appointed to this committee by former Texas Gov. and President George W. Bush,” she said. “I have loved serving on this committee where our mission is to make policy recommendations to the Legislature that will positively impact the lives of Texans with disabilities.” At the treatment center, Strong’s staff also offers support to caregivers. “We provide a weekend respite once a month for our caregivers to have an extended break,” she said. “It allows the caregivers time to run errands, attend meetings and appointments, or to just go home and rest. We believe that the extra help allows our caregivers to do a better job at home and for a longer
period of time.” Goodrich praised the effort. “As a board member, I have heard the love in her voice as she talks about those affected with Alzheimer’s and the struggles the families face with every minute of every day,” she said. “For some, the treatment center activity program provides the only respite they have — a brief moment to care for themselves instead of constantly caring for someone else.” Caring for those with Alzheimer’s is an unending responsibility, Strong said. “It is very stressful and difficult for most caregivers. We measure our success by the smiles on the faces of our clients and their caregivers. This is more than a job. I think I am a natural-born caregiver.” Board member Tim Clipson agreed. “I never cease to be amazed by
the endless amount of dedication, energy, commitment and love Kathy selfishly gives to the mission of the treatment center,” he said. Charlotte Ashcraft said she is thankful for Strong’s friendship, and service to Nacogdoches. “Kathy Strong has many roles — wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend and passionate leader,” she said. “She is a strong voice for our population (with) dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and for their families.” But Strong’s service doesn’t end with Nacogdoches Treatment Center. “I began working with an orphanage in Tanzania, Africa, last year,” she said. “I have made two trips so far.” Strong and her husband, Terry, have two children — Lindsey Langford and Aaron Strong — and they have three grandchildren.
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Heart to heart
Cardiologist right at home in Nacogdoches
“
The people in and around Nacogdoches trusted me with their hearts and I am immensely indebted to them.” Dr. Vijaya Pokala Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Dr. Vijaya Pokala poses March 7 outside his office at the Nacogdoches Cardiac Center on Mound Street in Nacogdoches. By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com
cal student broke his own heart. “I was sad to watch lot of young people die from congestive heart Dr. Vijaya Pokala has a heart for failure and from rheumatic mitral other people’s hearts. valvular disease,” Pokala said. “I A Nacogdoches cardiologist since was fascinated by modern advances 1989, Pokala’s passion for medicine at that time, including echocardiogrew slowly at a young age, and he gram. All these led to my interest to decided to pursue cardiology when become a cardiologist.” patients he worked with as a mediBorn and raised in rural India,
Pokala said he had a “distaste for hospitals from a young age” because of their association in his mind to sickness and death. While his father worked in India as a mechanical engineer, his mother “molded every one of my (five) siblings,” he explained. “She is the reason I got into medical school.” Pokala attended Rangaraya Medi-
cal College in Kakinada, India. The college is part of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University campus, in the south central portion of the country. “I graduated from medical school with honors and several medals in professional achievement,” Pokala said. “After completing internal medicine residency, I went to
Jamaica and then to New York. I completed internal medicine and cardiology at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn.” Once residency was complete, Pokala moved his family to Nacogdoches and joined Dr. Prabhakar R. Guniganti’s practice in 1989.
Heart » 3J
8 I • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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HEALTH
Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 1 J
United in hope
Longtime Nacogdoches couple offer grief counseling By CHRISTINE BROUSSARD cbroussard@dailysentinel.com
and Life Transition in Colorado,” Judy said. Jim Buckingham has worked as a psychiatrist in East Texas for more than 30 years. Judy volunteers extensively with the Parent Teacher Association, First United Methodist Church, and with the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council. But before the couple made their home in Nacogdoches, they spent years traveling the world.
For three decades, Jim and Judy Buckingham have called Nacogdoches home. And for half a decade, following the loss of their 24-year-old son Jordan, the couple has spearheaded grief-counseling efforts in the community. “Most parents will understand that the loss of our beloved son was a pivotal moment in our lives and led us to the work that gives our life such meaning and purpose now — offering While Jim hails from the icy northa community grief support group, and training Stephen Ministers through our ern city of Detroit, Judy is a southerner — born in Odessa and raised church,” Judy Buckingham said. “For mostly in Natchez, Miss. the past five years, we have led a biThey met in Houston when Jim was weekly grief support group on behalf on his psychiatry rotation while attending Baylor College of Medicine and Judy was working at M.D. Anderson Hospital, and they married about one year later. After traveling throughout the United Kingdom, much of Western and Eastern Europe and a bit in Russia during the height of the Cold War, the newlyweds moved to Durham, N.C., for Jim’s residency in psychiatry at Duke University. “We spent six years in North Carolina, where our daughter, of the First United Methodist Church.” Emily, was born,” Jim said. “We The group, which meets in a series wanted to get back closer to family of 10 sessions, studies “Understanding (and Judy has lots of extended family Your Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones in Texas), so I looked for a position for Hope and Healing for Your Heart” here. Nacogdoches was searching for by Alan Wolfelt, Ph.D. an adult psychiatrist, so we came for a “Dr. Wolfelt is a nationally known visit, loved it, moved here in 1982 and author, educator and grief counselor, Hope » 4J and is director of the Center for Loss
About the Buckinghams
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Dr. James Buckingham and his wife, Judy, pose March 12 in his office at the Nacogdoches Behavioral Health service center on Northeast Stallings Drive in Nacogdoches. In addition to his regular psychiatric practice, the couple host a regular grief counseling group through United Methodist Church in Nacogdoches.
2 J • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Putting others first Lilly Long still going strong for people in her community By Justin Ikpo reporter@dailysentinel.com
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Kids at The Solid Foundation line up as Lillie Long serves them corndogs for dinner Monday March 17 in Nacogdoches. Long has volunteered for The Solid Foundation for three years and brings food for the children every Monday and Thursday.
Lillie Long may be retired, but she is far from finished when it comes to doing her part for others. For years, her contributions within her community have had a significant impact on the lives of many. Long, a retired phlebotomist, was born in the Center Point community, 15 miles east of Nacogdoches. She started working at Nacogdoches Medical Center in 1975, and was one of the first employees hired in her department. She remembers first learning how to draw blood from patients and walking through the wings of the newly built hospital. “It’s quite an experience working in a hospital,” Long said. “I met a lot of great people through that job.” Working with people from many different walks of life gave Long the perfect opportunity to exercise her open personality. “I cared for and met people from all over the area,” she said. “You never really knew who you’d come across each day.” Long’s acts of kindness would eventually stretch beyond her workplace. Throughout the raising of her six children, Long quickly became acquainted with many of her children’s friends through various meetings, cookouts and events held at her house. “I met a lot of the kids in my community through my own children,” she said. “They all grew up playing and riding horses together. They would freely come to my house and when my kids would eat dinner, the other kids would eat too.” Long would cook big meals for the kids in the neighborhood almost every weekend. Sometimes she would cook for the kids daily, often feeding up to 20 kids at a time. “She would always bring people in with open arms,” said close friend Bettye Brown. “She was a great cook and was always there for anyone who needed to eat. All the neighborhood kids call her ‘Granny Bop.’” Brown and Long were childhood friends growing up in Nacogdoches. They both graduated a year apart in the late 1960s from E.J. Campbell High School. “We have known each other all our lives,” Brown said. “She always put other people before herself.”
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Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 3 J
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Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Sean Reneau, right, meets with Taylor Shadwick, one of the Young Life leaders for the local mentoring group, on Feb. 19 at Reneau’s Nacogdoches home. Young Life is an Evangelical Christian mission which partners adults with troubled youth.
Leading by example Young Life member returns to organization to lead committee By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com Once a Young Life member, Sean Reneau has returned to the organization as co-chairman of its committee. “What led me into this is a long story,” he said. “I was a Young Life kid when I was in high school. I was kind of lost and rebellious, and didn’t go to church when I was invited by volunteers into Young Life, which led me later to being saved.” An international ministry, Young Life seeks out middle- and highschool students to help bring them closer to God. College-age students also participate in Young Life. “It meets kids where they are — and whatever situation they’re in,” Reneau said. “We have leaders who go and do what we call contact work.
We see them at school and at ballgames — whatever it might be. With these kids, a lot of them wouldn’t go to church. They don’t get into the organizational part of it, and they won’t be part of a youth group. But they will come to Young Life.” Reneau, 41, and David Madwrid chair the Young Life in Nacogdoches. Reneau assumed that position in late 2012. “I haven’t been involved that long on this side of it,” he said. “What happened this time around is two summers ago, I went to Bulgaria on a mission trip with Jim Hale with Young Life (of Grapevine) to do the first Young Life camp there. We were on the side of a mountain talking, and I asked him what I can do back home with Young Life. He said it needed new leadership.”
By that point, Reneau and his wife, and other couples, were mentoring Young Life students. “And that slowly led into being on the committee and being the committee chair. God took me a long way around to this point.” Nacogdoches Young Life has been without an area director since 2011, when Rip Gibbs resigned. Reneau said the organization continues to raise money to fund that position’s salary. “That is what we are in the process of doing this year, so we get an area director here. We haven’t had a Young Life staff person since Gibbs was here.” Young Life sold its building on Pruitt Hill Drive, and the organization has said it would use money from the
Leading » 5J
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Cardiologist Dr. Vijaya Pokala, left, listens to Rebecca Eaves’ heart during an examination March 7 at the Nacogdoches Cardiac Center on Mound Street in Nacogdoches.
Heart » From 7I
“It took a few years to get acclimatized to East Texas after a move from The Big Apple,” Pokala said. In 2006, he decided to start his own practice — Nacogdoches Cardiac Center on Mound Street. “The people in and around Nacogdoches trusted me with their hearts and I am immensely indebted to them,” Pokala said. “Whenever somebody asks, ‘when are you going home for vacation?’ I always say ‘Nacogdoches is my home.’” Pokala’s wife, Rama, is a graduate student in the Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Social Work. The couple have two daughters: Deepa, who was a student at the University of Texas at Austin and is planning to attend medical school; and Geetha, who will be graduating from Nacogdoches High School in June.
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4 J • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Protecting the public’s health Caudle makes career in water utilities, engineering
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Clear water is always the goal, says Steve Caudle as he looks through a beaker of water dyed red on March 11 at the Nacogdoches Wastewater Treatment Plant south of Nacogdoches. Both the wastewater and potable water treatment facilities have laboratories responsible for daily checks on the quality of the water passing through their systems, whether it’s into the drinking water system in the community or back into the environment once it’s been used by the public. By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com With more than 40 years of experience, Steve Caudle has made a career in the municipal water industry. “My primary duty is to protect the public health,” he said. “When you turn on a faucet, I must be sure the water is safe to consume and use for your household needs. When the water goes down the drain, it is considered wastewater. I must be sure that the wastewater from homes, commercial establishments and industry is safe to return to the environment.” Caudle is water utilities superintendent for
Hope » From 1J
Nacogdoches. “I have been working for the City of Nacogdoches for a little over 10 years,” he said. “I started out as an operator working on the graveyard shift, and I worked that for almost a year and a half. When a position became available on the day shift, I was knocking on the manager’s door seeking that position.” He did change shifts and was later promoted. “Within two years, the water utilities superintendent retired,” Caudle said. “Since I had over 35 years experience at the time in the water/ wastewater field and was eligible to test for the required certifications, I gained the superintendent position that I currently hold.”
ches County United Way for three years before returning to school at Stephen have never looked back.” F. Austin State University Along with maintaining to pursue and ultimately his private adult psychiatearn her master’s in public ric practice, Jim “consults administration in 2003. at both local hospitals, has For eight years, she has served part-time at the worked as coordinator of Burke Center, and now board affairs for the SFA also serves part-time at the Board of Regents. Their Lufkin State Supported Liv- daughter, Emily, currently ing Center.” Judy said. lives in Yorkshire, England, On top of community, and works in software educational and church systems. volunteer efforts, Judy The Buckinghams are served as the chief execu“happily expecting” their tive officer of the Nacogdo- first granddaughter in July.
Caudle is one of “a few hundred people” in Texas with a Class A water and wastewater certification — the highest achievable in the state, he said. “Fortunately, I have a great dedicated team of operations personnel and supporting staff who work around the clock and all holidays. They are top-notch people to work with. I could not do this job without their support.” In 1973, Caudle began his career in water utilities in Center. “I was one of four people responsible for all the water and wastewater needs for the city,” he said. “We read all meters, installed new water and sewer lines and taps, fixed water line breaks,
Counseling and the Stephen Ministry
and feelings with others who understand, to learn coping skills and reconcile Following the loss of their their losses, and to go on to son, grief was something the find meaning and continued Buckinghams realized that purpose in their lives.” both they and most of society The couple say they do not did not know how to handle. have “simple answers” or “What we’ve learned is that offer advice. our society doesn’t always “What we hope to do is understand or deal with companion people through death and grief very well,” their deep grief so that they Jim said. “Support groups can come to a reconciliation can be very helpful to those of their loss,” Judy exwho are grieving. They offer plained. “They can find that a safe place for people to do life can be good again, and the work of mourning, to their lives can honor the life share experiences, thoughts of their lost loved one. We
Senior
unstopped sewer lines and whatever else the city needed.” It was in Center that Caudle received his certification and became assistant to the city superintendent. Then, he took a break. “After a brief time as a motorcycle mechanic — which I thought of as an alternate career — I returned as a water treatment plant operator at the Mill Creek plant,” Caudle said. “I was also the alternate operator at the Pinkston water treatment plant. I did do some work as an electrician for Brown and Root for a time until the Mansfield paper plant was finished. I was unsure for too
Protecting » 6I
do this work in memory of our son, Jordan. We are so blessed to have shared the grief journey with many wonderful people over these five years. They have helped us heal and enriched our lives.” A 10-session grief support group began in March. The next group is slated to begin in September, and is limited to around 10 people “so that there can be comfortable and trusted sharing.” “We know how hard it is to come to the first meeting and how much courage it takes to
face the pain of loss,” Judy said. “What we want to say to people, though, is that grief is natural, normal and necessary. No one in the group is pressured to share — members can listen or they can talk.” The full 10 sessions take around five months to complete. Anyone interested in participating in the September group can contact the Buckinghams for information or for a registration form at 569-6160, or the church office at First United Methodist Church at 564-8308.
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Others » From 2J Life’s challenge
year of being cancer free. She said that she used her experiences One of Long’s challenges in life to reach out to others and even was her battle with cancer. She helped out her old friend Bettye was diagnosed in 2007. Brown during her own battle with “I was diagnosed with melacancer. noma and was assigned six rounds “I had to have medicine injected of chemo,” Long said. “I only had into my arm and Lillie did that for to take five of the rounds and went me,” Brown said. “She was there into remission. It was hard, but I to help take care of me when I was did what I had to do to survive.” having my problems. She was a During her battle with cangood support system. cer, Long’s outlook on life never diminished even though she was unable to do many of the things she normally did. According to Brown, many of the neighborhood kids made an extra effort to help Long retired in 2009 but curher. rently spends much of her time “The community was there volunteering at the Solid Foundawhen she was down and out,” tion of Nacogdoches assisting in Brown said. “People came in and the food services. brought her supplies, food and “I will be there until I can’t go Gatorade, and anything else she anymore,” Long said. “I usually really needed.” cook for the kids or at least make Long’s cancer returned as a sure that someone is there to cook.” Stage 4 within a year of being in Long has been volunteering for remission. She received much of three and a half years for the Solid her treatment at MD Anderson Foundation, which is a non-profit Cancer Center in Houston. organization dedicated to help“It came back in my lymph ing at-risk children with tutoring, nodes and I had to have radiation and chemo again,” she said. “I was mentoring and assisting with needs to becoming successful. in a study of a new medication. “After they are picked up from The biomed chemo that I had was school, we have Bible study, feed a part of that trial.” the children snacks and food, and Long described this period then tutor them,” she said. “I am as one full of prayer, faith and close with a lot of the kids there communal support. She said and have seen a lot of positive that cancer had affected multiple changes.” members of her family in the Long said serving the Solid past and did what she could to get through it the second time around. Foundation is a high point in her Through it all, the trial medication life. “They are doing great things was successful. “I did whatever the Lord wanted over there and are always looking me to do,” she said. “He healed me for more volunteers,” she said. For more information on the in the way that I could reach out Solid Foundation visit: www.solidto others. foundationassociation.com/ Long is currently in her sixth
Working with Solid Foundation
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Volunteer Lillie Long gives student Joel DeCruz, 8, cookies with his meal at The Solid Foundation in Nacogdoches.
Leading » From 3J
have moved on. And then we’ve got all the committee members. God is doing a lot of positive things right now.” A year ago, national Young Life officials visited Nacogdoches to “bump-start” the local organization and increase community support. “We are averaging somewhere around 45 to 50 kids for club each week,” Reneau said.
sale to hire an area director. “We are funded 100 percent through donations,” Reneau said. “Nothing is supplied by Young Life. It’s all done in Nacogdoches.” He said Young Life is “on upstart again.” “It never stopped completely here — it just almost did. We have got a very strong committee that’s come together — people who really care about Young Life. We’ve got some new leaders, and others
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“It’s a lot of fun mixed in with learning about Jesus, as well. It’s about building relationships.” During the summer, Young life offers camp. “We are hoping to send 16 kids this year, which would just be awesome,” Reneau said. “It’s a great end to the school year and a good beginning for the next year.” According to its website, Young Life camping “is open to kids who often are overlooked — those from economically depressed communities, kids with disabilities and teenage mothers.”
More than 100,000 children from around the world spend a week or weekend at Young Life camp, the website shows. To donate to Nacogdoches Young Life, visit giving.younglife. org. “We have donation forms, or people can donate on the website,” Reneau said. “If donating on the website, you must enter ‘TX391’ to make sure that money comes to Nacogdoches Young Life.” The organization is scheduled to meet each Monday at 7:30 p.m., at 118 West California St.
6 J • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Man blends love of nature, ‘human spirit’ in archery
By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com As a child, Jeffrey Schulz developed a fascination with archery. More than 30 years later, he maintains the same respect and regard for it. “I was inspired by the mesmerizing, magical flight of an arrow,” he said. “I believe that is why today I am an archer who shoots without a sighting device on the bow. I have always enjoyed watching the flight and the arrow going right to the spot I was concentrating on. You just don’t get that by shooting with sighting devices.” Schulz, 44, is a counselor at Stephen F. Austin State University. “I am fascinated by the story of people’s lives, so counseling is a good fit for me as a profession,” he said. “I have also witnessed the amazing power of the human spirit to survive, overcome and grow toward positive change. My work counseling students at SFA is very rewarding.” Indeed, Schulz’s career seems to fit in nicely with his love of nature. “I feel very close to God in the outdoors,” he said. “(Archery) has always been more of a very natural pursuit and a spiritual gift to me. I am still just as fascinated today by that magical, mesmerizing flight of the perfect arrow.” When he was 8, Schulz’s parents gave him a Bear longbow and some arrows. A lifelong admiration of archery began. “I was fascinated by the flight of the arrow from the first shot, and while attending Boy Scout summer camp, I met Monte Bowen. He was the archery instructor and introduced me to field-archery competition shooting “bulls-eye” paper targets.” Seven years later, Schulz attended his first state championship in Austin. “I travelled throughout the state on the weekends in my teen years shooting archery competitions,” he said. “I was shooting a compound bow in those days and competing with sights and multiple stabilizing devices attached to the bow. In 1987, I placed third in the young-adult division at the NFAA Outdoor National Championships.” Schulz has maintained memberships with Texas Field
Archery Association, National Field Archery Association, International Bowhunters Organization and Compton Traditional Bowhunters. “In 1988, I travelled to Darrington, Wash., and competed in the NFAA Outdoor National Championships. At that tournament, I was exposed to archers shooting phenomenal scores without sights, mechanical releases, or long stabilizing devices. I became fascinated with shooting archery with less equipment assistance and more on the development of an archer’s shooting technique.” It wasn’t long after that tournament that Schulz started accumulating records. “In 1992, I traveled to the Texas Field Archery Association State Indoor Championship and set the state records for the bowhunter (non-sight) division,” he said. “Those records still stand today. I then travelled to the NFAA National Indoor Championship in Kansas City, Mo., and won the NFAA National Championship in the bowhunter division.” That title came against Jim Brown, a multiple champion and national record holder, Schulz said. “It came down to the last arrow. Winning the national championship was a definitive peak experience for me. I left archery competition for a brief period to complete my bachelor’s degree in sociology from East Texas State University in Commerce. And in 1995, I graduated and began shooting 3-D animal-target competitions with a longbow and wooden arrows.” He continued to compete, claiming more titles along the way. “In 1999, I won the Texas State Longbow Championship in Fort Worth competing against 200 other archers from across the state,” Schulz said. “The second day of the shoot was called off due to flooding of the range and my victory was due to having the highest score for the first day of the event. My buddies really gave me the ‘works’ for winning by default of ‘mother nature.’”
In 2000, Schulz returned to that event and took first place after two days of “headsup, intense target-by-target competition” against world and national champion Keith Bain of Pickton. “I returned to shooting compounds without sights and competed in the NFAA National Championships in Yankton, S.D., and in Washington. I continued to compete in state indoor and outdoor tournaments throughout Texas in 2005 and 2006. I knew that my heart was in shooting traditional longbows and recurves. I have shot that style of bow almost exclusively since 2006.” Schulz has stopped competing, but he remains an archery enthusiast. “My primary archery interest for the last several years is in taking wild game,” he said. “Bowhunting is far more challenging and difficult than what is portrayed on television. I have been fortunate to have
taken whitetail deer, mule deer, javelina, wild hog, and multiple small-game animals. Bowhunting requires one to be much closer to game in comparison to firearm hunting. There is an intense predator-prey relationship in bowhunting and a challenge that is difficult to describe if you have not experienced it.” But he doesn’t hunt for the “trophies.” “My family enjoys the rewards of the harvest of wild game,” he said. “I am particularly fond of my wife’s secret recipe for venison roast.” The Sherman native met
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Jeffrey Schulz sights down the shaft of an arrow in his recurve bow. Schulz, who works with veterans in the counseling services office at Stephen F. Austin State, first picked up a bow and arrows at age 8 and later competed in, and won, several archery competitions before turning his focus primarily to hunting. his wife at their 10-year highschool reunion in 1988. They have two daughters, Olivia, 4, and Natalie, 11. “In 1992, I worked the summer at Boy Scout Camp Pirtle in Carthage, and I just so enjoyed the pineywoods of East
Protecting
While I was in Louisiana, John Reid and Ed Welborn, the owner of another company I had worked with through Reid Engineering, made me an offer long as to which direction my life would to start my own consulting firm as my take.” partners. Thus, TEAM Services was So during what he called a hiatus be- started. I worked in more of a troubletween the Mansfifeld job and waiting for shooting and start-up role that took me a position in Mississippi, Caudle joined to even more and further places such as Brown and Root. Guatemala.” “I was asked to help with the wasteThe time away from home took its water treatment plant for Holley Farms toll, though, and Caudle decided to (now Tyson) plant in Center since I was make a change. certified as an operator. I gave them “I realized that my children were two months’ time limit. Six years later, growing up and I was missing out on the having been introduced into the engimore important things in life,” he said. neering end of the treatment process “We made the decision to move back to through Holley Farms engineers and Texas and shut down the consulting for the consulting engineer, I decided to a more normal life for my family.” move on to more interesting work.” That’s when Caudle went to work for ChemLink, a subsidiary of ARCO Oil at the time, he said. They chose Nacogdoches. “I was a field engineer, designing and “It is near my family in Center and installing chemical field systems. Then Carthage. I went to work for an engiI made a move to Springdale, Ark., and neering firm in Lufkin for a number of eventually to Tulsa, Okla., in this position. When ChemLink was sold off to a years until the economy forced layoffs, which eventually brought me full circle bunch of investors who split it apart, I was told I would be moved to sales. This back as an operator for the City of was unacceptable because I hate sales.” Nacogdoches.” Looking back on his career, Caudle So it was good that Caudle was offered said Americans generally do not apprea position in Virginia. ciate water quality. “Unexpectedly, I got a call from the “Our work as water/wastewater opconsulting engineer who designed the Holley Farms plant, John Reid, offering erations professionals is one of the most essential functions of our society,” he me a position as his operations mansaid. “My experience in other countries ager,” Caudle said. “I moved to Frederhas shown me how much we take our icksburg to work with Reid Engineerwater quality for granted. The quality ing, the premier engineering firm for the poultry industry. As the operations of our environment and the availabilmanager, I had the opportunity to work ity of fresh water is a big part of my work. This is the path that has been set in 23 states, Puerto Rico and Canada. before me and I accept it as what I was This was the greatest learning experiintended to do.” ence of my career.” That’s the business side of Caudle. But a few years later, Caudle made “I feel that God has blessed me another move — this time to Lake throughout my life as all of the events Charles, La. seem to have fallen into place to bring “I spent the most part of a year me to the point I am now in life,” he there,” he said. “This is where I met Sherry, my wife of almost 20 years now. said. “I have been blessed with a wife
» From 4J
Going home
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel
Water Utilities Superintendent Steve Caudle poses March 11 at the city wastewater treatment plant south of Nacogdoches.
Texas. That experience sealed my desire to live in eastern Texas someday.” The couple moved to Nacogdoches in 2000. “I have worked as a construction laborer, juvenile-probation officer, juvenile-correctional
officer, correctional case manager, substance-abuse counselor, mental-health clinician, apprentice bowyer and prison counselor,” Schulz said. He graduated in 2011 with a master’s degree in mentalhealth counseling from SFA.
who has gotten me through heart problems, including bypass and transplant surgery. I have a son and daughter who have blessed us with six wonderful grandchildren. And we are in the process of trying to adopt another girl into our family.” He also supports CASA. “I am a strong advocate of CASA and other organizations that protect children from abuse. No child should know abuse.” Caudle was born in Center to a “roughneck” father. “We followed rigs throughout West Texas and New Mexico,” he said. “When I became of age to start school, we settled in Pecos, Texas. I spent the first seven years of school there and Dad became a truck driver.” Caudle is a member of the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation, and a past president of the Northeast Chapter of the Water Environment Association of Texas. “I also believe that when you have skills and knowledge that can be passed on, it is my duty to do so,” he said. “After more than 40 years in the water utilities industry, I now teach classes through Angelina College to help train and educate the next generation to take my place in protecting the public and the environment. I also volunteer as an “enviromentor” for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. In that role, Caudle advises or trains small municipalities on issues that may lead to TCEQ enforcement. “And my advice to the young and young at heart: You are who you choose to be, so choose wisely. Man has the ability to become more than he knows he can be. Continual improvement of yourself brings more self-esteem, respect and opportunities.” It is in that spirit that Caudle takes a class at Stephen F. Austin State University to become a certified public manager.
Sunday, March 30, 2014 • The Daily Sentinel • 7 J
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20 years of N.I.S.D.
Gabrielle Rambo/The Daily Sentinel
Doug Ploch, chief of police for Nacogdoches Independent School District, poses next to his NISD police car at McMichael Middle School in Nacogdoches. Ploch has been on the police department for 21 years and works to help students of various ages become successful members of society. By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com For 21 years, Doug Ploch has been walking through the halls of Nacogdoches ISD campuses. It’s familiar territory for him — he graduated from Nacogodches High School himself, in 1981. Ploch serves as chief of police for NISD. He said the best part of his job is talking to students of various ages and helping them through
their problems. “I enjoy going to the NHS graduation at the end of the year and seeing the pride on the faces of the seniors prior to walking to receive their diploma,” he said. “There are always a few that I thought would not make it, but thankfully did.” Ploch remembers one student that he arrested while he was in eighth grade at Thomas J. Rusk Junior High. “This student was loosely associated with a
gang, and while not a terrible kid, he did find himself in trouble occasionally,” he said. “Eight years later, I learned that he had been accepted to law school. Never say never.” Having started the police department 21 years ago, Ploch said his job has evolved over the years. “What started as mainly conventional police work now includes crisis management, security
and attendance,” he said. “With that said, we still focus a majority of our time with building a rapport
Protecting » 8J
Excellence in teaching Professor helps educators with new methods, motivation By Kim Foli kfoli@dailysentinel.com
the United States Air Force and left, making him sole director. Eight years later, the TEC has Dr. John Moore is far from his grown to include an office suite, conhome in the Appalachian mounference room and classroom in the tains of Eastern North Carolina. Ralph W. Steen Library. The center The chemistry professor at Stephen also has two co-directors, a fellow and F. Austin State University came to several associates. Nacogdoches as a lab coordinator in As director of the Teaching Excel1971, gradually working on his doclence Center, Moore oversees the torate at Texas A&M. More than 40 teaching of longtime faculty memyears later, Moore has authored nubers who are searching for new methmerous chemistry books, including ods of educating a new generation. Chemistry for Dummies, is interim Moore said professors today face chair for the biology department and different problems than they did in also has a hand in the development of the past. One of the biggest issues other faculty members. he sees is the lack of motivation in As director of the Teaching Excelstudents. lence Center, Moore oversees the “We’ve got a really good faculty development of SFA faculty, whether that really care about what they brand new instructors or longtime do,” he said. “They care about their professors. subject matter. They also really care It all started in 2006 when Moore about their students.” said a dean began speaking of the It is for this reason Moore said facuniversity’s need for a Teaching Exulty members can become frustrated cellence Center. when they don’t see that same level With the help of Eisenhower of concern in their students. grants, Moore had done professional “When you have an individual development in the past — at Nacog- that really doesn’t care, doesn’t want doches ISD. to come to class, doesn’t pay attenBecause of this experience, Moore tion, they don’t care if they get a bad said working on developing the TEC grade, or if they’re satisfied with a D was a natural extension of what he when they could have made an A — I was already doing. think that’s a very frustrating thing,” Lauren Scharff, former SFA psyhe said. “You can’t drag them in out chology professor, also applied for the of the hall.” position. Another big issue he sees is cell“We were both chosen because we phone use in the classroom. complemented each other,” he said. “I have a flat no cellphone policy,” “We started off with a small office he said. “I always tell my students, over in the library.” you think you can multi-task, but After a couple of years, Moore said Excellence » 8J Scharff was offered a sabbatical in
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John Moore, a professor and interim chair of the Biology Dept. at Stephen F. Austin State, talks about the Teaching Excellence Center, housed in the Steen Library on campus, on Feb. 11 in his office in the Miller Science Building on campus. The center started about two decades ago to assist seasoned university instructors improve their teaching skills, and has since picked up the added responsibility of helping new educators integrate into their rolls teaching college classes, Moore said.
8 J • The Daily Sentinel • Sunday, March 30, 2014
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Cook finds new home in Nacogdoches, helps needy
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Doug Ploch, chIef of police for Nacogdoches Independent School District, does some computer work in his office at McMichael Middle School Monday in Nacogdoches. Ploch says the best part of his job is talking with students and helping them through their problems.
Leading » From 7J
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Paul Cook speaks to his Sunday School Class after church in the Christian Life Center of First Baptist Church on North Street in Nacogdoches. Outside of teaching Sunday School classes, Cook helps feed families in need and does some maintenance service for those who cannot do it themselves in the Nacogdoches community. By PAUL BRYANT pbryant@dailysentinel.com When he moved to Nacogdoches a decade ago, Paul Cook didn’t plan to stay here for more than a few years. “But we started upgrading these rental properties and got involved at First Baptist Church, and the Lord just kind of made it very obvious that we were to stay here,” he said. “I also sing in a country-gospel group, and we have some CDs. Then, a substitute position (in Sunday school) turned into a full-time position, and that’s how we are still here in Nacogdoches. We intended to leave in four years at most.” Cook and his wife, Judy, left Gladewater “about 10 or 11 years ago” after selling their rental properties there and
replacing them with others in Nacogdoches. “We were there for 26 years and owned an insurance agency,” Cook said. “We ended up selling the agency and moved to Nacogdoches. We have a family farm outside of Groveton, so our intentions were to move to this area, or to Lufkin, with the intention of moving to the farm and managing our rental properties from the farm.” Cook, 63, acquired Cinnamon Village and other properties, and became a leader at FBC. “Within the deacon body are various committees that go out and take care of the needs for those who can’t take care of the needs themselves,” he said. “We do maintenance and repair primarily for widows and widowers who can’t do those things.”
And a Sunday school class Cook teaches at the church helps provide food for some families. “We were always focused on Christmas presents for the officers and teachers and others in the class, but we decided that is too self-serving. The family we adopted (last Christmas) was on food stamps. Only one spouse was working a part-time job, and the other is disabled. They were struggling all the time to make ends meet with two young children.” To gather enough food for the family, the church class hosted “an old-fashioned pound meeting,” Cook said. “We gave pounds of food to the family so they could stock their shelves. They received quite a bit of food. My Sunday school class is really quite
generous.” The average attendance for that class is 50 to 85, Cook said. “We call ourselves the ‘Barnabas class.’ Barnabas was a missionary who served with Paul, and he was called ‘the encourager.’ We try to be that for others.” The church givers didn’t stop with food. “The children had Christmas for the first time in a long time,” Cook said. “We bought a bunch of Christmas presents for them — several hundred dollars worth. We have a stronger emphasis on that during the holiday season, but we have encouraged the class to bring food to Sunday school from when they’re buying their own groceries.” Judy Cook works at Roy Blake Insurance Agency.
with the students and trying to make a difference through intervention and education. Our goal never has been to see how many students we can put in jail, but instead how many students we can help be productive successful members of society.” Ploch said if he could choose another career, he would either be an attorney or a wilderness adventure guide. “From a practical standpoint, if I had it all to do over again, I would have gone to law school and been an attorney,” he said. “My degree from SFA had an emphasis on legal assistance, but I never pursued law school.” In college, Ploch said he guided canoe trips in Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada. “Upon graduation from college, I along with three other guides, completed a thousand mile canoe trip from Lynn Lake Manitoba to Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba,” he said. After he returned from Canada, Ploch married his wife, Virginia. “My wife had a teaching job in McKinney, Texas, and I was looking for a job,” he said. “I became a detention officer, out of necessity, for the City of Richardson, and then a police officer.” Being a police officer is not something he really saw coming. “If you had asked me in high school what I was going to be, I would have never said police officer,” he said. “Once I was one, I found it challenging and something that I was good at. I especially like the satisfaction that comes with putting together a quality case and the challenge of working it to the end.” When asked where he sees himself in 10 years, Ploch said he sees himself sitting on a beach somewhere. Ploch has been married to his wife, a science teacher at McMichael Middle School, for 27 years. They have two children, Megan and Garret, and two grandchildren, Aiden and Cameron.
Excellence » From 7J
you can’t. If you’re on your phone, you’re not paying attention in class. If you’re going to do that, you might as well leave.” Some professors, however, use cellphones in their class as part of their instruction. And that’s all a part of Moore’s job — finding which methods work for different teachers. One such method — flipped classrooms — is new and is gaining traction among teachers. With this method, students read the lecture material at home, and then work on homework in class. “Some of our people have had really good success with that,” he said. Moore actually plans to use that method in a class he’s teaching this fall. “That’s the kind of attitude we all have, particularly in the sciences,” he said. “If it doesn’t work, try something else. More and more people are becoming more receptive to trying different things.” Moore also teaches new faculty members during their orientation. “What we find is a new faculty member coming in, who doesn’t really have any teaching experience — it takes them about four years to really get up to speed to where they really feel comfortable in the classroom,” he said. “Dr. Berry, our provost, thinks that’s too long.”
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Dr. Sarah Canterberry, left, and John Moore go over program notes Feb. 11 for the science department at Stephen F. Austin State in Nacogdoches. Moore is in charge of the Teaching Excellence Center, which helps teachers learn better ways to teach through technology, technique and more at the university. Moore said the Teaching Excellence Center’s job is to introduce those new teachers to some of the pedagogy in which they may not have experience. The center provides workshops on cooperative learning, informing them of different kinds of
classroom technology, as well as overall advice to help them transition into university life. “We’re trying to give them more tricks in their bag of tricks,” he said. “If you’ve only got one and it’s not working, then you’re up a
creek.” Moore said they also get calls from deans when student evaluations reflect a negative experience. “We go in and do classroom observations,” he said. Other times, Moore said professors come to them ask-
ing for help. “Many times, the selfreferred are our best success stories.” Moore said the most fulfilling part of his job is seeing progress. “To me, it’s working with an individual, seeing them
make progress and going with it and knowing that it’s going to increase their effectiveness in the classroom,” he said. “The final analysis is going to benefit their students. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why we’re in this profession.”