Focus Magazine Fall 2011

A Voice in Your Corner page 18

The Few. The Proud...

My Mom. page 8

Making a Stand for the American Dream page 4

Letter from the Editors What’s

Jessica Acklen

&

Focus

Matt Larsen

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Writers

Photographers

Designers

Jade Mardirosian Katy McDowell Alyssa Mendez Matt Larsen Ellen Phillips Diamond Richardson Brian Sanders Michelle De Leon

Jenalee Alexander Liz Cohen Chris Derrett Matt Hellman Belle Jiao William Le Brenna Middleton Jeremy Rinard

Jessica Acklen Matt Larsen Ashley Ohriner Savannah Rudkin

Inside

Special thanks to: Julie Freeman Paul Carr Jed Dean Robert Darden Rod Aydelotte

Baylor Journalism, Public Relations and New Media Department

Focus Staff - Fall 2011

24 | Finding a

New Hope in an aging congregation

4 | Immigrants strive for American Dream

8 | Local mother leads support for troops 12 | Historic barber shop closes doors 15 | New perspective on the Circle 28 | Waco’s most loved ‘Pepper’ 30 | An all day education

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Editors

The world is full of people, and we love people.

People laugh. People cry. People shout. People dance. People are people because they do all those things and more.

People all have stories, but even more so they make stories. Taking people out of a story is like taking out someone’s lungs. Remove people and you take out what makes the story a living, breathing thing.

In the same way, people make a city. A city without people is quite simply dead. There are some tiny towns, but a city with no personality is simply not a city.

People make a city go, and in many ways, the people define the city.

Upon arriving in Waco, we had trouble deciding how exactly to describe the place.

Sitting somewhere between a big city and small town, and somewhere on Interstate 35 between Dallas and Austin, Waco yearns to claim an identity of its own.

Sure, it has Baylor.

But as Focus seeks to take a step back from the emphasis on nonprofit organizations, we want to simultaneously step out into the heart of the city. Baylor, though certainly a face of Waco, is not the face.

A multitude of faces make a city. With this Fall 2011 edition we hope to take an honest look at the city and tackle the question of “Who is Waco?”

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Cover Story |Turning fighters into boxers

making a

stand

american dream

for the

Luis Trego stands proudly outside the Taco Truck he has owned and run for four years. Trego provides for his two sons and his wife entirely with the income from his business, Las Francas.

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Story by Brian Sanders and Michelle De Leon | Photos by Belle Jiao

Bringing a taste of Mexico to Waco Situated on one side of the trailer, a large stove is reserved for cooking the taco meat.

Next to it, a small counter space is used to prepare the tacos and burritos.

The truck’s interior walls are lined with white tiles and a small television tuned to a Spanish station sits in the corner. One worker takes orders while the other two cook the food, all prepared to Trego’s standards.

Many Hispanic workers in the area come here to buy the $1 tacos on their lunch breaks or on their way home. The small tacos, wrapped in foil and served with a lime wedge and a small cup of sauce, are something with which the workers are familiar with – it is a meal often eaten back home in Mexico.

Trego has been cooking for the past 15 years. His mother owned a restaurant in San Luis and taught him everything that he knows about cooking. When he moved to Texas 10 years ago, he put his skills to use and began working in various taco trucks and restaurants until he saved up enough money to buy his own truck and start his own business.

Now Trego dreams of bigger and better things. With every dollar taco he sells, he hopes to save enough money to open his own Mexican restaurant in Waco.

“I’d rather open an actual restaurant where people can come sit down,” Trego said. He plans to bring great-tasting Mexican food to Waco, saying his food is “more authentic than local Mexican restaurants.”

A few blocks away, Veronica Garcia

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Everybody comes here to eat.

Sarah Osequera watches as her mother, Lourdes, prepares a traditional cup of Mexican ice cream. Both mother and daughter spend their days at La Nueva Michoacana, serving traditional Mexican drinks and ice cream to Wacoans.

has already achieved what Trego has only dreamed about.

“I decided to open my own restaurant, even if it was little,” Garcia said. She owns Veronica’s, a restaurant on Franklin Avenue.

Nestled between buildings, it’s easy to drive

by Veronica’s and not even notice it.

Inside, the dining area is small with a red-and-white checkered floor reminiscent of classic diners. The affordable menu boasts traditional Mexican food and some of the best tortas in Waco. Like Luis and the Osequeras, Garcia came to Waco and began working in the restaurant business.

After hearing of America’s prosperity and numerous job opportunities from her sisters, Garcia moved from San Luis, Mexico, to Texas with her young children

in 1983.

During her first years in Waco, she worked at various restaurants in the area to provide for her family, but it wasn’t until 1997 that she had an opportunity to open her own.

Originally on 18th Street, Veronica’s has built a loyal following over the years – so loyal of a following that when Garcia received an offer to buy her restaurant, which she refused, one of the conditions was that she not open another for fear that her customers would follow her.

With three people cooking in the kitchen and one serving customers, Veronica’s is open until 3 p.m. on weekdays. On the weekends, the restaurant is in full swing throughout the day. “Everybody comes here

to eat,” Garcia said with a smile.

As much as she loves owning her restaurant, Garcia has continued to toy with the idea of selling it.

“Sometimes I think about selling it because I don’t want any more problems and I don’t want to work anymore, but I also want to work until God stops me,” Garcia said.

And so she continues to run Veronica’s.

The restaurant is busy at lunchtime and Garcia is proud of its success over the years.

“The principal thing is to work and to move ahead. I’ve never asked for help from the government or anything. I’ve been working hard and have never done things that aren’t right.”

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7 Zulma Araujo shaves a corn cob outside a grocery store. The corn is then mixed in a cup with sour cream, lime, seasoning and butter.

Located on 25th and Bosque Boulevard, Las Francas has been serving tacos in the same parking lot for the past four years.

Lourdes Osequera takes orders for ice cream and aquas frescas. She and her husband, Oscar, have been managing La Nueva Michoacana for more than a year.

Juan Reyna takes orders for tacos. He spends the afternoons with the other cooks preparing food at Las Francas.

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in paleterias and he has carried on their tradition.

Emigrating from Mexico to California, the Osequeras found the Sunshine Coast not as bright as they had hoped.

“It was very, very expensive and there was traffic and pollution. It was hard to find someone to say hi to,” Lourdes said.

Then one of Oscar’s uncles told him about Waco, Texas.

Tired and disappointed with California, they visited and found themselves comfortable in this city wedged between Dallas and Austin.

“When we came here, I liked it a lot because the people are nicer and are friendly, even if they don’t know you,” Lourdes said.

A year and half later, the Osequeras spend their days serving ice cream and cups of fruit to eager customers. At La Nueva Michoacana, business starts picking up around 6 p.m. as work days end for others.

Just down the road, in a spirit similar to La Nueva Michoacana, Luis Trego’s business is picking up, too.

Taco trucks like Luis’ are a common sight in many Texas towns. Located in an empty parking lot, his taco truck – Las Francas – caters mainly to the many working Hispanics in the area. Painted a shade of off-white and its wheels chained together, Las Francas has been open for nearly four years and is the sole source of income for Trego, his two young boys and his wife.

The temperature inside of Trego’s taco truck is well above the 90 degrees outside.

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There is a burned-out building near 25th Street and Bosque Boulevard. Graffiti and black scorch marks cover its three standing walls, while broken boards lay scattered on the ground.

But just next door is a building painted a bright shade of yellow – it contrasts the gloom next door.

It’s a Mexican ice cream parlor – or a paleteria. Inside, colorful posters of fruit and ice cream cones line the walls. Large freezers display homemade ice cream bars, buckets of ice cream and sweetened Mexican drinks called aguas frescas. Coming in sweet and fruity flavors, like cantoloupe, these drinks are a staple in Mexico’s paleterias.

This paleteria in Waco, La Nueva Michoacana, is managed by Lourdes Osequera and her husband Oscar.

Every morning they arrive at 9:30 to cut fruit and prepare the popular aguas frescas before customers start arriving. Lourdes always seems to be smiling, happy to serve ice cream and to have her daughter Sarah there with her.

Four-year-old Sarah, a miniature of Lourdes, comes to work with her parents and can sometimes be seen sitting and coloring at a table in the back. Just like her father, her childhood is becoming intertwined with the tradition of the paleterias.

Growing up in Mixhoacana, Mexico, Oscar spent much of his youth in Michoacana’s many paleterias. His grandfather, father, uncles, brothers and cousins all work

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t all started with cookies but in time, it became clear cookies weren’t quite enough.

When her son joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 2005, Mary Duty, co-owner of Poppa Rollo’s Pizza, joined his unit’s parent network. As her son, Caleb, served in Iraq, she communicated with other parents to organize school supply drives for Middle Eastern children and to bake cookies for troop care packages.

When Caleb returned to Iraq for a second tour in 2007, Duty became the founding president of the Heart of Texas chapter of Blue Star Mothers, a national nonprofit organization of mothers who have or have

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Duty’s son Caleb was her inspiration for the care packages sent to troops overseas.

had children in the military. Duty continued baking and her young chapter began sending care packages to troops.

“They come home and that’s when the war starts,” Duty said. “That’s when you realize they’re not the same.”

For Duty, who has devoted her life to protecting children, Caleb’s decision to join the Marines was a “game-changer” that spurred her involvement in Blue Star Mothers. His return home in 2009 also brought change for Duty and the organization.

“Care packages are terribly important, but for those of us who were blessed to have our boys come home, we’ve got a new job,” Duty said. “Our job now is to make sure we keep those promises that we made. All those promises the politicians made need to be kept.”

Blue Star Mothers may have started with cookies, but its new focus is advocating for veterans. Fortunately, Duty is no stranger to activism.

After graduating from Baylor in 1972, Duty worked as administrative assistant to the executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs in Washington, D.C., and legislative aide to Representative Les Aspin, D-Wis., before joining her husband, Roland, as co-owner of Poppa Rollo’s in 1975. Since then, she has been a devoted mother to Caleb and four other children who are all still involved in the family business.

Duty said her activism for the protection of children began in 1989 when her step

son, Kevin, suffered a broken collar bone after being hit by a car as he was getting off of the school bus. According to police, the accident amounted to a $50 fine for the driver of the car but was not worth pursuing any further action. Duty believed it was worth much more.

After a call from her sister-in-law, Duty was convinced that joining the ParentTeacher Association would help her change the law to result in harsher legal action for similar incidents.

“I was taken from being a young mother with small children to someone who was going back and forth to Austin and on the phone contacting congressmen,” Duty said.

“Four years later we got a law that requires a $1,000 fine.”

Duty spent the next 10 years working as a PTA volunteer before she encountered her next game-changer. In 1997, she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C after a blood transfusion.

Told she could eventually develop liver cancer or liver failure, Duty endured 18 months of chemotherapy, still traveling between Waco and Austin working with the state Legislature.

During that time, she said God presented her with the idea of teaching school, a vocation she took on with her “bucket list” in mind. She began teaching in 1999 and has not looked back.

Today, she is an eighth-grade social studies teacher and chair of the social studies department at Tennyson Middle School.

She also is on the board of contributors of

- Mary Duty the Waco Tribune-Herald and chairwoman of the Waco History Project, which works to connect people to Waco’s past.

Through Blue Star Mothers, Duty has worked with the students of Tennyson Middle School on the “Pencils for Peace” project, which Duty started with the parent network of Caleb’s unit. The project sends pencils, paper and other school supplies to the Middle East.

“Thomas Jefferson got it right,” Duty said.

“You can’t have a democracy without an educated populace. You’ve got to be able to think, reason, discuss, debate and not worry about getting shot or taken in the night.Education is the fundamental piece that is going to lay the foundation for these nations.”

Last year, Blue Star Mothers sent thousands of pencils and reams of paper to the Middle East to facilitate educational needs.

The supplies were given to Marine units for distribution as well as to an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan, with which Blue Star Mothers is partnered, Duty said.

The group continues to send care package to troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of the world.

Through donations and out of their own

Mary Duty brandishes her son Caleb’s military identification card. The proud mother has become the founding president of the Heart of Texas chapter of Blue Star Mothers. The nonprofit works to ensure good treament for soldiers like Caleb.

pockets, the mothers are able to send more than 150 packages twice a year, during the holidays and in the summer.

“As long as there are people serving in a hostile territory anywhere on this planet, there will be care packages,” Duty said.

“Always.”

Since Caleb and other veterans have returned, the group has started including more

than cookies in care packages.

“We came back and explained it’s 110 degrees in the desert and there’s no glass of milk for miles,” Caleb said. “No one wants a cookie.”

Items included in care packages include drink mixes and baby wipes, as well as food rich in protein, such as tuna and beef jerky.

Units need the food because troop food

Jana Teakell, MaryEllen Maddox and her son David Maddox pack care packages with food and hygiene items to send to troops serving overseas.

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Story by Katy McDowall| Photos by Brenna Middleton

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the few. the proud… my mom

They come home and that’s when the war starts.

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- Mary Duty

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deliveries, they will not. Sometimes this leaves troops without anything to eat, Duty said.

“To think that they went hungry in Iraq is unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable,” Duty said. “It’s sinful to think that our troops went without food because of the way we provide food to our soldiers, sailors and Marines in combat.”

“That’s the kind of stuff that makes you lie awake at night.”

Now that the Heart of Texas mothers have had children return home, as well as continuing to provide for those abroad, they are focusing on the Department of Veterans Affairs and how well health care is being provided to veterans, which is something that hits home for Duty.

Caleb returned home with some health issues, including impaired hearing and a broken ankle. He spent almost 10 months trying to get an appointment at the V.A., often only reaching automated phone messages.

The Blue Star Mothers hope to streamline the system to get veterans, including Caleb, the help they need from the V.A. faster for both their physical and emotional needs.

“You’ve got young people coming back with the injuries you can’t see, the ones in the heart and the mind,” Duty said.

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Mary Duty shows off her son’s documentation. Duty works to make sure veterans like her son receive satisfactory health care.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common for returning veterans and is something Blue Star Mothers has been working to understand.

The group has worked on two studies with Dr. Jim Ellor, professor of social work at Baylor University, who studies PTSD and effective ways to help military families cope with deployment – before, during and after.

“The process of their coming back home and deciding whether they are going to live or die, whether they’re going to drink themselves to death, how they’re going to assimilate themselves back into society, a lot of it takes counseling,” Duty said. “They don’t just come home asking, ‘Where’s the Sunday school class where

I can talk about this?’ or ‘Is there a pastor sensitive to this?’”

Duty said veterans can take years before they feel comfortable discussing their experiences.

Blue Star Mothers, however, acts as an outlet for parents to understand what their children are experiencing by talking with other parents.

“Your child will never tell you ‘Mom, I did this’ and ‘Mom, I did that’ or ‘I was here’ and ‘I was there’ but you find out bit by bit, and piece by piece, by talking with other kids’ parents,” Duty said. “Then the process of healing begins.”

MaryEllen Maddox, secretary of Blue Star Mothers, has had four children serve in the military, including her son David,

begin leading veterans in the right direction when they return home it would make a difference, especially when trying to navigate the V.A. Caleb agreed.

“It’s like trying to do your taxes on your own,” Caleb said. “It’s a nightmare.”

Duty believes if mothers choose not to act, then no one will.

“The only thing worse than a Marine is a Marine mom,” Duty said. “The few. The proud…”

“My mom,” Caleb interjected.

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We came back and explained it’s 110 degrees in the desert and there’s no glass of milk for miles. No one wants a cookie.

- Caleb Duty

Mary Duty takes care of some paperwork needed to ship care packages overseas.

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It’s sinful to think that our troops went without food.

to accomplish things.

“We really have an obligation to do what is right for these kids, and if we don’t make noise it won’t get done,” Duty said.

For Caleb and David, Blue Star Mothers can make a difference.

“For vets coming home, there’s no organization to help veterans get the help they need,” David said. “No one sits you down and asks you what’s wrong with you.

You’ve got to be suffering so long before someone helps you.”

David said if Blue Star Mothers can

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Caleb’s best friend.

When David returned from his deployment with the Marines, Maddox said she called Duty and was able to get more information from her than she could from the military.

“It’s all about sharing what we know, how we feel and being a real crutch to lean on,” Maddox said. “If it hadn’t been for the other Blue Star moms and sharing my fears with them, it would have been incredibly more difficult.”

The Blue Star Mothers Heart of Texas Chapter now has more than 50 members in the Central Texas area committed to preparing care packages and helping heal returning veterans.

How veterans are given the opportunity to put their military experience into perspective and the ability to lead a happy and fulfilled life outside of the military is crucial, Duty said.

“We’re like the military PTA,” Duty said. “We’re able to marshal people to call their senators, write the president, do whatever, to encourage to them to do the right things.”

Duty sees vocalizing the necessity of help for the veterans as an important way

A little piece of Waco Historic Jockey Club Barber Shop set to close after 94 years in Central Texas Story by Jade Mardirosian | Photos by Jeremy Rinard Charles Harris buttons up a customer’s smock. Harris retired after four years with the Jockey Club.

Lloyd Dugas trims behind a customer’s ear. The Jockey Club Barber Shop had been serving Waco residents since 1917.

be faster (paced), it used to be like Houston or Dallas when we first moved here. [Back then] there was a lot of traffic in here, but it’s slowed up quite a bit.”

In contrast to the dwindling street on which it lies, the shop has stayed mostly unchanged and the customers continue to come through the doors, in a tradition unmarred by the slowing life of Elm Avenue.

Charles Redrick is one of the dedicated customers. He has been getting his hair cut at the Jockey Club since his last barber died, about 15 years ago.

“I’ve been knowing about it since it was down on Bridge Street.,” Redrick said. “I know a whole lot of people that come here. All my brothers come here.” Redrick comes once a month to have his hair cut by Dugas. In a picture of the shop’s progression into the next generation, he also brings his 5-year-old grandson to have his hair cut. Redrick is unsure of where

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he will go to have his hair cut once the shop is closed, expressing disbelief that the neighborhood staple will no longer be around.

The approaching closure of the shop comes as a price of a tragic event – the upcoming radiation to treat Dugas’ fellow barber at the shop, Charlie Harris.

Harris, who has been working at the Jockey Club for about four years, said that after having a successful surgery for colon cancer, he found out he would have to begin battling prostate cancer. Once he begins radiation, he will also retire from the shop.

Harris, a tall man with a bald head and thick black mustache, explained his medical situation with a calm sureness.

“In November, I’m going to the doctor and whenever they tell me I can start the radiation, that’s when I’m just going to call it a day,” Harris said. “We might work through November but I think after that I’m just going to go ahead

and call it a day.”

With Harris gone from the shop, Dugas said he did not want to remain at the alone.

“In a way I am sad [to see the shop close], but I’m ready to retire because most of the guys I’ve worked with have passed. We worked over there [on Bridge Street] and all of them have left me,” Dugas said.

Dugas said he imagines he will miss his customers once the shop closes and he retires. His customers, like Redrick, will surely miss him.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do. There’s going to be a whole lot of people that will miss y’all,” Redrick said to Dugas and Harris.

Although he looks forward to his retirement, Dugas believes his customers will be hard pressed to find another barbershop as reliable as the Jockey Club. “I know all the barbershops [in the neighborhood]. They’re not as consistent as this one,” Dugas said. “They don’t open on time like we do. We have a schedule we go by.

Most of the other barbershops open at anytime and leave sometimes leaving the customer in the chair.”

Harris also believes the shop will be missed by the customers in the neighborhood. He says one of his favorite parts about working in

It has changed quite a bit because when I first started working at the Jockey Club haircuts were just 65 cents, now they’re $10, and a shave was 35 cents then, now a shave is $6.

Harris and Dugas serve a pair of Waco residents. The Jockey Club has at its Elm Street location since 1970.

- Lloyd Dugas

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“It has changed quite a bit because when I first started working at the Jockey Club haircuts were just 65 cents – now they’re $10 – and a shave was 35 cents then. Now a shave is $6,” Dugas said.

Historic Elm Avenue has also changed significantly, with a major decline in the businesses on the once lively street since about the 1990s.

“It done changed quite a bit,” Dugas said.

“Let’s see, there used to be a Safeway over there,” he said motioning to the corner, “and an H-E-B over where the library is now. When [the shop] first moved there was a lot on this street, a lot of beer joints, hotels, the post office was on this street, but it’s kind of dead now.”

Reminiscent of its vibrant past, Dugas is concerned about the sad future that may await Elm Avenue.

“I know it’s getting deader and deader. Actually most of the places are closing,” Dugas said.

“Waco has gotten kind of slow now. It used to

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A sign reads, “Welcome to Historic Elm Avenue.” It can be seen across the street from the Jockey Club Barber Shop. Worn linoleum tiles layer the floor, and faded wood paneling covers the walls. Smokey Robinson and The Miracle’s “Tracks of my Tears” plays on the radio, eerily reminding the customers at one of Waco’s oldest barber shops to take a good look at the faces of the men cutting their hair and shaving their beards, because like so many places on this once diverse and lively street, this barber shop will soon be closed.

The Jockey Club Barber Shop opened in 1917, southeast of Waco’s old square, at Second and Franklin, now the parking lot of the Hilton.

The shop was forced to move to its current location on Elm Avenue in 1970 after the Federal Urban Renewal program cleared about 200 buildings, leaving only City Hall.

One of the barbers who moved from the bustling downtown location to Elm Avenue is Lloyd Dugas, who retired with the shop at the end of November. Dugas began cutting hair at the Jockey Club in 1957 after attending Tyler Barber College, where he met his wife, a native Wacoan. Because of his wife and the advice of another barber, he soon began to call Waco home.

“I came to work here because I stopped in Houston to work at a barber shop there and the barber there told me Houston was a bad place to work and he recommended me to find the Jockey Club in Waco,” Dugas said. “He thought it’d be a nice place for me to start off.”

Dugas, though in his late 70s, still stands with the posture of a young man of his craft, wearing thick ‘80s-style eyeglasses and a bright blue barber’s smock. He explains he was fond of the barbershop when he first began working there, and he reflects on how the Jockey Club and Elm Avenue have both changed over the years.

Around we go...

Though in his late 70s, Lloyd Dugas still has a steady enough hand to give Waco residents a clean shave. Dugas had been cutting hair at the Jockey Club since 1957.

The closing of the shop could open a whole a barbershop is not knowing who is going to close since he knows the role it has played in new world for Dugas who has plans for his free come in.

Waco’s past. time.

“We will be truly missed, because [for] a “I kind of hate to see it go because it’s been “Me and my wife are going to just take it lot of people this is the only shop they know,” in the neighborhood so long,” Harris said. “It Harris said. would be good if someone could come along in easy and travel a little bit,” Dugas said. “My “You can find another barbershop, but you the community and just buy it and basically you wife retired [recently]. She’s a beautician. She wants to take a train ride – can’t find the atmosphere. A lot she’s never been on a train – of people don’t come because we so I think we’ll do that.” great barbers; they come because Looking past his radiation we make them feel at home.”

You come in here and argue for an hour and treatment, Harris has hopes Working as more than just a of seeing the world beyond barber, Harris strives to connect when you leave all your stresses are gone. the little barber shop on Elm with his customers on a personal - Charles Harris Avenue. level, often discussing topics from “I want to start traveling sports to politics. around a little bit here and “It’s just an atmosphere. You stuff like that and then after come in here and let your stress that it’s just me and the remote control,” Harris could just leave it like it is – just keep the doors go,” Harris said. “You come in here and argue said. “I didn’t even renew my barber license, for an hour and when you leave all your stresses open and it would be good. It’s got to be the [so] this is it. I have a bunch of memories oldest black barber shop in Waco. You hate to are gone.” though, so that’ll be good.” see a place like this just close down.”

For Harris, it is hard to see the shop have to

Bringing Waco’s famous Health Camp to life, night falling on the circle provides a new view of the heart of the city.

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Photos by Jenalee Alexander

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A look at Waco’s famous circle

Life on the Circle In the heart of Waco sits one of the city’s most frequented areas. With its close proximity to Baylor campus and the numerous restaurants, including Health Camp and Elite Circle Grill, the Circle is an irreplaceable icon in Waco. This bird’s-eye view provides a unique look at the area and the rarely noticed Texas star in the middle of the circle.

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Your Corner Story by Matt Larsen | Photos by Chris Derrett, Belle Jiao and Matt Hellman

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Tony Montoya trains Jesus Zamarripa, known at the Waco Boxing Club as “Pulga,” the Spanish word for flea. The Waco Boxing Club in Waco, Texas trains children and adults of all ages nearly every weekday of the year. Some aim to compete in local and national tournaments, while others simply seek personal improvement.

Photo by Chris Derrett

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ologna sandwiches and a gallon of orange juice split 12 ways.

Not exactly Wheaties, but for the Waco Boxing Club, it was enough.

From nights spent at rest stops with 12 kids packed into a 15-passenger van to throwing down pillows and crashing in the ring after shedding the gloves, Waco Boxing Club owner Tony Montoya carries a program with a history of humility, hard work and building futures worth living for.

Montoya walks a path blazed by a man whose name stands inseparable from Waco Boxing Club: Gilbert Sanchez Sr. In addition to founding the club in his garage, Sanchez founded in Montoya the heart for encouragement and respect he thrives on.

“A kid without a dad? That’s what you want,” Montoya said.

After losing his biological father at age 1, Montoya followed his brothers into the world of boxing and found Sanchez to be the voice of affirmation he needed.

As it turned out, Montoya had another key voice continually ringing from his corner.

Assistant coach Johnny Garcia quickly became that second force tugging Montoya out of a lifestyle pointing toward prison or worse.

To teach discipline, provide conditioning and raise money, Garcia pulled in his young boxers to help with a paper route, rain or shine.

Montoya recalls going to bed at midnight some nights and waking up at 2 a.m. to head to The Waco Tribune-Herald to help rubber band, bag and toss newspapers from the back of Garcia’s truck.

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A Voice in

Photo by Belle Jiao

Photo by Belle Jiao

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My dream is to see one, two, three, four of these guys make it in life.

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The conditioning came when it was time to leap from the truck bed, slip a bundled paper into a mailbox or two and run back without losing the truck.

Come afternoon, though, it was sometimes Garcia’s turn to chase down his flaky boxers to keep them off the streets. Montoya and company would see Garcia and Sanchez’s van turning the corner up ahead and scamper behind trees.

“They wouldn’t run from us. They wouldn’t disrespect us,” he said. “But if we weren’t there, they were gone.”

Garcia and Montoya now serve as the Waco Boxing Club’s two primary coaches and laugh about the afternoon pursuits.

Montoya, however, could not be more thankful for the time Garcia spent in pursuit of him.

Montoya more willingly hopped in the van for the endless road trips to competitions as far as Ohio and California.

Here the boys saw a different side of their coaches.

To keep his young boxers from turning the back of the 15-passenger into a makeshift ring, Garcia would find ways to entertain everybody in the van.

“I heard on the news they got a guy out here riding a white horse and he’s got a mask on and if you spot him you get $200,” he remembers telling them, grinning almost as brightly as his glasses catching the light.

“We would drive for 50, 60 miles with

everybody up against the window. ‘Let me look. Let me look.”

While providing laughs and entertainment came easy for Garcia, he often found appeasing appetites more difficult. Garcia and Sanchez could not always afford the luxury of bologna and orange juice for every boxer in the van.

Their pupils, however, never took the situations too seriously.

“Why don’t you just drive by Micky D’s window and let us just smell the damn hamburgers?” A kid Montoya coached said only half-jokingly on more than one occasion.

Son to Father Though his coaches saw him going pro, a 16-year-old Montoya chose to apply the responsibility and fearlessness he learned in the ring in a different sphere of life. When his 15-year-old girlfriend Angela became pregnant, he chose to marry her and take on the role of father-providing for his family.

But four sons later, Montoya found himself drawn back to boxing and the opportunity to give back to the sport that changed his life.

He began to serve as an assistant coach at Waco Boxing Club under Gilbert Sanchez Jr., who inherited the reins to the club from his esteemed father. Though Sanchez Jr. would have to step away from the gym in 2009, Montoya refused to see “their father’s” vision

go down without a fight. Thus, the plumberby-day, boxer-by-night inherited a club with no funding and no place to work out.

And that’s where Stewart Parsons Jr. came in.

In the summer of 2009, Parson’s Roofing provided enough money to breathe life into the club and provide a physical space for a gym.

Then the company did it again the following year and kept it coming this last year as well.

“Without them we wouldn’t have a gym right now,” said Angela Montoya, who spends the evening hours alongside her husband at the gym.

Though overflowing with the same character that both earns and demands respect, she puts most of her efforts into managing the club’s finances, leaving the coaching to her husband and Garcia.

With their voluntary boxing club activities as often as seven days a week, Tony’s plumbing responsibilities six days a week and their four sons’ boxing, football and baseball schedules, the Montoyas find little down time.

All six of them savor their yearly eightday vacation to Port Aransas, though.

Between crabbing adventures and trying to outrun golf carts, Tony loves hearing his sons tell him how it’s the best time they’ve ever had in their lives.

be better than my dad. Just like when my son gets old, I want him to be better than me.”

Set on surpassing Sanchez Sr.’s desire for the boxing club to carry on after his death, Montoya won’t be retiring anytime soon.

Still, even the tireless fighter at heart rests.

He rests from his encouraging shouts just long enough to appreciate the transformation he gets to witness in fighters like Castillo.

“That’s what makes me wake up and go to work nine hours a day, get changed, take a shower and come over here and work another three hours,” Montoya said. “I feel if I can save one, two, three, four of these kids and lead them in the right direction, then they will take three or four kids and lead them in the right direction and everything keeps carrying on.”

And if it’s up to Castillo, things will carry on. Round after round. Fight after fight. right direction and everything keeps carrying on.”

And if it’s up to Castillo, things will carry on. Round after round. Fight after fight.

Photo by Belle Jiao

Above: Raymond Palacios Jr. breaks long enough to down some water. Waco Boxing Club welcomes people of all ages.

Below: Efrin Avilla Jr. tries the big gloves on for size.

Photo by Chris Derrett

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Photo by Chris Derrett

Fists and faces clenched, Dalyn Montoya, Antonio Castillo and David Pena train for their next fights at the Waco Boxing Club. For boxers with dreams of going pro, it can mean training as often as seven days a week.

Father to More Than Four Three hundred and fifty-seven days a year, however, Montoya has many sons and daughters step through the door of his gym.

“My kids, they share me with all these kids,” he said. “They don’t get jealous. They don’t get mad. They don’t get upset. My kids, they’ve learned that.”

Just like his coach and father figure Sanchez, Montoya demands the utmost respect no matter whom he is training.

“We had barely said ‘hello’ and he came and pushed me like he knew me,” former Baylor point guard Tweety Carter said of his first workout with Montoya. “It was only 30 minutes, but I was done. After that I started going every day.”

A signed poster of the former Baylor star hangs on the wall at the Waco Boxing Club, but to everyone working out at the club, he is just another member of the family.

“He called me momma,” Angela Montoya said, a grin sliding across her lips.

Carter, who helped lead the Bears to their NCAA Elite 8 berth in 2010, trained this past summer at the Waco Boxing Club to prepare for his season with the Israeli league team Bnei Hasharon.

He vows to return every summer.

In addition to the workouts themselves, it’s the incessant encouragement that keeps Carter and just about every one of Montoya’s boxers coming back.

“My dream is to see one, two, three, four of these guys make it in life,” Montoya said.

“Get in their heads. Make them believe in themselves.”

For 21-year-old Antonio Castillo, it worked.

While he watches friends from high school find their way one by one to prison, he stares at a high school diploma and an associate’s degree from Texas State Technical College.

He also works toward a second degree at McLennan County Community College.

His collegiate efforts have in no way pushed boxing dreams from his mind, though, as the Waco native would like to step into professional boxing next year.

Like Montoya, Castillo grew up without his biological father in his life. Stumbling into the group at age 13, he found a second family.

“Tony is the dad, and Johnny is the grandpa,” he said, cracking a grin.

But with a 3-month old son, Castillo’s dreams go beyond boxing as well.

“I’ve seen a lot of things that make me want to come up to be a man,” he said, his feet dancing in place a little more than usual.

“I don’t want to be like my dad. I want to

PRICE Photos by Matt Hellman

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To check out more photos and video about this story, go to baylor.edu/focus

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For a

Above and bottom right: To train, Devin “Slim� Duffy, works his abs and the bag.

Middle right: Pedro Lozano wraps his hands before a workout.

Far right: David Cordova spars with Gabriel Resendez.

Right: Dalyn Montoya warms up with some pushups.

Below: Baylor graduate student Eric Fleury works the speed bag.

African-American Tradition, 145 Years Young

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A lot of people look down on tradition, but I believe that you can be relevant and still be reverent.

-Rev. Dr. Richard Blanton Story by Diamond Richardson| Photos by William Le The Rev. Stephen Cobb was black at a time when it wasn’t particularly easy to be black. He was a former slave and it was a short two years after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. He lived in Texas, one of the most segregated states in the country.

But on June 10, 1866, Cobb and 17 other former slaves chartered New Hope Baptist Church in Waco, the first African-American church in Texas. Their desire was to see the African-American community in Waco liberated through religious and organizational freedom.

For many slaves, the biggest degradation in a life of bondage was being denied a choice in how they could worship – slaves were only permitted to go to church with their owners or hear preachers chosen by their masters, if at all.

This injustice stuck with Stephen Cobb and the other 17 founding members of New Hope Baptist Church.

After Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, the former slaves requested letters of dismissal from First Baptist Church of Waco.

Their request was granted and New Hope found a home in a timeworn building on the corner of Jefferson Avenue

and Sixth Street.

Stephen Cobb, the first ordained African-American minister in Waco, was a fervent minister. Cobb led many successful revivals – one lasted 30 days and resulted in 107 conversions to the Baptist faith.

The church battled deep racial tension in its early days, however. Local Ku Klux Klan members even shot a gun through a window of the church during a Sunday night revival. But nothing deterred Cobb from his dedication to ministering God’s Word. During his 10 years as pastor, New Hope grew to a congregation of 260 members.

A century later, the church had grown to a congregation of more than 500 members under the Rev. Marvin C. Griffin’s leadership. After beginning his ministry at New Hope in 1951, he developed the church’s first financial bookkeeping system, implemented a bus system for church services and hosted a weekly radio broadcast. Griffin also spearheaded great strides in race relations with other churches. He organized interracial services with Lake Shore Baptist Church. These services would become known as Race Relations Sunday.

The congregation worships together during a Sunday service at New Hope Baptist Church in Waco. New Hope is the oldest African-American church in Texas.

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speak at New Hope for a Black History Month event. They were looking for an old-school church experience and found it at New Hope.

Blanton said he planned on only being a member of New Hope, but God had other plans. A few months after joining, New Hope’s former pastor left unexpectedly. The pulpit committee asked Blanton to serve as interim pastor in September 2010. They later asked him to apply for the pastorate and in April of this year, Blanton became the 15th pastor of New Hope Baptist Church.

“I find that a lot of people that come to new churches in new towns are looking for a place to hide, but we were looking for a place to serve,” he said. “I had no vision of any of this but I believe in God ordering one’s steps and this was obviously in his plan for me because everything just kind of fell into place.”

King believes Blanton is a good fit for

strategic planning meeting to draw on advice from church leaders and formulate a vision for the church’s future.

The vision, called “REER” for short, says New Hope will “recruit, equip, engage and replicate kingdom leaders in the Central Texas community.”

“I asked them [the church members] to tell me what the needs were so they have that buyin that motivates them to work hard and see the vision come to fruition,” he said.

Age Is Just a Number

New Hope’s congregation has aged with the church. Over half of the members are senior citizens. Pierce says the community may see that as a disadvantage, but she believes it benefits New Hope.

“They are young at heart and they are a cooperative group,” she said. “I think that is what has held the church together so long. They want to do whatever is Today, the Rev. Dr. Richard good for the church.”

Blanton stands in the same position Blanton, like Pierce, can also Stephen Cobb, Marvin Griffin and see the strength that the older the pastors of New Hope who came congregation brings to New Hope. before him. Each pastor made his “The smart road to take is mark on New Hope without altering to appreciate and tap into that the traditional setting that continues experience,” he said. to draw members. Blanton knows And he has tapped in. Stemming and appreciates his role. from the church’s strategic planning “I see stability in this church,” he meeting, Blanton developed surveys said. “A lot of people look down on to identify the types of ministries tradition, but I believe that you can senior members were looking for the be relevant and still be reverent.” church to provide.

Jocelyn Pierce, who has been a As a result of the surveys, New member of New Hope for 26 years, Hope has implemented a senior has a calm, composed demeanor, but lunch bunch. During the lunch softens whenever she mentions New sessions, seniors can come, eat and Hope. listen to a speaker discuss a variety The Rev. Dr. Richard Blanton prepares for a Sunday morning service at New Hope, “Most folks are looking for where he has served as pastor since April. of topics. Plans for future speakers the traditional,” Pierce said. “The include a registered nurse and a contemporary comes and goes, but the New Hope because of his love for the Lord social worker. traditional will always be here. Pastor Blanton and love for people.

While Blanton appreciates the experience has the right perspective because he is adapting “He and his wife are strong, devout of the seniors, he is recruiting younger things but not coming in and totally changing Christians,” she said. “They visit our sick and members. He attended a church fair at Baylor everything.” shut-in members. They called to ask how my earlier this fall.

Blanton is a fusion of old-school and new- son was doing when I was in the hospital with “If you are looking for a place for school pastors. He loves anything to do with him. They just care and you can tell.” opportunity, if you are looking for a place to traditional Baptist churches but can deliver Jessica Pierce, 24, who grew up going to work, if you are looking for a place to grow a slew of lines from popular rap songs in his New Hope before she left for college, can also spiritually, then this is an excellent place to sermons without missing a beat. see a change under Blanton’s leadership. be,” Blanton said.

A former Air Force chaplain, Blanton “Right away, I recognized a difference Once a church of more than 500 members, graduated from Baylor University in 1974. with Pastor Blanton,” she said. “It’s all in the New Hope now has 150 active members. But He obtained his Master of Theology from leadership of the church and because of the what the church lacks in size, it makes up for Southern Methodist University and his vision that Pastor Blanton has, there is a new in activity of the members.

Doctor of Ministry from New Orleans Baptist direction and vision for the members. I think “We just rise to the occasion wherever Theological Seminary. he will be able to help New Hope restore itself needed, which is something different I see Blanton and his wife, Shelia, joined New to what it once was in the Waco community.” here from other churches I have been at,” Hope in 2010 after Blanton was invited to Blanton has settled in quickly. He led a Jocelyn Pierce said. “People are willing to

Something Old, Something New

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Members discuss church affairs with a portion of the congregation. New Hope has 150 active members but remains set on remaining a force in the community.

step up to the plate and do whatever it takes to keep New Hope a force in the community.”

Pierce said that she believes this attitude is inspired by the church’s history.

“The theme for our 145th anniversary was the vision is alive and well. People seem to think that because of the age of New Hope members, we would just die out,” she said with a laugh. “But we are on the road to recovery.”

King said that while she would like to see New Hope get back to its larger size, she does appreciate the closeness that comes with a

smaller congregation.

“Our building is huge, so we basically have our own pews during service,” she said, smiling. “But we do have that sense of family that is harder to get in a big church.”

No matter how large or small the membership is, church service continues at New Hope. The choir sings traditional Baptist hymns.

Younger church members help the elderly members to their seats. The sun beams in through the stained-glass entrance doors.

Blanton takes his place at the pulpit to deliver his message.

Richard Blanton lives generations apart from Stephen Cobb. But they are tied by New Hope’s living, breathing vision of seeing African-Americans liberated through religious freedom.

“I feel that I stand on the shoulders of those who have come before me and I would like to continue to build on that tradition,” Blanton said.

New Hope is here to stay.

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The large membership would not last forever. In 1994, after the removal of the pastor by the board of deacons and church trustees, many members of the congregation followed him out the door.

Doris King has been a member of New Hope her entire life. At 74, she is statuesque with a warm hug and bright smile. King vividly remembers the controversy surrounding Austin’s removal.

“He could preach and sing really well, so many people were frustrated that he was forced out,” she said.“We definitely had to cross some Jordans in the next couple of years. All churches go through problems but I was even considering leaving at that time. I had a son and I just did not feel he was getting the spiritual upbringing he needed then with all the drama.”

Youth and adults join together to lead the congregation in song. New Hope looks to looks to bring more youth to its aging community

Lifeblood Wilton Lanning enjoys sharing the story of how Dr Pepper came to be bottled in Waco. Lanning and a few others developed the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Co. building, which became the Dr Pepper Museum in 1989, then the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute in 1997.

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sk Wilton Lanning about Waco, Texas. He’ll mention Dr Pepper every time.

“I guess I started having a drinking problem a long time ago,” Lanning said. “I was born [in Waco] and my mother always denied that she had given me Dr Pepper in my formula.”

Lanning was born in Waco in 1936 to a family that lived in a large house on 13th Street and Columbus Avenue. After attending University of Colorado for a short time, Lanning found himself drawn back to Waco and Baylor University. He graduated with a degree from Baylor in the early ’60s, and upon graduating, and began working as a banker.

When Lanning’s father returned from World War II, he bought Padgitt’s, the oldest operating business in Waco today – Lanning ultimately became the fourth owner of the company.

But Lanning’s real passion lies elsewhere –

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Story by Alyssa Mendez | Photos by Liz Cohen

in a glass bottle.

Lanning’s ties to Dr Pepper run deep – his grandparents lived in Dublin, Texas, home of the oldest Dr Pepper bottling plant. In fact, Lanning even peddled Dr. Pepper, along with other sodas, with a friend in junior high from a soda pop stand on 25th Street and Colcord Avenue.

Lanning’s collection was born in 1983 after a Baptist minister in Waco offered him some Dr Pepper memorabilia. From there the collection grew. And grew. And grew.

“It began to catch hold,” Lanning said. “It was an infection for which there’s no cure, and that is the interest in the soft drink we call Dr Pepper.”

Memorabilia covers the walls of his office along with photographs capturing memories of the beginnings of one of Waco’s biggest attractions – Dr Pepper museum. With each

story he tells, Lanning, refers to something hanging on the wall, a bottle displayed on his desk, or even the camouflaged refrigerator filled with chilled Dr Peppers in the corner of the room.

In addition to being a passionate “Pepper,” Lanning also is the former president of the Waco Chamber of Commerce. In fact, during his time as president, Dr Pepper celebrated its 100th anniversary in April 1985. With an event at Austin Avenue and Fifth Street featuring comedian Bob Hope, Lanning was one of around 2,000 that attended the event.

Also present at the 100-year celebration was W.W. “Foots” Clements, chairman of Dr Pepper. Clements approached Lanning and challenged him to begin the process of creating a Dr Pepper museum in the bottling plant on Fifth and Mary streets.

“He told me, ‘That building is the home of

Lanning believes the museum and Dr Pepper have played an important role of both defining Waco and putting it on the map in a positive way.

“Settled is the question of where Waco is,” Lanning said. “They know where it is, but that changed almost overnight and has evolved into ‘What is Waco? Oh, I’ve heard that’s the home of the nation’s oldest soft drink.’”

Lanning’s persistence in making Dr Pepper synonymous with Waco has given the city something that brings pride. In fact, due to his role in the community, Lanning is both for his love of the city and his love of Dr Pepper.

In a display of this, former Baylor president Herbert Reynolds gave Lanning an honorary doctorate from the university. “[Reynolds] said, ‘Wilton, I’ve just got to do it. I’m going to bestow on you this day an honorary Dr Pepper degree,’” Lanning said. “I said ‘Dr. Reynolds that’s as close to an earned or honorary doctorate as I’ll ever get.’”

Lanning is aware that many people have come to identify him as the unofficial spokesman of Dr Pepper in Waco, and it is something he wouldn’t change.

“Personally, I feel very affirmed in the effort over the last 25-plus years and that it has turned out well,” Lanning said. “I don’t think I’d not want to be identified with Dr Pepper.”

As he walks through the museum, Lanning engages with a visiting family.

“We’ve got a little ‘Pepper’ here, don’t we?” Lanning said, referring to the small baby boy being carried by his mother.

Lanning hopes the work he has dedicated to furthering Waco will be continued long after he has gone. “[The museum] is a part of the fabric and weave of this place we call Waco,” Lanning said.

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The formula is persistence, patience and damn hard work.

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the nation’s oldest soft drink. Wouldn’t it be great if there were a museum there?’ Lanning said. “He put the sales on me.”

From that conversation on, Lanning harbored a conviction to create a museum dedicated to Dr Pepper. He worked with the Chamber to join the city with some of the local foundations together to create a partnership that would make the Dr Pepper Museum possible.

“This was a potential for something really unique,” Lanning said.

On Sept. 11, 1987, the Waco contingents met with Dr Pepper corporate at its headquarters in Dallas and began the process of establishing a museum in Waco.

“My reputation preceded me a little bit,” Lanning said. “‘If anyone can get this done,’ one of the bankers said, and he pointed his finger at me. He was setting me up.”

The museum opened on May 11, 1991.

“We chose that date not necessarily by accident,” Lanning said. “One of the most horrendous things that happened in Waco happened on May 11, 1953.”

On the anniversary of the infamous tornado that struck Waco, the museum represented a new beginning to the more than 10,000 people present for the opening, Lanning said.

“Even though the tornado had really tried, the building is still standing.”

A reporter at the opening questioned the success of the museum and confidence Lanning had that people would actually visit the museum.

“At this point there have been a few people come in,” Lanning said. “One million, three hundred thousand people from all over the world.”

Lanning has witnessed the museum grow and succeed.

“The formula is persistence, patience and damn hard work,” Lanning said. “You’re going to have setbacks. Some things go fantastic, and some things take a longer time.”

Lanning views the museum as a part of Waco that all citizens can take pride in.

“I like to tell people we live in the Holy Land, that being that this is the home of the oldest soft drink and the home of world’s largest Baptist university,” Lanning said.

And Lanning’s relationship with Dr Pepper bleeds into every part of his life.

“I have seen him give dozens of speeches over the years and, invariably, when he gets talking about the Dr Pepper Museum, he becomes so emotional over that,” said Robert O’Beirne, the manager of Olmsted Kirk Paper Co. a block away from the museum.

“He is Mr. Dr Pepper,” O’Beirne said.

Rev. Gladstone Knight sits at the wheel of the Waco Community Baptist Church’s van. Rev. Knight picks up many students for Tuesday and Thursday tutoring.

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Story by Ellen Phillips | Photos by Ashley Yeaman Khadijah Lindsey doesn’t want to be homecoming queen. Sitting in the Community Training Center like she does every Tuesday and Thursday, she shares her woes: She was nominated by her Waco High classmates against her will and dreads the prospect of winning, contrary to the common dreams of high school senior girls.

Rather, Khadijah is working toward her future, placing her dreams beyond the next popularity contest. Since her freshman year, she has been in bridge program called Upward Bound at McLennan Community College, taking summer classes and earning scholarships. After graduation, she will conclude the program by attending a year at MCC before continuing college. One day, she hopes to be an accountant.

Khadijah is also in a work program at her school. She needed another job to complete the required hours, so it seemed natural to turn to a place that has been a part of her life since her childhood.

Khadijah is a student worker at the Community Training Center, a nonprofit Christian organization in Waco that offers free after-school tutoring to students. She has attended the program since kindergarten.

Then her job was to complete her homework and learn from the teachers.

Now her job is to tutor the older elementary students and help the same teachers that once helped her with her homework.

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“I was struggling during my elementary school days with my speech,” Khadijah said.

“The teachers helped me with my speech, with my writing. That’s how I made it to the 12th grade. Without them, I don’t know where I’d be right now.”

Though it has had many teachers and volunteers through the years, one man has molded the center since its beginning – its founder, the Rev. Gladstone Knight.

In 1981, Knight said a prayer. And this prayer was important. Through it, Knight felt called to Waco. At the time, he had already made his way from the U.S. Virgin Islands, his home, to Kansas to finish his bachelor’s degree. But now Knight felt God’s call to Baylor University.

“After completing my prayer, I picked up the phone and called Baylor,” Knight said.

“That’s how it got started, through prayer.”

During college, he worked toward his master’s degree in religion. He also volunteered in the community with other students.

“As Baylor students still do, we became involved in the community, and certain afternoons we would go to the school campuses – public school campuses – and meet with the students,” Knight said. “Kids would come, and we would play with them and serve them snacks. We’d have a good time doing it.”

After graduating in August 1987, Knight continued to work with children in the community. This is when the miracles began, Knight said. He needed somewhere to meet, and he found a house on Chestnut Steet in East Waco. He needed the money to buy it, and the bank approved his loan despite Knight’s lack of collateral.

“The bank was exercising faith with me, you know,” Knight said. “That’s how it got started.

That’s why I want to be sure that what I’m saying is

not misunderstood or misconstrued. It’s not Gladstone Knight doing it. It is God doing it.

God knows how to work things out if you’re willing.”

After establishing the program in the house on Chestnut, more students began to come. As word spread, teachers and members of nearby churches began volunteering.

Knight fondly recalls the conclusion of one summer Vacation Bible School to which nearly 250 children came.

“We had to put them inside sitting everywhere, outside on the porch, outside in the backyard, between the houses,” Knight said. “Oh, dear. They were getting restless.

We had outgrown the house now.”

In 1990, the program moved to a church building on Elm Avenue. When a neighboring building became available, the Community Training Center finally settled into its current location and the church building now houses the Waco Community Baptist Church.

Independent from the Community Training Center, Knight is now the pastor of the church.

On Oct.31, 1991, the Center was incorporated as a nonprofit organization. It has continued since, existing on grants and private donations.

During the school year, the Center offers tutorials from 5 to 8 p.m every Tuesday and Thursday. Students arrive from the surrounding schools, including Kate Ross Elementary, Cesar Chavez Middle School and Waco High School. Some children arrive in the center’s van, picked up from school by Knight, while others are dropped off.

Once inside, students separate by grades Regina Cotton looks over a student’s homework at the Community Training Center.

Students and volunteers laugh together at the Community Training Center.

Rev. Gladstone Knight opened the Center to help provide students in the community with a place to learn after the school day is over.

and bring out their homework, do provided assignments or read a book. The teachers sit with students, explaining lessons to them and answering questions.

The center also runs its program in the summer, beginning in July. In addition to tutorials that prepare students for the next grade, the teachers bring in professionals from the community to speak to the kids, including a policewoman, a comedian and employees from H-E-B and Community Bank.

Over the last 24 years, the many volunteers and teachers who have come and gone have been the lifeblood of the program.

Currently, there are four certified teachers who also work in schools in the community in addition to their work at the center.

“We needed teachers and here we have four teachers who are Christians – each one is a Christian,” Knight said. “They’re committed. They realize that this is the work of the Lord.”

In 2004, Wanda Burnhart’s interest in the program was sparked by an advertisement in the paper. When she came by the center to inquire about the position, she began working the same day.

One thing Burnhart has learned through 30 years of teaching experience is the importance of students’ pride in their accomplishments.

“We’ve had fewer kids fail this past year than we’ve had before,” Burnhart said. “We

get them to bring their scores for their grades, and we record that. Sometimes where they come from, it’s not cool to be smart. We want them to feel proud of their grades because that’s important.”

Lillie Freeman has been with the program for the past four years. She sees the benefit of developing problem-solving skills in the students and ensuring that they thoroughly understand new concepts.

“My philosophy toward working with these students is empowerment,” Freeman said, with clear conviction. “I want them to be able to navigate independently. I try to build upon what they have, using it as a foundation to take them further and broaden their horizons. I try to empower with different strategies, a toolbox of strategies. With that, they can move toward independence.”

Since she began working at the program three years ago, Sheree Goodman has tried to give students the support she did not have in grade school. Goodman uses her experiences as motivation to see students in the program as individuals with different strengths and weaknesses.

“What I love about teaching is being there for them and providing them with instructions that I wish I had when I was growing up,” Goodman said.

“I have a learning disability – I’m dyslexic. I remember being in elementary school and not being tested, but labeled. I know there are various ways of learning. As

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“Let the little children come to me”

a teacher, I give them those strategies that I’ve learned, as far as being dyslexic, to break things down when things are flying over their heads. All kids are kids, but they learn differently.”

Regina Cotton works for Waco ISD Parents as Teachers, a program that equips and teaches parents how to build a home that helps children develop until they start school.

Cotton brings many of her social work skills and gifts that she uses in her daily job into the center.

“I like to work with kids because there’s a need,” Cotton said. “I like to go over prekindergarten skills with them because a lot of time they don’t already have them. I teach them basic things that Mom should have taught them. If they hold the pencil correctly, sit up correctly, it makes a difference when they’re reading and writing.’”

While the center has developed much since 1987, maintaining regular attendance continues to be its biggest problem. As students get older, they face many other afterschool options – sports, band, organizations or just hanging out with friends.

Knight gives older students, like Khadijah, responsibilities and jobs to encourage their involvement in the program until their graduation.

Knight still sees students around town who have graduated from the program.

“We run into each other,” Knight said.

“People come up to me and call me by name. They remember me, but when I’m teaching them at that age and that size, it’s one thing. They say, ‘Do you remember me?’

I say, ‘Help me now…’” Knight recalled the conversations with a laugh.

Much time has passed since the Community Training Center’s founding, but many things about the program have stayed the same, including an unwavering commitment to the children and to the Lord.

“As you teach the students, you look in their eyes. You never know who you’re teaching,” Knight said. “So we just give them our best as though this is our last chance to communicate with them. And it’s all for the Lord.”

With a Christian focus, the teachers at the Center welcome all students and try to empower them to overcome barriers in this world.

The mission of the center is summed up by a mural painted on the north side of the church. It depicts Jesus, arms wide, encompassed by the words of Matthew 9:14: “Let the children come to me and do not stop them.”

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