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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Old Fountain, Artesian Park, Corpus Christi, Texas


General Zachary Taylor's men dug an artesian well in this area in the summer of 1845.  The City of Corpus Christi incorporated in 1852, and in 1854, Henry Lawrence Kinney gave the new
city one acre of land for its first park, named Artesian Park.  Development in the early 1900’s included a bandstand, fountain, sidewalks, tables and benches, as well as trees.

I remember this fountain having problems when I worked for the city's Park and Recreation Department.  There was a drought in the late 1970s and the early 1980s, and with more concrete and buildings being erected around the park, the artesian well stopped flowing.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Sibling Saturday: 1966


I'm not quite sure exactly what is happening in this photo.  It was taken in or before June 1966.  I am guessing May, because I think the balloons my sister Karen and I are holding are wearing graduation caps.  Our aunt, Sister Jean Marie Guokas, was principal of Incarnate Word Academy, and their school colors were red and white.  Many of our babysitters were Academy girls.  The picture was taken in the backyard of our house in Sharpstown at 8015 Sharpview.  At this point, we still did not have a backyard fence, although we'd been living in the house for a couple of years.  There was no need really; we did not have a dog at that time, and apparently most of our neighbors did not have pets either.  My brother Mark, on the right, looks a little puzzled by his balloon, while brother Brian, on the left, looks upset that his balloon is little and has no face.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Sweetie!


Mark Gresham - 6th birthday - 1947 - Corpus Christi, Texas


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Sentimental Sunday: Dan Whitworth Park and Memorial, Corpus Christi, Texas

A couple days ago, I posted about some of my old friends from the Student Texas Recreation and Parks Society (STRAPS).  One of those was Dan Whitworth, who died too young in 2003.  At the time of his death, Dan, a Corpus Christi native, was the director of the city's Park and Recreation Department.  After his death, the Corpus Christi City Council voted to rename Meadowbrook Park in his honor, and a memorial and meditation area funded by donations was dedicated on November 13, 2004.  On a recent visit to Corpus Christi, we stopped and took some pictures at the park.





Exercise stations (above) and playground equipment (below) at the park.





Above:  A picnic shelter at the park.  Below:  view of the memorial/meditation area from the street.





As you approach the memorial (above), an orange sign to the left catches your eye (below):




The memorial stone (above), and a close-up (below) with the quote from Emerson.


Above:  the lower half of the memorial stone.  
Below:  a view looking back towards one of the two meditative areas from the memorial stone.



"To leave the world a bit better,...To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded."

That describes my friend Dan - as does "instantly likeable and unforgettable," and "contrary to ordinary."

Daniel Lawrence Whitworth was born in Corpus Christi, Texas to Wallace Earl and Bernice Bertmann Whitworth on April 12, 1953, one of their ten children.  He married Marialice Ann Rodgers on August 13, 1977, in their hometown of Corpus Christi.  They had two children, Joshua Daniel, born in 1981 (I was visiting in Austin at the time of his birth), and Megan Elizabeth, born in 1983 shortly before the family moved to Corpus Christi and Dan joined the Park and Recreation Department - about two years after I'd left that department and a year before I left the city.

A good buddy and a great friend - Dan Whitworth - may he rest in peace.

© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Friday's Faces From the Past: STRAPS Friends

My involvement with the Student Texas Recreation and Parks Society (STRAPS), from 1976 through about 1980, brought me lots of new friends from across the state.  I've talked about some of the folks I met at the 1976 TRAPS (Texas Recreation and Park Society) Conference and the A&M-Tech Get-Together, both in October 1976, and the Function in Junction in November 1976.  Here are some more:

Terry Rodgers on New Year's Eve/Day, 1977 going on to 1978
I'm not exactly sure where I met Terry Rodgers.  He was majoring in Forestry with an emphasis in Recreation at Stephen F. Austin State College, where he was president of their Student Recreation and Park Society.  I may have met him at the 1977 TRAPS Conference in Corpus Christi, which was Terry's hometown.  I can say he was my New Year's Eve date, welcoming in 1978, and we dated through at least March of that year.  He visited me and my family in Houston, we visited his family in Corpus Christi, and we traveled to Shiner, Texas, and to Old Washington Historic State Park in Arkansas.  It was a long-distance relationship, though, since he was in Nacogdoches and I was in College Station, a good two-and-a-half hours away.

After his graduation in May 1978, Terry worked for Nueces County Parks (specifically, park manager at Hazel Bazemore Park) until June 1982, when he joined the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.  First he was at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin.  In 1989, he moved to Blanco State Park, where he was manager by 1998.  Somewhere around then, I actually ran into him at the park headquarters, where my parents, offspring, and I had stopped en route from Fredericksburg to New Braunfels.  Terry wound up his career at Inks Lake State Park, where he was manager beginning in 2007.  He worked there through at least 2013 but is now retired.


Above: STRAPS officers conduct a meeting at the annual spring convention, held in April 1978 in Junction.  From left, treasurer Rosemary Rust of Texas Tech, president Dan Whitworth of Southwest Texas State, secretary Amanda Pape of Texas A&M, and vice-president Rosie Green of Southwest Texas State.

Below: Dan Whitworth on a panel as president of STRAPS at the TRAPS Conference in McAllen, October 3-6, 1978.



Dan Whitworth, also from Corpus Christi, was Terry Rodgers' brother-in-law - he married Terry's twin sister Mari in August 1977.  If I remember correctly, Dan started out in the forestry recreation management program at Stephen F. Austin, but transferred to the recreation administration program at Southwest Texas State University (now simply Texas State University) in San Marcos.  Dan was the president of STRAPS in 1977-78, the year I was secretary.

After his graduation, Dan worked for a while for the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department.  Sometime in late 1983, Dan joined the City of Corpus Christi Park and Recreation Department (PARD) as the Administrative Assistant II (which was NOT a clerical position).  I had left my position as an Administrative Assistant I in PARD to move to the city's Information Services office (on October 1, 1981), and by the end of March, 1983, I was in the Budget Office.  Had I stayed with PARD, Dan would have been my boss.  Or maybe, if I'd stayed, I would have been promoted and been *his* boss.  In either case, I think we would have made a great team.

Dan moved up with PARD and became its director.  In March 2003, he was given the Fellow Award by TRAPS, the highest honor the organization can bestow.  Three months later, on June 28, he died in a tragic accident.  While trimming a pecan tree, a large branch fell in an unexpected direction, hitting Dan's head and knocking him off a four-foot-high scaffold to a wooden deck, causing head trauma.

The Fellow Award was named for Dan, and the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation created a memorial scholarship in his honor.  Meadowbrook Park in Corpus Christi was renamed for him, and a memorial and meditation area funded by donations was dedicated on November 13, 2004.  More about the park in a future post.


Above: 1978-79 STRAPS President Rosemary Rust gives her farewell address at the TRAPS Conference business luncheon in San Antonio on October 5, 1979.

Below:  Rosemary and I were roommates at the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel for the TRAPS Conference in San Antonio, October 2-5, 1979.


Rosemary Rust is pictured in the Stephen F. Austin State College yearbook for her junior year, but I am pretty sure that when we served together as STRAPS officers in 1977-78 (she was treasurer, I was secretary), she had transferred to Texas Tech.  The following year, 1978-79, she served as STRAPS president.  At some point she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Houston.

Rosemary has gone on in public service in many ways from her hometown of Wharton - everything from serving on the South Texas Girl Scout Council Board, to actively participating in Wharton’s Main Street program. She ran for county judge in 1994. She was appointed to the Lower Colorado River Authority Board in 1999 by Governor George W. Bush to a term that expired in 2005. She served on the Board of Trustees for the Wharton County Historical Museum in 2010-11. Rosemary is the fifth generation in her family to own and operate the Rust family business, overseeing farming, ranching, timber, oil and gas, and commercial properties.


Above:  Amanda Pape, Dan Whitworth, Bonnie Sanderson, and Patsy Siegismund at Dan's home in Austin, January 9, 1980.

Below:  Dan Whitworth and Rosemary Rust at Rosemary's home in Lubbock, October 1, 1980.



Patsy Siegismund served as vice-president of STRAPS in 1976-77, while she was a student at Southwest Texas State.  After her graduation, she worked for the Parks and Recreation Departments of the City of Austin and the City of Kirkland, Washington.  She later joined the City of Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, serving as the assistant coordinator of the Green Lake Community Center, and then (June 1994) the coordinator of the Ballard Community Center.  She was a member of the Washington Recreation and Park Association, and the Northwest Ladies Golf Association.  Assuming the organizational chart is up-to-date, it appears that Patsy is now a Senior Finance Analyst in the Budget section of the Finance Division of the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department.

I was unable to trace Rosie Green and Bonnie Sanderson,


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday: Long Overdue

A couple of my second cousins and I are finally getting markers for two great aunts (in their case, one is their grandmother) and a great uncle who died in 1977 and 1975.  Here is what the markers will look like:



I posted the one for Aunt Clara as hers is the only date of death I have not been able to confirm via an obituary or death record.  We have contacted the cemetery and what was hopefully the funeral home in hopes that they have something more definitive.  All I have at the moment is the SSDI which only gives November 1975, not the exact date.

Pictures will be posted once the markers are installed, in eight to ten weeks.

UPDATE 20 August 2016:  Yet another of my second cousins is related to the Cooney Funeral Home on Chicago's north side.  We knew they had handled the arrangements for his father, aunt, and grandmother (Clara's sister Martha), as well as my other great aunt Rhea, and thought they might have handled Clara's as well.  Our second cousin asked his Cooney relatives to check, and they turned up Clara's death certificate:


Their records show that Clara was buried at St. Henry's Cemetery on November 28.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Sibling Saturday: Shelton Sisters, BEF 1959


After the Shelton Family Reunion back on June 25, I went to the home of my first cousin twice removed Shirley Thompson, and looked through an album of old family photographs and newspaper clippings.

One of the photographs was this one, of three of the Shelton sisters.  From the left, they are Euna Ann Shelton Thompson (1905-1959), my great-grandmother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890-1977), and Elvie Eloise Shelton Reeves Jowers (1907-1988).

Since Euna died in February 1959, this photograph must have been taken before then.

I've written before about my great-grandmother.  Here's a little more information about Euna and Elvie.

Euna Ann Shelton was born January 1, 1905, the ninth of the twelve children of my great-great-grandparents, Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941) and Sarah Ann Spikes Shelton (1871-1935), in Winn Parish, Louisiana.  She married Charles Elzy Thompson (1900–1986), who went by his middle name, on January 27, 1926.  They had four daughters:  Elise Lemora Thompson Stroud, Julia Garnell "Nell" Doherty, Joy Faye Thompson Boeta (1937-1991), and Shirley Yvonne Thompson Edington Morrill.   Euna died February 13, 1959, and is buried at the Hargis Baptist Church Cemetery in Grant Parish, Louisiana.

Elvie Eloise Shelton was born July 2, 1907, in Louisiana, most likely in Winn Parish, the tenth of Levi's and Sarah's twelve children.  On January 9, 1926, she married Wesley Byron Reeves (1900–1968), who was divorced with one daughter.  Elvie and Wesley had a daughter, Adilee LaVerne Reeves Antee (1927-2005), who was born June 10, 1927, in Montgomery, Louisiana.  Elvie and Wesley were divorced by 1930, and on August 28, 1938, she married James Monroe Jowers (1892-1949), a widower with four children.  Elvie died November 18, 1988, and she is also buried at the Hargis Baptist Church Cemetery in Grant Parish, Louisiana.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: 40 Years Ago This Week

One of my cousins got married forty years ago this past Sunday in the Chicago area.  My family traveled from Houston to attend the wedding, and we spent the week following with relatives on my dad's side there.  I took a number of pictures on that trip, but some of them were only printed on a contact sheet, and it was only recently that I scanned the film negatives to generate larger digital images.


Above:  my first cousins Judy, Bobbie, and Donna Pape (acting silly), 10 August 1976

Below:  my first cousin Regina Dietz playing volleyball, 9 August 1976





Above:  my first cousins Rob and Rich Dietz, playing lawn darts, 9 August 1976

Below:  my aunt (and godmother) Lorrie Olker Pape, grandmother Elizabeth Massmann Pape, and uncle (and godfather) Bob Pape, at Bob & Lorrie's home in Des Plaines, Illinois, 10 August 1976.  That might be one of my brothers (Brian or Mark) playing croquet in the background.



Above:  my first cousin Donna Pape and the family dog Roxie, 12 August 1976

Below:  my first cousins Judy, Bobbie, and Donna Pape (acting normal), 10 August 1976




© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Sibling Saturday: Shelton Sisters, June 1, 1974

After the Shelton Family Reunion back on June 25, I went to the home of my first cousin twice removed Shirley Thompson, and looked through an album of old family photographs and newspaper clippings.

One of the clippings was this photograph from the first Shelton Family Reunion of descendants of my great-great-grandparents, Levi Marion Shelton (1863-1941) and Sarah Ann Spikes Shelton (1871-1935).  It was held at Nantachie Lake in Grant Parish, Louisiana (between Montgomery and Aloha) on June 1, 1974.

The photo shows the four of Levi's and Sarah's children who were still alive on that date.  From the upper left, standing, they are Elvie Eloise Shelton Jowers (1907-1988) and Pearl Vivian Shelton Chelette (1909-2003); and, seated from left, Cleola Eugenia Shelton Davis (1902-1991), and my great-grandmother, Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890-1977).

My second cousin once removed
Phyllis Doherty Holmes verified who was who, and also said, "We always called Elvie 'NeeNee,' so you might hear her referred to that way. Don't know where that got started. Minus Aunt Pearl, this was the domino playing group; I think it was maybe Uncle Sid's* wife** mixed in with the three sisters to round 'em out to four, because when they played, Vicki*** and  I were assigned two each to watch and make sure they didn't cheat; Donna**** was always the score keeper. They were a rowdy bunch playing dominoes! It was always fun to hang out with them even if we weren't allowed to play."

* Uncle Sid would be John Sidney Shelton (1891-1963), brother to these four sisters.
** His wife was Sarah Corena "Cora" Hayles Shelton (1896-1979).
*** Vicki is Phyllis' sister, Vicki Irene Doherty (1957-1977).
**** Donna is Phyllis' other sister, Donna Denice Doherty Dyson (1956-2013).

Here's a little more information about Pearl and Cleola (Elvie will be in a future post).

Cleola Eugenia Shelton was born in Winn Parish, Louisiana, on October 10, 1902, the eighth of Levi's and Sarah's twelve children.  On October 5, 1919 - just short of her 17th birthday - she married Birrs Alvin Davis (1898-1900).  They had seven children, three of which died by age 2 and two more that died as young adults.  They were living in Grant Parish on the 1920, 1930, and 1940 Censuses, and specifically in Montgomery in that parish (which is adjacent to Winn) at the time the photograph above was taken in 1974.  Cleola died September 15, 1991, and is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Wheeling, Winn Parish.

Pearl Vivian Shelton was born December 23, 1909, in Louisiana, most likely in Winn Parish, the eleventh of Levi's and Sarah's twelve children.  She married Peter Lee Chelette (1902-1997) on June 16, 1926, and they had seven children, two of which are still living.  When the photograph above was taken in 1974, Pearl was living in Colfax in Grant Parish. Pearl passed away June 12, 2003, in Tioga, Louisiana.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

(Not-So-)Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday to My Brother!


A rather blurry picture of me (age 4), my sister Karen (age 3), and our brother Mark (age 1) at our family home at 7913 Cedel in Houston, Texas.


© Amanda Pape - 2016 - click here to e-mail me.