Wednesday's Internet Edition, September 08, 2010.
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- If you blinked you could miss this tiny town known to us for the post office that sends out hundreds of cards on the day of its namesake.
Well, we know it was a location for the 1956 movie Giant, and the outlaw Black Jack Ketchum, with his sweet tooth, was said to have taken some candy from a store there that he was robbing at the time back in the 1890’s.
More recently, to everyone’s amazement, a dentist moved in and started a new business. Well, now our pretty teeth are smiling at another new addition to the town, the Kay Johnson Memorial Library.
The library is housed in a beautifully restored stone house right on the main street, Highway 90. Inside it is cozy with a Tex-Mex décor that is airy and inviting and filled with a great collection of carefully selected books.
The renovation and tribute was by Kay’s daughter, Karen Johnson, in loving memory of her mother who was an advocate of literacy. The library had a grand opening earlier this month featuring special guests and authors like; Gen. Tommy Franks reading from his new book, “American Soldier”, Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel band leader) reading “The Cat in the Hat”, and Benjamin Alire Saenz (recipient of a Lannan Literary Award) reading from his book “The Dog That Loved Tortillas”. Both adults and children were highly entertained in and around this wonderful new educational environment.
If you are passing through Valentine I recommend you stop and take a moment to drop in and visit the new Kay Johnson Library. You just may find something you would like to read. For sure you will be surprised to see what is possible with a little heart.
Column One
By Dawn Simpson
It’s time for OCC! That’s Operation Christmas Child. If you are not familiar with OCC, it’s the Christmas charity where a shoe box is filled with small gift items for either a girl or boy of a certain age category. The boxes are then given to the organization Samaritan’s Purse which distributes them to children worldwide. The National Collection Week for OCC is November 16-23. The local effort is being conducted some young people, particularly Isaiah Marin, and they have a goal of 300 boxes for Van Horn. That’s a lofty goal but certainly not unattainable, especially if every household who has children would let each child do a shoe box. What a great way to teach a child to have a giving and caring heart. We’ll cover this a little more thoroughly in next week’s Advocate, but in the meantime please be thinking about taking part in this very worthy cause. You can go online for more information at www.samaritanspurse.org. Some may just want to make donations to help in the shipping of the boxes.
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I enjoyed seeing and visiting with some former Van Horn teachers at the volleyball game last Friday. And I must say, they are all to be commended for really outstanding advancements in their careers in education. MaryBelle Gonzales is an Instructional Specialist with the Socorro School District. In this capacity she oversees the English Departments of 7 high schools, including staff development and writing of the curriculum for all English classes.
Also at the game was Roddy and Lisa Durbin, who both taught at the high school hear several years ago. They are both in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Roddy is principal at a middle school and Lisa has just received a nice promotion.
Congratulations to these, and Chon Gomez for setting high goals and accomplishing them in your careers. You are a good example to students in our school system, who sometimes think that their opportunities are more limited because they are from the small town of Van Horn.
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Anytime we see obituaries in the Advocate, and news of the passing of dear friends and longtime residents of Van Horn, we can’t help but think about the subject of death. After all it is one of the things in life that is a definite – later if not sooner. The following email I was sent to me quite some time ago and this seemed to be the right time to use it. Hope it speaks to you in the positive way that it did me.
The Departure Date
You, as all God’s children, live one final breath from your own funeral.
Which, from God’s perspective, is nothing to grieve. He responds to these grave facts with this great news: “The day you die is better than the day you are born” (Eccles. 7:1 NLT). Now there is a twist. Heaven enjoys a maternity-ward reaction to funerals. Angels watch body burials the same way grandparents monitor delivery-room doors. “He’ll be coming through any minute!” They can’t wait to see the new arrival. While we’re driving hearses and wearing black, they’re hanging pink and blue streamers and passing out cigars. We don’t grieve when babies enter the world. The hosts of heaven don’t weep when we leave it.
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Thought for the Week: “Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away.” ……James 4:14
COMMUNITY CALENDAR
October 29th - The Van Horn Junior High volleyball teams are slated to play Alpine here tonight at 5 p.m. The Van Horn Junior High football team and the Van Horn Eagle JV are slated to play McCamey today , in McCamey, beginning at 5 p.m. Members of American Legion Post 508 are slated to meet this evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Clark Hotel Histroical Museum.
October 30th - The Van Horn Eagles will host the McCamey Badgers here at Eagle Field tonight with kick-off set for 7:30 p.m.
October 31st - Halloween.
November 1st - Daylight Savings Time ends today at 2 a.m. (Set your clocks back 1 hour) Attend the church of your choice today.
November 2nd - Nothing scheduled at press time.
November 3rd - State Constitutional Election Day. The Van Horn Rotary Club will meet today at noon at Chuy’s Restaurant. The Van Horn City Council is scheduled to meet this evening at City Hall at 7 p.m.
November 4th - Nothing scheduled at press time.