Tumbleweed Smith

Jim Moore of Balmorhea rodeoed for 20 years then started taking people from the east coast mountain lion hunting in the Texas mountain country. “I had a good business,” says Jim. “I hunted with dogs. My hunters got about 30 lions a year. I made a good living off of the lions for 20 years.” Most of his hunts were in the Davis Mountains, an area he knows well and says he’s been to every nooek and cranny either on horseback or riding a mule. The breed of dogs he used is known as Running Walker Hounds. “These dogs don’t bark much.

Andy Duffie of Vernon is 100% Aggie. He thinks everybody ought to love A & M. He did well while he was a student there and carries the spirit of Aggieland with him wherever he goes. He manages a farm store in Vernon and knows agriculture. He has joined his two loves: A & M and watching things grow, and has embarked on a unique way to raise money for scholarships to his beloved school. It has to do with a famous tree on the A & M campus. He explains:

“I just like to do interesting things. Different things. I’m a dreamer.”

Don Spencer taught high school art in Winnie for 40 years and planned to enjoy sitting around with his memories. He spent two months in his recliner watching TV and nearly went crazy. He got up and started a whole new life. He’ll be 83 on December 21st and people half his age can’t keep up with him.

People from 20 countries took part in this year’s Bicycle Race Across America (referred to as RAAM by bicycle riders).
“The race is a non-stop bicycle race of 3,000 miles,” says Dex Tooke of Del Rio who entered the race for the second time. “It begins in Oceanside, California and ends in Annapolis, Maryland. It’s one of the best-kept secrets in bicycle racing. Typically there are 25 to 40 solo riders. There’s a 12-day time limit, 288 hours. Actually, for me, I’m 61 years old and for those over 60 there’s a 309 hour time limit.”

Seamstresses began working on costumes last August. Dance rehearsals started in September. Set design and construction have been in a continuous stage of development for months. Props are collected and stored. Ballet companies all over the world are getting ready to perform the season’s highlight cultural event: Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet. Each performance requires at least 120 people and a symphony orchestra. It is a big deal.

Donnie Dunagan grew up dirt poor in Memphis, Tennessee. He and his parents lived in a two room flat above a hardware store. A few blocks from his house a black man named Sam set up a crank Victrola every day and danced to the music. People passing by would watch him for a while and drop a few pennies and nickels in front of him. In 1938, when Donnie was four years old, his mother took him to see the dancing man. Although Donnie was barefooted, he started mimicking the dancer. The man, who Donnie says was very courteous, asked Donnie’s mother if her young son could join the dancer.

I had some outstanding students while teaching broadcast production at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa. One of them is Jerry Liu, who came to the US from Taiwan in 1981. “I came here to learn English and journalism,” says Jerry. “Texas has the cheapest college tuitions in the United States. I picked UTPB because it was a small school in the middle of West Texas. I thought it would be the best place to learn English.”

Navarro College is one of the state’s large community colleges with 11,000 students spread over campuses in four cities: Corsicana, Mexia, Midlothian and Waxahachie. The main campus in Corsicana has a thousand students housed in dorms. The school has an outstanding athletic record.

Rick Vanderpool got to Texas from Georgia some years ago and found a home here. He settled in Commerce where he excelled in putting on events like the Bois d’arc Bash, an event to honor the bois d’arc tree. Many homes in Commerce are built on sturdy stumps from that tree. Rick wrote poetry and songs about the bois d’arc. Among his other accomplishments, he became publisher of the Commerce Journal.

In 2004, Scott Davis of Midland saw a military acquaintance of his leave for a tour of duty in Iraq. Scott decided to do something to let the troops know that the folks back home supported them. He formed an organization called CHRISTMAS FOR OUR TROOPS. He and a few friends got the names and military addresses of five military personnel from the area serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and sent them a box of stuff for Christmas.