Ray Westbrook

General Features Reporter
News
ray.westbrook@lubbockonline.com

I write stories that most often deal with history, military veterans, and general interest topics.

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13 - 12:29am

The experience teaches a lesson about finding answers with the help of others and friends

The staff of Whiteside Elementary poured 2,000 pingpong balls into a barrel on Friday, May 24, added water and liquid nitrogen, and produced an explosion with an unforgettable message for graduating fifth-graders who are headed off to the great unknown world of middle school. In the explosion that sent a rainstorm of pingpong balls across portions of a football field, the students learned how to sort out disorganization in an unfamiliar environment by relying on friends, family and teachers. Each of about 90 balls had a student’s name, and was part of the barrel’s contents.

Gloria Rodriguez always cared and prayed for her family 05/25/13 - 12:22am

Daughter Brittani to graduate from Lubbock High School May 31

Gloria Marie Rodriguez had faith and a dream — a dream of seeing her children with an education and in well-being. When she was diagnosed with cancer in 2005 at age 26, her faith was challenged, and the dream must have seemed unattainable. And through the months, when the direction of the prognosis became apparent to her, she continued in faith, asking in prayer that her children would be alright. Her sister and closest friend, Tina Galarza, remembers Gloria’s concern for Brittani, Ryan and Sara Grace:

Summer of Sharing planned for South Plains Food Bank 05/22/13 - 12:27am

The South Plains Food Bank’s community partners have arranged a Summer of Sharing Food Drive to restock supplies depleted by increasing demand and restrained contributions. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will gather contributors to a 5k and 1-mile run to launch the event at 8 a.m. Monday, May 27, at Mackenzie Park. Participants may enter the race by bringing a bag of non-perishable food in non-glass containers. Breakfast begins at 8 a.m., and the races start at 9 a.m.

Schools: Safety in tornado season may be enhanced by watching and planning 05/22/13 - 12:59am

Schools identify safest place for students in event of tornado

In tornado season, the Lubbock Independent School District and area schools watch over the well-being of their students with an eye on the clouds and an electronic connection with the National Weather Service. Nancy Sharp, director of communications and community relations at LISD, said about a dozen staff members who are on the Superintendent’s Leadership Team are signed up to receive weather alerts from the NWS that go directly to their computers or phones. “When the weather service can anticipate severe weather, they send an alert out that we all get.”

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Singing schools of the 20th century taught basic music 05/20/13 - 12:09am

Margarete Sisk and Nell Richardson enjoyed learning to sing

In the early 20th century, evening singing schools taught students to read notes by shape, and with lanterns to illuminate the twilight under brush arbors, instilled memories for a lifetime. Margarete Sisk, now a resident of Grand Court in Lubbock, was living on a farm in Oklahoma in the 1930s, and recalls how her family often attended singing schools. “My Daddy wanted his kids to learn to sing. He arranged to have leaders come in, and usually they held the school in a church. That’s where I went.”

Missouri friendships from 1945 continuing today in Lubbock 05/18/13 - 12:23am

'Babes' became friends in elementary school

The Columbia Babes of Joplin are meeting this weekend in Lubbock to celebrate 68 years of friendship. They were first-graders in 1945 in the same neighborhood of Joplin, Mo., and were newly enrolled in Columbia Elementary School, but didn’t assume their arresting nickname until they remembered moving anxiously into the first year of junior high school. Lynn Atherton Bloxham, who now lives in San Antonio, recalls walking to school on the first day of first grade. “My mother was walking me to school, and she was nine months pregnant.”

Youth of the South Plains celebrated for volunteer work 05/16/13 - 12:39am

20,702 youth contributed 208,797 hours in supporting the efforts of 361 agencies, and raised $235,171.

The youth of three dozen regional schools were honored for their service to the community during the Volunteer Center of Lubbock’s Celebration of Service Luncheon on Wednesday, May 15, at the Overton Hotel. With a program theme of “Let Your Light Shine,” master of ceremonies Byrnie Bass said, “We are surrounded by some of the finest lights in the Lubbock area. These young people have shown radiance, warmth and caring throughout the year.”

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A portion of family's history found near Gaydon Lumber 05/14/13 - 12:19am

A 1937 Crosbyton School Yearbook, along with letters and family photos, was found Monday by Greg Gaydon of Gaydon Wholesale Lumber Inc. near the business, which is located at 2511 Oberlin St., off North University Avenue. The yearbook is believed to have belonged originally to Ellen Williams, who married Jarrell Murphrey. Along with the yearbook was a stack of letters to Ellen from different posts and camps of the U.S. Army in 1942, the first full year of World War II. One letter had been sent the day before their wedding anniversary.

Clinton McPherson used knowledge to defend freedom 05/13/13 - 12:18am

McPherson was among the first chosen when President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted a peactime draft in 1940

Clinton M. McPherson, who had enrolled at Texas Tech after traveling from his home in Gainesville, was among the first chosen when President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted a peacetime draft in 1940. It wasn’t his particular choice to be chosen, it was simply the luck of the draw. “He drew that pea out of the bowl, and mine was No. 256,” he said of a number inside an opaque capsule that was among those of other young men who had registered under the Selective Service Act.

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Mother and daughter share interests and resemblance 05/13/13 - 8:08am

Family means much to Margie Aguilar, and when she was looking at a picture taken recently with her daughter Megan Aguilar Bermea, she saw a resemblance that others also have noticed.

Family means much to Margie Aguilar, and when she was looking at a picture taken recently with her daughter Megan Aguilar Bermea, she saw a resemblance that others also have noticed. It’s a family resemblance that extends beyond general hairstyles and facial appearance to an appreciation for music and a spiritual dimension they share at St. Elizabeth’s University Parish. Margie and Megan are winners of this year’s A-J Media Mother-Daughter Look-Alike Contest, and they have an easy camaraderie that makes them appear even more alike.