2014 Chamber Banquet Honorees
Citizen Through The Years – Austin Steen
Women of the Year – Kerri Lowrie
Man of the Year – Robert Carter
Teacher of the Year – Brannon Rodgers
THANK YOU!
We want to thank XCEL Energy as being the corporate sponsor of the banquet and especially Sue Castle who is our Community Representative. XCEL provided the awards to honorees plus door prizes.
Thank you to businesses that gave door prizes:
Crosby County Fuel
Lowe’s
Calvert Home Health
Vista Bank
Pocketful of Posies
Prairie General Store
ARCC (Animal Rescue of Crosby County)
Handmade Rustic
Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
XCEL Energy
Thank you to businesses that decorated tables
Lowe’s
CWJC of Crosby County
ARCC
Prairie General Store
2014 Citizen through the Years – Austin Steen
Our Citizen we honor tonight was born in Crosbyton in 1925 and lived here all of his life. He is a member of “The Greatest Generation”, a generation that with every passing year we learn more about what a great a debt we owe them. He lived a quiet life. A retirement job was to care for the Crosbyton Cemetery and people often remarked, “It never looked better.”
World War II Veteran, a careful steward in all of his jobs, and a man patient enough to teach many to water ski; his life story is both unassuming and remarkable.
He served in the army during World War II, in the 17th Airborne Division, G Company, 513th Parachute Infantry. He was in the Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Dead Man’s Ridge, and Rhine Airborne Operation. He was awarded two Purple Hearts for being hit in the head with a rifle butt while guarding a house and for frostbite on his feet that almost resulted in the loss of both. And then he was one of the blessed who returned home, to marry, raise a family, and teach many people to water ski. The good life after the season of war.
I am sure that many of you know that our Citizen through the Years is Austin Steen. You’ve known him as the man that taught 2-3 year olds Sunday School, the man that traveled with his wife and the South Plains Drifters. He might have been the man that delivered a meal to an aging relative or that you saw play Santa for the Chamber of Commerce. Or maybe you were one of the lucky ones that were taught to water ski.
Recently, Austin went to France and Germany with his two daughters, Vicki and Judy, Sandy, and Dusty and his grandchildren. Before we drive Austin to the front, we wanted you to see a few pictures of that visit to his past. Austin got to spend time with people who really knew how much he changed the present for good. Let’s look at a few slides from the trip.
2014 Woman of the Year
“Ask anyone who has ever met her, been her friend, worked with her, and they will all say: She has a cooperative, loving, kind, generous, and faithful spirit.”
If you are a parent of a young girl you might be thinking, ‘How do I raise a girl to grow into a woman like that?” And the answer might surprise you. Our woman of the year comes from a loving, kind, and very untraditional family.
She was born in Los Angeles and lived there with her mother and siblings until she was 12. Her mother worked and the children began to gravitate across the street to spend time at an art studio with a single Dad of two boys where they would be safe, eat, and play together. Eventually, this arrangement became more and more permanent as the Dad began to attend her school functions and demand that all the children follow his rules and moral code. When her mother became very ill in 1980 when she was 11 her “across the street Dad” became her legal guardian. The family moved to Texas, and landed in a large, sprawling, two-story house in Crosbyton. There they had pillow fights, baby powder fights, egg fights, mud fights, water fights, and lastly “pickle fights.” They were punished by being required to watch the “crummy television.”
In 1989 she married the “the guy she loved from the first time she met him”. She worked at CISD, as a teacher aide, lunchroom ticket sales, technology supervisor, Secretary to the Superintendent, and Assistant Business Manager until she resigned to concentrate on her home. She and her husband took on the challenge of raising her two nephews until they returned to their mother.
But retired, or not, she is one of those people who works tirelessly on any task you give her. For years she has served on committees and been given the jobs of researching, advertising and developing websites. She is also the driving force behind the two best parades in the town history at the 2010 Jubilee and the 2014 Courthouse 100th Anniversary. Her most recent task has been the creation of a new animal rescue in Crosby County. Hours of website building research and meeting with other proponents have led to the creation of the Animal Rescue of Crosby County which will be known as “ARCC”. We salute you Kerri Lowrie as the creative, kind, devoted person we all hope our daughters grow up to be.
2014 Man of the Year – Brannon Rodgers
People that you work with know a lot about you. Here are what some of the people that work with our Man of the Year have to say about him:
- We like have “Chew Out Tuesdays”.
- He’s really kind of old school.
- He tells Chuck Norris jokes.
In our short sound bite world, we build impressions of people on such little information. But tonight, let’s hear the entire quote about our honoree.
- Man, I am going to miss his jokes: Chuck Norris jokes and math jokes.
- I like his strategy for our team, it is old school, the winged-T. If I coached, I would probably use the winged-T.
- We work hard on Tuesdays-it’s like Chew Out Tuesday.
These are quotes from your senior football players, Coach Rodgers, and some of the best are yet to come.
- He’s a great guy on and off the field. He encourages us to excel in school, not just in sports.
- He pumps us up with “I believe that we will win. . .”
- We did cards every week with our goals for the game. We also told what people motivated us.
- He gives us skittles for good luck.
- We do a Christmas project. This year we raised the money, but we ran out of time to shop so we gave families checks to use for Christmas.
We are so proud of you, a boy from our area that stayed in our area to coach our kids. We are proud of your success and we loved getting to go to those play-off games. We are also glad you received the awards and the recognition this year that you deserved.
We also know that every year is not necessarily a play-off year. So here is the quote from your seniors to hold in your heart for a lean season. And remember, people know a lot about the people they work with and that they work for. When asked why they thought the fall football season had been so successful, your seniors came up with:
“We won because we played together as a family. Our teammates were our brothers and the coaches our fathers. We emphasized relationships. This worked because coach always told us about God and helped us understand.”
Thanks Coach Brannon Rodgers, you helped us all understand.
2014 Teacher of the Year – Robert Carter
Let me set the scene for you. The setting is Crosbyton CISD. The building is the Administration Building that also houses science and technology classes. The time is late morning when you enter to pick up your reserved seat tickets in the Superintendent’s office. Suddenly, a flash of light grabs your attention and you turn to see a Crosbyton High Student with his hand on fire! Alarming for a visitor, but a fairly common fun, weird science experience in Crosbyton High School.
This teacher loaded high school students on buses for 10 hour drives to the coast or the mountains to give flatlanders an up close look at a different bio systems. He coached and tutored before and after school to help students pass class work and to give them the advantage of competing in UIL and TMSCA science meets. He is strict, funny, informative, and relentless in pushing teenagers to find more within themselves.
His relentlessness paid off with 10 consecutive UIL Science District Championships, individual students that advanced to the state level, two first place in 2A State TMSCA championships, which led him to being named TMSCA Coach of the Year twice.
He came to Crosbyton after receiving a BS from Texas Tech in Range Science and spending several years as a ranch manager in East Texas. He completed a Master’s degree in Education and started his teaching career and at Crosbyton. He himself fell in love with science and agriculture in high school in Houston where took oceanography, biology, and chemistry (where he first met his future wife, Tina)
His demanding and challenging science classes have sent dozens of Crosbyton graduates to college where they test out of entry level classes or take them and say, “that was easy.” Thank you, Robert Carter, for caring enough to set the bar high for Crosbyton students. We notice your work and will miss your presence at CHS. Happy Retirement.
Robert Carter pointed out that for the last 52 years in Crosbyton High School, chemistry had only been taught by 2 different teachers, himself and Mr. Bill Bennett. An amazing continuity that has paid off for Crosbyton students.
And the fire thing, he will still play with fire throughout the county when he does controlled burns.
