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Today I had the beautiful opportunity to sit in on a Covenant Foundation meeting. Mike McNutt, the assistant hospital administrator, shared with us the history of our hospital.
We received information on the Aetna insurance and Covenant contract dispute.
We heard about the renovation and remodeling project that is set for Covenant Health Plainview. The Capital Campaign will be led by David Wilder and there will be many areas of opportunity to participate over a five-year period. Several naming opportunities are available for the renovated areas.
Our hospital has gone from being the worst in the system to the top in the ranks. Now, it is time to become the shining star!!!
Mike McNutt and Carol Terrell, CHF facilitator, shared that we may not have all of the latest equipment, but we have new equipment in many areas. Mike said, "We have the people who can get the job done." I agree. They are bringing in top people for every position from doctors through staff. In my experiences, like in Plainview, our hospital is the people. Plainview catches the spirit of those who are called to settle here. They are pioneers making great strides in caring for the person.
Carol shared several "sacred moment" experiences that touched the heart string. What a testimony!
Excited for the medical future for Plainview and our surrounding communities.
Posted at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
They each have stories to tell. The crosses at Normandy. The markers at Punchbowl. The tombs at Arlington. The fallen heroes who rest in places unknown. From our founding Revolution to today’s Global War on Terrorism, nearly one million men and women in the Armed Forces have sacrificed their lives while defending America in time of war. Seventy years ago, Americans were still celebrating their great victory in the European theater – a triumph that came at an enormous price. But that celebration was tempered with the determination and sacrifice that still lay ahead – as Americans and their allies were engaging the Japanese in ferocious fighting on the Pacific Island of Okinawa. Once such American was Dale M. Hansen, a 19-year-old from Wisner, Nebraska. At five-foot-nine and 141 pounds, Private Hansen was far from the biggest Marine in his Reserve unit. But he fought like a GIANT. He landed on Okinawa with his unit on Easter, 1945. At a critical stage of action on May 7th, Private Hansen crawled to an exposed position, where he used a rocket launcher to destroy a strategically located enemy pillbox. After his weapon was destroyed by enemy fire, he seized a rifle and continued a one-man assault and opened fire on six Japanese soldiers, killing four before his rifle jammed. He fought off the two remaining Japanese soldiers with the butt of his rifle, returned for cover, then advanced again with another weapon and some grenades. Private Hansen proceeded to destroy a strong mortar position and annihilate eight more enemy soldiers. For his actions of May 7th, his parents would later receive his Medal of Honor. For while Private Hansen survived the heroic actions that earned him the Medal and the enduring respect and gratitude of the American people, he was killed by a Japanese sniper just four days after his amazing display of combat valor. Private Hansen, like so many other defenders of freedom, is forever young. Brittany Gordon lived a life of service. In the Tampa Bay Times, her mother Brenda recalled a letter that her little girl wrote to the tooth fairy: “Dear Tooth Fairy, Will you please leave the tooth under the bed, and I will return it the next night? P.S. I want to take it to my school and share it with my friends.” “That just speaks volumes to who she was,” her mother said. As a 24-year-old Army Specialist, Brittany was among a group that was delivering furniture to an intelligence office in eastern Afghanistan on October 13, 2012. She lost her life when a terrorist detonated a suicide vest. “Brittany was a shining light,” her cousin remembered. Like Pvt. Hansen, Specialist Brittany Gordon is forever young. The numbers of our fallen heroes are not just statistics. They are real people, with real families, who lived in real communities. We can best honor their sacrifice by remembering their families, who have lost so much. Long after the battlefield guns have been silenced and the bombs stop exploding, the children of our fallen warriors will still be missing a parent. Spouses will be without their life partners. Parents will continue to grieve for their heroic sons and daughters that died way too early. We need to be there for them – not just as members of The American Legion family – but as American citizens. Nobody can replace these fallen heroes – especially in the eyes of their families – but we can offer shoulders to cry on, assistance with educational expenses and assurance that their loved one’s sacrifice will not be forgotten. Americans must remember that freedom isn’t free. In fact, it’s only possible because our fallen heroes have paid its high price. A price paid, which enables us to have ceremonies and observances like this in towns across this great country. While exceptional valor and sacrifice has occurred in all of America’s wars, we did not always honor our fallen with a day dedicated in their honor. In fact, the first Memorial Day was not called Memorial Day. It is believed to have been celebrated with a parade of freed slaves and Union soldiers marching through Charleston, South Carolina in 1865. Waterloo, New York, is considered the official birthplace of Memorial Day because after it was observed there on May 5, 1866, General John Murray and General John A. Logan called on all communities to honor the war dead every year. Logan had been impressed with how the South had honored the fallen Confederate soldiers for years. In 1868, Logan, the head of the prominent veterans group, the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a proclamation that “Decoration Day” be observed nationwide. The date chosen was May 30 – specifically because it was not on the anniversary of a battle. Still, some communities did not want to honor “Decoration Day,” because of lingering resentments from the Civil War. The alternative name, “Memorial Day” wasn’t commonly used until World War II. Federal law recognized the holiday as “Memorial Day” in 1967. As the unofficial beginning of summer, let us never lose focus of what Memorial Day means. It is not about beaches, picnics or auto races. It is a day to remember. It is a day for us to remember the promise President Lincoln made to “care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” Remembering our fallen once a year is not enough. The widows, widowers, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children remember EVERYDAY. The empty seat at the dinner table, the smaller gathering on Thanksgiving, and the voice of a loved one heard only as a distant memory in one’s mind are constant reminders that they are gone. The American Legion has always shown great pride in our nation’s fallen heroes and unwavering support for those that America sends in harm’s way. On the back of every American Legion membership card is the preamble to our organization’s constitution. It pledges, in part, “to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars.” Today is another opportunity for us to give thanks. We owe it to the heroes that died and the loved ones left behind to make sure that their sacrifices are remembered and that their service to this nation always be honored. Real people. Real stories. May God bless them all.
This is the American Legion's 2015 Memorial Day speech. Click on their name for more Memorial Day tributes.
Posted at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
In 1909, they constructed the M. E. Church located on the corners of Baltimore and 7th Streets in Plainview, Texas.
I remember this church as a youth. It is where we met for Sunday School and hung out as teens as members of the First Baptist Church youth group. It is where I first met my future husband.
Posted at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
This Memorial Day, I can't help but think about a new organization in Plainview, God's Love and Dogs. You can follow GLAD on their Facebook page. This Vet and his wife are giving Veterans the freedoms and friends they deserve.
Here is a Lubbock write-up on their story...
Why not help this couple help others? Contact them on their Facebook page for more information.
Let's Remember this Memorial Day!!!
Posted at 06:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
If you missed getting a copy of, From Generation To Generation: Telling It Like It Is, African American History of Hale County, edited by Teresa Young, you missed a wonderful history of some of the most important moments of time in our community.
In reading the "firsts" page, I am reminded that it hasn't been so long ago...
(partial listing of entries)
In 1933, Henry Sparks is the first black to hold the same job for 50 years.
In 1943, Sister Essie Givens is the first black to give birth in Plainview Hospital.
In 1966, Roland McCutcheon was the first black graduate of Plainview High School.
In 1976, Willie McGee is the first black police officer.
In 1980, Carl Bowden is the first black manager of Sears.
In 1999, Edward Jennings is the first black school board member. (I was honored to serve with him)
In 2000, La Tonda Fennell is the first female of any race to be student council president.
The Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing. Listen carefully to these words.
Out of the gloomy past, till now we stand at last. Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
There is a light born of every soul that is lit with equality from the God of creation. When we don't take the time to understand others we become an intolerant people. Through intolerance comes suffering. May we stand in the Light!
Posted at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
A few years ago the Plainview Herald published a wonderful book, A Pictorial History of Hale County Texas, under the leadership of Rollie Hyde (awesome man) and Danny Andrews (another awesome man) with Nicki Logan contributing to it greatly along with other Herald employees.
As I was browsing through it, just now I just had to share this early grocery store picture because of its name, Helpy-Selfy Grocery! Isn't that just a great name? This picture is from the Cecil Joslin Collection and is circa 1929. It is so wonderful that many have saved and shared these historic photos.
Posted at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)