From Lake Highlands to outer space

James Reilly, Lake Highlands High School class of 1972, has departed Earth three times. He worked construction on the International Space Station, a large habitable satellite that reportedly can be seen from Earth in the proper conditions. But Reilly — pilot, astronaut, geologist — also has explored the depths and far reaches of this planet. He was part of a 1977 scientific expedition to remote areas of Antarctica, and he traveled in submarines while working with the U.S. Navy and a Florida-based oceanographic research institution. After high school, Reilly ran a roofing company, earned three degrees at the University of Texas at Dallas and launched a career as an oil-and-gas exploration geologist. In the mid 1980s, he applied to the astronaut program at NASA. After eight years of filling out those applications, he got a call from NASA. “I was actually out working on a rig in the gulf when they called me in for an interview,” Reilly says. The interview was short but was followed by a solid week of physical, mental and psychological testing. “Of the 20 that were in my group [narrowed down from some 3,000 of the most qualified candidates] my resume was the thinnest, but I somehow got in.” He promptly resigned from his job and moved his family, including two adolescent-aged children, to Houston. His first mission was in 1998. “You’d think that you would get nervous,” he says, “strapping into a highly explosive, million-pound ship, but I was pretty calm. Once you get to that point, you’ve simulated all possibilities in training. The night before the flight, I was standing on the launch pad and one of the mechanics walks over and says, ‘We will make sure you are 100 percent safe,’ and I believed him.” In space, he says, he worked 16-hour days, but never lost appreciation. “It’s difficult to come up with a way to describe the experience. You are floating, disoriented, you have to get used to doing things like walking across the room, which is now floating across a room. But you have to take a few seconds sometimes — the views are phenomenal. You see all the colors and textures of the Earth. It is amazing.” At Lake Highlands High School, he says, the teachers set the foundation for his success. He recalls physics teacher Mr. Wolf, especially, and Eddie Green, the director of the band in which Reilly played trombone. Incredibly, Reilly says, he recently ran into Green at a performance of his son’s high school band in Houston. “After the show they gave special thanks to Eddie Green and I thought, ‘No, it couldn’t be,’ but sure enough I went backstage afterwards and knew just by hearing his voice that it was him. It was good to see him again.”

—Christina Hughes Babb

enjoying the outdoors.

“Our main goal is to bring the Ozarks to the nation,” Holden says.

The Ozark Mountain area, he says, presents lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors: fly fishing, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, camping. But, he adds, you don’t need to go to extremes — or even go to Arkansas — to have the Fayettechill attitude. “You don’t have to hike the biggest mountains,” he says. “You can go out and walk around Lake Highlands and have a really positive experience.”

When Fayettechill started, it was as much of a movement as it was a business. “It was a way for our group of friends to represent the unique culture of the Ozark region,” Holden says. Holden and Elliott would ride their skateboards around, plastering “Fayettechill” stickers up around the campus and surrounding area. The entrepreneurial Elliott (who ran his own landscaping company in high school) began selling T-shirts out of his apartment in 2009. In 2011 Elliott graduated with a degree in entrepreneurship, and Holden with one in advertising, so the two were well prepared to start a fulltime business. (A third UA grad, Devin O’Dea, joined them a year later.)

Today Fayettechill has 10 full-time employees and sells a wide range of clothing, accessories and outdoor gear in 46 shops in six states. Locally, their products can be found at Tailwaters Fly Fishing Co. and St. Bernard Sports. “Getting into St. Bernard is a dream come true,” Holden says. “My grandpa shops there, so he can really see what it is I’ve been doing.” The company also remodeled a 32-foot Airstream trailer the “Chillstream” which they use as a mobile retail store and showroom.

Holden and Elliott maintain close ties to Lake Highlands and say growing up here helped make them who they are. Holden says that in his White

Rock Elementary-area neighborhood, “there were tons of kids running around all the time. I think life there is more well-balanced than in some other places.” They both fondly remember their favorite teacher, Ginny Chambliss. Elliott recalls that he often parked his landscaping truck in Mr. Shea’s parking space.

Holden’s advice to current Lake Highlands High students: “Try as many different things as possible. It is OK to not know exactly what you want to do,” he says. “In high school, I played hockey, did photography, skateboarded, partied, but I didn’t really have a set path. Once I discovered the outdoors, it really clicked.” With Fayettechill — both the operation of the business and the philosophy behind it Holden says, “We’re trying to carve our own path.”

—Larra Keel

THE CHILLSTREAM will be at St. Bernard Sports at 5570 W. Lovers on June 14. Find out more at fayettechill.com.

THROUGH JUNE Concerts at the Arboretum

Every Thursday night, the Dallas Arboretum hosts a different band on the lush Martin Rutchik Concert Stage and Lawn. Bring your favorite food and drinks, and enjoy a concert overlooking a beautiful view of White Rock Lake. All summer concerts are from 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Dallas Arboretum, contact reservations@dallasarboretum.org or 214.515.6615, $15-$17 adult members, $25-$27 adult nonmembers, $10 children ages 3-12, package deals available

THROUGH JUNE 1 ’Charlotte’s Web’

Meet Wilbur, the “radiant” and “humble” pig, his savior Charlotte, and all their lovable barnyard neighbors, as envisioned by the pros at Dallas Children’s Theater. Enjoyed by ages 5 and older. Dallas Children’s Theater, 5938 Skillman, dct.org, 214.740.0051, $13-$26