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This Town is Your Town
This Town Is Your Town This Town Is Your Town
A Story about Thelma Bray
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By Michael Sinks Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center
Often towns and cities recognize the accomplishments of their citizens years after they have moved away and made their mark upon the world. They may erect statues or give awards or even hold parades to honor the areas’ former sons and daughters, and for good cause. We want our own children to know that even from humble beginnings in a small town, great things are possible and hard work is noticed and coupled with a little luck, it may even be celebrated. Most of these folks never dreamed of or expected to be such an honoree. These people deserve whatever recognition they are granted in great measure. Then again, there are so many among us that go forth every day and do the good work day in and day out with little accolades. Perhaps we take them for granted because we become so accustomed to seeing them going about their business day after day and year after year. That’s how I felt about Thelma Bray.
I met Thelma at the Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center in 2007 just after I retired from AT&T. I was interested in the jam sessions I had heard about on Friday evenings and, finding myself with time on my hands, I finally attended one. After the music ended that evening, this very neat and proper and intense little woman asked me if I would be free the coming week to attend a meeting. She said they could use a little help. I thought she meant to enlist me in moving a piano or something like that, but she was very convincing and I acquiesced. It was a Board meeting for The Woody Guthrie Folk Music Center. I met some very interesting people and I was more than a little surprised when I was asked to join them. I have been there ever since. As I said, Thelma could be very persuasive. Now, I could go on and on about ‘the Center’ and the unique people associated with it over the years but I’ll just say this before I move on. Everyone told me this was ‘Thelma’s baby’, she started the concept in 1991 with Glenna Lea Miller and we are celebrating 30 years as Pampa’s Tribute to Woody Guthrie. This project was not met with unbridled enthusiasm. Thelma was undaunted by naysayers and though I wasn’t there, I’m sure she went about recruiting help, writing letters, and doing research with all the enthusiasm and optimism she had been giving other projects for over seventy years. I have no doubt, without her experience and vision, the WGFMC would not exist today.
Thelma Bray was honored by the Pampa Chamber of Commerce as Citizen of the Year in March, 2002. Pictured with children Ron, Rod and Debbie
Thelma never told me about any of her other accomplishments around the city. I would tell someone I knew or met about working with Thelma and they would tell me one thing or another that she had started, been involved with, or got them involved with. I began to see a pattern. It wasn’t a passion for Woody and his work that was driving this woman. It was a passion for Pampa. You cannot drive across the city today without seeing her handiwork. The hike and bike trail, the Freedom Museum, the flowers in front of the Post Office, and the statues around town all have her fingerprints on them.
First, let me give you a little background on Thelma Bray and I’ll share some more of the things she worked on. Born on June 13, 1923, as Thelma Mae Osbourn, she came into this world in Hollene, New Mexico, with her twin sister, Velma. They came to Pampa in 1932. She graduated from Pampa High School in 1940.
It was during her time at West Texas State College in Canyon, that Thelma met Clyde Bray. They were in a movie theatre on a Sunday afternoon when they heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In November of 1942, Clyde enlisted in the Army. Thelma and Velma transferred to Oklahoma City University to study electronics. They went on to work in the radio department of the Army Signal Corps as civilian employees and later at Pampa’s Army Air Field. All this time the couple had been writing letters and Thelma saved all of these and many more including Clyde’s proposal. They were married on December 28th, 1944 in Gulfport, Mississippi where Clyde was finishing his training before deployment to Europe to fly B-17s. Later, after Germany’s surrender, Thelma was able to join her husband in Europe for seven months. Upon becoming pregnant, Thelma had to return home on a hospital ship with several other pregnant wives. The Bray’s soon had twin boys, Rodney and Ronnie.
Four years later, Thelma was again pregnant, this time with a daughter, Debbie, who would never get to meet her father. Clyde had left the Army after the war but was recalled to service because of the Korean Conflict. He was training to fly C-34 transports in Great Falls, Montana. It was December 1st, 1951 while driving home to see his family Clyde was killed in an automobile accident near Stratford. For this reason, all those letters became supremely important. They were an invaluable link for the Bray children to learn about their father. Thelma had also saved all the letters her mother had sent from the time she left for college and eventually she wrote a book, just for her family, filled with all those memories from 1941 through 1951.
Thelma went on with her life in Pampa, raising her children, and being involved with the schools, the church, and the community, much as any parent would. But Thelma always did a little more. Her sense of service and community led to a life of involvement in a wide array of interests.
Wedding of Clyde and Thelma Pictured with Best Man, Charles Brooks, Brides Maid, Velma Osborn and Mother, Mrs. V. N. Osborn Gulfport, Mississippi, Dec. 28, 1944
All photos courtesy of the family.
1956 Pampa Garden Club, Aspen Street Park and many other developments 1960 Pampa Garden Club – Woman of the Year 1963 Woman of the Year – Beta Sigma Phi 1967 Designed and developed the Hike and Bike Trail 1969 Key Club of Pampa High School – Leader of the Year 1971 Pampa Chamber of Commerce Certification of Merit 1972 Pampa Army Airfield Reunion Association. 1975-1976 Gray County Bi-Centennial Celebration 1975 Texas Historical Commission for Distinguished Service Thelma had a career at the United States Post Office from 1975 until 1999, receiving the United States Postal Service Community Service Award of Lubbock, Texas, Sectional Award IN 1985. 1982 Gray County 80th Annual Celebration / co-chair Gray County Chamber of Commerce Improvement Committee 1985 Organized the Outdoor Sculpture Foundation 1991 Started Pampa’s Tribute to Woody Guthrie Organized the Festival of Christmas Trees 1993 Golden Nail Award – Amarillo Chamber of Commerce 1994 Grand opening of Freedom Museum USA 2001 Printing of her book, ‘Reflections: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie’ 2002 Gray County Centennial Celebration Citizen of the Year – Chamber of Commerce Certificate of Appreciation – Gray County Historical Commission 2006 First Methodist Church Centennial Celebration 2012 Pampa Centennial Celebration Woody Guthrie Centennial Celebration / Plaque presented by Nora Guthrie (Woody’s daughter) and Bob Santinelli from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles to Thelma and the City of Pampa / on display at 320 S. Cuyler 2013 Award of Excellence from Freedom Museum USA
Continued
Serving Gray, Roberts, Wheeler & Carson Counties
1939 N. Hobart Pampa, TX 79065
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There are back stories to all these projects. They are the period at the end of a sentence in a long and loving story. Thelma had a lot of help from a wealth of talented and dedicated individuals, way too many to begin to list here. Sometimes she was the idea person, other times the catalyst for action, or she was a board chairman or co-chair or member. One thing she did not do was stand by and watch. She spent her time and resources and invested her creativity and enthusiasm to beautify and honor her hometown, though she was not born here she was a Pampa native through and through. After helping organize and celebrate all these centennials, Thelma will celebrate her own next year.
These projects are the result of years of hard work and collaboration, one generation handing down to the next across the years. Some will last, some will change with new vision and needs, and others will be lost to time. But we are all better for the effort put forth by our friends and neighbors to make our city a better place to live. You know who they are, take a moment to thank them. After all, This Town Is Your
Town.
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Carla & Bucky Buchanan, Owners 806-663-6906 1001 East Frederic Ave. Pampa, Texas 79065 (Across from Kelly’s Deli)
In this 2007 Pampa News photo, from article by Staff Writer, David Bowser, Thelma is pictured sorting through family letters, many were love letters from Clyde. These letters inspired her to write a book for her children.
Below is a photo of Thelma and Clyde as an Air Force Cadet. (1943)
Special thanks to the Gray-Pampa Foundation, Inc., the M.K. Brown Foundation, Inc., and the David D. and Nona S Payne Foundation of Pampa as well as the Amarillo Area Foundation and all of the organizations that they represent. Other supporters include Xcel, Pantex, Burlington Northern, Humanities Texas, and all the individuals and any organizations I may have omitted. Many helped us (the WGFMC) survive and thrive before my time here. All of these and many more do so much for the citizens of the Panhandle that you may never know about. They, too, are unsung heroes that work behind the scenes to make life in our part of the world just a little better.
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14451 County Road X • McLean, Texas 79057
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