Volume #1, Issue #5
Howe's That ?
Monday, April 14, 2014
Bledsoe looks back on 50 years in Howe
In 1999, as a 25 year-old, young, know-it-all, I wrote an editorial to the then weekly newspaper about my concerns with the leadership of Howe and where the future might be if something wasn't done soon. We were told of the great DFW corridor boom that was to hit McKinney, Melissa, Anna, Van Alstyne and eventually Howe. At the time, I was severely worried that we didn't have the right people in place to be able to attract the right kind of growth needed. Well, we're 13 years from that editorial and the "boom" finally hit McKinney, HISD SHAC 5K event raises $5,629 Melissa, Anna and is creeping Close to 200 walkers and The event raised over $3,600 into Van Alstyne. runners showed up for various charitable projects including a In that article, I cited that our Saturday in front of scholarship fund in the then-mayor Ray Bledsoe and city Charles R. Thompson council were not up for the task of Gymnsium to donate their honor of the late Howe ISD progressive growth. I'm nearly 40 time, money and sweat to employee J.P. Martin. now and have learned that calling help a great cause. Assistant Superintendent out city officials in public is not The Howe ISD's SHAC Ritchie Bowling said that the proper way to handle things. (School Health Advisory $2,500 will go towards the memorial scholarship fund. Back then, there wasn't a Council) held it's 3rd Facebook for a young, know-it-all annual 5K, Fun Run, "We had more than double college kid who thought he could Health Fair and Silent the number of registered change the city with a few Auction. paragraphs. I had to actually write an editorial and have it published in the weekly newspaper. The older I've become, the more I've regretted that editorial. I had real concerns and I should've just talked to him man-to-man. Problem was that I was still a kid. I was right, but I was also wrong.
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Most men from the generation of former Mayor Ray Bledsoe smelled of cheap cigarettes. But Bledsoe never gave in to the nasty habit and therefore is still mowing his own yard at nearly 86 yearsold. The stench of politics can sometimes be worse than the stench of cheap cigarettes, but the days of running Howe from the mayor’s office have long since passed. However, he just can’t stop talking about the city and the people that he loved to serve.
town and without the crowded housing in Sherman. When his brother-in-law showed him the yet-to-be fully developed Maple Street and Mayo Street areas, he made his decision.
Bledsoe was born in Gunter, Texas in the summer of 1932 and his family moved to Sherman, where he was a graduate of Sherman High School. Then his life changed for good 50 years ago last month. As an adult with a wife and two small children, he moved his family into a newly built house on Maple Street in Howe where he still resides today. Bledsoe was looking for an opportunity for his kids to grow up in a small
Bledsoe’s introduction into politics came when he was elected Howe Youth Baseball Program commissioner.
The move to Howe would move Bledsoe into politics. Bledsoe said, “I didn’t start out in politics. I started out giving my life for The Lord in different areas by serving the community in various ways.” His faith led him to public service.
“When I arrived, there was only one baseball field and the high school shared it. The coaches from the previous year picked two teams of 15 boys with the boys standing right in front of them. The ones that didn’t get picked, didn’t get to play. That first year, I counted 69 boys that were left that didn’t Continued on Page #2