Hall of Honor

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MacArthur in the First Cavalry Division of the United States Army and was hit in the back by shrapnel from a Japanese rocket He spent three months in a field hospital recovering He rejoined his unit preparing for an invasion of Japan by the Japanese who surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945. Kirby was one of only 25 men left out of his unit of 250.

Norma Wallace (1929-1996) was actively involved in the creation of the marching band which later became know as The Pride of Howe With her tremendous ability to gather people together for a willing and worthy cause, she impacted Howe in a way that forever changed the way people look at Howe Wallace was also instrumental in the formation of the Howe Public Library, the Howe Historical Society and the placement of a Texas Historical Marker at Hall Cemetery and also was successful in petitioning for an outside mail drop box at the US Post office in Howe. .

Wallace quietly started a petition by local citizens advocating the movement of an on-ramp to US 75 located in Howe. Several accidents and some fatalities had occurred because of the location on the onramp Thanks to her diligence, the on-ramp was moved and lives suredly were saved

Ray Bledsoe (1932 - ) was a mover and shaker from the time he moved to Howe in 1964 He was voted commissioner of the Howe Youth Baseball League and immediately went to work to build a youth ballfield for the kids. He was successful in constructing A.M. Ferguson Park without using any city funds.

After serving on the Howe ISD Board of Trustees and any other committee to the betterment of the school or city, Bledsoe, in 1986 became mayor of Howe He received 80% of the vote even though he was not on the ballot and was a write-in candidate Bledsoe served for a grand total of 14 years as mayor of Howe and worked the job as a full-time employee by working 40-60 hours per week as an unpaid mayor in 1997, Bledsoe received the

Bledsoe was successful for obtaining many grants for the city and even worked a deal for a connector road from US 75 to Texas State Highway 5 now known as L.B. Kirby Ave.

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All-State

Continued from Page #1 she says may have been her best year She was two chairs away from going to area.

Smith came to Howe in first grade, moving from Atoka. She's involved with volleyball, student council and National Honor Society and is active in her church at First Baptist Howe

Around 10,000 students start the process of trying to be on the AllState Band, but only approximately 200 qualify, which makes Smith's accomplishment and Howe's track record so remarkable After tryouts, the top four region trumpets are selected to advance to area Once at area, they must tryout again. This is where the top three in the area advance and Smith kept climbing the ladder and eventually was selected for the All-State Band.

In February, Smith will travel to San Antonio to audition once again, but this time to determine which chair she will sit She will be one of 15 trumpets auditioning. In San Antonio, they will rehearse and receive instruction from college band directors from all over the country

Howe High School Band Director Angie Liss, along with other band instructors will also be in attendance in San Antonio as the event coincides with the Texas Music Educators Association

The All-State Band performance will take place Saturday morning, Feb 14

Former Howe High Band Director Elmer Schenk and current Middle School Band Director Mike Marsh were the founding fathers of ATSSB They pushed for a more fair competition for smaller schools who had to compete with what is now the 6A schools

"Smith went to state for solo and ensemble, but this is a different animal " said Liss "She's had her successes "

Smith is excited about her senior year being a competition year for the marching band

"We need to go win " said Smith "I'm tired of just being okay We need to be the best I'm not leaving here without a medal "