Gifted and Talented spring nominations

This week, I am writing about my newest passion. I wish I could blame this intense emotion on this month-for-lovers, with Valentines Day falling in the middle, but alas, it isn’t so. All it took was one soleful glance across a crowded Denton antique mall and, well, I surrendered to the siren call Tall and slender, well made, and at a glance I could tell, well heeled They molded my feet perfectly Their shafts were covered in deep red and white stitched patterns. My heart’s desire? A fully restored pair of vintage cowgirl boots As soon as I tried them on, I declared, “They are mine!”

I was especially spurred on when a friend assured me that if I ever went honky-tonking, some tall, dark, and handsome cowboy would approach me and say, “Nice boots ” Now that is a pickup line to which a gal might succumb What could I do but whip out my Visa card and make them mine? Such was the intensity of my emotion that I bought two more pair of boots

I immediately called my friend, Pamela Daly, and told her that lounging next to my soft leathery-skinned suitors were a 1950s pair of red boots in her size Of course, Pamela knows I would never lead her astray in matters of the heart or wallet, so she dropped what she was doing and galloped out to the Denton Antique Gallery and claimed those deliciously decadent Valentine-red beauties.

The history of vintage cowboy boots is as romantic as the boots themselves Each pair has a story to tell As Tyler Beard wrote in his celebrated book, Cowboy Boots, (Gibbs Smith, Publisher, 2004), “For millennia, horsemen have relied on protective footwear Man, his boots, and the horse have been inexorably linked in history, legend, myth, and our imaginations ” The style of boots from the 1870s came from an adaptation of the Wellington and military boots worn by those fortunate enough to be able to afford boots during the Civil War By the 1880s, a more traditional style was developed with a stovetop boot shaft, some simple decorations, and a higher heel The most influential pre-1900 bootmakers were Charles Hyer of Olathe, Kansas and Joe Justin of Spanish Fort, Texas After the turn of the century Italian bootmakers, Tony Lama and the Lucchese family and the Hyer Brothers with the introduction of the toe-wrinkle (the straight or curved stitched lines across the top of the foot) made their brand on the industry. The popularity of Western radio and movie stars and cowboy crooners from the 1920s until the 1950s such as Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, William S Hart, Hank Williams Sr, and Gene Autry took wearing cowboy boots from the silver screen to become a fashion statement among regular folks

Bootmakers such as Leddy, Hyer, Acme, Justin, Mahan, Nocona, Lama, Lucchese, Sorrell, Tres Outlaws, Rocketbuster, Don Quixote, and Nudie produced millions of pairs of boots to satisfy this yearning of fans to imitate America’s favorite stars The period from 1940 until 1965 is considered the Golden Age of cowboy bootmaking Then along came John Wayne in the 1960s and Urban Cowboy starring John Travolta in the 1980s. Tyler Beard calls the late

Parents and teachers of students in grades 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th - 7th who wish to nominate their child/student to be screened for possible placement in the Howe ISD GT Program for the 2015-2016 school year may pick up a nomination packet from their campus office beginning Feb 23, 2015

Nomination forms must be filled out completely and returned to the HES or HMS office by Friday, March 6 at 12:00 noon.

For more information, contact Tamela Shadden, Howe Elementary School, at 903532-3320

1980s and early 1990s a period of the “retrocowboy-boot stampede” with vintage boot stores in New York and California causing a resurgence in boot wearing and bootmaking No doubt about it, cowboy boots have attitude

Come by and look at the front window at 107 East Haning to see my vintage beauties. And if you happen to come on Friday or Saturday, come in and say Howdy. Yee Haw!

Dr. Georgia Caraway, former director of the Denton County Museums for 14 years, will be clearing out the building at 107 East Haning Street It is crammed full of antiques and stuff The sale will begin Friday March 6 at 9:00 a m and go into the evening and Saturday March 7 from 9 a m On Saturday everything will be ½ price Caraway is opening the Howe Mercantile on Howe’s Founders Day, April 25 She has also written Tips, Tools, & Techniques: Caring for Your Antiques and Collectibles and four Denton history books