Howe Hall of Honor

Voting is currently taking place through this month for the 2020 Class of the Howe Hall of Honor. For those wanting to cast a ballot, they can do so by clicking on this link: http://howechamber.com/ howe-hall-of-honor/

For the sixth year in a row, the Howe Area Chamber of Commerce will induct members into the Howe Hall of Honor. Each April the chamber announces the winners of monthlong voting from the general public. In 2019, those selected were Donna Jarma, Bobby Sollis, Marion Allison, and Lowell Thompson.

In 2020, the nominees in the living category are Sam Haigis, Dale Rideout, Pat Stewart, and Linda Wall. The nominees for the deceased category are Wyline Pool, Land Rideout, Billy Joe Wheeler, and Duglas Wortham.

The chamber announced early in the year that they would induct the top two vote-getters from the living and deceased categories.

Also taking place at the same event will be the announcement of the Howe Business of the Year, Norma J. Wallace Citizen of the Year, and Volunteer Organization of the Year.

Previous inductees:

Class of 2015 Jabez Haning, W.P. Thompson, A.M. Ferguson, Mame Roberts, Charles R. Thompson, Arthur Boyle, Tony Brinkley, L.B. Kirby Norma Wallace, Ray Bledsoe, Carrie Waller, Elmer Schenk.

Class of 2016 Norman Dickey, Jimmy Bearden, Steve Simmons.

Class of 2017 Donal Gilstrap, Jean Norman, J.J. Chisum, Bob Walker.

Class of 2018 Bob Williams, Tommy Skipworth, Norman Bennett, Harold Taylor.

Class of 2019 Bobby Sollis, Donna Jarma, Lowell Thompson, Marion Allison.

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years, from 1969-1977. Then the politics went against me.”

Jimmy Carter was elected President which meant all the Republican appointees were on the way out. While the family lived in Corpus Christi, he earned a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Texas A&M, then completed another bachelor’s degree as a Chemical Dependency Counselor through a distance learning program from the University of New York.

“I liked law enforcement so much that I decided to stay in the field. I became a Federal Probation officer but had to be stationed in Corpus Christi, where the vacancy was and we lived there for three years. I wanted to get back into the Eastern District because of the ties I had in the area. In 1980, I applied for the exact same position in Sherman and they selected me to open the new office.”

He lived in Grayson County for a little while, while wife Uva and children stayed behind. Brian was going to be a junior, in 11th grade and BeBe was an 8th grader. He used the time alone to search for the best school district in Grayson, visited several and ultimately chose Howe. He continued as Federal Probation Officer for the next eight years. The Republicans had won back the Presidency and with Senator

Republican Party chair in Jefferson County to get information. Years later, he went to a meeting of the Republican party, which was in its infancy in Texas, at the time, and a lawyer approached him. The Northern part of the district (Tyler) had gotten the appointment for U.S. attorney, so the southern part of the district wanted to have a person from Beaumont or Port Arthur appointed as Marshal. He asked the lawyer, “You’re really serious?” and the man replied, “Oh yes!” At the library in Beaumont, all he could find about Federal Marshals was a breakdown of the Department of Justice from a few government textbooks. In the 1960s, a Marshal was an administrator with a group of deputies to direct.

A few days later, the lawyer called him to ask if he had made a decision about the Marshal job and said, “We have to get someone in Tyler by Sunday to be interviewed.” Gary replied, “I’m not sure I am qualified for that, but go ahead if you want and submit my name.”

He drove 200 miles and arrived at the old Blackstone Hotel and there were eight-to-ten cowboytypes were standing there, all wearing western hats and boots. Gary walks up in an olive green suit and flat shoes, at the end of the line and where all the other men were waiting to be interviewed by a panel of judges.

He was questioned by a panel of eight who explained they would let him know their decision.

“The next day, Monday morning I went to the insurance office where I worked and about 10:30 and the receptionist said there was a telegram for me. I opened it up and it said, ‘It is my pleasure to nominate you for U.S. Marshal, signed John G. Tower,’ who was a Senator in Texas at the time. It took about five to six months to do a background investigation. I was sworn in and served in that capacity for eight

Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary. Photo taken by Gay Brennan in 2016.

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