T. Boone Pickens

(Wikipedia) ... Pickens was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma, the son of Grace (née Molonson) and Thomas Boone Pickens. His father worked as an oil and mineral landman (rights leaser).
During World War II, his mother ran the local Office of Price Administration, rationing gasoline and other goods in three counties. Pickens was the first child born via Caesarean section in the history of Holdenville hospital.
At age 12, Pickens delivered newspapers. He quickly expanded his paper route from 28 papers to 156. Pickens later cited his boyhood job as an early introduction to "expanding quickly by acquisition", a business practice he favored later in life.
When the oil boom in Oklahoma ended in the late 1930s, Pickens' family moved to Amarillo, Texas. Continued

Harry W. Brown

Courtesy of The
475th Fighter Group
Historical Foundation

Harry Winston Brown (May 19, 1921 – October 7, 1991) was an Army Air Corps second lieutenant assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field on the island of Oahu during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. He was one of the five American pilots to score victories that day.
Brown was awarded a Silver Star for his actions, and was the first Texan decorated for valor in the war. By the war's end, he was a flying ace. Continued

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

 

(Wikipedia) Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas. Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, Texas.
His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honkytonk brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as to Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. Continued

Rick Husband

(Wikipedia) Rick Douglas Husband (July 12, 1957 – February 1, 2003) was a U.S. Air Force Colonel, pilot, and astronaut who was Commander of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107.
He and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Husband is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Husband was born on July 12, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas. He attended Belmar Elementary School, Crockett Junior High School, and he graduated from Amarillo High School in 1975.
Husband earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1980, and a Master of Science degree also in Mechanical Engineering from Fresno State University in 1990. Continued

Mark E. Neely Jr.

 

(Wikipedia) Mark E. Neely Jr. (born November 10, 1944 in Amarillo, Texas) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian best known as an authority on the U.S. Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular.
... Neely is best known for his 1991 book The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, which won both the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 1992 Bell I. Wiley Prize.
In March 1991 he published an article in the magazine Civil War History entitled "Was the Civil War a Total War?", which is considered one of the top three most influential articles on the war written in the last half of the 20th Century. Continued

Amarillo Museum of Art to host cast iron art preview

(Library of Congress)

(KFDA) The Amarillo Museum of Art will be hosting a cast iron art preview at the end of the month called Burning Ring of Fire: 20 Years of Cast Iron Sculpture in Tucumcari, NM.

For the past 20 years, as many as 50 artists from around the United States have convened in Tucumcari, New Mexico for week long workshops making cast iron sculptures.

The AMoA exhibition will be featuring artworks from artists and students who have participated in the cast iron workshop in Tucumcari.

Artworks will include three-dimensional cast iron objects, photographs, prints and more. Continued

T. Boone Pickens

... Pickens was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma, the son of Grace (née Molonson) and Thomas Boone Pickens. His father worked as an oil and mineral landman (rights leaser). During World War II, his mother ran the local Office of Price Administration, rationing gasoline and other goods in three counties. Pickens was the first child born via Caesarean section in the history of Holdenville hospital.
At age 12, Pickens delivered newspapers. He quickly expanded his paper route from 28 papers to 156. Pickens later cited his boyhood job as an early introduction to "expanding quickly by acquisition", a business practice he favored later in life.
When the oil boom in Oklahoma ended in the late 1930s, Pickens' family moved to Amarillo, Texas. Continued

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

 

(Wikipedia) Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas. Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, Texas.
His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honkytonk brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as to Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. Continued

Rick Husband

(Wikipedia) Rick Douglas Husband (July 12, 1957 – February 1, 2003) was a U.S. Air Force Colonel, pilot, and astronaut who was Commander of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Husband is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Husband was born on July 12, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas. He attended Belmar Elementary School, Crockett Junior High School, and he graduated from Amarillo High School in 1975. Husband earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1980, and a Master of Science degree also in Mechanical Engineering from Fresno State University in 1990. Continued

Fire at Silver Spur Motel ruled accidental

Photo: Route 66 University

(KFDA) ... Officials say the owner of the motel stepped outside and saw smoke coming from the office building.
When crews arrived at the scene, the office building of the motel had heavy, black smoke pouring out of the east and west ends. Continued

T. Boone Pickens

... Pickens was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma, the son of Grace (née Molonson) and Thomas Boone Pickens. His father worked as an oil and mineral landman (rights leaser). During World War II, his mother ran the local Office of Price Administration, rationing gasoline and other goods in three counties. Pickens was the first child born via Caesarean section in the history of Holdenville hospital.
At age 12, Pickens delivered newspapers. He quickly expanded his paper route from 28 papers to 156. Pickens later cited his boyhood job as an early introduction to "expanding quickly by acquisition", a business practice he favored later in life.
When the oil boom in Oklahoma ended in the late 1930s, Pickens' family moved to Amarillo, Texas. Continued

Harry W. Brown

Courtesy of The
475th Fighter Group
Historical Foundation

Harry Winston Brown (May 19, 1921 – October 7, 1991) was an Army Air Corps second lieutenant assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field on the island of Oahu during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. He was one of the five American pilots to score victories that day.
Brown was awarded a Silver Star for his actions, and was the first Texan decorated for valor in the war. By the war's end, he was a flying ace. Continued

Jimmie Dale Gilmore

(Wikipedia) Jimmie Dale Gilmore (born May 6, 1945) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, recording artist and producer, currently living in Austin, Texas. Gilmore is a native of the Texas Panhandle, having been born in Amarillo and raised in Lubbock, Texas.
His earliest musical influence was Hank Williams and the honkytonk brand of country music that his father played. In the 1950s, he was exposed to the emerging rock and roll of other Texans such as Roy Orbison and Lubbock native Buddy Holly, as well as to Johnny Cash. He was profoundly influenced in the 1960s by The Beatles and Bob Dylan and the folk music and blues revival in that decade. With Joe Ely and Butch Hancock, Gilmore founded The Flatlanders. Continued

Rick Husband

(Wikipedia) Rick Douglas Husband (July 12, 1957 – February 1, 2003) was a U.S. Air Force Colonel, pilot, and astronaut who was Commander of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia disintegrated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Husband is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Husband was born on July 12, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas. He attended Belmar Elementary School, Crockett Junior High School, and he graduated from Amarillo High School in 1975. Husband earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Tech University in 1980, and a Master of Science degree also in Mechanical Engineering from Fresno State University in 1990. Continued

Terry Stafford

http://www.vinyl45s.com/

(Wikipedia) Terry LaVerne Stafford (November 22, 1941 – March 17, 1996) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1964 U.S. Top 10 hit, "Suspicion", and the 1973 country music hit, "Amarillo by Morning."
... He, like his mother, was born in rural Hollis in Harmon County in the southwestern corner of Oklahoma. Mrs. Stafford was a lens grinder for an optical company and worked in a laundry. Stafford was reared in Amarillo, Texas, and graduated there in 1960 from Palo Duro High School. Continued

Mark E. Neely Jr.

(Wikipedia) Mark E. Neely Jr. (born November 10, 1944 in Amarillo, Texas) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian best known as an authority on the U.S. Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular.
... Neely is best known for his 1991 book The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, which won both the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for History and the 1992 Bell I. Wiley Prize.
In March 1991 he published an article in the magazine Civil War History entitled "Was the Civil War a Total War?", which is considered one of the top three most influential articles on the war written in the last half of the 20th Century. Continued

Ragtown to Riches: Amarillo reigns as the Queen City of the Texas Panhandle

Ranald Slidell MacKenzie

(True West) In the morning of Sept. 28, 1874, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie and his Fourth Cavalry swept into Palo Duro Canyon. The soldiers burned Indian camps, destroyed food supplies and—most importantly—captured and killed more than 1,100 horses, effectively putting an end to the Red River War. Continued

An Ode to Helium

 

(NYTimes) We have not been paying nearly enough attention to helium legislation. Seriously. We’ve been complaining about the way Congress fails at everything except scheduling vacations. So it seems only fair to salute the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act. The way things are going, it could be the most significant piece of legislation to make it into law this year. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress

The Ozark Trail

(wellingtontx.com) The Ozark Trails had nothing to do with cowboys or Indians, cattle drives or covered wagons. It was a good roads organization in the early days of automobile travel. The Ozark Trails Association was an organization of public-spirited good roads men to promote better roads and mark them for the convenience of travel. It did not make the roads. Businessmen supported the Ozark Trails to encourage tourism through their town knowing that people would stop to buy gasoline, food and other things.
Wellington was actually connected to the Ozark Trails from the east through Altus and Hollis, then Wellington and also from Chickasha, Hobart, Mangum and Vinson. The westward trails were through Amarillo, Tucumcari and Santa Rosa and through Childress, Plainview, Littlefield and Roswell. Continued

Photo: Ozark Trail Marker, Tucumcari, NM (drivetheost.com)