5 minute read
Howe still benefiting from Norman's leadership
Norman "They told us a long time ago that we could have the bell back, but we never could figure out how a bunch of women were going to get that bell back There were some groups in there and some kids knocked in some of the panels and it was heavily damaged One of our first goals was to try and get the foundation done and we started fundraisers "
J C and Carrie Waller began to hold garage sales at the location weekly for five years in order to raise money for the structure. That money raised eventually became part of the $13,000 that just repaired the foundation last week. It only took 22 years to get it done, but it has finally happened.
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The Howe Historical Society that started in 1993 became left to Norman and Waller to maintain and the two that worked so hard to fulfill their dream just finally ran out of gas
The apple didn't fall from the tree as Jean Norman was born to Mr and Mrs Red Pope, who were also integral parts of their community of Bonham Red Pope led the Bonham Christmas parade for nearly 40 years and was the best friend of the longest tenured Speaker of the U S House of Representatives, Sam Rayburn and even rolled his cigarettes for him As Red Pope was to Bonham is his daughter Jean Norman is to Howe
Recently, there has been much ado about the old First Christian Church, which is getting much needed tender loving care and in stages of restoration. But it was Jean Norman and her friends that first tried to renovate the historic building Her, along with Carrie Waller, Norma Wallace, Linda Wall, M E Curtis, Dale Rideout, Karen Krantz and Scott Jones formed the Howe Historical Society back in late 1993 and their efforts actually focused on a historical home that was proposed to be torn down in order to build what is now the auxiliary gym next to the old 1938 Howe Schools building on Denny Street.
After their efforts were lost on the historic home, they turned their attention to the old church on the corner of O'Connell and Denny Streets.
"The city had come in and took some of the molding and beautiful stuff including the bell out of it so it was pretty well stripped " said
"I kept it up until two years ago " said Norman "I just got tired of dealing with the IRS and the yearly reports "
The money that the historical committee had sat in an account accumulating interest over the years in hopes of one day going towards the restoration of the church, but Norman admitted it seemed hopeless
"We only still had that money because we could only have given it to a non-profit organization." said Norman. "We desperately
Jernberg "We've had over 180 over a couple of times This is a great facility that can hold that many and our numbers were balanced and we were able to divide them comfortably"
Jernberg founded the company in 1988, originally known as "Lone Star Camps for Basketball Basics" with a single camp in the south central region of Texas The name was changed to Lone Star Hoops in 1993 and the camp was incorporated in 1998. In the past 27 years, the program has organized, promoted and implemented over 290 full-day camps for boys and girls currently in the 2nd grade, up through those currently in 8th grade These LSH camps hosted over 1,400 campers last summer in fundamental and technical basketball skill-work at thirteen different campsites throughout the state of Texas
These future players had the opportunity to participate in a stateof-the-art "big-time camp at a small-time price."
Jernberg stated that there were coaches on staff at the Howe camp including some local head coaches and some as far away as Slayton, Texas
"We have representation from different school districts here in Howe " said Jernberg "Van Alstyne, Pottsboro, McKinney, Frisco and all over - we've been around long enough now that the program speaks for itself."
The camps are normally heavily attended by the older kids and Jernberg said Howe's 7th and 8th grade group of kids was a heavy showing ere's so much competition with U and select kids and elite " said Jernberg "To me, that 's about the basics We ntuate five points of discipline ooting, passing, ball-handling, nsive rebounding and work If you put those ther, you can have a good etball player - no matter their " berg says that he sees familiar s from last years camp and was ressed with those that returned m a year ago. is the 16th consecutive year Lone Star Hoops Camp has been in Howe It started with Coach Tim Rose, who was the varsity boys basketball coach in Howe from 1990 - 2013 and it has continued with girls varsity basketball coach Derek Lands holding court, so to speak
"It's very organized here in Howe, so we just show up, turn the lights on and we're in business " said Jernberg
Jan Scott Jernberg grew up in San Antonio, Texas and graduated from Alamo Heights High School where he played four sports. He played college baseball and began his continued on Page #6
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continued from Page #2 wanted to give it to the library and had talked about it but we just never did do it and we kept waiting and I'm glad we did "
The Howe Historical Society had great meetings with well-known speakers such as R C Vaughan and even had a tour of historical homes in Howe
"We did a lot of fundraising " said Norman "We spent several thousand on refurbishing the old windows (of the old church)."
The Howe Historical Society also put a new roof on the building several years ago which is still in great shape. They also had it painted in the 1990s
Norman made plans for displays in the church and kept things from the garage sales She said their plan was highly detailed and even included paintings of old Howe churches by Charles Farris Many historical items were even collected and stored in the building for purposes of displaying and creating a Howe Historical Museum Those items had sat in the building for years unprotected from the elements of broken windows and the historical items were recently removed for their protection.
Norman said that Bill Collins was also a big contributor and donated money for the Mame Roberts Garden gazebo beside the old church
"We'd hoped to use that for a focal point for weddings and such " said Norman "It's still beautiful But I think the old building is worth saving and Howe needs it It looks so horrible, but thank goodness it did or I don't think anything would've been done This is going to have to be a giant effort and that's what we've been waiting for. I think everyone is grateful that something is being done. It was amazing to me at the amount of people that it bothered."
Norman's vision of the finished building is some portion of it be used to show the historical aspect of the city She also understands the need for it to be occupied frequently and maintained
The vision that Norman had for the church is only a small part of what she's been able to accomplish in this city and beyond She was also extremely instrumental in kickstarting the Howe Community Library in the early 1980s
In the early 1980s, Mr. James Ferguson had given 12,000 books to The City of Howe and was very continued on Page #11 coaching career in 1970 His first head basketball position was at Edcouch-Elsa in 1972 where his team won the district crown and over the next 39 seasons (including five years in private business),
Coach Jernberg served as the head coach at Edcouch-Elsa, PSJA, Round Rock, St Marks, Poteet, Hitchcock, West Orange-Stark and Lake Travis His Lake Travis teams had 14 consecutive winning seasons, 12 straight playoff appearances and his 2010 squad (33-6) played in the state AAAA tournament In 34 years as a head coach, he has had 21 teams enter the post-season including seventeen straight play-off appearances from 1997-2010
