The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 31, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 5, 1998 Page: 3 of 32
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Mercedes, Texas 78570 Wednesday, August 5, 1998
-9-1 MEMBER
IA 1008
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
The Mercedes Enterprise
(USPS 177-100)
Second class postage paid at
Mercedes, Texas 78570. Pub-
lished each Wednesday at
Mercedes, Hidalgo County,
Texas, Office of publication,
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GOD’S FIVE MINUTES
THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING' Eccles' astes 3:1, The Living Bible, Tyndale House
SONG IN THE NIGHT
———Blii^—B™™™^^,
NOT ONE OF THEM FALLS TO THE GROUND .
UNRELATED TO YOUR FATHER... HAVE NO
FEAR THEN; YOU ARE OF MORE CONSEQUENCE
THAN MANY SPARROWS VL MATT/0:29,37
_BERKELEY
Dear Mercedes...
Letters from F.S. Lentz, Jr.
Dear Mercedes,
School...
In the unlikely place of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the old
high school came to the joven.
Whatever triggered it, the slant of weak sunlight, the angle
of the slight hill,
the old dark purple-red 1938 brick building hove into view.
Like the junior high building, it was on the front steps where
everything was transacted. It was out front under one of the
ash trees
where he heard about President Kennedy’s getting shot.
That had been around lunch time, when everybody gath-
ered up before the afternoon bell.
Later the principal announced it. Everybody’s world
changed then, mostly unknown to them.
Diaz didn’t normally rate that.
The joven had sat under some of them and carried their
teaching far into his own life.
Even to Argentina and up a gently slanted hill.
He never knew even as a grown person what it was about
N.K. Fitzgerald that caused that phenomenon of excep-
tional teaching, just that it had worked.
He could see the fields he had chased butterflies through for
McQueen, could see Murphy’s hush-puppies as he squat-
ted atop the radiator explaining his cosmic Soupbowl
theory, he remembered the nightmares in Viet Nam, of
Broughton, standing across the football field counting,
hollering “You better pick up...,” the bemused, yet not
tolerant Dollery witnessing the chipping hammers once
again being welded to the tables...
There were gargoyles of some kind, it seemed, atop the
brick columns. Maybe owls.
He didn’t know anymore. The steps inside had scallops
worn into them from the daily abrading flow of moving
shod feet.
Study hall was upstairs, and the library was, as well.
One of his study halls was presided over by the librarian, a
tense, anxious little woman,
who should not have had to put up with the cat and chicken
imitators in the room, who were also the reigning spitball
champions. The black and white clock behind her desk bore
mute testimony to the composition and accuracy of their
effort.
It was as if the face had been papier-mache’d over on some
days.
Meantime the hens and roosters and tomcats and an occa-
sional duck sang out, to the amusement of everyone except
Miss ?, who later became Mrs. ?.
Out the windows and across the street, the above-ground
irrigation piping hissed at regular intervals as the counter-
weighted sprinklers ran their arcs and returned to repeat the
traverses hundreds of times a day.
Someone had nicknamed the man in charge of all that work
“Catfish.” He did not put up with any nonsense from the
boys who would just as soon disconnect the pipes to cause
a stir. That could get someone sent to Mr. Fitzgerald.
Nobody the joven knew then would take Fitzgerald on.
Even the teachers kept a respectful distance.
But there was something about his way of being a superin-
tendent that attracted an inordinate amount of bright, ener-
getic teachers. A town the size and economic strength of
Coach Hild and Coach Keller telling them: “If you don’t
think you are any good, what’s the guy across the line nose
up on you gonna think? He’s gonna get in the middle of ya!”
In it all was the smiling, inscrutable, and very feminine
Carol Cowden, she of Speech teaching. Who knew how
many careers were launched by her influence, how many
hundreds of thousands of pages of good literature had been
read because she thought it worth reading? How many
plays had been attended because she said that one should?
The joven smiled remembering one particular day. His
running mate walked over to the open window in Cowden’s
room, a second floor window above the gravel parking lot,
and just jumped out. She took it in stride, as she took so
many things.
Mildly erratic behavior did not put her off. Because she
could see into people, could see things in them that they
could not see. She was able to show people how to think on
their feet.
The steps that started up the hill in Argentina began in Diaz
when Carol Cowden told the joven to walk to the lectern
and speak to an empty auditorium.
He had not seen her in twenty years, yet she was never far
away at all.
She had that kind of stride.
cQue te vaya bien, eh?
Fleet
VSVVMVSVSWV%
Lordy, Lordy,
Guess who's still
looking good at 40!
HIS EYE 15 ON THE SPARROW, AND I KNOW HE WATCHES ME "
Jack AAu«
This Series Made Possible by 7
These Business Firms and Individuals
Who Support Our Right to Worship Freely.
Show Time Studies, Inc."
Glamour Photography
Parties - Weddings - Any Occasion by Video
The Mercedes Enterprise
(956) 565-4562
Cellular (956) 778-3271
MAR'S
Appliance
Repair
• Ranges ’Washers and Diyers
•Window Units ’Refrigerators
1306 South Missouri 565-4555
MARTINEZ GARAGE
565-4022
QA UT 0
PETE & BETO MARTINEZ 17
OWNERS SERVICE
.103 S. Missouri Ave. Mercedes 78570
RUDY GARZA
FUNERAL HOMES
1702 E. Harrison
Haringen 78550
(210) 425-8200
217 S. Main St. 236 S. Ohio Ave.
I a Feria 78559 Mercedes 78570
(210) 797-3122 (210) 565-1175
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted" - St. Matthew 5:4
IMELDA’S
BEAUTY SALON
242 S. Texas #5 - % /
(Inside Super Drug Plaza)
Mercedes, TX78570da.
Prop. David L. Martell on
565-4806 P
Open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon - Sat
Chris M. Luna
See us for towing, auto repairs
or welding!
JUAN’S WELDING
and Auto Service
2190 W. Business 83
565-3711
Law offices of
Contreras-Pacheco
524 W. 2nd Street
(210) 565-5915 Mercedes, Texas
Licensed by the Texas Supreme Court
Not certified by Texas Board of Legal Specialization
MERCEDES MEMORIAL RESTLAWN
Beautiful Cemetery Lots, $450 - $550
No interest, easy term financing -- $30 down, $35 per month
ensures peace of mind and a place for eternity.
Call 565-9552 — Mention this ad and receive $10 off the downpayment.
August 8,1958
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Martinez Family
and Jessica
VVVMre
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The Mercedes Enterprise (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 31, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 5, 1998, newspaper, August 5, 1998; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1632222/m1/3/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.