The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 132, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 9, 2007 Page: 2 of 10
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2 Page
The Albany News
www.thealbanynews.net
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Local county agent earns national award
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Donnie Lucas / Albany News
Rocky Vinson, Shackelford County's Extension Agent
for the past 15 years, was presented with two sepa-
rate Distinguished Service Awards by both state and
national groups of his peers.
Parsons baby bom July 17
Chad and Mary Catherine
Parsons of Fort Worth are
pleased to announce the ar-
rival of their son, Michael Al-
exander (Alex) Parsons, born
July 17, 2007, at 8:58 p.m.
Alex weighed seven pounds
five ounces and was 19 1/2
inches long.
Proud grandparents are
Randy and Jana McCoy and
Mike and Betsy Parsons, all
of Albany, and Ted and Nan-
cy Paup of Fort Worth.
Great grandparents in-
clude Erline Black of Al-
bany, Mary Frances (Chan)
Driscoll of Midland, Bob and
Dortha McCoy of Abilene,
Katy Painter of Kerrville, Ed
and Joie Parsons Tackett of
Albany, the late V.E. and Ida
Hise and the late Bill Par-
sons.
Shackelford County Ex-
tension Agent Rocky Vinson
recently received the Dis-
tinguished Service award
from the National Associa-
tion of County Agricultural
Agents (NACAA), as well as
from the Texas County Agri-
cultural Agents Association
(TCAAA).
The Distinguished Ser-
vice Award is the highest
honor that a County Agricul-
tural Agent can receive from
the National Association of
County Agricultural Agents.
Each recipient is selected
by his peers based upon
outstanding professional
growth, program effective-
ness, leadership ability, civic
and community involvement,
and loyalty to Extension
work. The candidate also
must have been a member
of NACAA and TCAAA for
more than 10 years.
Vinson was among 62
agents from across the Unit-
ed States who were honored
at the NACAA Annual Meet-
ing and Professional Im-
provement Conference held
July 15-19 in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
The next week, he was
honored along with five other
Texas agents at the TCAAA
Annual Meeting and Profes-
sional Improvement Confer-
ence held July 22 - 24 in The
Woodlands.
Vinson began his career as
Assistant Agricultural Agent
in Webb County in 1987. He
transferred to Agricultural
Agent Program Leader in
Motley County in 1989. He
then moved to Shackelford
County in 1992 as County
Agent.
Vinson has been instru-
mental in conducting a wide
variety of educational meth-
ods to help producers and
landowners maximize their
range resources for livestock
and wildlife production. Pro-
grams have focused on the
implementation of proper
brush management tech-
niques and husbandry prac-
tices. He has established
numerous applied research
plots over the years to de-
termine the most economical
and effective plant varieties,
fertilization, chemical weed
and brush control, and ani-
mal nutrition management.
He has also advised and
taught numerous youth
through the 4-h program.
Members have learned life
skills, leadership skills and
public speaking skills vari-
ous 4-h projects and activi-
ties such as Shooting Sports,
Method Demonstration,
Wildlife, Bobwhite Brigade,
Foods & Nutrition, Beef,
Swine, Sheep, Goats, poultry
and rabbits.
Vinson and his wife,
Lavelle, and two children,
Amanda and Orrin, traveled
with him to Michigan when
he was honored.
Center to celebrate with open house
The Stephens County
Community Health Center,
a branch of the Shackelford
County Community Re-
source Center, will celebrate
National Health Center
Week 2007 with a special
open house in Breckenridge
this week on Friday, August
10.
The event is part of a
coast-to-coast celebration to
recognize the mission and
achievements of local health
centers.
Friday's open house will
introduce the center's new
dentist, Dr. Randall Carlton,
who opened his new dental
clinic at the Breckenridge
center last week.
The come-and-go event
will last throughout the day,
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
according to Resource Cen-
ter Executive Director Susan
Jones.
Those who attend can
tour the clinic and meet the
new dentist.
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WWII medals sent to local vet's family
Sam Bradford
memorialized
on anniversary
Albany native Sam Brad-
ford, who was killed during a
bombing raid over Tokyo, Ja-
pan on May 24,1945, was re-
cently remembered and me-
morialized when his brother,
longtime Shackelford County
resident Calvin Bradford, re-
ceived two long overdue med-
als in the mail.
Sam Bradford, a 31-year-
old staff sergeant in the Army
Air Force, was a flight engi-
neer on the "Z Square 7," a
B-29 bomber assigned to the
881st Bomb Squadron, 500th
Bomb Group, 73rd Wing
stationed on Saipan during
WWII.
The two large medals, one
from the Non Commissioned
Officers Association of the
United States of America
and the other from VFW Post
3457 of Saipan in the Mari-
ana Islands, were sent in
commemoration of the 60th
Anniversary of WWII to "cel-
ebrate the sacrifice and ser-
vice of America's veterans."
The box containing the
NCO medals reads, "They
must never be forgotten," as
well as "Presented to a vet-
eran of World War II, The
Greatest of the Great Gen-
eration - Valor, Sacrifice, Fi-
delity."
Born in Albany in Sep-
tember 1913, Sam Bradford
graduated from Albany High
School in 1930. He joined the
Army Air Force in October of
1939 and flew 12 missions be-
fore his plane was shot down
and crashed into Tokyo Bay.
He was the last of Albany's
military personnel to lose his
life in WWII, as the war end-
ed a few months later.
His brother Hugh had
been discharged from the
*1
Donnie Lucas / Albany News
Calvin Bradford shows a picture of his brother Sam, pub-
lished in a book about the "Z Square 7" B-29 bomber
raid, along with two medals he recently received.
Navy just a few weeks before
Sam was killed.
Calvin Bradford, who
was 10 years younger than
his brother, remembers that
Sam was trained at Chanute
Field in Illinois, then was
transferred to Pyote, Texas
for war training because he
had volunteered for duty in
the Pacific.
"He could have stayed at
Sheppard Field as an instruc-
tor, but he wanted to go over-
seas," said Calvin.
Sam was stationed at
Saipan in the Mariana Is-
lands in February 1945, fly-
ing 12 missions in the few
months before his death near
the end of May. He was offi-
cially listed as missing in ac-
tion until a year later.
According to information
in a book about the plane and
its crew, entitled Z Square 7,
published in 2005 by Frank L.
Grube, Bradford was among
four crew members who were
able to parachute out of the
disabled plane before it ex-
ploded in midair. Only one,
1st Lt. Robert G. Phillips,
the bombardier, survived. He
was picked up in Tbkyo Bay
by a Japanese military boat
and remained as a prisoner
of war until the war ended.
Calvin Bradford, who is
Sam's oldest living relative,
commented that he was grat-
ified by the medals given in
his brother's honor.
"Serving Shackelford County"
FIRST
FINANCIAL
Member FDIC
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celeuratin
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Lucas, Melinda L. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 132, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 9, 2007, newspaper, August 9, 2007; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth413687/m1/2/: accessed July 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.