Monsignor Robert N. Bush, former longtime priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Abilene, died at the age of 81 on Jan. 17, 2025, in Abilene. Msgr. Bush was pastor of Sacred Heart for 23 years, from 1996 to 2019, when he was reassigned by Bishop Michael Sis of the Diocese of San Angelo to a role of Reduced Active
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By Loretta Fulton It’s a natural fit for Ben Siburt, a longtime former minister at Highland Church of Christ. As executive director of Youth Voice, a drop-in center for Abilene teens, Ben is answering the call to serve that he first experienced as a youngster. “I grew up in a family with parents that used their lives to serve others,
Read moreBy Danny Minton An anonymous story that I came across tells of two men who were seriously ill and shared a hospital room. Both men had to lie flat on their backs, except for one man, the one nearer the window, who was allowed to sit up for one hour a day to take his medicine. This one hour would
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By Jim Nichols It all started at 5218 Olive when I was six years old. My father planted two small elm trees in our back yard. One officially “belonged” to me and the other to my only sister at the time. One thing I learned was that getting trees started successfully after transplantation was uncertain. Indeed, my sister’s died within
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury To most Texans, the name “Rambo” may mean little, but to Todd Compton it evokes memories from his childhood, when kinfolk spoke of 17th century ancestors who lived in what is now Philadelphia. Peter Gunnarson Rambo (1611-1698) was most discussed, and Compton, now 52, remembers the accounts he heard in his grandmother’s kitchen. His genealogical
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A Holocaust remembrance exhibit is on display at the Grace Museum through Jan. 31. International Holocaust Remembrance Day takes place each year on January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. For the past few years, the Grace Museum has collaborated with Abilene Christian University’s Introduction to Public History: Interpreting American Pasts course to create monthly
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Seven and One Books, 1138 N. 2nd St., is hosting a Lunch & Learn event 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29. Bring a brown bag lunch and enjoy a Q&A with Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, founder of The Peace Project. Bishop Songulashvili is from Georgia in Eastern Europe. His visit was facilitated by Dan McVey. The following is from Seven
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By Nancy Patrick My family greatly diminished on Friday, January 10, when my younger sister Peggy passed away. Our little family consisted of my parents, Henry (Buddy) and Norma Carr Smith, and the two girls. We began our lives together in Arkansas where my parents maintained their connections to the Carr family (most of whom remained in Arkansas) and the
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By Jay Moore In the early 1960s, Abilene Lutherans boldly pushed the envelope of local architecture. Twice. Since the early ‘50s, Abilene has had three Lutheran congregations. They are Grace Evangelical, on S. Pioneer Drive; Our Savior Lutheran, at S. 7th and the Winters Freeway, and the granddaddy of Lutheran churches here, Zion Lutheran on Antilley Road, organized way back
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Spirit Of Abilene 