Editor’s Note: March is Women’s History Month. Throughout March, contributors to Spirit of Abilene will pay tribute to Women of Influence. By DANNY MINTON The armed services still existed in segregation as the United States entered World War II. When I browse my dad’s battleship book, there is picture after picture of the different groups of sailors on the ship.
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury To describe the workouts he directed as “grueling” might be an extreme understatement if the athletes who ran for late track coach J. H. (Cap) Shelton are consulted. Known as the “dean of Texas track coaches,” he served at Howard Payne University–his alma mater–for 49 years. He worked long hours daily in numerous faculty
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By LORETTA FULTON Bill Minter had never even heard of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes before he was asked to create a program for it. He did that well enough that in January he was named Abilene Coordinator for OLLI. The previous coordinator left, creating an opening. “I realized that this is the kind of thing I really like to
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON On the morning of April 11, 1970, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert sat in their command module, Odyssey, atop a Saturn V rocket. The Apollo 13 crew would be the third group of astronauts to step onto the face of the moon. At approximately 1:13 p.m. CST, the powerful rocket began its liftoff to send
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Abilene is filled with houses of worship but most Abilenians are familiar with the inside of only a handful. A periodic feature in Spirit of Abilene will give you an “Insider’s View” of some of those places you may have driven by many times but never entered. By LORETTA FULTON Name: Perpetual Adoration ChapelLocation: 1541 S. Eighth St. Website: abilene.sacredheart@sanangelodiocese.orgLead pastor:
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By JIM NICHOLS Do you want one? Do you really want a consolation prize? That sounds like something awarded to a person who does not win, who does not finish in first place. This is one of many traps our competitive world has set for us. It has turned “consolation” into a nearly negative word when it is, in fact,
Read moreMonica O’Desky, Cantor for Abilene’s Temple Mizpah, will live stream the Temple’s next in-person Shabbat Service at 7 p.m. Friday, March 3. Click the Zoom Link below to join. LIVE STREAM ZOOM LINK Members of the Abilene Interfaith Council attended Temple Mizpah’s Shabbat Service in person on Jan. 13. O’Desky is making the live stream available on March 3.
Read moreAbilene Christian University added two new members to its board of trustees, effective Jan. 28. Luke James is president of VitalCaring Group, a home health organization based in Dallas. He graduated from ACU in 2004 with a degree in financial management and filled various roles at Encompass Health from 2004-2021. In addition, James has been a board member for Medalogix
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury My aged Uncle Mort is “up in the air” about balloons. “Until recently, balloons were festive, often gleefully ‘popped’ at parties,” he moaned. “Stick a pin in one now, and folks nearby crawl under tables, look for exits, call 9-1-1 and shield the bodies of young’ uns.” Mort contends that governmental leaders’ confoundment
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