Houston's Glenwood Cemetery is Lasting Reminder of City's Rich History

The following video features a look at historic Glenwood Cemetery, founded in 1871 in Houston, Texas. Glenwood’s collection of statuary and monuments are reminders of Houston’s rich history and the men and women who shaped it.

Included among them are the last President of the Republic of Texas, four Governors, and more than twenty Houston Mayors, along with founders of major oil companies, religious and professional leaders, and others who have made significant contributions to Houston.

Read more about Glenwood Cemetery in Houston's Silent Garden: Glenwood Cemetery, 1871-2009, published by Texas A&M University Press in 2010. In it, Suzanne Turner and Joanne Seale Wilson reveal the story of this beautifully wooded and landscaped preserve's development -- a story that is also very much entwined with the history of Houston.

Accompanied by the breathtaking photography of Paul Hester, the book chronicles the cemetery's origins from its inception in 1871 to the present day.

What do J.D. Salinger and Tom Lea have in common?

    What do J.D. Salinger and Tom Lea have in common? For starters, they both went to war.

    Tonight's (21 January) PBS American Masters program featuring Shane Salerno's documentary on J.D. Salinger used Tom's "The Two Thousand Stare" and "The Price" to illustrate what landing on Utah Beach on D-Day with the 4th Infantry Division and the subsequent Normandy Campaign cost Salinger. And then they used "The Two Thousand Yard Stare" again as the campaign moved through the three-month meat-grinder of a battle in the Hurtgen Forest . . . and then they used it a third time as the Division came upon the terrible extermination camps surrounding Dachau.

       When Dan Longwell at LIFE first saw Tom's completed Peleliu paintings early in 1945 in New York, all he said was: "Print every damn one of them in color, and I never want to see them again."  His reaction is understandable, but it is no accident that two major media outlets--one television, one print (see below)--reached back (within a week of each other) to Tom's iconic paintings for their stories.

    Semper Fidelis, Mac

Columnist Dave McNeely Reflects on Credentials of Leticia Van De Putte, Candidate for Lieutenant Governor

In his December 5^th column, Dave McNeely highlighted the accomplishments of Senator Leticia Van De Putte, who is running to be the first female lieutenant governor in the state of Texas in the upcoming 2014 elections.

Van De Putte, McNeely stated, has had many years of experience in Texas politics. She served eight years in the House as well as 14 years as a senator. The mother of six has also played pivotal roles in the Senate Democratic Caucus, the Democratic National Convention and the National Conference of State Legislatures, according to McNeely.

As stated in the article, Van De Putte gained more fame in June when, following Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s shutting down of Sen. Wendy Davis’s 11-hour filibuster against a bill to increase the difficulty of obtaining an abortion, she exasperatedly asked, “At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?”

Despite her credentials, being elected as the first female lieutenant governor is “an uphill climb [for Van De Putte, especially] in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office” in nearly two decades, McNeely said.

You can read McNeely’s full article here.

Van De Putte was also the central case study of Sharon A. Navarro’s book Latina Legislator, which explores the possibilities of Latina and female legislators. The book describes the 2003 “Texas Eleven” protest led by Van De Putte as well the strides she made for Texas welfare, the Juvenile Code and child healthcare and assessed the effectiveness of her legislation.

More information on Navarro’s book can be found here.