Kelley, dean of Prairie View A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 42 distinguished residents - including Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr., attorney Wayne Fisher and Cameron businessman Monroe Fuchs - recognized on the Milam County Community Foundation’s prestigious Hall of Honor at Yoe High School.
“Dr. Kelley is a black man who made something of himself,” said Henderson, 17, son of Kathy Henderson and Rufus Harden. “He wasn’t like everyone else who stayed in Cameron and did not do something with their lives. He became somebody.”
Henderson, who loves any kind of sports, especially basketball, aspires to become an accountant after serving a stint in the Navy and completing college. He listed his parents at the top on his list of heroes, and said Kelley is an inspiration to him to become successful, but in a different direction.
Angel Armando Rios, 15, a Yoe High sophomore and son of Armando and Maria Rios, said he does not have much media influence so doesn’t idolize rock stars, movie stars or professional athletes. He looks on his parents as heroes, especially his dad.
Rios said he did not know about the Hall of Honor until this year.
“I like seeing how many people are on there and how they got there,” Rios said. “I hope to see myself up there one day.”
Rios plans on being a software engineer and is interested in computer technology. He is a member of the Yoe Technology Club, attends the new media class and is a member of the UIL computer science team.
He believes the Hall of Honor provides youths “motivation to try to work harder and be more successful,” and is surprised at the number of local success stories.
“When someone from a small town gets big, it’s really great,” Rios said. “It will motivate me to become better at something I really want to do.”
Yoe High sophomore Westley Deal, 16, son of Kyle and Judy Deal, is “shooting for acceptance into the Air Force Academy,” and does not look beyond his dad to find his true hero.
Deal’s dad and grandfather are teaching him to pilot Cessna aircraft, and in a few months he is expected to earn his pilot’s license. Following in astronaut Neal Armstrong’s flight path, Deal will be getting his pilot’s license before he becomes licensed to drive a motor vehicle.
Aside from a fascination with the Air Force and aircraft, Deal is “really big in technology and media” at Yoe High and loves basketball and track.
He learned about the Hall of Honor after he helped arrange plaques in the glassed–in case.
“I looked at the plaques and I found some outstanding people on the wall,” Deal said, adding that he is very impressed with a school district that has been educating people since 1897, that “has produced people who really succeeded in life.”
Marion Travis, volunteer executive director of the Milam County Community Foundation, said University of Texas professor Amelia Williams, who was born in 1876 near Maysfield and became the world’s foremost authority on the history of the Alamo for 50 years, was the Hall’s first honoree.
Qualified people are nominated and selected by donors to Milam County Community Foundation through the C.H. and Caroline Yoe Foundation Fund.
It is aimed at educating students about Milam County’s history of nurturing people who grow to be highly respected on the local, state, national and international levels, she said.
“We prove to young people that growing up in the country or in a small town does not have to limit them,” Mrs. Travis said. “It may even inspire them.”
njwilliams@temple-telegram.com
