Aunt Esther
I am sure you heard about my Aunt Esther leaving us last week. See this from Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home:
Maria “Esther” (Estrada) Campos was born in Houston on October 6, 1930. Her father was Carlos Salas Estrada, and her mother was Concepción Garcia. After graduating from Houston’s Jeff Davis High School (now Northside High School) in 1948, she met and married Jesse T. Campos of Baytown on October 17, 1953. The couple had four children: Adrian Campos; Olga Campos Benz (Kevin); Maria Edna Campos (Eldon Thomas); and Leah Aguirre (Joe), 7 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren. Mrs. Campos is preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 57 years, Jesse, and daughter, Leah. Mrs. Campos and her husband enjoyed traveling throughout the United States and Mexico, in addition to numerous extended trips to Europe.
Mrs. Campos enrolled at the University of Houston College of Education in 1959. She received her bachelor’s degree in 1963 and her master’s degree in 1966. At that time, pursuing higher education was unheard of for a married woman with 4 school-aged children, but especially for a 25-year-old Latina from Houston’s East End! In 1962, she became one of the first bilingual instructors hired by the Houston Independent School District and continued climbing HISD’s professional ladder as a Counselor and an Assistant Principal. Even though she did not complete her PhD, she continued to dedicate her life to improving the educational opportunities for all students and in 1993, she retired early from HISD to run for Trustee, District VIII. Mrs. Campos proudly served for a decade and is recognized for bringing about positive change to the largest school district in the state, 7th largest in the nation.
In May 2021 at the age of 91, she was awarded U of H’s degree of Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa.
Mrs. Campos held various leadership positions including her service as a board member of Harris County Children’s Protective Services; a board member of Hope Housing; a delegate to the Democratic National Convention; a founding member of the Tejano Democrats (formerly the Mexican American Democrats); a member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) and as Fellow of Class XIII of American Leadership. She has been recognized by Houston Hispanic Women in Leadership, United Families/Familias Unidas, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), by Houston Fiestas Patrias, and by the Anti-Defamation League of the Southwest. Mrs. Campos is also a member of the J.S. and Lillie Abercrombie Society and has bequeathed many of her hand-stitched quilts created over her lifetime, be sold with the proceeds benefitting Texas Children’s Hospital.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Maria Esther Campos can be made to Texas Children’s Hospital online here or mailed to Texas Children’s Hospital, Office of Philanthropy, Suite 6226; PO Box 300630, Houston, TX 77230-0630.
The family would like to thank the staff of St. Dominic’s Village Senior Community, where Mrs. Campos was a resident, and to the staffs of Star of Texas Hospice and of the University of Texas Physicians’ Center for Healthy Aging for their care and concern extended to our mother.
Services will be held later this morning at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home. The featured photo is my Aunt Esther and my Dad from a few years ago. My Aunt Esther was the last remaining aunt or uncle of mine.
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The Chron E-Board endorsed Jordan Thomas for H-Town City Council At-Large Position 4 in the special election. Here is from the endorsement that caught my eye:
Since the election of John Whitmire, we have watched as the City Council has been cowed by our strong mayor system. With 50 years of political experience, Whitmire has had little difficulty using his power to steamroll his opponents and force his allies to fall in line. Behind the scenes and off the record we hear elected officials and civic leaders muttering about how the mayor has gone astray, but few are brave enough to speak up out of fear that they’ll earn his ire and political punishment.
The city is worse off as a result. Political silence means the mayor has little incentive to stop unilaterally altering infrastructure projects, or substituting anecdotes and personal opinion for data and community input. He has not been challenged to explain his many surprise decisions about road projects, or lay out plans to solve the city’s financial woes in a way that doesn’t cut services to the bone.
Meeting with the editorial board, Thomas said he wants to be the “tip of the spear” — someone who can give voice to community concerns about the Whitmire administration, rally much-needed effective opposition, and use Council’s new powers from Proposition A to force votes on key policies. Iron sharpens iron, and having Thomas at City Hall would help make Whitmire a better mayor.
I wonder when the E-Board will come out with a take that calls for H-Town voters to sign the Recall Houston petition. The E-Board clearly has a problem with H-Town Mayor John Whitmire. I don’t think this Thomas fella will get elected. I don’t even think he makes it into a runoff. I guess the mayor will not get to be a better mayor.
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The point of the following is to let folks know that Texas is abandoning its slogan as the “friendship” state. See this from the Chron:
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday threatened to withhold road funding from cities and counties if they do not remove “political ideologies” from their streets, joining the Trump administration in declaring rainbow crosswalks a dangerous distraction.
Abbott directed the Texas Department of Transportation to crack down on cities and counties with symbols, flags or other markings on any roads that convey social, political or ideological messages. That includes Houston, San Antonio and Austin, which all have rainbow crosswalks.
“Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways,” Abbott said in a statement. “To keep Texans moving safely and free from distraction, we must maintain a safe and consistent transportation network across Texas.”
In an email Wednesday evening, Metro said that it would re-stripe the pavement at the intersection of Westheimer and Taft to ensure the crosswalks are in compliance with federal design and safety standards. It said the decision came after Abbott’s statement and recent correspondence from the Texas Department of Transportation. The city of Houston had just repainted the rainbow crosswalks earlier this month after they were removed temporarily for construction.
“We recognize the significance this crosswalk has to the community, which is why our project team restored the infrastructure to its pre-construction condition,” the email read. “However, given the recent directive, we will comply with the order to preserve support that is essential to our mission of providing safe, clean, reliable, and accessible transit to all communities that depend on our services.”
Dude, tough guys don’t act like this. You are just coming off as a hater, pure and simple. This is just plain old mean spirited BS. What a punkarse.
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Today is John Lennon’s birthday. He would have been 85 today. Imagine.
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The Yankees were knocked out of the playoffs last night. Oh, well.