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Frank Owen III
Frank Owen III, a cotton farmer, rancher, banker, lawyer, statesman, and Appaloosa horse racer, was also a long-time political leader, in Texas, serving 15 years in the Texas State Legislature.
One of his four daughters, “Ginger” Roberts, remembers the trips the family made to the ranch at Fort Hancock.
“We had a ‘hands on’ daddy,” she said. “He participated in all of our activities. When we went to the ranch we would camp out under the stars and sit by the fire listening to Daddy tell stories and play the harmonica.”
Frank was the son of Frank Owen Jr. and Ruth Brown Owen, prominent Lower Valley cotton farmers. Their son was born in the El Paso Masonic Hospital in the Five Points area, Feb. 25, 1926.
“Frank always said ‘my parents got me at Sears and Roebuck,’” his wife, Marianne, laughed. “When Frank was a small child he asked his father if he could be a farmer and a lawyer too, and his father replied ‘Yes, go to law school and you can always come back and farm.’
Frank attended Fabens High School, graduating in 1943. He served in World War II as a tail gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and was later discharged as a sergeant.
Frank was a 1951 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, earning an LLB/JD. He was a member of the El Paso Bar, Texas Bar, and American Bar associations, and the Texas Trial Lawyers Group.
Marianne Farrier was working her way through the College of the Mines (UTEP) as an employee of the telephone company when she met Frank. They were married June 14, 1947, and moved to El Paso in 1951.
At 24 Frank had political ambitions and campaigned for the legislature.
“Our child Cathy was only three years old at the time,” Marianne mused. “One day she said, ‘Daddy could I campaign for you?’ So at one of his first rallies he held her before the mike and she said, ‘Would you please vote for my Daddy?’ He won the election.”
He served two terms in the House of Representatives and was elected to the Texas Senate in 1955, where he served until 1965. He became the third-ranking member of Texas government as president pro-tempore of the Senate. On Jan 6, 1961, he became Governor of Texas for a Day.
“We went to the state Capitol several times while our father was in session,” said daughter Ginger. “Both of my brothers, Frank IV and Bill Owen, served as pages for the Texas Senate.”
Frank IV, living at Berino N.M., said, “I would not be the man I am today except for my father, who was always there. He was extremely kind and generous and would go out of his way to help people. Just being around him had a calming effect on everyone.”
“When I was 12 I wanted a mini-bike in the worst way,” said his son, Bill. “Dad said, ‘if you save your money you can get one.’ So I did start saving. One day we went out to Grant City. Both of us rode the bikes.
“A week later he took me into a room and there stood the mini-bike. He had bought it for me and let me keep my money.”
Robin and Lorrie talked about the all-day shopping trips to look for a Christmas gift for their mother. When the family gathered to wrap the gifts, they all eyed Frank’s box, tattered and taped, and were laughing about it when granddaughter Alison said, “Granddaddy, put a sign on the package saying, ‘Granddaddy did the best he could,’ which became a family remark.”
As a member of the Trinity First United Methodist Church, Frank served on the administrative board. Dr. Will Cotton, in the eulogy, said, “The thing most characteristic of Frank was that he was our AMEN corner.”
Marianne said, “After he died — Feb. 20 — at 72, one of the cards I received said, “Now he will have an Amen Corner in Heaven.”
On Feb. 23 the Texas Flag was flown over the state Capitol building, then sent to the Memorial Service. The Texas Senate session was dedicated to Frank by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh. The Texas flag, the U.S. flag, and his old cowboy hat were placed on his casket. His saddle was placed on the altar.
He is survived by his wife, Marianne, of 51 years; sons Frank Owen IV, and William; daughters Catherine Anne Woodul, Virginia Ruth Roberts, Robin Grambling, and Lorrie Ballinger; his sister, Chickie Bowden; and 15 grandchildren.
Wadsworth Blythe
Wadsworth Blythe, who would go on to become a rancher, railroader and packinghouse operator, came to El Paso in 1913 when he was 6 years old.
Wadsworth was a member of a Texas pioneering family that settled in Sherman in the days when Texas was a republic.
His grandfather, Hannibal Beach, settled in Van Horn, and is known today as the “father of Van Horn.” Wads-worth was born in Van Horn on July 9, 1907.
His grandmother had named her girls after flowers, so his mother was Pink Beach Blythe. His father was James Frederick Blythe.
In 1913, after a long drought, Wadsworth’s parents moved to El Paso. They came by covered wagon on the Carlsbad route and stayed overnight at Salt Flats.
“Wad’s father settled himself and family in El Paso, but in 1931 he acquired over 40 sections of homestead land, both leased and owned,” said his wife, Olive. “They built the most economical of buildings with a house made of railroad ties. It had a sod roof and dirt floor kept so shiny and clean you hardly knew it was a dirt floor.”
When Wadsworth was 8 years old he began delivering newspapers. One of his customers was Gen. “Blackjack” Pershing. Wadsworth attended El Paso High School, where he was in ROTC. He also continued to throw newspapers, and when the Times held a contest for the paperboy who could sell the most subscriptions, Wadsworth won the contest and the Ford Touring car that was first prize.
“After school he had to practice marching with the ROTC, but when he was finished he would always find a flock of girls waiting to ride in his car. But I never rode with him,” said Olive. “I couldn’t wait around that long. I had to get down to White House Department Store where I worked after school.”
As a young man Wadsworth loved basketball, and played on three teams: First Baptist, YMCA, and with the DeMoley Cagers. He became a guard and manager for the Cagers. He also was active in Scouting, becoming an Eagle Scout — the organization’s highest rank.
After high school Wadsworth got a job as as a sheet metal worker in the shops of the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1941 he became chairman of the sheet metal workers in the Southern Pacific system and later was elected president of the Federation of Seven Railroad Crafts on the Southern Pacific. In 1962 he became one of seven representatives of Sheet Metal Workers for the International Association (SMWIA). He became an arbitrator and auditor for the association.
Olive Long first met Wadsworth when she was 15 and both were attending First Baptist Church.
“My father was C.A. Long,” Olive said. “He was a minister, seeking a healthy place to live, and he chose El Paso. The family came by train to join him. It was February. The weather was fine the morning we arrived so he left the house open while he came to meet us at the station. When we got home the dust in the corners of the house was several inches thick. That was my first impression. But I learned to love El Paso.”
When Wadsworth proposed to Olive, they were both 22. They were married June 10, 1929. His old car had been stolen, so his parents gave him a Dodge that they drove to the Grand Canyon for their honeymoon.
“We were great partners,” Olive said, “and he was my best friend. We continued to attend the First Baptist Church, and Wads became the youngest deacon.”
During the Depression, he worked at several jobs, including a stint as a deputy sheriff under Chris Fox. He was a charter member of the El Paso Sheriff’s Posse, originally created by Fox to provide backup law enforcement assistance.
“The Posse was very important to Wads,” Olive said “He rode in the Sun Carnival Parade every year.”
Wadsworth retired from the Sheet Metal Workers Inter-national Association in 1975 at 67. At that time he was operating the Las Cruces Meat Packing Co. that he had acquired in 1947.
He was a member of the Las Cruces Elk’s Club from 1957 to 1999. Last year he was given the Elk’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Elk of the Century Award.
“He called himself a self-made man,” Olive said, “and, in his own words, a workaholic.”
Wads died at home Feb. 16 at the age of 91.
In addition to Olive, his wife of 69 years, he is survived by his daughter, Mariwyn, and her husband, Maj. Gen. (retired) James P. Maloney; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Grave-side services were held at Restlawn Cemetery on Dyer Street.
Josephine Leavell Polk
‘Joey’ Polk lived an extraordinary life and made a loving impact on thousands of people,” said Maj. Gen. Robert R. Ivany in his eulogy to Josephine Leavell Polk, who was buried with her four-star general husband at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
She spent 38 years as a devoted Army wife to Gen. James Hilliard Polk Jr., whose final assignments were as commander-in-chief of U.S. Army-Europe, and as commander of NATO’s Army Group Center.
Josephine was born Dec. 31, 1913, in El Paso. Her parents were Charles H. Leavell and Mabel Walton Leavell. She was the youngest of four children — three girls and one boy.
During her days at El Paso High School, she excelled in archery, golf and swimming. When she graduated Jan. 22, 1932, she was awarded the title of “Best All-Around Senior Girl.” Active in the TNT sorority of prominent 1932 graduate girls, she was already a sensation in the social world.
She was attending a horse show at Fort Bliss when she met 1st Lt. James H. Polk at the 8th Cavalry polo games.
“It was love at first sight for both of them,” said her daughter, Jody Schwartz, a well-known photographer at Family Portraits. “They were married on Nov. 7, 1936, and went to Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, N.M. for their honeymoon. She loved the life of Fort Bliss and learning the ways of becoming an Army wife.”
During World War II, while he was making his way across Europe at the head of Patton’s 3rd Army, Joey — back in the United States like many other women — picked up new skills. She learned to drive a truck, change a tire and taught others to do so.
Most of her life was spent traveling with her husband to 28 different duty stations in four countries and three continents. While in El Paso, she devoted her time to William Beaumont Army Hospital as a volunteer to help out when wounded men were sent there from the war’s battlefields.
One of her more exotic tours of duty was living in Japan while Col. Polk served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In Japan they lived in a beautiful home with five servants — but as they went from station to station, they sometimes lived in small crowded apartments.
In 1964, while Polk was the U.S. commander of the Army’s Berlin garrison, Josephine's charm as a hostess helped to further U.S.-German relations.
“There was a continuous stream of visitors,” Jody said. “Among the many top dignitaries entertained in their home were Rose Kennedy, Werner von Braun, Pat and Richard Nixon, Henry Cabot Lodge, and Henry Kissinger.
“They also opened their home to help build the morale of Americans stationed there. Her pep talks were important. She would find Army wives living in small country places, feeling lonely and discouraged, and tell them how important their jobs were for the defense of the Free World.”
Their first European tour of duty began in May 1955. Their last tour of European duty ended in March 1971 when Polk retired.
“After coming back to El Paso, Joey was involved in the Fort Bliss community through groups such as the U.S. Cavalry Association.
She was named First Lady of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, a member of the Retired Officers Wives Club, and the Society of military Widows, having been its l00th member. On Dec. 12, 1998, she was presented a plaque which says “to the wife of one of our nation’s great Cavalrymen and as mother of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.”
She died of cancer shortly thereafter, on Feb. 9.
“Throughout her duty as a proud Army wife, she always exhibited a strong sense of family and patriotism and has always shared her time, talent, and devotion to soldiers and their families,” wrote her son, James H. Polk lll, of Santa Fe, N. M.
She is survived by her son, James, and his wife, Mary; daughter Jody and her husband Jonathan D. Schwartz Jr.; brother Charles Leavell and his wife, Shirley; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held at the Pro Cathedral Episcopal Church of St. Clement on Feb. 12.
“It was a very positive uplifting celebration of her life,” said Jody. “I am proud of the contribution of my parents to further the cause of peace in our world."
Robert John Hageman
Robert John Hageman, a World War II veteran and civil service worker for 34 years, is best remembered as having chalked up 10,000 hours of volunteer work for Sierra Medical Hospital in the last 20 years. Those volunteer hours were clocked above and beyond working for H&R Block.
Chuck Crawford, district marketing manager of H&R Block, considered Bob a good friend and fellow worker.
“We all thought a lot of Bob,” he said. “In 1985 he was transferred to the Premium Tax Service No. 4 on Lee Trevino Drive. He was so well liked that he became our mentor, and was very dedicated to his 400 or so clients. He was recognized by the Internal Revenue Service for enrolled agent certification and since about 1978 has not only taught classes in tax preparation but was sought by many persons for help. He was a very skilled individual.”
Robert was born Nov. 13, 1919, in Doland, S.D., son of Robert Hageman and Hilda Claussen Hageman. Robert was one of three sons and two daughters. During his high school years he was a basketball player. Immediately upon graduating as an honor student, he went into the Army.
Crawford recalls some of the stories Bob told about his adventures in the Philippines and Japan during World War II.
“He was in the Army Air Corps,” Chuck said. “And on a flying mission with Capt. James Stewart, Bob was navigator for the crew. When Jimmy became an actor of much acclaim, Bob was often tempted to get in touch with him, but never did.”
While in Japan, Bob married Angela Jinny Dow. One son was born to the couple. The two were divorced a few years later.
After five more years with the Army, he joined the civil service as an engineer. Given a choice of locations in the United States, he decided he would like to live in the Southwest. He was sent 1956 to White Sands Missile Range, where he became involved in community activities.
In 1967 he was awarded a trophy for being the Toastmaster of the year by the Toastmasters of White Sands.
While working at the missile range, he enrolled in night classes at UTEP, focusing on mathematics. One of the secretaries at the college was Mary Henson. The person she was dating that evening introduced her to Robert Hageman.
“I had been single for five years,” she remembered. “At first Bob followed me around, asked if I was going steady, and when I said ‘No’ he came to see me quite often. We were married Nov. 18, 1972, and went to a fishing resort in Guamos, Mexico, for our honeymoon.”
Bob had worked 12 years in Japan, and spent 22 more at White Sands when he retired in 1975.
Bill Wickline, a volunteer as educational resource person at Sierra Medical Hospital, has known Bob for six years.
“He was a beautiful person,” Bill said. “always upbeat. I never saw him angry with anyone and am proud to have known him. He was a volunteer in so many activities, sort of a jack of all trades.”
Anne Francis, a volunteer with 7,000 hours to her credit, said, “Bob knew so much about computers and taught me a lot when I was working in the office of patient relations in Sierra Medical Hospital.”
After being diagnosed with cancer, Hageman retired from H&R Block and volunteering in 1998. He died of cancer Feb. 8 at the age of 79.
Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Mary Hageman; sons Bill Hageman and Jimmy Colburn; two sisters, Pauline Paul of Sioux Falls, S.D., and Caroline Madson of Portland, Ore.; and several grandchildren.
Staff Sgt. (retired) Robert J. Hageman was given a graveside service at Fort Bliss National Cemetary with Chaplain John Molina conducting the ceremony. Pfc. Darwin Varn sang “The Lord is my Shepherd” and “Amazing Grace.”
During the memorial service the chaplain said, “Robert was a war veteran who served his country with dedication and loyalty. We pay him tribute and our Nation is thankful for his contributions as soldier, community servant, husband, father and friend.
“This service provides us a good setting to reflect, think of our own lives and the purpose of our existence.”
Walter H. Chapman
Walter H. Chapman spent 30 years with the El Paso Natural Gas Co. His career took him to many places, but he called El Paso home for 46 years.
Walter was born in Canada, April 17, 1918, the only son of Harry W. and Myrtle Chapman. His folks moved to Boston where he attended elementary and high school. While Walter was a senior in high school his father developed an infection in his arm and it was necessary to amputate. Instead of going to college, Walter helped support the family shoveling snow off the railroad tracks or working in a store. When his father became confident could drive a car, he became a salesman.
“You do whatever you can to make life work,” Walter said.
After finishing high school, Walter joined the youth taking advantage of the conscription act where he could spend a year in the Army, then go on to other things. The Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor changed his plans. He remained in the Army for five years during World War II. Assigned to the artillery corps, he was sent to North Africa and served under Gen. George S. Patton. From there he spent 18 months in Europe and then was sent back to the United States and stationed at Fort Bliss.
The Junior League of El Paso was planning a tea dance for officers when a friend of Dorothy Henning insisted that she join them. She met Walter Chapman, felt they had something in common, and married him two months later, on May 12, 1945. Two monthslater Walter had to leave his wife and go to the Philippines, but shortly after he arrived the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The war ended. Walter returned to the United States and was discharged. He and Dorothy moved to Boston where their son, Wally, was born.
Dorothy’s father, who was working for El Paso Natural Gas Co. in El Paso, let Walter know that jobs were available. They moved in 1947. After he was employed, Walter began taking courses in electrical engineering and chemistry from the International Correspondence School. His son, Wally, who is now pastor of Park Hills Christian Church, said, “As a boy I remember waking early in the morning to find my Dad studying before he left for work.”
The company sent Walter to Casa Grande, Ariz., to supervise the entire state. Four more years were spent in Phoenix. By then he was made manager of the Corrosion Division. At the time there were only three others in the department, and when he retired in 1977 there were 82. One of his assignments took him to Alaska where a pipeline had to be built above the ground.
“He told a lot of stories about the cold,” said his wife, Dorothy. “Most of those stories were funny. He had a tremendous sense of humor. I think that is what drew me to him in the first place.”
Walter’s specialty was the Corrosion Division. “Corrosion companies are widely used by large buildings such as schools, apartment complexes banks, hospitals to provide chemicals for their cooling towers and boilers, and pipe lines underground,” Wally said. “To do this, he and John Eichelman Jr., invented a moveable camera which could be placed in the darkness of the pipe which is 36 inches to 42 inches in diameter. As the camera moves along, pictures are taken and the condition of the pipe is determined. His second invention in the desalination of sea water. Now there are 83 plants around the world.”
After retiring from EPNG in 1977 Walter started his own El Paso Corrosion Co. He was president of the company and provided many educational opportunities for his employees. He was 80 when he died Jan. 25.
In 1998 Walter was honored for having been in the National Association of Corrosion Engineers for 50 years. One year, during his tenure, he was asked to write monthly articles for the American Gas Journal.
“My Dad became one of the top men in the country in his special field,” Wally said.
Walter was one of the founding members of the Coronado Christian Church. When they built the present building in 1970, Walter turned the first spade of soil in the ground-breaking ceremony. He also helped with the growth of Kenmore Christian College in Queensland, Australia.
He was preceded in death by his son, Harry. Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Dorothy Chapman; son, Walter H. Chapman Jr., and wife, Faye; and four grandchildren. The burial was at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery with military honors.
Estela Portillo Trambley
Known as a daring writer, poet, playwright and a teacher of home-bound students in the El Paso public schools, Estela Portillo Trambley, was also noted for being an independent promoter of English literature.
However, while she publicly displayed a bubbling, fun-loving nature, but in her writings, she took on a gloomy, mystical air, often criticizing in satiric form, the societies of our day.
Jo May Georges, a close friend of Estela, and a co-founder of the Music Theatre of El Paso says, “She was such a funny character. She was a feminist and very controversial. In every situation she enjoyed being the outlandish one. She would argue on the opposite side of every subject. It was very important to her that she be independent. But she was always fun and ready to do anything. She will be missed.”
Estela was raised by a Mexican mother and Italian father. She was born January 15, 1926, the oldest of five children of Delfina Fierro Portillo and Frank Portillo. She grew up among a mixture of cultures so had sharp feelings about her environment.
Her maternal grandparents, the Fierros, left Mexico during the Mexican revolution and moved to El Paso where they established a grocery store called Amigo Los Pobres (Friend of the Poor). Estela lived with these grandparents until 13.
She attended Aoy Elementary School then entered El Paso High School. She enrolled in Texas Western College (UTEP) and graduated with a degree in English Literature in 1956, and in 1978 an M.A. from the same university. She held a variety of positions with the El Paso public schools, including Jefferson High School and El Paso Technical School when it was academic. She especially enjoyed her last 20 years as a home-bound teacher for the El Paso Independent School District.
“I want to help people who need it,” she said.
She met a young man, Robert Trambley, just 21 years old, when he returned from the war.
“I met Estela at a house party and started talking to her about literature. One day I said, ‘I can’t eat, I can’t sleep without thinking of you. We might as well get married.’”
They were married April 4, 1947, and raised six children. Estela juggled her duties to her family with going back to college.
She tried acting and directing plays at the community college, then she felt compelled to write. In 1981 El Paso was a city with made up of 68 percent Hispanics. She would often say to reporters “I am a middle-class teacher, married to an Anglo car salesman, but I have become a Chicana very much Anglesized.”
Her local awards consisted of being named to the El Paso Woman’s Hall of Fame, in 1986, and in 1990 named an Author of the Pass by the El Paso Herald Post.
She hosted a local political radio talk show in the 1960s on station KIZZ, entitled “Stella Says.” There she made herself known through her ideas, said her daughter, Tracey.
In the ‘70s and ‘80s she continued to write and at the same time became one of the original founders of the first Hispanic Theater in El Paso called Los Pobres. In 1972 her play won the Quinto Sol award for literature from the Quinto Sol Publications. In l973 her play “Blacklight” was published. It became a second-place winner in the 1985 New York Shakespeare Festival’s Hispanic American playwrights’ competition. In 1976 an outstanding Chicano award was given by a San Francisco Bay Area teachers group. These led to a score of invitations to read from her works. She had frequent contact with drama departments in universities over the United States and in Europe where she held workshops and lectured about her style of three dimensional writing.
Her husband Bob said in his memorial service eulogy, “Estela’s insatiable thirst for knowledge and her relentless drive to change the inequitable status of womanhood shows in her booksfor she writes of women who have strength in this social world.”
All of her plays show struggle, Tracey said. They depict her own battle as a Chicana playwright and a woman to gain some recognition.
Estela died Dec. 29, at 72. Her husband, Robert, plans to have copies of her last novel, “Trini,” reprinted so he can give them away to school libraries.
Her son, Robert, died before her. She is survived by her husband, Robert Trambley Sr.; six daughters Naurene, Joyce, Tina, Tracey, Robbie (a twin of Robert), and Bethany; seven grandchildren; two brothers, Frank and Robert Portillo; and a sister, Alicia Welch.
