Names in the news

(Pictures) Austin Elementary second grade student Sam Lander Capocyan, 8, pictured with his GT teacher Jacque Everett, at left, placed first at the Ector County Independent School District SIP (Scholars In Progress) annual chess tournament April 19 at Music City Mall. Sam beat second-grader Leeam Polgar, 8, son of Susan Polgar from Hungary and a three-time Women's World Champion in chess. Sam previously placed 30th at the National Junior High (K-9-unrated section) Scholastic Chess Championship April 4-6 in Dallas and placed 28th the Texas State Primary Scholastic Chess Championship March 7-8 in Houston. Sam, son of Owen and Lorelei Capocyan of Odessa, is also a pianist and a hockey player. Pictured at right, Sam displays his championship trophy presented to him by Grand Master Polgar at the 2008 Lubbock Scholastic (K-2) Chess Championship April 26. Polgar is the director of chess program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

HERO
>> Jonathan Kaufusi, 13, of Baytown and great-grandson of Darias Corine Cravatt of Odessa, recently became a hero by saving Chriszetta Owens, 24, from drowning April 26 from the water at Highland River Beach at Banana Bend.
Jonathan was enjoying a little sun, barbecue, beach sport fun with his father Richard Torres, sister Leilani, brother Kelo and friends, when he realized Owens and her younger cousin both went under water and did not come up. Even though, Owens managed to rescue her younger cousin, she found herself in big trouble. Lucky for Owens, Jonathan's quick actions, quick thinking and lifesavings skills, he learned in Boy Scouts, prevented a potential drowning.
Jonathan, son of Lisa Kaufusi, is a seventh grade student at Cedar Bayou Junior High School and has been member of the Boy Scouts of America Troop 93 for more than two years. He plans to become an Eagle Scout.

POETRY HONORS
>> Former Odessan Carroll Clayton Savant was recently appointed Ambassador of Poetry for the International Library of Poetry and nominated for Poet of the Year from the International Society of Poets, her works appear through various poetry anthologies published through the International Library of Poetry, one in early January received the Editor's Choice Award.
Savant graduated in 1999 from Permian High School and graduated in 2004 from the University of North Texas with a bachelor's degree in music history and literature and attends the University of Texas at Dallas in pursuit of a master of art's degree in interdisciplinary humanities. She is teach piano in Flower Mound and serves as vice president of the Denton Music Teachers Association.

OUTSTANDING
BAND TEACHER
>> GARLAND The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Score A Goal In The Classroom, school incentive program, has named music teacher Marcia Zoffuto the recipient of the prestigious Bayard F. Friedman Hero Award for being the most outstanding band teacher in North Texas.
The awards presentation will take place at 8 p.m. May 10 of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.
The award was established in Friedman's memory to honor outstanding school employees. Friedman was a civic leader.
Zoffuto has been with the Garland's Independent School District Coyle Middle School music department for 10 years. Her students have been showcased at many community functions and have been recognized nationally as best in class and grand champions.
Zoffuto graduated from West Texas State University with a bachelor of music education degree and advanced music graduate training from the University of Kansas. She is the mother of four, Kristen, Anne Marie, Megan and Mac.
Zoffuto is the daughter of Evelyn and J.R. McEntyre, former Ector County Independent School DIstrict music director.

BOOK PUBLICATIONS
>> Gary McMillan of Odessa recently had his third book in the Tye Watkins series published.
The western novel, ‘Yancey', along with the first two, ‘Border Trouble' and ‘The Crossing' takes place at Fort Clark, which is located 32 miles east of present day Del Rio. The series depicts just how dangerous it was shortly after the Civil War for those trying to settle along the Texas/Mexico Border. Bandits and the vicious Apache keep the main protagonist, Tye Watkins, who is chief of scouts at the fort, risking everything to make life safer for the men and women settling the area.
McMillan came to Odessa in 1976 and is the manager of Gasket and Packing Inc. on Kermit Highway. He was born in 1943 in Levelland and has four children with his wife, Debbie. Three boys, Chris, Casey and Michael played football at Permian, and his daughter, Melissa, was on the gymnastics team until this year. She will graduate as a member of the National Honor Society May 30. Michael, the youngest of the sons, graduates May 10 from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, with three degrees in fine arts, computer science and mathematics.
McMillan's parents were avid readers of western novels and western magazines like ‘The Old West' and ‘Real West.' Growing up with this reading material is the reason he loves the history of the Old West.
The Tye Watkins series is available for purchase at Hastings.
>> ALPINE "Ghost Schools of the Big Big Bend," by former Sul Ross State University dean and professor Albert B. Tucker, has been published by Howard Payne University Press.
Tucker compiled the research prior to his death in 1999. Since then, his wife, Jan, and sons Robert Lee and Jeffrey worked to complete the manuscript and publish the book. Tucker was a professor of education and later dean of professional studies at Sul Ross from 1985-98 before moving to Howard Payne, where he served as a professor of education and dean of continuing education.
According to a press release from Howard Payne, "The schools of the West Texas frontier are nothing but abandoned adobe ruins today. But there was a time, some 100 years ago, when they were bustling centers of learning that served a diverse student population. They might even provide model for today's schools."
"Ghost Schools of the Big Bend...is the first detailed investigation of the schools of the frontier in this region. The book unearths details of the teachers, the parents, the students, the hardships and triumphs, of a people long dead but strangely familiar to modern-day readers. Tucker's detailed study covers a 60-year period and brings these "ghost schools" back to life and invites us to get to know the founders, the teachers, the principals, the students, and the parents.
"It is not fiction but rather a scholarly investigation of historical fact; but the impressions it leaves on the heart and mind compare to that left by great literature."
"The book is a result of a lifetime study. Tucker was originally from a town not too far away and he settled in mid-life in Alpine. He became transfixed by these small and collapsed adobe structures that were once schools. He wondered about their teachers and students and how they worked. His investigations took him to far-flung places, interviewing anyone who could tell him stories and provide pictures and data. It was the teachers, in Tucker's view, that shaped and built the culture of this region. And truly, they were amazing people, mostly women but some men, too."
Tucker was born March 18, 1938, in San Marcos and died Jan. 22, 1999 in San Marcos. He received a B.A. from Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, in 1959; an M.R.E. (1962) from Golden Gate Seminary; a M.Ed. (1970) from the University of Texas El Paso; and Ed.D. (1982) from Texas Tech University, Lubbock. He authored many scholarly articles, on reading pedagogy and Texas folklore.
The book is available through Lulu.com. For more information contact Jan Tucker, jtucker@bwoodtx.com or jtucker@hpu.edutx