Odessa remembers

Odessa lost some of its shiniest stars in 2008. Folks who gave of their time, money and ideas to make this area a better place to live.

A likeable legislator and several longtime philanthropists died in 2008 - leaving big shoes to fill in the community.

>> Odessa businessman Ted Roden died Jan. 28 at age 88 of a heart attack. The popular Roden was known for his philanthropy and his love of the community.

Born in Glen Rose and educated at the University of Texas at Austin, Roden came to Odessa in 1947 to help his brother Tom "Pinkie" Roden with his retail liquor business.

By 1952, Ted Roden opened and soon found success with Standard Sales, a local Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship, that grew from 10 employees and 100,000 cases shipped a year to 500 employees and 14 million cases a year from eight locations in Texas, Mississippi and Colorado.

With the growth came financial success that Roden funneled back into the community, giving to education initiatives - particularly the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

"Ted Roden was a self-made man, and I think one of the greatest beer wholesalers in the entire Anheuser-Busch network," Frank Deaderick, Roden's nephew and Standard Sales president, said. "... Throughout his career he realized the value of an education and what an education could mean to people in our community."

Roden helped finance the municipal golf course at Ratliff Ranch. He was part of the convincing lobby force that established UTPB in his city, and he was once described as "Odessa's unpaid, behind-the-scenes lobbyist in Austin," according to OA archives.

Ted Roden typically shied away from the limelight, humbly accepting numerous awards for his philanthropy. The Odessa Chamber of Commerce honored Roden as the 1995 Outstanding Citizen of the Year. The Heritage of Odessa Foundation honored him in 1996 for his philanthropy. In February 2005, Ted and Jan Roden received the Odessa American's annual R.C. Hoiles Award for outstanding community service. The Ector County Democratic Party honored Jan and Ted Roden in October at their annual Local Heroes Banquet.

>> In May, Odessa lost a tireless volunteer and generous benefactor.

Ellen Noël, born Ellen Witwer in Iowa in 1914, and her late husband, W.D. "Bill" Noël, were known for their love of West Texas and their support of the arts in the community. For more than half a century, Ellen Noël was a supporter of everything from Permian Playhouse plays to the Ellen Noël Art Museum.

The volunteer of the year awards in Odessa were named in honor of the Noëls and are handed out each year to those who give the most to their community.

The Noëls moved to Odessa in the late 1940s. Bill Noël, who died in 1987, was founder of the Odessa petrochemical complex and was a tireless community benefactor. He's also credited with being a driving force behind UTPB being located in Odessa.

Noël was recognized in 2002 by the Junior League of Odessa for a long history of philanthropic and volunteer contributions with a lifetime community service award.

She was a sustainer emeritus with the Junior League. She joined the JLO in 1951 and served as president of the women's service organization from 1954 to 1955.

She was co-sponsor for the creation of the Noël Heritage Plaza in downtown Odessa. She was advisory director at the Ellen Noël Art Museum of the Permian Basin and established a permanent fund there.

She was a patron of the Midland-Odessa Symphony and a sponsor of the National Young Artists Competition. In addition, she was a patron of The Globe Theatre of the Great Southwest, the Permian Playhouse, the Presidential Museum, the Commemorative Air Force Museum, the Parker House Museum and the White-Pool House Museum.

"You just knew that she had been here," local arts patron Ronald Bennett said. "Every community can benefit by having an Ellen Noël in their midst."

She was governor of the High Sky Children's Ranch in Midland County, a patron of Harmony Home Child Advocacy Center, a member of the Permian Basin Development Board, a former director of the Salvation Army and a platinum pillar of the United Way.

Ellen Noël, a former schoolteacher, founded many scholarships, including the Ellen and Bill Noël Scholarship funds at both Odessa College and the University of Texas of the Permian Basin and the UTPB Support for Excellence Fund.

She also made a $5 million gift toward UTPB's proposed Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, which shares the name of her son-in-law, Cy Wagner. University president David Watts said her legacy will live on for generations.

>> Probably best described as the "most likeable" legislator and one of Odessa's biggest cheerleaders - George E. "Buddy" West died June 25.

West was Odessa's longest-serving state representative who was known for his passion for education and for his fierce support of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin.

West died at the Hospice House at age 71 following an illness. Flags in Austin were lowered in the Capitol Complex as word of his death reached the Capitol. Gov. Rick Perry's office issued a statement that flags at all state buildings, installations and institutions located in House of Representatives District No. 81 would be lowered through the day of internment.

"Texas lost a great public servant when Buddy West passed away today," Perry said Wednesday. "As a dedicated champion for the people of West Texas, Buddy's legacy will live on in the lives of those he touched through his tireless efforts to make Odessa, West Texas and the entire state of Texas a better place."

West's praises were also sang by President George W. Bush. The President called West's wido, Shirley, to express his sympathy.

"He always called him Boudreaux," Shirley said, referencing a nickname the president had for Buddy West while the two served together as Texas officials - Bush as governor and West as the District 81 representative.

Mrs. West also shared a few memories of her life with Buddy, mentioning that they had known each other since they were 9 years old and that he used to steal bananas out of her lunch box.

The two became sweethearts as juniors in high school.

"He was a lovely man," she said of the man she knew for 62 years and was married to him for 52 years.

His service also included time on the Ector County Independent School District board before he went to the Texas Legislature in 1993.

"Buddy belonged to the people," she said.

West was born in Ballinger Oct. 9, 1936, and moved to Odessa in 1944. He married Shirley Porter on March 22, 1956, in Odessa. He graduated from Odessa High School, he attended Odessa College, Howard Payne University and Hardin-Simmons University. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in December 1975.

He retired after 30 years with Amoco where he worked in multiple capacities, such as, safety engineer, product technologist and plant and field technician.

West was elected to the Texas House in 1992 where he represented Texas House District 81, which is composed of Ector, Andrews and Winkler counties. His final term would have ended in December.

>> Raul Rudy Acosta died Feb. 18 in Austin.

Acosta was a tremendous story of success in overcoming disability.

He was born in 1964 in Mexico and was orphaned at an early age. He spent his life dealing with his total paralysis with remarkable determination.

He graduated from Permian High School in May of 1984, through the ECISD Homebound Student Program, while he was a resident of Avalon Place Nursing Home in Odessa, and entered Odessa College in September 1984. He received his associate's degree there in May of 1990 and entered UTPB, where he attended until 1996, when he transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock. In December of 1998, he received his bachelor's degree in psychology at Texas Tech, receiving a standing ovation from his classmates and an overflow crowd at Tech's Coliseum Arena.

Acosta did all this despite the fact that he could never physically turn a page in a book.

Acosta was appointed, by then-Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities and moved to Austin, where he lived until his death. During his years in Austin, he became a tireless and widely renowned advocate in the Texas Legislature seeking and securing support for programs to assist disabled people in all walks of life throughout Texas.

During his college years, he managed to overcome his own total paralysis and with remarkable determination, he finally earned the degree, which was such a meaningful goal ahead of him for his entire life. He once explained that his motivation came from the certainty that having a college degree would better qualify him to help people who had "real problems." The reputation that he built for himself in the Texas Legislature in Austin makes clear that he was successful in those efforts, as he lived out his dream of serving unselfishly those whom he felt he could help.

He was honored in 2003, by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation as a Distinguished Former Odessan.

>> Tragedy struck an Odessa family a second time in March when Odessan Rhonda Jones died.

If there's anything Rhonda Jones will be remembered for, it'll be for the love she shared with her husband.

Jones' husband, police Cpl. Arlie Jones Jr., was shot to death in September 2007 in western Odessa.

It was well known throughout the police department and the community that Arlie and Rhonda Jones were deeply in love.

"Rhonda really loved Arlie," Odessa police Capt. Chuck Moad said. "We would take some comfort in the fact the two of them are together now."

>> Longtime lawman and investigator Jerry Davis has died after a long battle with cancer.

In April, several of his friends and former co-workers remembered the 60-year-old as being a professional, honest, loyal and patriotic person.

Davis may be best known for getting Steve Fife to confess to the homicide of Odessan Catherine Ann "Fifi" Murphy, who, according to the OA archives, was found buried along the Pecos River in 1978. Fife had been her boyfriend, and he pleaded guilty to killing her in a trial in 1979.

Kathleen McCulloch, of Kerr & McCulloch P.C. in Midland, said she first heard of Davis because of the "Fifi" case. She later knew him professionally as an attorney during an employment law case where Davis was investigating for the other side.

>> In May, Odessa lost a longtime business leader. Clyde William "Bill" Miller Jr., 67, was a resident of Odessa for 43 years. The retired owner of Western Boot & Shoe was born in San Benito.

He traveled Texas as a heavy equipment operator settling his family in Odessa in 1965. He left the road construction business in the early 1970s and joined The Huffman Heat Exchange Co. working for several years until he entered the retail business in 1976 later becoming the owner of Western Boot & Shoe in 1985.

>> Well-known Odessa veteran D.R. ‘Slim' Melton died Dec. 19 at age 83.

Melton volunteered for military service on Jan. 17, 1943, in Abilene. He was sworn into service on May 22, 1943, in Lubbock. He served in the Eighth Air Force, 493rd Bomb Group as a B-17 bomber crewman. He served in the European Theatre of operations from March 15, 1944, until July 2, 1945. He was honorably discharged on Oct. 14, 1945.

He was awarded numerous battle stars and combat ribbons including two Bronze Stars with Two Oak Leaf Clusters. He also received a Presidential Unit Citation as well.

Slim retired from Chevron Oil Co. in November 1986, after 41 years of service. At the time of retirement, he was the production superintendent in Ward County.

He was a member of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society, the 493rd Bombardment Group Memorial Association and the American Air Power Heritage Museum. He was also a life member of the VFW Post #4372 in Odessa, TX. Other memberships include the Chevron Retirees Association, the Permian Basin Chapter and the American Cancer Society. Later in life, he was a member of the Parkinson's Support Group.