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"I was just a little ol' country girl, who had completed seventh and
eighth grade when my aunt and uncle went for me and took me to Fort
Worth to live with them," said Odie, a Pecosite who is also an active
church member.
"My uncle started working in Wood County and I went there to stay with
them," she said.
Odie attended high school in Fort Worth where her aunt worked at Jarvis
Junior College.
"I was going to high school there and had enough credits to attend
junior college, but not enough to graduate from high school," said Odie.
Attending Jarvis JC allowed Odie to go to college while taking one high
school course in high school senior geometry.
"They taught me one high school class and I took 15 hours of college,"
she said.
"I was real smart so they went ahead and took me in, letting me finish
my high school education there," she said.
Odie was a math major who then went on to Tilleson College in Austin.
"I got my teaching degree there and then started working," said Odie.
Odie had been teaching for two years in Valley Mills, west of Waco, when
she met her husband, Jimmy F. Odie.
The couple had been married for 50 years when he passed away in 1991.
Teary-eyed Odie said, "Fifty years seems like such a short time."
After she married Jimmy, the couple traveled to Pecos where they decided
to set up residence.
"We came this way because Jimmy had a cousin that lived here," said
Odie. "It turned out that she worked for a lady who told her there was
an opening at the schools.
"That's how I got here and have been here ever since," she said.
While her husband worked at other jobs, Odie taught at different
elementary schools in Pecos.
"Even though I had majored in high school math, I was allowed to teach
elementary school," said Odie. "Back then you couldn't teach elementary
school unless that was what you had majored in."
Odie recalls working for Sidney Sadler, who was a principal at the time.
"I worked under him and his wife, Billie Sadler, was a teacher," said
Odie. "She was a good teacher, and he was an excellent principal and
teacher."
Odie said Sadler's teaching abilities stem from the fact that he was a
people person. "He knew people and sometimes that's really all you
need," she said.
"He really understood them and that's a big part of being a good
teacher," said Odie. "You've got to understand them, concentrate on them
and just forget the A,B,C's for a moment, that's the way to teach them
is to reach them."
Odie worked for different grades and different schools throughout her
teaching career.
"I enjoyed the little children the best," said Odie. "I guess because I
always thought if you give someone a good foundation they can make it
better in life," she said.
Odie has two children, a daughter, Etta Evans of Pecos and a son, Jimmy
Odie, Jr. of Dallas. She has nine grandchildren.
"I have two granddaughters who teach school in Dallas, so the tradition
continues," Odie said. "My other granddaughter is a secretary in
Washington, D.C."
Odie is a very active member of House of Prayer Baptist Church.
"I've always enjoyed going to church, something I started when I was
nine years old, 72 years ago, and have been doing ever since," she said.
Odie said that even while attending college, she never missed church and
was always an active member. "I really enjoy going and participating in
all the church activities," she said.
"I've had to slow down some, because of my age, I don't want to cause
any trouble, but I'll never stop going to church," Odie said.
Odie keeps a corner of her bedroom reserved for special cards, and
thoughtful gestures made especially for her by her grandchildren. "I
keep them all here in my bedroom, so that when I lay down or get up in
the morning it's the first thing I see."
A Pecos man struck by a vehicle Wednesday night on East Third Street is
listed in critical condition at University Medical Center in Lubbock.
Ruben Tercero, 61, was flown there by air ambulance after he was struck
by a 1981 Ford, 4-door, driven by Antonio Rayos, 74, while attempting to
cross the 900 block of East Third Street about 7:45 p.m.
Tercero is in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.
Police reports show that Tercero was crossing Business I-20 (Third
Street) in a north to south direction when Rayos' eastbound care struck
him.
Rayos told police officers he was traveling at a slow rate of speed and
did not see Tercero until he hit him.
Police were contacted about 7:50 p.m. and ambulance units were called to
the scene after an eyewitness reported the subject was suffering from
head injuries.
The police report said Tercero had a broken leg and head injuries. He
was transported to Reeves County hospital first and later flown to the
hospital in Lubbock.
According to the police report no citations were issued.
The highway has been the scene of several car-pedestrian accidents over
the last few years, with the most recent one happening on Nov. 5, when
53-year-old Jose Gutierrez Orona was struck and killed while trying to
cross at the intersection of Third and Locust streets.
Civil rights leader and minister Martin Luther King will be honored on
Monday, Jan. 15 and several area businesses will celebrate his birthday
by closing shop for the day.
State, federal and county employees will be taking the day off.
All city, state and federal offices, both First National Bank and
Security State Bank will be closed Monday in observance of the holiday.
Regular business hours will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 16.
All federal offices will be closed and no mail will be delivered to
homes by postal workers on Monday. Mail will be delivered to post office
boxes. Mail delivery will resume on Tuesday.
Reeves County offices will be closed in observance of the holiday and
Town of Pecos City offices will also be closed. City and county offices
will be closed on Monday and will re-open on Tuesday.
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transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages
arising from any of the foregoing.
_
Copyright 1996 by Pecos Enterprise
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