Make learning life-long

U.S. Rep. Giffords, Adm. Thad Allen encourage Bowie students at rally

By Carol Broeder & Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona range news

Adm. Thad W. Allen and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, were in Bowie Friday celebrating Bowie schools' successes while encouraging students to persevere.

Allen, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and the head of the Drug Interdiction Committee, is a Tucson native whose roots run deep in Cochise County.
"I don't know if this is a Bowie pride rally or an Allen family reunion," he said, drawing laughter from those gathered at Bruce E. Brown Gymnasium.

Bowie Unified School District, the Bowie Chamber of Commerce and the Bowie School Alumni Group sponsored Friday's event.

Allen said that while his parents grew up about 70 miles from each other, they never met until later in life in Tillamook, Ore.

His father, Bill, was born in Texas but grew up in Bowie, and his mother, Wilma, is from Bisbee.

The admiral's father, who had become a lumberjack in Oregon, walked into a restaurant where he noticed "a drunk was hassling a waitress." Bill tossed the drunk into the street, and 10 days later, the lumberjack and the waitress were married.

Allen also has great memories of Willcox, where "my Great-Uncle Peck owned the Texaco station," he told the Range News.

Wilma's mother is the sister of the late Lester "Peck" Bethel of Willcox.

"My roots are in the Golden West," Allen said in his speech. "Dad's family had a small ranch or farm south of here in the foothills of the Chiricahuas. My brother and I shot our first deer in the Chiricahuas."

Allen, who reports to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Barack Obama, said people envy the circles he travels in, which includes the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"But every one of those people, including President Obama, came from somewhere," he told the Bowie audience.

"To be successful in life, you must be a lifelong learner," said Allen, adding that being from a small town "is no bar to anything you can achieve."

People of his parents' generation often did not finish high school, and "college was beyond the realm of expectation," he said. His father, Bill, lied about his age and joined the Coast Guard at 16.

Allen was one of the first in his family to graduate from college and he earned two master's degrees.

"When you learn, you expect your kids to learn," said Allen, adding that's why his children hold master's degrees or are in a graduate degree program.

Coming home

"This is where we come to renew our spirits and find out what's going on," Allen said about return visits to Bowie.

It is where family stories pass from generation to generation.

"We point and say, 'This is where the mule died,' " he gave as an example.

Allen's relatives who have passed on in the last 10 or 15 years asked to have their ashes spread in the Chiricahua foothills, he said.

His inspirational message to the Bowie students included a quote from the late tennis great Arthur Ashe.

"Do what you can with what you've got, where you're at," said Allen, adding that one day, someone from Bowie may be the keynote speaker after becoming a police officer, doctor, lawyer or performing another form of service to the community.

Allen then introduced Giffords, telling the story of how he first introduced himself to her as "one of your constituents."

"Even admirals are constituents," he said, drawing laughter from the audience. "You'll find no one in this state with greater dedication to her constituents than Congresswoman Giffords."

In her speech, Giffords pointed out the gymnasium floor, which was put in during the 1940s.

Nearly 70 years later, she said, "We've gone from cutting down trees to build a floor to powering the school with this tremendous renewable resource - the sun."

"Bill and Wilma, you need to be proud of your son," she said to Allen's parents, who were in attendance. "Of course, I know you are proud."

She said, "Folks from small towns work hard so that the next generation will do better than we did. That's a tribute to the legacy you've been a part of."

Giffords talked about her mother, who attended school in Willcox while her father worked for the railroad.

She also talked about her husband, Mark Kelly, who grew up in a small town in New Jersey.

He was not a good student in high school, so Kelly's father suggested he become a welder.

That's when he improved his grades and joined the U.S. Merchant Marine after graduation.

"Now he's going to be the last commander of a space shuttle," Giffords said.

"We are looking forward to seeing you kids down the road," she told the Bowie students. "We know that you're going to do great things and we just can't wait. That's a lot of responsibility on you, but we know you can handle it."

Bowie Schools Superintendent Patrick O'Donnell talked about "recent successes and positive changes," saying that enrollment is up by 17 percent from last years, and attendance is up at all grade levels this year. He added the school is now accredited through North Central Accreditation and plans to give students the option of Cochise College classes through interactive TV next year.

Nancy Jean Welker, president of the Bowie Chamber of Commerce, told the students, "This afternoon is for you - the very, very important people - our kids."

"This is the center of this town," she said. "The heartbeat of the town. Stay in school and stay in support of this school."

Bowie Alumnus Evelyn Spikes Lathram talked about the school's long history, adding that, and "many alumni have represented the Panthers well."

Allen's own parents, along with Bobbie Welker Blandin and her late husband, Doug Welker, coordinated the first Bowie School Reunion, with the support of several alumni, she said.

It was held on the school grounds in the summer of 1978 and has been held every five years since, Lathram told the audience.

"Our reunions are open to all classes and staff, even if you attended our school for only a few days, and the joke is, 'If you drove through town during a school day, you can come to our reunions,'" she said.

"But, seriously, I hope that every school child here today will attend our reunions after they graduate from Bowie High School."

Last year's reunion, the seventh, was attended by more than 100 alumni; the oldest was from the class of 1935 and the youngest from the class of 1991, she said.

Lathram talked about her own family's history with the Bowie School system.

"My association with Bowie Schools started many years before I walked into that first grade classroom," she said.

"My grandfather, A. R. Spikes, came to Bowie in 1916 as principal of schools. He was superintendent of schools when the high school was built in 1922, the swimming pool in 1936, and this gymnasium in 1940," Lathram said.

"His two sons, Jack, my father, and George, who is here today, attended all 12 grades here in Bowie, as did my two brothers and myself."

The process of bringing Allen and Giffords to Bowie together began about 18 months earlier when the Arizona Community Foundation was honoring Lathram's uncle, Dr. George Spikes of Douglas, for saving the hospital and for his endowment there, said Lathram.

"Ms. Giffords was one of the speakers and Nancy-Jean Welker asked her if she would like to come to Bowie some time," said Lathram, adding that Giffords said, "she had never been to the town and would like to visit."

A short time later, Lathram learned from Bill that Giffords and the admiral were very good friends.

"They both had graduated from high schools in Tucson and had roots in southern Arizona," she told the Range News.

Lathram asked Bill if he would ask his son to visit Bowie and bring Giffords along.

"The admiral was very enthusiastic about a visit and from there on it was just a matter of finding a date that worked for the both of them and didn't interfere with other events in Cochise County," Lathram said.

While in Bowie on Friday, Allen told Lathram that his office "moved heaven and earth" to make it work, as that was the only day Giffords could make the trip.

"Mr. O'Donnell was the primary contact after they agreed to the visit, and I know he had many, many phone calls and emails to finalize the arrangement," she said.

Earlier on Friday, Giffords hosted a briefing in Tucson with Allen on federal drug-fighting efforts.

Allen briefed community leaders and representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

"Arizona is on the front lines of our nation's border security crisis," Giffords said in a statement issued Thursday.

"This briefing is an opportunity for all of us who are working to strengthen border security to hear directly from Admiral Allen and share with him our insights about the fight against the drug cartels."

Allen was in Southern Arizona to conduct an assessment of border security needs, said Communications Director C.J. Karamargin with Giffords' office.

His Interdiction Committee is made up of 13 federal agencies that advise the U.S. Interdiction Coordinator and the Office of National Drug Control Policy on operational and tactical adequacy, integration, and use of interdiction assets, he said.

Allen is the 23rd commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the largest component of the Department of Homeland Security.

"He assumed the post in May 2006 after he was widely praised for directing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005," said Karamargin.

The briefing was held at the University of Arizona's National Center for Border Security and Immigration, which was recently asked by the U.S. Border Patrol to help measure the effectiveness of the agency's checkpoint on I-19, he said.

The center is a consortium of 14 institutions that is developing technologies, processes, and policies to protect the nation's borders, foster international trade, and enhance long-term understanding of immigration-related issues, said Karamargin.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol Chief Robert Gilbert and representatives from law enforcement agencies in Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pinal counties; police departments in Tucson, Oro Valley and Sahuarita; the Drug Enforcement Agency; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Marshal; Arizona Governor's Office; and Arizona National Guard.