For two men, the code still calls: Volunteers bring Morse code to railroad museum

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

To the untrained ear, it's gibberish or white noise. The quick-to-come dashes and dots sound like never-ending bullet shots or beeps - depending on the volume and type of key used.
But to 90-year-old Norman Resor and 79-year-old Floyd Bumpus, the shots and beeps make perfect sense.
'I don't hear dots and dashes, I hear words,' Reser said. 'When I speak, you don't hear 't, h and e.' You just hear 'the.' It's the same for me.'
The two gentlemen work the telegraph booth at Temple's Railroad and Heritage Museum. Telegraphy is a method of communication that predates the telephone; it uses Morse code. For more than 100 years since the Civil War, trains talked to each other with telegraphs.
'If you have one train coming from one direction and another train coming from the opposite direction on the same track, and if you don't have a way to talk, well then you have a problem,' Reser said. 'Morse code was how the depots would communicate arrivals and departures.'

Residents say singles scene needs help

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Being single is a way of life. Some people like it, some don’t. Saturdays are often lonely, and dinnertime can be an obstacle that must be overcome. Do I eat alone tonight - again? Or is there someone who might want to go with me?
Where you go to meet people “can make or break” the productive single life, according to the local singles the Telegram interviewed last week.
Of the 30 people contacted at random, 19 said it’s no fun being single in Temple.
“It sucks being single in Temple,” said Jackie Morris, 25, as she dined alone at Duckhorn Tavern. “I’ve been single for way too long. There are places to go and things to do here, but there is no variety. All of the community events draw the same kinds of people, either way too old or way too young.”

Sylvia's smile: Shoppers sad to lose their friend behind the counter

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

She wasn't famous, and she didn't have a million dollars.
But Sylvia Womack had a lot of smiles, and her friends and co -workers said she gave them away generously.
Mrs. Womack, 53, died July 17 - leaving a hole in the lives of dozens of Temple shoppers whose store of choice is the H-E-B on 31st Street. After 27 years, the smiling lady at register 3 isn't there anymore.
The Telegram received two letters from shoppers Beverly Bonnet and Barbara Brown who grieved Mrs. Womack's natural, but unexpected, death.
'For years and years, I stood in line so that Sylvia could check me out,' Ms. Bonnet wrote in her July 26 letter. 'She was accurate, speedy, friendly and always cheerful. She will be sorely missed by many.'
In a follow-up phone interview, Ms. Bonnet said Mrs. Womack was so special to her that she had to step outside her comfort zone to express her grief.
'I've never written a letter to the editor, but when I heard that Sylvia died, I had to do something. She's the reason I went to H-E-B,' Ms. Bonnet said. 'So many people must have felt the same way. After overhearing my name at restaurants and stores, random people have come up to me and said, 'I don't know you, but thank you for writing that letter. She will be missed by a lot of us.' '

Goodbye, sweet nurse: Temple College sees end of an era

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Her 27 years at Temple College started with a TV - or more precisely, a TV commercial.
“The idea of being a nurse came along as I grew up. I always knew I wanted to do something with people. I just wasn’t quite sure what,” said Virginia Leak, the about-to-retire TC division director of nursing. “But then I saw a TV commercial that said, ‘Be a nurse,’ and I thought, ‘Maybe I can . . . maybe I will.’”
She did.
Mrs. Leak worked seven years as a staff nurse at Temple’s three hospitals before becoming an instructor for the TC vocational nursing program in 1980.
“But the real fun didn’t start until three years later,” Mrs. Leak said, her laughs coming quick and full spirited.
That’s when the college started its Registered Nursing program.
“It’s my baby. It’s become my life,” she said, starting to talk about the thing that lays claim to the last 14 years of her life.

Temple native wins plus-size beauty title

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Some of us would like to blame our jeans when we discover they’re too tight to hoist over our hips.
But we can’t because somewhere inside our heads, a little voice says it’s all our fault. And the picture-perfect models we see on TV only make us feel worse.
“In the media, on the Internet, everything you see today says that plus-sizes are bad,” said Sabrina Mathis of Hutto, the Temple native who was crowned Ms. Plus America 2007 on June 7. “And these days, you’re considered overweight if you’re anything over a size 14. The message should say, ‘you can be beautiful and overweight.’”
The extra weight shouldn’t send a person headfirst into depression, she said.
“It’s important to love yourself and the skin you’re in,” Mathis said. “Forget about counting calories. It’s more important to maintain a body that is happy and healthy. And that’s a different thing for each person.”

For businesses, it was business as usual

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Wednesday's water worries didn't dampen business efforts for local stores and restaurants.
For most, it was business as usual.
Only Wal-Mart reported an unusual morning because of the water line break. Management said the retail store sold out of bottled water by about 9 a.m., but the shelves weren't empty long.
A truck full of extra water was at the store before the last bottle was checked out, store representatives said. Another truckload of water had been ordered, they explained, to make sure the store would have enough water to meet the day's demands.
HEB management said they didn't have to order additional stock of water because of Wednesday's incident. But they did have several shoppers Wednesday afternoon who said they were in the market specifically to buy water.
'Yeah, I'm stocking up,' said Luke Shoemaker, a Temple resident who lives off of 31st Street near Brentwood. 'They're telling us not to use our water. So it's a preventative measure just in case things get worse.'

Celtic crosses crop up in art, fashion

By TOMIE LUNSFORD
Telegram Staff Writer

Taking its roots in the time before Christ, the Celtic cross was a tool for early sailors to explore water ways between Ireland and other parts of Europe. The stone structures stood about six feet into the air and were detailed with symbols for geographical landmarks.
With each passing voyage came another map - or design.
Clans from the various settlements within medieval Ireland and Scotland started to associate themselves with particular maps.
That was then.
Now - the nowhere near defunct Celtic cross comprises its fair share of American art and fashion.