Lobo Sweethearts cont...page 4

I was an assistant dorm proctor for Smith Hall in the Fall Semester of 1963. During Homecoming Week, Gary Tillory, one of the residents, asked me if he could borrow my car for a date to the Homecoming Dance. I told him I’d think about it. The car was an ‘54 Pontiac straight-eight, and it was a bit contrary to drive.

On that Saturday, the day of the big game, Gary asked me again about the car. Gary was the Lobo mascot and had to be on the field in the Lobo uniform. I was Editor of The Skyline and the photographer for both The Skyline and The Brand, which meant I was also going to be at the Homecoming game.

Gary introduced me to Sharon Heath, a freshman from LaCoste, Texas, one of the SR Loboettes Drill Team. I was smitten. I told Gary about the problems with the car, but that I was willing to drive Sharon and he to the dance. I suggested we split the cost of the corsage. So Sharon had a double date that night to the dance.

We really didn’t start dating until the next fall. I think I proposed to her about 100 times until the day the Wesley Student Center was dedicated. That was the day she finally accepted my proposal. We were sitting in the second pew from the front on the left-hand side of the chapel.

We went down to Sheppard’s Jewelers before Christmas so she could pick out an engagement ring. Since I was working my way through school and was dirt poor, we put the ring on lay-a-way. At Thanksgiving, I took Sharon to LaCoste so I could meet her family and we could tell them we were going to get married after I was graduated in the Spring of ’65.

It was an uneventful trip from Alpine to LaCoste on U.S. 90, with me having to make pit stops at every wide spot in the road. Yep, I was nervous. It wasn’t until pay day, April 1, 1965, that I had paid off the ring. I paid the last payment, and, with ring in pocket, headed up to the SR Library where Sharon had a part-time job. She worked for Dudley Dobie in the Rare Book Room. I got down on one knee and proposed one last time with the ring in hand. – to make it official. I had told Mr. Dobie and Mrs. Skinner and the student workers I was about to give Sharon her ring, so they had all gathered outside the door of the Rare Book Room.

We became officially engaged, ring and all, on April Fools’ Day 1965. Sharon says she still wonders if it was all a prank.

Sharon and I were married on May 23, 1965, in the Wesley Center – 43 years ago this coming May. We drove to El Paso for our honeymoon. Of course, the worse sandstorm in years blew in. Construction had just begun on I-10. We ended up driving 20 miles an hour between two buses through 40 miles of construction.

We met in art class. She was the teacher’s aid and I was the student. We noticed each other quick but didn’t start to talk till about the end of the semester of 05. In spring of 06 we began dating. We became serious about our relationship in the summer of 06. When we came back to the fall we moved in together. That’s when we realized we were pregnant. We decided to get married on the 22 of January of 07. She finished her masters in the summer of 07, and she also gave birth to our daughter Maya Marie Mireles. We continue to live in Alpine while I finish my bachelors. We plan to move to my hometown of San Antonio when I am done.

Newell Summerlin received his Bachelors degree in Animal Science and moved back to San Antonio where he worked as a QC at L&H Meat Packing Plant. He was applying and waiting on other job offers when he received a phone call from a former professor and friend, Dr. Paul Will, to return to Sul Ross to work on his Masters degree in Meat Science. Newell took a leap of faith and thought it would be a good way to kill time as he waited on job offers to come in. In the back of his mind, he wasn’t planning on finishing the degree, nor was he planning on starting a serious relationship in the near future. Little did he know what was in store for him!

Kristi Hooker was in the last leg of her teaching degree and was working as a waitress at Longhorn Cattle Company. She had one and a half more years to go and had finally settled into Sul Ross. Her dad (John Darvin Hooker, Class of 1963) had also attended and graduated from Sul Ross and was excited to know that his daughter would be following suit.

Shortly after Newell’s arrival, his roommate, Paul Tanksley of Alpine, and Kristi’s roommate, Donnee Chance, who also graduated from Sul Ross, were both bound and determined to set up surprise blind dates for Newell and Kristi – 3 surprise dates to be precise. Remember, a serious relationship was not in Newell or Kristi’s plans. Inevitably, fourteen months later, Newell and Kristi were happily married on November 24, 1990. They both continued and completed their degrees in 1991 and moved back to San Antonio, Texas. They now live in Devine, Texas where Newell is a salesman at Ben E. Keith and Kristi is a 2^nd grade teacher. They have been married for 17 years and now have three beautiful children: Tres – 15, Sadie – 13, and Lexie – 11.

Newell and Kristi are both very grateful for their education and experiences they received at Sul Ross. Lifetime friends were made, the appreciation of educators and a university that gave personal attention to its students, and an everlasting love was born – both between Newell and Kristi and a love for Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas.