Almost half the Orange City Council business Tuesday was honoring people, including former mayor Essie Bellfield. The council unanimously voted to name the downtown community center in her honor.
Also, the council and Mayor Larry Spears Jr. declared July 29, 2018, as “Michael Christian Gobert Day” in Orange to honor the young man who died in an accident while at college earlier this year.
Another proclamation made Saturday “National Day of the Cowboy in Orange” as a tribute to the local cowboy culture and for the Stark Museum of Art’s special exhibit “Portraits from Cowboys of Color.”
Single-member District 4 Councilor Annette Pernell recommended naming the community center at 103 Fifth Street in tribute to Bellfield, who was the first black and only woman to serve as mayor. District 1 Councilor Pat Pullen said he would like to see a ceremony with the chamber of commerce when the building is re-named.
The 85-year-old Bellfield, who usually attends council meetings, was not there Tuesday. A friend said her daughter from Fort Worth was visiting and she could not make the meeting.
Michael Christian Gobert would have been 19 on July 29. He was a 2017 graduate of West Orange-Stark High School and was attending Texas Southern University as a computer science major when he died.
Mayor Spears posed for photographs with Gobert’s family (above) as he presented the proclamation, and then the council continued with business. But as the meeting ended, Gobert’s mother, Iris Tillman, asked to speak. She thanked the council for the tribute. She told the group and the audience that the family donated her son’s tissue for medical purposes and he has helped save 75 lives. She received a standing ovation.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has named the fourth Saturday in July as “National Day of the Cowboy” and the Orange City Council made this Saturday, July 28, as “Day of the Cowboy” in Orange (below). The proclamation recognizes cowboy culture in Orange and how the town was part of cattle trail drives from South Texas to New Orleans before the Civil War.
The Stark Museum of Art will celebrate Saturday with activities around the “Portraits of Cowboys of Culture” exhibit. The museum on Saturday will have a program featuring the photographer of the exhibit along with some of the cowboys in the portraits. The museum will also have a free cowboy-themed family fun day on Saturday.
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