When the Hill Country Chapter Texas Democratic Women meet on Dec. 5, they will hear about three area groups that provide free ESL and Citizenship classes for would-be U.S. citizens.
More than four decades ago a group of local donors helped to renovate a building owned by the Kerrville State Hospital to become Kerrville’s Special Opportunity Center. The center, located
Paul Smithers was not far removed from being an impressionable teenager when he started working at Scarborough High School in the mid-1990s.
He was 24 years old and serving as a police officer for Houston Community College, which at the time held adult night classes at Scarborough. The man in charge of the Oak Forest campus was Joe McGee, who was in his 50s and worked during the day as Scarboroughâs assistant principal.
Despite their differences in age, experiences and temperament, McGee and Smithers struck up a friendship that lasted until McGee died earlier this month at age 80. They talked about school, sports and life in general, with Smithers saying McGee helped him land subsequent jobs and further a law enforcement career that now has him working as a lieutenant investigator for the Harris County District Attorneyâs Office.