CC alumni will honor two exes

The Clarendon College Ex-Students Association will recognize two former students this Saturday, April 18, during the association’s biennial reunion.

The late Jewell Austin Houston and the late Jimmy Vonn Carter will each receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The reunion will begin with registration and brunch at the Bairfield Activity Center at 10 a.m. The Lady Bulldogs will take on Western Texas College at 11 a.m., and a business meeting back at the BAC will be held at 11:30. That afternoon, the Bulldogs will play Western Texas at 1:00 and a reception for the honor classes of 1958, 1959, 1983, and 1984 will be held at 4 p.m. along with an art exhibition.

The banquet honoring Houston and Carter and also recognizing the donors and recipients of named and endowed scholarships at CC will be held at 6 p.m. followed by the performance of “A Golden Fleecing” at the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center at 8 p.m.

Jewell Houston was born on December 26, 1960, in Memphis and attended Clarendon College before transferring to the University of North Texas and earned a Master’s degree in Library Science from Texas Women’s University in 1993. She had a heart for young people; one of her main goals in life was to encourage and motivate youth to succeed. She worked for Denton Public Library for twelve years as circulation librarian. Jewel moved back to the Panhandle when her mother’s health began to fail.

She first served as the library director of Clarendon College from 1996 to 1998 before taking the same position at Frank Phillips College in Borger for two years.  In 2000, Houston returned to Clarendon College where she served as library director until her death earlier this year. During her time at CC, Houston was instrumental in the planning of the new Vera Dial Dickey Library, which was dedicated February 3, 2005.

Outside of the college, Jewell married Billy Houston on March 23, 2002, and was a member of the True Church of God in Christ in Clarendon where she served as secretary, board member, and head of the youth ministry. She was the Sunday school field representative for the Borger District COGIC. Jewel was the editor of a quarterly newsletter for the Texas NW jurisdiction, which included district, state and national information.

Jewell was very involved in the Adopt a Student Ministry at Clarendon College.  Jewel’s concern for the welfare of the students, at Clarendon College, was unmatched by her love for them.  Known as “Mrs. Houston” to most, many found her to be someone they could talk to. Also known for her great sense of humor and her smile, she became a friend to many more.

Jimmy Vonn Carter was born in Clarendon on April 28, 1939, and graduated from CC in 1959 before transferring to West Texas State University.

Carter began producing art in college and continued throughout his life but did not get to work full time in his studio until 1999. In 1962, he returned home and helped Jake Lamberth open Jake’s Steak Out a very popular restaurant to locals as well as travelers. Jimmy obtained his first advertising job with Diamond Shamrock in 1965, working in Denver, Colorado. After seven years, he wanted landed an advertising position with a firm located in Waco and later spent five years as the road manager for Red Steagall. He assisted and managed many other country legends during their debuts such as Reba McIntire, Janie Fricke, and Johnny Duncan. He became Johnny Duncan’s road manager for five years and then worked with Charley Pride for the next 10 years.

Carter then took a marketing and advertising job with a startup company known as Glamour Shots and ended up traveling again as the company mushroomed into a nationwide company. He later reunited with his long time friend, Kitty McVay, of Red Rock Ranch Tours near Van Horn, Texas. There he was inspired to begin a series of paintings that caught the attention of gallery owners and patrons of the arts. The series known as the Painted Ponies of Red Rock Canyon and the Painted Buffalo of Red Rock Canyon were inspired by the American Indian pictographs and petroglyphs that grace the canyon walls and boulders.

In 1999 he started J’Vonn Studios in Amarillo and began painting fine art work as well as decorative finishes that grace the walls of many clients in the Texas Panhandle and throughout the nation.
For more information about the Ex-Students Association or the 2009 reunion, please feel free to contact Ex-Students Association President Bud Schaffer at 806-669-2975 or Darlene Spier at Clarendon College at 806-874-4801.