Texas. Like most 4-year-olds in Texas, my birthday party included a Piñata. It was June 2, 1958, and the most popular cartoon character in the world was Mickey Mouse. I remember the great excitement of swinging the baseball bat at the dangling Mickey Mouse while blindfolded. Although I was not successful in busting through the colored ribbons that covered the paper mâché Mickey Mouse, my best friend Joey Gallo swung mightily and released hundreds of pieces of candy onto the ground below. All the kids at my birthday party swooped down like buzzards upon the candy and grabbed their share. Having the Piñata at my party was swell.
Twelve years later, my Dad had moved us to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas-- still living on the Border. Sixteenyear-olds in Texas usually don’ t have Piñatas at their birthday party but, on the day you turn sixteen in Texas, you go to the Texas Department of Public Safety and get your driver’ s license. I passed the test in flying colors in my Mom’ s 1964 green Ford station wagon. The following Saturday, my best friend and next-door neighbor Donald Woods and I did something special. We started our first business, importing Piñatas from Juarez, Mexico. The international bridge was only ten minutes from our house.
I remembered how much kids loved Piñatas, and I thought we could help spread the joy and make a little money if we imported Piñatas. We borrowed Pop’ s 1954 Dodge Pickup and drove across the border to a Piñata factory. Pop was Donald’ s grandfather, and we promised him we would never take his truck to Mexico. We could stack and stuff about 100 Piñatas in the bed of Pop’ s pickup and bring them back to El Paso. It looked
In This Issue
2025 College Induction Ceremony and Annual Meeting......................... 4
From the Foundation....................... 6
From the Grants and Pro Bono Committee..................................... 8
Welcome Class 36.......................... 10
continued on page 16
The Hard Work Continues............ 12
Doing the Splits.............................. 14
2024 Patrons & Sponsors........... 24
ACBF 2024 Donations................... 30
Upcoming Events............................ 31
Focus on Fellows............................. 32
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