Home Care In Roosevelt, TX

Clogenson, H. (Henry), copyright claimant /Wikimedia Commons [Public domain]

The Menger Hotel in San Antonio may boast of hosting more U.S. presidents than any other hotel in Texas. George H. W. Bush stayed there. Bill Clinton stayed there, as did Ronald Reagan. Richard Nixon stayed there. So did Harry Truman, William Howard Taft and William McKinley. Even Ulysses S. Grant slept there.

The most important name not yet mentioned (and if you know your Texas history you’re already about to email me, but don’t hit send just yet because I’m coming to him) is Teddy Roosevelt. The others just slept and left. Teddy did far more. He left a bar behind, or at least a bar named for him, and you can still get a drink at the Roosevelt bar to this day, 120 years later.

How did that happen, you may wonder? Well, you know all about the U.S.S. Maine getting blown up in Havana Harbor in 1898. At the time, it was blamed on Spain with battle cries like, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” The loss of some 260 sailors in that blast contributed to the start of the Spanish-American War.

Teddy Roosevelt was not yet president, but would be in three years. He was 39 and assistant secretary of the Navy. He asked for, and was given permission to put together a cavalry unit of 1,000 men, cowboy soldiers he called them, to help push Spain out of Cuba. He didn’t name them the Rough Riders, though. That was a name their public admirers gave them. They resisted it at first, but finally adopted it themselves.

So where could Teddy recruit 1,000 rough riders? Well, in Texas of course. So he went to the Menger Hotel, right across from the Alamo, and recruited great horseman from across the Southwest – from Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Roosevelt said these were a “splendid set of men . . . tall and sinewy with weather-beaten faces, and eyes that looked a man straight in the face without flinching.” He said that in all the world there were no better men for this cavalry than, “these grim hunters of the mountains, these wild rough riders of the plains.”

Roosevelt’s challenge was to take these fiercely independent men and teach them military discipline. And he had a preference for ex-Texas Rangers. He said, “We got our highest average of recruits from Texas because many had served in that famous body of frontier fighters, the Texas Rangers. Of course these Rangers needed no teaching. They were already trained to obey and take responsibility. They were splendid horsemen, shots and trackers. They were accustomed to living in the open . . . enduring hardship . . . and encountering all kinds of danger.” Native Americans, too, such as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creeks were also Rough Riders.

Roosevelt did convert these independent men, with the help of General Wood, into a disciplined cavalry unit within a month. He even got most of the men horses from Texas, some of them unbroken, but that was no problem for these expert horsemen. Roosevelt named his own horse Texas.

As Roosevelt was always a showman, he had his commander’s uniform made by Brooks Brothers in New York. He also introduced his men to the blue bandana with white polka dots, which became the distinguishing feature of the Rough Rider’s uniform. To this day, in black and white photographs, the Rough Riders look impressively stylish in their khaki pants, flannel shirts, trademark bandanas, and slouch hats.

The rest of the Rough Riders story is well-known, but perhaps erroneously visualized.

Most think of it as 1,000 horses thundering majestically up San Juan Hill like a scene from “War Horse.” They did in fact charge up San Juan Hill and route the Spanish forces, but delete the horses from your mind. There were none. They did it on foot and on their bellies. Roosevelt was on horseback part of the time, shouting commands as they fought inch by inch through tropical brush and oppressive heat, dodging torrents of bullets to take the hill, but they did it as infantrymen.

Despite all their cavalry training in San Antonio, they weren’t able to get their horses to Cuba. Why? When they were ready to depart from Tampa to Cuba, the Navy didn’t have enough ships for the horses, so they were left behind. Those with military experience will just shake their heads at this monumental snafu.

Nonetheless, the Rough Riders and other U.S. forces pushed the Spanish out of Cuba. Teddy Roosevelt wrote the primary history of the campaign which launched him into national fame and a good way toward the presidency. The road to the White House, for Teddy, in some ways started in Texas at the Menger Hotel, in the shadow of the Alamo.

ABILENE — JJ Diaz has been used to getting the ball handed off to him before exploding through the offensive line for a big touchdown for a majority of the season.

On Friday night, the Roosevelt senior found a new way to make a big play against Gunter in a Class 3A Division II semifinal game Friday at Anthony Field at Wildcat Stadium.

After Hudson Graham was hit attempting to pitch the ball to teammate Ethan Sloan, Diaz saw the ball on the ground, picked it up and broke a few shoelace tackles toward a 66-yard fumble recovery.

The game-changing play cut the Eagles deficit to eight points by halftime, but that momentum went away as the offense did not score the rest of the way en route to a 47-12 loss to the Tigers.

"It's been a great year, glad I could finish it with these seniors, these coaches and my family right there watching me from the sidelines," said Roosevelt senior quarterback Alex Trevin?o, who finished with 100 rushing yards and score. "We put in the work, and I hope the underclassmen can look at us and realize this is what you have to do in order to win.

"We left a legacy for the underclassmen, and I feel it's a seed, too."

Prior to that, the Eagles were playing from behind after a three-and-out to start their first offensive possession.

Gunter took advantage of the situation, engineering an eight-play drive that was capped off with a 1-yard run by Sloan before a Logan Hubbard extra point made it 7-0 at the 7:41 mark of the first quarter.

Things stayed the same until the second quarter, which saw both teams find success on offense.

Roosevelt did so by forging an 18-play drive, which milked the clock and wore down the Gunter defense.

Trevin?o faked a pitch right and bulldozed his way up the middle to convert a fourth-and-4 from the Tigers 8 for the first Eagles touchdown and cut the deficit to 7-6 after a missed two-point conversion with 9:09 left before the midway point.

A kickoff that went out of bounds, and drew a 5-yard penalty, allowed Gunter some time to regroup and Sloan did the rest as he caught the ball, ran to his right and followed his blockers to a 76-yard touchdown toward a 13-6 advantage almost 10 seconds later.

The Tigers looked to turn the tide after forcing the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs after nine plays and scoring on their next offensive possession.

Sloan, who finished with four total touchdowns and 81 rushing yards, tallied a 20-yard scamper to put Gunter ahead by two scores at 20-6 with 3:20 left before halftime.

"Points that we can get when we're not on offense, those easy points, they're a huge help," said Sloan, who totaled four touchdowns in the win. "If we're able to get those, it makes the game easier."

Diaz provided a spark by corralling a loose ball before running his way into the endzone for a 66-yard touchdown to get the Eagles within eight points as both teams went into their respective locker room.

"It was a great play and what a great way for our senior leader and captain of the football team to scoop that up and go score," Lander said. "There was a guy behind him and he went out there and scored it.

"It changed the momentum greatly and was a huge play for our defense."

But, that was all the offense Roosevelt mustered the rest of the way.

Gunter, which advanced to the state title game for the fourth time in six seasons, showed its defensive dominance by shutting out the Eagles in the final two quarters.

"All I know is this team is my family," Diaz said, following the contest. "We built a winning culture. I do remember coming into this school my freshman season and being 0-10 and not having won a game in two seasons.

"I remember our coaches just kept telling us to keep believing and know that we'll do better. ... This story that we built at this school is more than a state championship, I believe."

What's next?

Gunter (15-0) is scheduled to play Franklin (15-0) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the state championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Gunter 47, Roosevelt 12

Roosevelt 0 12 0 0 — 12

Gunter 7 13 20 7 — 47

First quarter

GHS — Ethan Sloan 1 run, (Logan Hubbard kick); 7:41

Second quarter

RHS — Alex Trevin?o 10 run, (Run fail); 9:09

GHS — Ethan Sloan 76 kickoff return (Kick fail); 8:56

GHS — Sloan 20 run (Hubbard kick); 3:20

RHS —JJ Diaz 66 fumble return (Run fail); 0:23

Third quarter

GHS — Ashton Bennett 4 run (Pass fail); 8:45

GHS — Cole Lemons 16 pass from Hudson Graham (Hubbard kick); 2:10

GHS — Ivy Hellman 10 run (Hubbard kick); 1:43

Fourth quarter

GHS — Sloan 9 run, (Hubbard kick); 9:01

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: (RHS) 11; (GHS) 20

Rushes-Yards: (RHS) 51-212; (GHS) 22-301

Passing: (RHS) 0; (GHS) 111

Comp-Att-Int: (RHS) 0-3-1; (GHS) 5-8-0

Punts-Avg: (RHS) 3-37.0; (GHS) 1-24

Fumbles-Lost: (RHS) 1-1; (GHS) 2-2

Penalties-Yards: (RHS) 3-15; (GHS) 4-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Roosevelt, Alex Trevin?o 22-100, Hunter Woods 1-1, Nathen Casarez 1-4, JJ Diaz 12-58, Nate Gensler 8-13, Zach Bryant 5-17, Octavio Rodriguez 2-19. Gunter, Team 1-1, Logan Pierce 1-2, Hudson Graham 13-107, Cannon Lemberg 1-3, Cade Dodson 6-33, Brayden Hinton 3-21, Sail Rodriguez 1-4, Ashton Bennett 8-39, Ivy Hellman 1-10, Ethan Sloan 9-81.

PASSING: Roosevelt, Alex Trevin?o 0-3-1—0. Gunter, Hudson Graham 5-8-0—11.

RECEIVING: Roosevelt, None. Gunter, Cannon Lember 1-29, Ivy Hellman 1-40, Ethan Sloan 2-26, Cole Lemons 1-16.

RECORDS: Roosevelt 14-1. Gunter 15-0.

Film

Documentary producer Ken Burns says newest series provides rare glimpse into all members of Roosevelt family

Published: September 15, 2014

Ken Burns doesn’t think history repeats itself. But the award-winning producer whose most recent documentary, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, will air on PBS throughout the week (Sept. 14-20), says there’s certainly a lot we can learn from the past. “There are no cycles. You’re not condemned to repeat what you don’t remember,” he says. “But human nature remains the same and humane nature relates to events in the same way.” In watching the details of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s lives unfold on screen, viewers, Burns says, will see how themes that dominate today—from generosity or greed to family and leadership—were also relevant in the 1800s and 1900s. “I think it’s undeniable that these are three remarkable people who are each remarkable in their own ways,” he says. Burns chatted with us about the series and the Roosevelts’ Texas ties.

There has been a lot done on the Roosevelts, but nobody has put them all together in the kind of complicated family drama we’re trying to tell. Roosevelt is the ultimate bold-faced political name and yet we don’t understand enough about their political motivations and how they were related both literally and figuratively throughout their lives. I think they also raise themes that we continue to talk about today. What is the role of government? What is the nature of government? How do events in one’s personal lives shape their character? By dealing with (this family) you also get to see the larger events we’re more familiar with—World War II, the Great Depression—and you see them in a different perspective. The family also has losses, divorces, problems with kids. (We show) their humaneness.

I have to be delicate. They’re all my children and I’m very, very proud of each one of them. I’m as proud of this film as any film I’ve ever done. I think it has to do with the quality of the script (written by Geoffrey C. Ward). It’s also a testament to the team I assembled and the interviews we do and the live cinematography.

It’s not covered in the film, but I’ve stayed in the hotel and could have easily done a full film just on the roughriders. (The film) does cover the training that the rough riders received in Texas and the journey of getting them to Texas and then over to Cuba. There are other things about Texas highlighted, too. Texas and the Roosevelts are pretty connected.

Using first person voices to bring out live, third-person text has always been very important for us. In this case, to have Patricia Clarkson and John Lithgow and Ed Herrmann and Meryl Streep—that certainly helps. She (Streep) is the finest actor of our generation and she just nails Eleanor (Roosevelt). I watched writers and historians just weep when hearing her voice. That’s the gift that Meryl brings.

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, nightly through Saturday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m., KLRN, pbs.org/kenburns/films/the-roosevelts

Austin historian and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley offers an elaborate, lengthy examination of President Franklin Roosevelt’s dedication to conservation in “Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America.” And it’s safe to say that nature lovers owe him a big thanks, as Brinkley makes clear.

One of the highlights for Texas has to be Roosevelt’s finalizing of the long-delayed deal to create Big Bend National Park on June 6, 1944. That’s not just any old day in history, either. It’s D-Day. And Roosevelt took time on that momentous day to meet “with four steadfast Texan promoters of Big Bend: Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Senator Tom Connally, Congressman R. Ewing Thomason, and Fort Worth businessman Amon Carter,” Brinkley writes.

The 708,000-acre park had been a Roosevelt priority for years. “Whole mountain ranges, hundreds of square miles of Chihuahua Desert, and a complex of largely undisturbed canyons made by the Rio Grande … were now preserved for the ages. … Just six days later, on June 12, with America in a celebratory mood over the offensive in France,” the National Park Service took over Big Bend.

At the time, Roosevelt thought that Big Bend could be the starting point for an international park encompassing land in neighboring Mexico because of the shared watersheds and ecosystems. “That international park has yet to be completed, although Barack Obama signed a statement with Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, in 2012, expressing interest in realizing FDR’s dream,” Brinkley writes.

Roosevelt already had focused a lot of his conservation efforts in Texas. In 1935, he established the Muleshoe Federal Migratory Bird Reservation in Bailey County to help protect the sandhill crane, and followed that with another, the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, which protected a transitional zone between two different ecosystems known as blackland prairies and Eastern Cross Timbers. And in 1936, he established four national forests in the state — Angelina, Davy Crockett, Sabine and Sam Houston, buying the lands after the Texas Legislature authorized the sale.

The Roosevelt administration also dispatched more than 50,000 Civilian Conservation Corps recruits to Texas “to build trails, campgrounds, cabins, dance pavilions, and even an adobe hotel and motor court,” Brinkley writes. “When Herbert Hoover was president, Texas had only eight hundred acres of state parks, but by 1942, thanks to the efforts of FDR, that number had soared to sixty thousand acres.”

But these examples of conservation in Texas are only a small part of “Rightful Heritage,” which starts with Roosevelt’s early years in the Hudson Valley of New York, where he learned to appreciate trees and wildlife — an interest that played a big part in the rest of his life.

That was especially true after Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1933, when during his first “Hundred Days” he pushed through a series of New Deal programs. “Few programs in 1933 would shine brighter than the conservation-based Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Soil Conservation Service (SCS), and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA),” Brinkley writes. “The CCC probably best captured the public’s imagination as the showcase of the New Deal, along with the more grown-up and grandiose Works Progress Administration (WPA). Roosevelt knew that large-scale dams and scenic highways would take years to complete. But employing 250,000 young men to cut trails, plant trees, dig archaeological sites, and bring ecological integrity to public lands was immediately effective can-do-ism.”

And after three years in office, Brinkley says that “Roosevelt had done more for wildlife conservation than all of his White House predecessors, including Theodore Roosevelt, establishing forty-five new wildlife refuges. By the end of fiscal year 1935, the Biological Survey had acquired 1,513,477 acres — surpassing all prior Biological Survey refuge land acquisitions — especially in the upper Midwest.”

Brinkley, however, points out that Roosevelt’s record wasn’t spotless on conservation, noting that environmentalists from the Pacific Northwest complained in 1938 that the Grand Coulee Dam, due to open in 1941, “was devastating riverine and riparian wildlife. Even with fish ladders, the ‘tamed’ Columbia aborted the spawning runs of salmon and steelhead. A geographer would be hard-pressed to find a major western river that Roosevelt didn’t want to dam. And FDR wanted not the small earthen plugs that the CCC built across streams to stock water or raise bass but colossal dams to steal the power of the Columbia, the Tennessee, the Sacramento, the Snake, the Red, and the Colorado.”

Brinkley says Roosevelt was trying to steer a middle course, “between reckless exploitation and extreme environmentalism,” and that he fancied himself as America’s caring riverkeeper. But some environmentalists would probably disagree.

Whatever your stance, Brinkley writes that “by the time U.S. Fish and Wildlife alumna Rachel Carson published ‘Silent Spring’ in 1962 — the turning point in American environmentalism — FDR was widely praised for having saved such landscapes as the Kenai Peninsula, the Okefenokee, the Olympics, the Great Smokies, Isle Royale, Joshua Tree, Capitol Reef, Jackson Hole, Mammoth Cave, Kings Canyon, the Everglades, Big Bend, and the Desert Game Range of Nevada.”

It’s safe to say that most folks would agree that’s a pretty good list.

Every work day, weather permitting, beekeeper Roosevelt Roberson tends the hives at BeeWeaver Honey Farm. He’s worked at the operation, located just outside Navasota in the rural community of Lynn Grove, for more than 50 years. At 74 years old, though, he has no plans to retire.

Roberson got into beekeeping soon after graduating from high school in 1964. He initially helped his father on the family farm near Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site. Two years later, he was looking to branch out on his own and approached Roy Stanley Weaver Sr. for a job tending his bees. “Do you think you can put your hand into a hive of bees?” Roy asked Roberson. “At 21 years old, us young men think we can do anything,” Roberson recalls. “I said, ‘By golly I can do it.’ So I’ve been buzzing the bees, and they’ve been buzzing me, since 1966.”

Across three generations, Roberson has played a major role in BeeWeaver’s operations. Few beekeepers can match his expertise or longevity. Dan Weaver, the current co-owner of the farm, especially values Roberson’s diligent reporting on the hives. “An accurate report on colony conditions and likely productivity is invaluable information that few other beekeepers can be entrusted to develop and convey,” Dan says. “Roosevelt can speak honey bee.”

When Roberson first began working on the farm, he would transport bees across Texas to pollinate crops as far south as the Rio Grande Valley and as far north as the High Plains of Lubbock. Some farmers would benefit from the presence of the bees, and Roberson would reap the rewards in honey. Today, he sticks closer to home, overseeing the care of the colonies in the queen mating yards, and sometimes assisting two other beekeepers with other apiary activities.

“People hear that the bees are dwindling away, and they want to help,” says Roosevelt Roberson, who’s earned the nickname “King Bee.”

BeeWeaver owns roughly 3,500 hives scattered across Grimes County, the surrounding counties, and farther into Central Texas. The farm got its start with just 10 colonies in 1888, when Florence and Zachariah Weaver received them as a wedding present. Their son Roy decided to turn beekeeping into his primary occupation. He later passed the business along to his son, Binford, who in turn passed it to his son, Dan.

Dan has spearheaded new initiatives to select hardy, disease-resistant stock and utilize chemical-free approaches to warding off hive beetles and Varroa mites, which pose a threat to the colonies. Every year, BeeWeaver ships out thousands of its specially bred bees to customers around the country who are looking to start colonies of their own as a hobby, to pollinate crops, or to save bees. “People hear that the bees are dwindling away, and they want to help,” Roberson says. This spike in interest led Roberson to start offering tours and beekeeping classes at the farm three years ago, earning him the moniker “King Bee.”

From mid-February to early November, Roosevelt Roberson leads private and small-group beekeeping lessons and hosts hands-on hive experiences at BeeWeaver Honey Farm. According to BeeWeaver co-owner Laura Weaver, “his fast smile, ability to tell a story, and vast knowledge easily make him one of the best resources in Texas for anyone who wants to learn beekeeping.” The beginner lesson ($75 per person) teaches basic apiary skills and explains the equipment needed to start and maintain a colony. The in-hive experience ($75 for one ticket, $25 each for additional guest) allows visitors, under expert guidance, to experience the thrill of working a live hive.

In recent years, Dan and his wife and BeeWeaver co-owner, Laura Weaver, have continued to expand the farm’s offerings. In 2016, they converted a 1930s honey-packing building into an emporium and gift shop. BeeGoods Mercantile stocks honey-related products, including instructional books, soaps, bee-themed kitchen wares, and, of course, a wide variety of honeys. In 2019, the farm welcomed WildFlyer Mead Company, a tasting room launched in collaboration with mead-makers Jeff and Chelsea Murray. Customers can sample seasonal flavors of mead, made with fermented local fruit and BeeWeaver honey.

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Overall, the farm produces more than 50,000 pounds of honey each year, and that number is expected to grow to support the mead-making endeavor. The honey’s taste varies according to the kinds of nectar the bees consume. “Each plant, each flower, gives a different flavor,” Roberson explains. “I love the taste of clover honey. Years ago, we used to make lots of it around San Marcos. Now most of what we make in Texas is from wildflowers and yaupon. Horsemint is my favorite.”

Many types, both local and from around the world, can be sampled at the farm’s mercantile, along with infused and whipped varieties, some in unusual flavors like jalapeño and tiramisu. Although honey lends itself to a broad range of culinary possibilities, Roberson prefers to keep it simple, using pure honey to sweeten his oatmeal every morning. “Sometimes, I just spread it on toast,” he says. “Everything tastes better with honey on it.”

From the March 2020 issue