Page 101 - San Angelo

He is what is known in French as a “bon vivant”; a person with refned taste; literally someone who lives well. He loves beautiful suits, shoes, art, good food, jazz music, fshing, traveling. But to hear stories from over the years, it’s clear that Ralph Powell’s primary love is people.

“The kids run up to me in the grocery store. ‘Mr. Powell, Mr. Powell!’ they say, and then hug me.” He grins, “Their parents don’t even know who I am or why their kids are talking to me.” The children know him from school. He originated an ROTC program at Blackshear Elementary and later, when Blackshear closed, at Fannin Elementary. “I had them all from 5th graders down to preschoolers,” he laughs. “Their principal couldn’t believe I was teaching ROTC to those little kids, but I did it. They needed it and they loved it. Sometimes I run into adults who say ‘Mr. Powell, you taught me so much that helped me in my life,’ and you just can’t imagine how that makes me feel – that I taught them something they could use.”

Ralph Powell loves his life and he loves San Angelo. “I was born here, I went to

school here, I joined the air force here, and I worked here. I retired from the post offce after 40 years. San Angelo has the best people anywhere.” The gentleman, still tall, dark, and handsome in his seventh decade, is meticulously dressed in a rich maroon suit with a mandarin collar. His perfectly coordinated patent-leather crocodile shoes shine at the bottom of his long legs. He said that he had been working in the yard, but he apparently knows just how to transform himself for a meeting at a bustling café.

“I have a great life. I love to travel and I love to cook and I have friends in every town in Texas. There isn’t a town in this state that I can’t drive in, take out my phone book, make a call and have a place to spend the night – Luling, Lockhart, Gonzales, Victoria. I know people in every town. I have just returned from a trip to Las Vegas and California. You just barely caught me.” He says, chuckling, “But I was ready to get home. I love San Angelo and the people here.”

Mr. Powell was born at home, in a house on 1st Street. His mother was a housewife and his father was a roustabout; a jack-of-all-trades.