COUNTY LIFE
‘Mr. V’ excited to see little kid’s excitement in coming to school
By BARBARA GREEN
For Steven Valkenaar his career in the classroom almost became a career in an operating room as he was on the path to medical school.
“Mr. V,” as the students call him is the new Bowie Elementary School principal.
Valkenaar, 32, hails from Chicago, IL, but he grew up in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford area after his father was transferred to Dallas working for Santa Fe Railroad. They spent the first year in Texas at Arlington, but then moved to Hurst, where his parents still reside. He is a graduate of L.D. Bell High School in 2002.
The young man was considering a medical career either as an orthopedic surgeon or anesthesiologist. He earned his bachelor of science degree in exercise science from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2007.
Valkenaar and his wife, Britini, who were married in 2006, learned they were going to have a baby, so they decided years of medical school and education loans was not what they wanted.
Read the full story on the new principal in your weekend News.
Sister Act Connection won the first place business float in the Fantasy of Lights Christmas Parade. See all the winners in your weekend Bowie News. (Photos by Jordan Neal and Justyne Roller)
It’s once more time for “Soup’er Sunday” on Dec. 15.
Come choose from delicious homemade soups and dessert at noon in the the Bowie First Methodist Church on Dec. 15 following the worship service.
Enjoy good fellowship and help to raise money for the Bowie First Methodist Outreach. The cost of admission to “Soup’er Sunday” is a donation of your choice.
Take a moment this Saturday to remember Bowie area veterans by placing a live Christmas wreath on their graves.
The Wreaths Across America ceremony will be at 11 a.m. on Dec. 14 at the Elmwood Cemetery flag pole. Hosted by the Amity Club citizens and families are invited to help place some 740 wreaths.
There will be a brief ceremony with area veteran John M. McCoy Jr., the guest speaker. McCoy went into the army on Sept. 17, 1967, 25 years to the day his father, John Sr., went into the army on Sept. 17, 1942. Born in Dublin, TX on March 27, 1947, this veteran’s father was 103 years old on Nov. 24, 2024 and is currently living with his family here in Bowie.
McCoy followed in his father’s footsteps in the Signal Corps and spent 13 months in Korea including a couple of months in a Hawk Missile Battery near Inchon and the balance in the 9th Infantry Battalion (2nd Infantry Division) in the Demilitarized Zone as a mortar platoon leader and communications sergeant. McCoy then served one year at Fort Sill, OK before being honorably discharged on Sept. 18, 1970.
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