Women’s History Month
Those red and white signs herald a grocery chain that has grown to more than 435 stores in Texas and Mexico since its founding in 1905 in the Hill Country.
Howard E. Butt is credited with launching the H-E-B empire, but the family’s first store was the creation of his mother.
Florence Butt was the mother of three young sons and wife of a pharmacist unable to work because of tuberculosis. She invested $60 to open C.C. Butt Grocery, named for her husband, on Main Street in Kerrville.
Howard took over the store in 1919 after he returned from World War I.
Worth Repeating
“Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”
—Sam Houston
A Positive Outcome
Italian physicist Alessandro Volta changed the world 225 years ago this month, when he announced his invention of the battery, though in those days it was called a pile.
By stacking alternating disks of zinc and silver (or copper and pewter) separated by paper or cloth soaked either in salt water or sodium hydroxide, Volta discovered he could produce an electric current.
After years of research, he announced this March 20, 1800, in a letter to the Royal Society of London.
Tooting His Horn
After playing in the marching band at Austin’s Anderson High School, Gil Askey went on to have a prolific career that included almost 25 years as a jazz trumpeter.
While he might not be a household name, Askey played with and—after arriving at Motown Records as musical director, producer, songwriter and arranger—contributed to the success of superstars Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, Temptations and Jackson 5.
Askey was born 100 years ago this month, March 9, 1925.
Birthday Candles For …
Texas women Eva Longoria and Sha’Carri Richardson celebrate milestone birthdays this month. Longoria, actress, producer and director, was born March 15, 1975, in Corpus Christi. Richardson, world champion and Olympic sprinter, was born March 25, 2000, in Dallas.
