Wanda Lorena Hogan, 80, of Albany died Wednesday, April 22, 2020 in an Abilene hospital. Memorial services will be announced at a later date. Arrangements are by Bailey Howard Funeral Home of Clyde. 

Wanda was born Feb. 15, 1940 in Dalhart to Atas and Ruby (Grisham) Jones. Her family moved to Albany when she was a young girl, and she attended school in Albany. 

She married Thomas Wayne Hogan in Albany on Aug. 25, 1955. They owned and operated the Longhorn Restaurant for 20 plus years. She was a believer in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Stiles Dwaine Belcher, 82, of Knox City, Texas,  and formerly of Albany, died of dementia complications on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at an Abilene, Texas nursing home. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no visitation or services will be held. He was buried in the Albany Cemetery April 19.

By Donnie A. Lucas

School officials have been busy planning for the remainder of the school year following Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement last Friday that in-person classes are cancelled for the remainder of the year due to concerns over the Coronavirus COVID-19.

“We have been finalizing plans for the rest of the school year,” superintendent Jonathan Scott said. “There are still some things that are not decided or pending based on what the governor or the commissioner does later on.”

By Lynsi Musselman

The Academic Booster Club Facebook page is spotlighting seniors each day until graduation.

Tisha Wilkins is spearheading the project to recognize the members of Albany High School’s Senior Class of 2020. 

“This is something we can do to give our seniors some encouragement,” Wilkins said.

She said that each day a new senior is added to the page, with two seniors included on Tuesdays in order to get them all included by graduation, which is tentatively set for May 22.

By Lynsi Musselman

The School Health Advisor Council, also known as SHAC, has postponed its dance-a-thon until the 2020-2021 school year.

School nurse and SHAC coordinator Lisa Russell said students should keep turning in  funds collected to their teachers during weekly packet pick-up. The individual top fundraisers will be named when school reopens next year.

“I am disappointed, but the event will for sure happen, and there will be lots of fun activities,” Russell said.

By Lynsi Musselman

The recent announcement that school will stay closed for the remainder of the school year keeps the virtual classroom evolving.

Local teachers, along with students across the state, continue to face challenges with this new way of learning and finding innovative ways to keep students engaged.

Middle school and high school math teacher Rick Davis said he has two classes that meet through Zoom every day. 

Zoom is a cloud-based service with content sharing and conference capabilities.

By Lynsi Musselman

The Feed Store put a twist on prom this year for Albany youth.

Feed Store director of ministries Kathryn Hamilton said the Monday night challenge was a “prom-posal” with a tacky prom theme.

The challenge was to dress in tacky prom clothes and submit a photo to the Feed Store Instagram account. Winners were selected and announced during Merge Live.

The “prom-posal” King and Queen are siblings Addi Asher and Bryce Asher.

Hamilton said the youth Merge program has transitioned to Merge Live because of the quarantine. 

By Lynsi Musselman

With government restrictions to meet as a large group for National Day of Prayer, all Albany churches will open their doors for individual prayer on Thursday, May 7, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

First Baptist Church minister Jeff Turner said people can come and pray without having a large gathering. 

“Those wanting to pray can come and go,” Turner said. “They can visit any church or more than one church that day.” 

Trinity Episcopal Church this month observes the 110th anniversary of the charter as an official congregation. 

On April 21, 1910, the Diocese of Dallas granted a charter as a mission church to the Episcopalians of Albany. There had been a small Episcopal congregation here as far back as the 1870s.

The local church had planned a special observance of this anniversary for its regular worship service on April 26, but that has been postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 epidemic. On-site services are currently suspended until further notice.

By Lynsi Musselman

Parents who need to register their child in the Head Start program for the 2020-2021 school year  will need to pre-register online this year.

Parents of new and returning students must pre-register. This process is already underway. Parents can go to www.esc14.net/page/cyl_myheadstart%20application.com.  Required documents will be needed to fill out the pre-registration application. 

Region 14 will call all pre-registered applicants for an elgibility interview before an official enrollment packet is handed out.