Class of 1960–1969 Alumni • Life Stories • Hall of Fame
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DOMINGUEZ, John
– Dominguez- My Real Life
(John lives in Dalton, Massachusetts with his wife Martha)
John Wiliam
(Billy) Dominguez:
As I make my
83rd trip around
the sun, I’d like to tell you about my life story.
I grew up on the dead-end part of Howard St bordered by
Comanche and 19th St., and Southgate Elementary School and Ben Garza
Park in Corpus Christi. Our family consisted of 5 brothers, and 2 sisters plus
our parents and we all lived in this shotgun house common in the day. My
grandfather was my role model early on.
SCHOOL IN 1950 -
We spoke Spanish at home and I had to learn English the hard
way, my older sister was 5 years ahead of me and helped me figure things out.
Home life was happy most of the time but it was really tough
financially due to my father’s drinking, nowadays they would call it PTSD from
World War II (WWll). Things were tough and we did whatever we had to do to
survive. Early in my life, I learned how to turn on utilities that had been
turned off for non-payment. Growing up, I learned to shine shoes, sell
newspapers, collect bottles & looked for scrap metal. My brothers and I
picked cotton one summer, and this was one of the hardest things we ever did.
Cleaning offices and doing janitor work alongside our neighbor was not too
bad. I used to work in the summer so
that I could save money to buy clothes for school. We learned to caddy at the
country club and played our version of golf hitting balls in the park. I still
play golf to this day.
I left home in 1962 shortly after graduation from Roy Miller when I joined the U.S. Air
Force to see the world. Following basic training in Lackland AFB, San Antonio
I attended Electronics training, on Airborne Radar Navigation equipment, in
Biloxi, Mississippi. My first assignment was at Dyess AFB, Abilene, TX followed
by assignment to RAF Mildenhall, England from 1964-67. Got to travel all over
the UK & Europe while I was stationed there. Married first wife Trude in
1967. Next duty station was at Undergraduate Pilot Training Base Craig, AFB in
Selma, Alabama from 1967-1970, which was during the days of the Civil Rights
movement.
I got to see how people were treated just because of the
color of their skin. I was assigned as a member of a permanent funeral detail.
I noticed something significant - most of the services were for young black and
poor white young men being killed in Vietnam. This assignment changed my view
of life so immensely that when I got orders to Viet Nam in 1969, I declined and
was told I could not stay in the military.
When I was discharged, my wife and I stayed in Selma until
1973 when I graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Electrical
Engineering. I went to work for GE Ordnance Systems in western Massachusetts as
a field engineer working on Navy Nuclear Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Fire
Control systems. Did this for 12 years where I worked in Naval shipyards on
both coasts, we also spent 2 years in Rota, Spain, 1977-79. Came back to home
office in 1985 and stayed there working behind a desk.
My German wife Trude whom I had married in England passed
away in 2002. I married my current wife, Martha in 2003. She was an insurance
underwriter from Weathersfield, CT. We currently live in the small quiet town
of Dalton Massachusetts. In 2004, we both took early retirement - the first
thing we did was travel to England, visit friends, and Martha’s ancestral roots
at a place called Horsmonden near London.
We traveled to Spain in 2007 but didn’t get to do everything we wanted
to cram in the short time we were there. Promised to go back but haven’t made
it. I also always planned to go back to Corpus but like they say once you see
the world it’s hard to go back home. I don’t regret anything I have done in my
life.
In 2010, I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary
Fibrosis (IPF) a progressive disease that causes scarring of the lungs
making it hard to breathe. There is no cure but I had a single lung transplant
in 2016 to allow me to live with some limitations. My brother Rocky had the
same disease and had 2 single lung transplants and a kidney transplant. The VA
said his health problems were likely from exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Mine was “cause unknown” but it was probably from environmental exposure. Sadly,
Rocky passed away in 2021 from COVID complications.
I attended the Alavardo Music Academy at age of 9 yrs old, I was in the beginners class & Freddy age 15, was in the Advance class. Later I played with his Orchestra 9th grade Wynn Seale Jr. High, he also attend Wynn Seale, until my first year at Del Mar College.
Freddie & I have been friends
since 1954 during Vietnam he kept up with me and after Vietnam he had me on his
radio program on KCCT AM Radio, his orchestra played at my wedding at the
Memorial Coliseum as well as Carlos Fuzman with Ram Y Los Impalas....and
continue until today.
L to R: Guitar - Jimmy Rodriguez Taft; Tenor Sax - Alex Lopez & Ram Chavez
Miller; Alto Sax - Alfred Cortinas
Taft; Trumpet - Raul Orleans &
Freddie Martinez both Miller; Bass -
Simon Gonzales; Drums - Johnny Zepeda
Miller. In 1970 Ram Y Los Impalas
recorded an LP for Bernal Records with Carlos Guzman. This photo was at a
convention dance at the LA Quinta downtown Hotel 1962
⚓ HALL OF SLICES OF LIFE — BEN
CULBERSON ⚓
Some people become part of a school not because of titles,
degrees, or fame — but because generation after generation of students simply
could not imagine the school without them.
Such appears to have been the case with Ben Culberson.
Today, very little official information about Ben survives.
No long biography has been found. No list of achievements. No formal record of
his position at Corpus Christi High School or later Roy Miller High School. Yet
the old yearbooks tell a remarkable story all their own.
From 1947 through 1951, Ben appeared repeatedly throughout
the Buccaneer Football Sections of the Duffle Bag. Sometimes he was shown
working quietly behind the scenes — washing towels, helping around the field
house, and supporting the team in the everyday ways that often go unnoticed.
Other times he appeared standing proudly on the sidelines among the Buccaneers
themselves.
And perhaps most revealing of all — the yearbooks referred
to him simply as “Ben.”
No explanation needed.
The students already knew who he was.
In 1951, the Roy Miller Duffle Bag yearbook was dedicated
entirely to Ben Culberson. The dedication described him as “a definite link
between C.C.H.S. and Roy Miller High.” Students remembered him speaking at pep
rallies, supporting the football program faithfully, and even allowing players
to rub his bald head before games for good luck.
Ben lived and worked during segregated times in Corpus
Christi and America. Yet generation after generation of Buccaneers clearly
remembered him with affection, respect, and gratitude. Though he may never have
held a formal title or public recognition, the students themselves made sure
Ben became part of Buccaneer history.
Sometimes the heart of a school is found not only in its
stars, coaches, or trophies — but in the quiet individuals who showed up every
day and became part of the soul of the place itself.
Ben Culberson was one of those people.
We are not aware that any formal tributes were ever offered
to Ben, and as time passed, his story slowly faded from memory. Yet through the
pages of the old Duffle Bags, the Buccaneers themselves made certain that “Ben”
would not entirely be forgotten ⚓
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