Four outstanding Athens ISD luminaries were inducted as Distinguished Alumni April 25 before an adoring crowd at the Athens Country Club. Well over 100 people cheered to see the four Hornet favorites take the stage one by one: Lee Edward Bush, class of 1960; Milburn Chaney, class of 1960; Dr. Katrina Glover, class of 1988; and Rita Curington, Athens High School teacher from 1980 to 2011.
“This is, without a doubt, one of the most important evenings of the school year,” said AISD Superintendent Dr. Janie Sims. “Our district is blessed by an abundance of excellence, past and present. It’s an honor to celebrate those who have set the bar high.”
Lee Bush
Lee Edward Bush was born in Mobile, Alabama, on Aug. 16, 1942, to Charles “CT” and Rosalie “Rose” Bush. His family moved to Athens in 1945, where CT purchased a grocery store and renamed it Bush Grocery. Not long after, he opened a second location: Bush Supermarket. C.T. would eventually sell the stores, but his entrepreneurial spirit led to the establishment of several business ventures, such as Oaklawn Memorial Park, Red Dot Buildings, Dogwood Estates Subdivision and Water Company, Southwood Subdivision, and Redbird Construction Company, which notably built the Cain Center.
In high school, Lee — or Lee Edward as everyone knew him — excelled academically, making the A honor roll. After graduating Athens High School in 1960, he went to Baylor University where he met Susan West. This August they will have been married for 60 years.
With his bachelor of business administration degree in economics and finance, Lee headed back to Athens where he was hired at Red Dot on a probationary basis doing manual labor for minimum wage. Six months later, Lee was moved into sales and, many years later, would take over ownership.
In 1966, Lee and Susan welcomed twin boys, Ted and Tod, into the world. Ted began his career at Red Dot in 1994 and is now a third-generation owner and its president, overseeing 250 employees and an enterprise that has overseen hundreds of millions in projects nationally in its 60-plus years. Tod, who passed away in 2016, spent 14 years as a lawyer with the Dallas District Attorney’s office before joining Red Dot in 2007 to oversee a program focused on both domestic and international aid work. This effort included empowering employees to do mission work in countries around the world, particularly working with orphaned children in Africa, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe.
For Lee, this mindset is simply part of the Bush family legacy. “My dad taught me that generosity does not begin with abundance; generosity begins with faith.” That same faith led Lee and Susan on a mission trip to Russia in 1997 where they visited a Buckner-supported orphanage and met 8- and 10-year-old sisters Yana and Yulia. In October of 1997, only five months after meeting the girls, Lee and Susan adopted them. Their sons were 31.
With obedience as a central tenant to their lives, Lee and Susan established a family trust and have continued to say yes — yes to funding Family Hope Centers and home building projects in the Rio Grande valley; yes to funding schools and wells and crisis outreach services in Ethiopia and other developing countries; yes to helping begin a Young Life program in Athens over 50 years ago and continuing Young Life support nationwide, yes to establishing scholarships at several Christian colleges and seminaries, yes to a lifetime of serving on boards and committees and civic organizations in Athens and elsewhere.
“In Jesus' sermon, he says, ‘Let your light shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven,’ That’s what it’s all about,” said Lee. “We must be a beacon of light so God can be glorified.”
Milburn Chaney
Milburn Chaney was born in Athens, Texas, on June 29, 1942, to Paul and Evelyn Chaney. A self-described “little-bitty squirt,” Milburn didn’t play football, but loved the sport. And while the gridiron may have been a bit too risky, he spent plenty of time on the baseball diamond, starting as a young boy and continuing through his days at Athens High School, where he played right field.
“Back in that day, there would be a thousand people show up to watch us play a game,” he said.
As Milburn approached graduation in 1960, his best friend suggested they enlist in the Army together under the Buddy Program, which would allow them to stay together as they served.
“We went to take a physical. Well, he failed, and I had to go by myself,” said Milburn, who found himself in boot camp the day his classmates were turning their tassels back in Athens. The Army trained him to climb utility poles. But after about a year, since the buddy plan didn’t go as planned, Milburn was sent home to Athens, and served for the next six years as a member of the National Guard.
His training as a pole climber led to a job with Gulf States Phone Company, where he met a coworker named Joyce Hudnall. The two married in 1963 and had a son, Darren. In 1966, Joyce died in a car wreck. Devastated and with a toddler to raise, Milburn moved home to Athens and went to work for Goodyear Tire in Athens. He also leaned into his love of football and decided to try his hand at officiating the game.
Over his 55 years as a sports official, Milburn called countless high school and junior college games, running up and down the fields of probably every stadium in Texas.
It was because of a football game in December of 1967 that Milburn met his future wife, Bonni Farmer. They married in 1968 and a few years later, their daughter, Jill, was born. This June, the couple will have been married 56 years.
When the local Goodyear closed in the early ’70s, Milburn and a partner opened Athens Tire & Appliance, which had a solid decade-long run before closing in the mid-’80s. In 1988, Milburn filed to run for Henderson County tax assessor-collector. It was a four-way race which led to a run-off between himself and the incumbent. Milburn prevailed and took office in 1989, serving six and a half terms over 26 years.
“I loved that job,” he said. “I just enjoyed helping people, serving people. I’d volunteer to put their sticker or their license plates on if they needed it. To me, it was just what I should be doing.”
Over the years, Milburn has coached basketball teams, volunteered at the Athens Thrift Store, served as an elementary school lunch buddy, served on the board of directors for the Athens Municipal Water Authority board, the Henderson County Humane Society, and the Texas Baptist Home for Children in Waxahachie – which included sponsoring children and hosting them at home – as well as being in the Kiwanis Club, and delivering for Meals on Wheels. He was named 2017 Athens Citizen of the Year and served for six months in 2020 as Precinct 4 interim commissioner. At 81, Milburn works for the county, driving a Precinct 4 pothole patch truck three days a week.
“When I was tax assessor, every day, I would ask the Lord to send me somebody I could help,” said Milburn. “And you know what, just about every day, someone would show up.”
Katrina Glover
Katrina Yvonne Glover was born in Athens, Texas, on March 12, 1970, to John and JoAnn Glover. Her father and mother were both outstanding educators who dedicated the bulk of their professional lives to service at Athens ISD.
Katrina describes her childhood self with gentle good humor as “a very mischievous, nerdy kid who liked books and learning.” While others spent their summers outdoors, Katrina was most often found inside a book, or in her “chemistry laboratory” — which was also known as her grandmother, Johnnie Blanton’s, bathroom.
The Glovers’ expectation of their only child was simple but profound: be a good person, know your purpose and serve.
“Where I am and the path I’ve taken in life is God’s choice for me,” she said. “If there was a choice to be made, it was a choice for obedience. … He surrounded me with people who gave me the strength and endurance to go through this journey, and real-life examples of what it’s like to walk with someone facing cancer.”
By the time Katrina was in high school, she was determined to get to medical school. “High school was hard,” she said. “I put pressure on myself.” She played alto sax in band, competed in UIL academics and spent her time with a core group of friends. After graduating Athens High School in 1988, she went directly to Baylor University in Waco.
Despite initial challenges, Katrina was more than prepared academically. Even the challenges gave her the grit she needed to keep pushing forward, especially at a time when being a woman in the sciences was even more fraught than it continues to be today. “When things got hard, my mother asked me, ‘Do you know who you are?’ And I did.”
Katrina graduated from Baylor in 1992 with a bachelor of arts in biology and spent the next four years at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Near the end of medical school, she decided on oncology as her specialty.
Katrina spent three years of residency at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and a fourth year there as chief resident. Then it was on to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for a three-year fellowship in hematology/oncology. Katrina was hired directly out of her fellowship and spent another five years there as a faculty member in GI medical oncology with an adjunct faculty position at Memorial Hermann Health System.
Eventually, feeling the need to be closer to home, she took a position at what is now UT Health East Texas Hope Cancer Center, where she is now in her fourteenth year. She is an associate professor of medicine in the division of oncology and spends the rest of her time in patient care treating oncology and hematology.
“I look at all my patients like they’re a family member,” she said. “I give them honesty and respect.”
In December of 2011, Katrina adopted her beloved daughter, Jillian. She describes her “sassy, mischievous” 12-year-old without hesitation as “the greatest gift, above anything else, I have received in life.”
“No matter what the day brings,” she said, “I look forward to seeing her.”
Rita Curington
Rita Sue Redden was born in Corsicana, Texas, on July 23, 1945, to Henry and Hazel Redden.
Her parents emphasized academics, and Rita was a standout student who envisioned life as an educator from an early age. In addition to developing a love for poetry and literature in high school, she was first chair clarinet in band, competed in debate, performed in theater productions, and sang alto in the select acapella choir.
Upon graduating from Corsicana High School in 1963, she enrolled at Navarro College. In December of her freshman year, after playing Annie Sullivan in “The Miracle Worker,” Rita saw an ad in the school newspaper inviting students to apply to work in the Texas Pavilion at the World’s Fair in New York City. She was hired and worked there from April to August of 1964 while continuing to take correspondence classes.
“It opened my eyes at 18 to the world,” she said.
In May of 1965, she graduated from Navarro College and married fellow church congregant and former high school classmate James Curington. This May will mark their 59th wedding anniversary.
In 1967, Rita earned a bachelor’s of science in education from North Texas State University in Denton. That same year, she and James welcomed their firstborn child, Trey, followed a few years later by Chris, and then Julie.
Rita began her teaching career in Corsicana in 1968. In 1980, after a few moves and teaching positions in Malakoff and Brownsboro, she was hired to teach language arts at Athens High School. There she remained for 31 years, retiring in 2011.
“I loved teaching,” she said. “I wanted to influence my students to appreciate poetry and literature. To see them start to like it and then to really get into it — I loved that.”
Her influence was felt throughout the campus. Rita was student council sponsor, senior class sponsor, and a UIL sponsor. In the late ’80s she re-introduced the bell guard at the high school, and in 1991 found a new victory bell to replace the cracked one, going so far as to paint it herself. She was twice named Teacher of the Year.
On the civic front Rita has contributed to multiple organizations, such as the Henderson County Library Board, Athens Public Education Foundation, Angel Keepers Board of Directors, Henderson County Retired School Personnel and Delta Kappa Gamma Society of Women Educators.
In 1996, with the birth of her first grandchild, Rita started The Bradley Street Fourth of July Parade, named for the street she and James lived on at the time. It started with a few dozen neighborhood participants and continues to this day, averaging about 200 people.
Perhaps the most apt description of Rita came from her son, Trey, who passed away in 2021. In a birthday tribute, he described his mother as a “woman who could quote a Shakespeare sonnet with the passion of Laurence Olivier [and] hit two home runs out of the park at the Little League Mom’s game. … Go figure. She’s one of a kind.”