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TYLE VOLUME 92, ISSUE 66: $2.00

20Healthc
are, R e
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creation
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& Fitne
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Highligh grow & prospe community.
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SPECIAL SECTION:
PROGRESS 2021
A look at local growth in
health care, recreation, fitness
STATE
BOUND
Martin’s Mill headed
to San Antonio
East Tex dedication to ou
service &
CHRIS
TUS
Mothe
Trinity Health
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France starts
System pter in
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INSIDE SPORTS
new cha atment
tre

Officials: Masks, distancing keep area flu activity low

can cer
cology
with On
te.
Institu
2 & 3C
Pages

BY COURTNEY STERN try behind Corpus Christi for the “It just rocked along at a low MICHAEL
cstern@news-journal.com week ending Feb. 27, the numbers level,” he said. CAVAZOS/
LONGVIEW
are still low. Louis Morgan Drug No. 4 phar- NEWS-JOURNAL
Masks, social distancing and Gregg County Health Authority macist and co-owner Shawn Sams Pharmacist
higher vaccination rates have kept Dr. Lewis Browne said flu activity said masks, social distancing and Shawn Sams
influenza levels low in the East and spread are not as bad this sea- general COVID-19 mitigation ef- of Louis
Texas area, officials say. son as in recent years, when it has forts have worked well for flu pre- Morgan Drug
Flu season typically lasts from spiked in the winter months. vention this season. No. 4 holds a
October to March. The Walgreens “I looked at (rates) last week, “I can count the number of Tami- flu vaccine on
Flu Index, which uses retain pre- and we were probably 10 times flu prescriptions I’ve seen come Thursday.
scription data for antiviral medi- higher, easily, last year,” Browne through on one hand,” Sams said.
cations to treat the flu, shows the said. “The numbers have been very “It has been several years since we
entire country at a low flu activity low.” had that experience. The last sev-
level. Browne said the flu rates re- eral (years) have been really se-
A l t h o u g h t h e Ty l e r- mained steadily low through the vere.”
Longview-Lufkin-Nacogdoches re- season with no real spike in De-
gion is listed second in the coun- cember through February. FLU >> PAGE 9A

City trees
Making It Happen committee
gives out
Tyler native, actress VirLinda Stanton reflects on life, accomplishments seedlings
BY ZAK WELLERMAN
zwellerman@tylerpaper.com

The city of Tyler Parks and

Recreation and Tyler Trees Com-
mittee handed out hundreds of
free tree seedlings on Saturday
morning to promote tree-plant-
ing and maintain East Texas’
wooded environment.
Tyler Trees Committee mem-
bers gave out seedlings at the
Christus Trinity Mother Frances
South Tyler location for roughly
three hours using a drive-thru
service.
Lesbia Avellan came with her
husband, Ramon, on Saturday to
pick up some free tree seedlings
after the winter storm last month
caused their trees to fall.
“We lost the trees in the back-
yard because of the snow and we
needed to get a new one,” she
said.
Ramon Avellan said his wife
loves to garden. She saw the
seedling giveaway event online
and wanted to come over for a
few trees.
The Tyler Trees Committee
began in 1989 after seeing the
ZAK WELLERMAN/ TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH loss of trees in Bergfeld Park,
Tyler native VirLinda Stanton holds the old road sign named in her honor, VirLinda Lane, while standing near the current sign. The and the committee membership
road is also known as County Road 310, located near Interstate 20 and Farm-to-Market Road 14 in Tyler. has since planted thousands of
trees at parks and schools.
Angela Bennis, city of Tyler
Editor’s note: This is the third would happen.
recreation manager, said the mis-
in a Black History Month story
series. “No matter where I went or what I did, I “I was self-driven, self-ded-
icated, motivated, you know,
sion of Tyler Trees Committee is
to get people to plant more trees.
BY RAQUEL TORRES always spoke about my hometown Tyler. because a lot of people at that
time told me, ‘You can’t do this
Arbor Gen donated the seed-
lings for the committee members
rtorres@tylerpaper.com and you can’t do that,’” Stanton
Even in all of my interviews, I spoke of and volunteers to give away to

S
said. “Because of who I was
interested Tyler residents. The
he was a 5-year-old girl and where I am, I didn’t under-
living on a farm, like Tyler. When I came home, I came to Tyler. stand that. But I said, ‘Well my
donated seedlings totaled 1,500,
including nine different species
a kid in a candy store. God said I can be whatever I
She would spend her I would always be involved in different want to be and you cannot tell
of trees.
“Tyler is growing, and the
days helping grandma and day- me what I can’t be.’”
dreaming about becoming a
famous entertainer when she
things in Tyler. I didn’t leave home and According to Stanton, from
that moment on, whatever she
more we grow the more trees
get cut down,” Bennis said. “The
grew up. Between running
around in the yard, doing back-
forget about home. Because home, that set her mind to do, that’s what
she did.
more trees we can plant, we can
add to our urban forest.”
flips and climbing trees, the
then-tomboy girl never saw it
is where I was shaped and molded.” After she graduated from
John Tyler High School (now
TREES >> PAGE 9A
coming — the life she had al- Tyler High) in 1982, she moved
ways dreamed of. mother took her to church This is when her passion for to Dallas.
After she was born in Los choir rehearsal. While there, singing and entertaining grew. “In 1982, I didn’t see my fu-
Angeles, VirLinda Stanton the pianist asked 9-year-old “I said I want to be a famous ture in Tyler. There was noth-
came to Tyler at age 5 to live on Stanton if she could sing. She singer, I want to be a famous ing in Tyler that could help
her great-grandmother’s farm only sang around the house, so entertainer. I love to dance me get where I needed to be.
where she would be raised. Her she said she could. The pianist and sing, so I wanted to do it There were no performing arts
grandmother always instilled commanded her to sing along all. When I watched plays and schools and things of that sort,
the word of God into her and with her. movies, I wanted to be in a play and I didn’t have the finances
took her to church often. “When we got a little fur- and I wanted to be on TV,” she for any of that anyways, so
ZAK WELLERMAN/
“She would say, ‘Let God ther in the song, out came this said. I wanted to start fresh and I TYLER MORNING TELEGRAPH
use you. God is going to use amazing voice that I didn’t even Ultimately, all she ever wanted to find my way,” Stan- Paula Tate, Tyler Trees Commit-
you and you need to be a great know that I had. I was like, ‘Oh wanted to do was sing and be a ton said. tee member and UT Tyler direc-
young woman.’ She made sure wow,’” Stanton said. famous star. When Stanton told So Stanton worked a regular tor of environmental health and
I had a good spiritual base in From that point on, Stanton her grandmother, she said that 9-to-5 job in Dallas. Through- safety, gathers tree seedlings
my life growing up,” Stanton was placed in the young adult if that’s what Stanton wanted out that time, she was meeting at the Tyler Trees Committee’s
said. choir with teenagers, where to do, to just ask God and he
STANTON >> PAGE 9A giveaway on Saturday morning
One day, Stanton’s grand- she began to lead many songs. will provide, and that’s what at Christus Mother Frances Hos-
pital South Tyler location.

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