Carl Edward Gardner (April 29, 1928 – June 12, 2011) was an American singer, best known as the foremost member and founder of The Coasters. Known for the 1958 song "Yakety Yak", which spent a week as number one on the Hot 100 pop list, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Forest D. Etheredge (October 21, 1929 – June 26, 2004) was an American educator and politician who served as a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from 1981 to 1993.
Charles Allan "Skeeter" Skelton (May 1, 1928, in Hereford, Texas – January 17, 1988, in El Paso, Texas) was an American lawman and firearms writer. After serving in the United States Marine Corps from 1945-46 he began a law enforcement career which included service with the United States Border Patrol, a term as Sheriff of Deaf Smith County, Texas, and investigator with both the US Customs Service and Special Agent in Charge with Drug Enforcement Administration. After his first nationally published article hit newsstands in September 1959, Skelton began writing part-time for firearms periodicals. In 1974 he retired from the DEA and concentrated full-time on his writing.
Charlotte Beers is an American businesswoman and former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs in the George W. Bush administration.Beers was the first female vice-president at the JWT advertising firm, then CEO of Tatham-Laird & Kudner until 1992, and finally CEO of Ogilvy & Mather until 1996. In 1997, Fortune magazine placed her on the cover of their first issue to feature the most powerful women in America, for her achievements in the advertising industry. In 1999, Beers received the "Legend in Leadership Award" from the Chief Executive Leadership Institute of the Yale School of Management. As an advertising executive, she ran a number of prominent ad campaigns for national brands including Uncle Ben’s rice and American Express.From October 2001 until March 2003, she worked in the Bush administration as the under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. While under secretary, Beers led the U.S. State Department's efforts to produce propaganda videos intending to sell a “new” America to Muslims around the world by showing that American Muslims were living happily and freely in post-9/11 America. The $15 million Shared Values Initiative produced five mini-documentaries for television, radio, and print with shared values messages for key Muslim countries. Less than a month after the release of the Shared Values Initiative, the State Department abruptly discontinued it.
Beers attended Baylor University and graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then called the University of Southwestern Louisiana, with a bachelor of science in liberal arts. She grew up in Beaumont, Texas.
William Ervin "Dick" Risenhoover Jr. (February 15, 1927 – April 8, 1978) was the sportscaster for the Texas Rangers from 1972 to 1977.
The Otwell Twins are an American singing duo made up of identical twin brothers Roger and David, born August 2, 1956, in Tulia, Texas. They are best known as members of The Lawrence Welk Show from 1977 to 1982.
Singing and playing the guitar since their days in junior high and in high school, the brothers joined the Welk organization in October 1977, after attending Lubbock Christian College and West Texas State University teaming up with fellow sibling act The Aldridge Sisters as the popular quartet of The Aldridge Sisters and the Otwell Twins, which was popular with viewers for the remainder of the Welk show's run [1].
Since then, the Otwells have performed in concerts, churches, special events as well as for wraparound segments for Welk show reruns on public television. Today, the brothers reside in Amarillo with their families. They are engaged in the petroleum and water filtration businesses.