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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Members of the Sour Lake community are mourning the |
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loss of one of their own with the passing of former mayor and |
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longtime barber David Payne on March 17, 2013, at the age of 68; and |
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WHEREAS, Born on October 11, 1944, in Saratoga to Helen |
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Lorraine Brackin Payne and Alfred Taylor Payne, David Payne began |
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cutting hair in 1964 at a small barbershop in downtown Sour Lake; |
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the shop had been in business since the year he was born and was |
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known among residents as the first place in Sour Lake to have |
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air-conditioning; Mr. Payne became its sole owner in 1970; and |
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WHEREAS, Payne's Barbershop was a popular meeting place, |
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where any number of people could be found holding forth on all |
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manner of subjects; Mr. Payne himself acknowledged his key role in |
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Sour Lake with the wry comment "a good barber is a psychologist, a |
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psychiatrist, a marriage counselor, and a bartender," and evidence |
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of the high regard in which he was held was provided when he was |
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elected mayor in 1981 as a write-in candidate; and |
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WHEREAS, Mr. Payne further contributed to his fellow |
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citizens as acting chief of the town's volunteer fire department, |
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as president of the Lions Club, and as a Mason; and |
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WHEREAS, In all of his endeavors, this esteemed Texan enjoyed |
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the love and support of his wife, Karen, and his children, Michael |
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and Kasie, and he was the proud grandfather of four; and |
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WHEREAS, Though he joked that he took up his trade because he |
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was "too lazy to work and too cautious for a life of crime," David |
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Payne served as more than just a barber; while cutting hair and |
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passing the time with his friends and neighbors, he created a space |
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for camaraderie and the free exchange of ideas and fostered a sense |
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of community that represents the best of America's small towns; |
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now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
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Legislature hereby pay tribute to the life of David Payne and extend |
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sincere sympathy to the members of his family: to his wife, Karen |
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Payne; to his children, Michael Payne and his wife, Angie Denise, |
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and Kasie Kibodeaux and her husband, Lewis; to his sister, Roxie |
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Fregia, and her husband, Rockey; to his grandchildren, Jennifer |
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Noack, Bryttan Noack, Cameron Blake, and Kayley Brooke Payne; and |
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to his other relatives and many friends; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
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prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of |
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Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of David |
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Payne. |