Brig. Gen. Edmund Walker, chief of operations for NATO forces in Afghanistan, is one of 10 Dobie High School graduates, including PayPal co-founder Ken Howery and two-time Olympic gold-medalist Christa Williams, chosen for induction in the school's new Hall of Honor.

THE INDUCTEES
ALUMNI

  EDMUND WALKER
  Class of 1974
  Armed Services 
Now a brigadier general and a 35-year Air Force veteran, Walker serves as the chief of operations for the NATO's Combined Joint Staff in Kabul, Afghanistan. Brig. Gen. Walker is tasked with coordinating operations to fight insurgent forces and provide assistance to Afghani security forces. After graduating from Texas A&M in 1978, he served as a pilot and flight instructor for the A-10 and other aircraft. His first command assignment came in 2001 when he took charge of the 47th Fighter Squadron at Barksdale Air Force Base. Promoted to brigadier general in 2010, he received his first joint assignment, taking charge of the Allied Force Command's coordination center in Madrid, Spain. He was named to his current assignment in Afghanistan in January of 2012.

  MARY CAMPBELL
  Class of 1976
  Medicine 
The legacy of Dobie graduates giving back to the South Belt community may be best exemplified by Mary Campbell, now Dr. Mary Campbell-Fox, one of the best known family physicians in the area. Through her work at Campbell Family Practice and Internal Medicine Association, she has provided primary and surgical care to hundreds of South Belt families. A graduate of the University of Houston and the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, she returned to the South Belt community in 1990 to start her own practice. In 1998, she was named physician of the year in the Memorial Hospital System. In 2003, she was named chief of staff of Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital. She is a past recipient of San Jacinto College South's Trailblazer Award for Women's History. She was honored as the Pasadena ISD's Distinguished Alumnus for 2006.

  CHRIS CONNEALY
  Class of 1977
  Public Administration 
A veteran firefighter who rose to the rank of fire chief for the City of Houston, Connealy has served as Texas fire marshal since June of 2012. Connealy joined the Houston Fire Department shortly after earning his associate degree from San Jacinto College in 1978. He was appointed assistant fire chief in 1998, interim chief in 2000 and fire chief the following year. With a mayoral change at city hall and several municipal funding problems still unresolved, he resigned in 2004. Soon after, he accepted the position of fire chief in Cedar Park, Texas. He held that position for eight years before his appointment as state fire marshal. A graduate of Western Illinois, Connealy earned his master's degree in fire administration from Grand Canyon University and completed a program offered by Harvard in public administration. He served three years as chairman of the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. He also serves as an adjunct instructor.

  DINA JACKSON
  Class of 1981
  Dentistry
Jackson, now Dr. Dina Jackson-Giesler, is regarded as one of the nation's leading authorities on cosmetic dentistry. She earned the designation of "Master Dentist" by the Academy of General Dentistry, placing her in the top one percent of dentists across the nation. A former colonel of the Dobie drill team, she graduated from the University of Texas Dental School and did hospital residency work at the Oklahoma Medical Center. She opened her own practice in Texas before relocating to Atlanta. Dr. Jackson-Giesler serves on the board of the Georgia Academy of General Dentistry and is a past board member of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. In 2007, she was named recipient of the academy's first Humanitarian Award. She is the founder of the Atlanta Smiles Foundation, which provides free dental services to victims of domestic abuse.

  MARK CHASSAY
  Class of 1984
  Medicine
Dr. Chassay's relationship with Longhorns has never wavered. The president of his senior class at Dobie and a co-valedictorian, he enrolled at the University of Texas, graduated from the UT Medical School and for the past 17 years has provided physician services for UT athletics. In 1996, he was named team physician for women's athletics at the school. Nine years later, he was promoted to head team physician for all intercollegiate athletics. Just last year, he was appointed deputy executive commissioner at Texas Health and Human Services for the Office of Health Policy and Clinical Services. He maintains his association with UT athletics as assistant team physician. Ten years ago, Dr. Chassay co-founded Texas Sports and Family Medicine. A volunteer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, he has served as a medical officer for numerous athletic endeavors, including the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

  BOBBY BURTON
  Class of 1987
  Sports Journalism / Publishing
Recognized as one of the foremost authorities on college football recruiting over the past two decades, Burton parlayed his interest on the topic into one of the influential information services in sports. In 2001, he spear-headed a group that acquired Rivals.com, then a struggling recruiting service. Burton helped transform the company into a multi-million-dollar enterprise with more than 150,000 subscribers, two million monthly on-line viewers and more than 250 employees. In 2007, Burton and his partners sold Rivals.com to Yahoo! Sports for a reported $98 million. Years before launching Rivals.com, Burton established the National Recruiting Advisor, serving as a one-man staff. In 2000, the publication's success earned him the mantle of the 88th most powerful person in sports by The Sporting News. A regular guest on TV and sports talk shows, Burton also serves as a consultation for Parade magazine's high school All-America selections.

  KEN HOWERY
  Class of 1994
  Technology / Venture Capital
The valedictorian of his Dobie graduating class, Howery armed himself with a degree in economics from Stanford before making investment history as one of the most acclaimed venture capitalists in the country. Barely a year out of Stanford, Howery helped launch PayPal, the global e-commerce company, now a subsidiary of eBay. He served as PayPal's first chief financial officer, departing in 2002 to help launch Founders Fund, a $275 million venture capital firm with over 100 company start-ups. Founders Fund projects have included such well-known names as Facebook, SolarCity, SpaceX and ZocDoc. Howery assisted his PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel, on an investment plan that made Thiel the first outside investor in Facebook. Thiel eventually sold his Facebook holdings for $1 billion. Howery's investment acumen has made him the subject of stories in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Fortune. Picked as the keynote speaker for the Harvard Business School's recent entrepreneurship conference, Howery has also been honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and as one of the top 10 venture capitalists under 36 by the Venture Capital Journal. He is a founding advisor to Kiva.org, which uses web resources to raise money in the fight against poverty. He also sits on the board of directors of The Explorers Club, a non-profit group that promotes scientific exploration.

  CHRISTA WILLIAMS
  Class of 1996
  Athletics
Quickly rising to the ranks of one of the nation's top softball pitchers, Williams won two Olympic gold medals before the age of 23. Just after her graduation from Dobie, she became the youngest player named to the USA softball team for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Still, she pitched in two games, struck out 15 batters and won both contests. In the 2000 Sydney Games, she pitched in four games, winning two and saving two others. Her Olympic statistics were sterling: 24 2/3 innings with 38 strikeouts, four victories, two saves and no losses. Now the head softball coach at Manvel High School, Williams is best remembered in the South Belt area for helping lead Dobie to state titles her freshman and junior years. She was named a college All-American three times, once at UCLA and twice at the University of Texas. She owns nearly dozen gold medals for contributions to various world championship teams. In 2007, she was named to UT's Women's Hall of Honor.

FALLEN HEROES

  WALTER McRAE JR.
  Class of 1972
A 23-year Army veteran who rose to the rank of first sergeant in Special Forces, McRae passed away in June of 2011 from health issues stemming from his service to the country during Operation Desert Storm. Known as Walt, he left the military with numerous decorations, including the Bronze Star, earned for extraordinary heroism in ground combat during the liberation of Kuwait. He later opened a truck accessories business in Temple and relished his time spent underwater. A, expert avid diver and scuba instructor, he logged over 1,000 hours of diving all over the world. McRea closed his business and retired in 2010.

  CHRIS WILLIAMS
  Class of 1984
A West Point graduate and Army captain, Williams was killed on July 18, 1995, when a 500-pound bomb was accidently dropped on an observation post where he was monitoring troop exercises at Fort Sill. His death deeply saddened the South Belt community, where Williams had grown up. He attended Stuchbery Elementary and Thompson Intermediate before enrolling at Dobie. Voted the prestigious honor of Mr. J. Frank Dobie his senior year, he was accepted to West Point, where he affectionately known as Willy. At graduation, Williams was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the field artillery branch. He served in combat during Operation Desert Storm and then as a platoon leader at Fort Sill. He assumed command of A Battery, 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery in July of 1994, a year before his death. In his honor, the Christopher E. Williams Memorial Leadership Scholarship is awarded each year to a Dobie senior who demonstrates high achievement and a personal concern for others.

FACULTY / STAFF

  RICHARD GOLENKO
The guiding force behind Dobie's two national championships in Academic Decathlon, Golenko retired in 2007 after a 35-year career as a high school teacher, all of it at Dobie. He arrived at the school in 1972, just four years after it opened, and taught Latin, sociology, world geography and various American history courses. His Latin teams piled up 18 state championships over the years. His coaching efforts in Academic Decathlon struck gold in 1992 and again in 1996 when his teams won national titles. Four times his teams won state championships. He was named Dobie's teacher of the year twice and in 2006 was honored as the Pasadena ISD teacher of the year. Even in retirement, Golenko reeled in a prestigious national honor. Last year he was named recipient of the Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher of the Year Award by the Kennedy Center in Washington.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS

  GILBERT AGUILAR
To hundreds of Dobie students and South Belt residents, Aguilar stands as rainbow of hope and a fountain of generosity. For 20 years, he has reached out to assist struggling students and helped improve the socialization skills of Spanish-speaking residents. A retired Coast Guard lieutenant commander with 28 years of service, Aguilar refused to let a service-related disability slow him down. He earned a degree from the University of Houston and then followed the lead of his wife, Helen, a school volunteer. Since 1994, he has been an almost daily fixture at Dobie. He has assisted ESL and special education programs, provided tutoring and counseled at-risk students. He established English-improvement classes for Dobie staff workers. And when parents of immigrant students sought similar help, Aguilar arranged classes at a local library. A former Pasadena ISD's Distinguished Citizen, he was named recipient of the Texas Heroes for Children Award in 2001.

  The REV. EMORY GADD
The associate pastor of Sagemont Church, Gadd has been an integral part of campus life at Dobie for the past 40 years. Tirelessly and graciously, he has answered the call in a multitude of roles: from motivational speaker, to mentor, to event organizer, to football statistician -- to tasks both complex and basic, including that of a caring friend during a time of need. He has served on the governing boards of the South Belt-Ellington Chamber of Commerce and the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation, and has been honored as citizen of the year by both groups. He was instrumental in successful campaigns to pass school bond issues and remains a supporter of initiatives and activities at San Jacinto College. Both of his alma maters - South Houston High School and Houston Baptist University - have recognized him as a distinguished alumnus. He has also served on the Pasadena ISD Health Advisory Council and on the Dobie Campus Improvement Team.

Dobie graduates flip their lids at the conclusion of their graduation ceremony.

History teacher Bob Daugherty leads his homeroom into Hofheinz Pavilion.

Senior Davion Hurst beams as she walks into Hofheinz.

The Dobie Class of 2011 fills up the Hofheinz floor.

Members of the Dobie choir sing the national anthem.

Dobie Principal Steve Jamail introduces guests on the stage.

Graduating senior Robert Timmons delivers the commencement address.

Robert Timmons delivers his concluding remarks.

New Dobie graduates peer out from a sea of black caps.

Senior Kevin Le and Thompson Intermediate math teacher Debbie Jacobs  

Senior Ngoc-Bao Le and Dobie history teacher Jody Janis  

Senior Huy Luu and Dobie chemistry teacher Louis Parlangeli  

Senior Jimmy Ly and Dobie Spanish teacher Luz Ivanus  

 
Senior Malaz Mohamad and Dobie English teacher Marissa Alexander  

Senior Jeremy Morris and Dobie Latin teacher Lisa Barrett  

Senior Paige Sanchez and Dobie counselor Jennifer Haynes  

Senior Uyen Le Tran and Dobie biology teacher Maureen Nweke  

Senior Dac Vu and Dobie physics teacher Jeanne Parlangeli

Scholarship recipients Jeremy Lacamu, Dylan Wall, Caitlin Caughlin, Christoper Garcia, Paige Sanchez, Jacob Lacumu and Robert Timmons.