2024 Operating Directors
Back Row (L-R) - Carrie Standley, Jana Rayburn, Tracy Johnston, Pammy Narvaez,
Chesney Wright, Melanie Calhoon, and LaLa Elrod
Seated (L-R) - Heather Richardson, Martin Spurlock, Michael Evans,
Mandy Risinger, Brooke Allison and Joanna Jarrott
Not Pictured - Jeff Johnston, and Ofeira Gazzaway
2025 Operating Directors
Permanent Board of Directors
Kim Overstreet-Shaw, President
Fred Sullivan
Erline Ingle
Belinda Allison
Susan Broadnax
Don Shaw
George Jarrott
Glen Conner
Betsy Stafford
Janay Rainey
Buck Hudson
Honorees
Mr. East Texas
2024 - James E White
The Mr. East Texas Award was established in 1967 and is presented at the discretion of the operating board of directors to the East Texan who best exemplifies the spirit and quality of leadership which advances, shapes and gives direction to the growth and progress of East Texas.
Congratulations to
Mr. East Texas 2024!
James E. White
The Tyler County Dogwood Festival is pleased to announce the 2024 ‘Mr. East Texas’, Mr. James E. White. James White is a 5th generation native Texan. He was born in Houston and attended Houston ISD public schools. White graduated with honors from Prairie View A&M University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He later completed his doctorate in political science at the University of Houston.
The United States Congress commissioned White as an officer of Infantry in the U.S. Army in 1986. His service included an assignment with the Berlin Brigade from 1987-90 during the demise of the Soviet Union.
After leaving the Army with an Honorable Discharge in 1992, White began a career as a public school educator in the Houston area. He taught at Fort Bend, Livingston, and Woodville Independent School Districts. Throughout his public school teaching career, he taught United States History, Texas History, and Geography at the secondary level. White also taught U.S. Government and Economics at both the collegiate and high school level. In addition to his teaching duties, White coached high school football, basketball, and soccer and officiated youth sports.
In 2010, his fellow East Texans elected White to his first term in the Texas House of Representatives. Throughout his tenure in the Legislature, White strived to be a strong advocate for his fellow East Texans in Tyler, Angelina, Trinity, San Jacinto, Polk, Jasper, Newton, and Hardin counties for six terms. During his tenure, he authored and passed key legislation that championed our Texas Veterans, strengthened the East Texas logging industry, boosted the salaries of Texas correctional officers and DPS troopers, supported victims of crimes, and addressed challenges in the Texas juvenile justice and child support systems. Serving as Chairman of the House Committee on Corrections and the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, White thoughtfully championed criminal justice and public safety reform and played a key role in the most recent buildup of security defenses of the Texas border.
Currently, White is serving the State of Texas as the Executive Director of the Texas Funeral Service Commission.
Parade Marshal
2024 - Joe Haralson
Joe Waymon Haralson was born in the Tyler County Hospital in August of 1950. He has always been told by his family that he was the second baby born there, though he said he cannot confirm it. He grew up and attended public school in Spurger, Texas, and graduated high school in 1968. After graduation, he enlisted in the United States Army and served in Vietnam. After his discharge from the Army, Mr. Haralson returned to Tyler County and married the former Alice Dale Odom in 1971, also a graduate of Spurger High School. That same year he joined the Texas Department of Public Safety. He served as a Highway Patrol Trooper and a Motor Vehicle Theft Investigator and was promoted to the Texas Rangers in 1981. He was assigned to the Texas Rangers in Galveston County from 1981 until 2018. In Joe and Alice Dale’s 53 years of marriage (and counting), their family has grown by leaps and bounds. They raised four sons and then soon added daughter-in-laws and now twelve grandchildren. Family seems to be paramount to the life of Joe Haralson because he speaks fondly of his wife, children and grandchildren. He also has a love for the law. He says that his favorite part of his job is getting to be the one who stands as the opposition to those who choose to do bad things, which sounds very much like he considers it a privilege to be the protector or line of defense between citizens and those who intend to harm. One memory that stands out in his long and distinguished career revolves around the events that unfolded during the siege outside of Waco, Texas, in 1993. Mr. Haralson recalled the intensity of the behind-the-scenes collaboration of all law enforcement agencies, and the desire of so many for a better outcome. Mr. Haralson interviewed most of the adults and children who were allowed to leave the compound before the fire. He said that the attitudes and the thought processes of the adults were something he would never fully understand, and the children did not seem to have a true understanding of the situation. Mr. Haralson was the last government official to be interviewed following the standoff between law enforcement and the Branch Davidians. His compassion for the children involved was so evident as he recounted the days spent on the outskirts of the compound near Waco. Mr. Haralson has spent the better part of his life, some 56 years, serving and protecting others through his military service and law enforcement career. He continues to serve the citizens of Texas today, as he has earned the honor of being the longest-serving Texas Ranger in the history of the great state of Texas. In 2018, he and his wife moved back to Tyler County. Mr. Haralson said, “Alice Dale and I left good friends, sons, their wives, and grandchildren in Galveston and Harris County, but we are very happy to be back home in Tyler County.” What a legacy he has built through his devotion to the citizens of Texas, and what a blessing it is for Tyler County to have Mr. Haralson back home.
James E. Wheat Award
The spirit of the festival is one of voluntary cooperation which has its fullest expression each year as dozens of committees and individuals work together. In 1975, the operating directors established the James E. Wheat Award in order to recognize truly exceptional leaders, who through the years have given most unselfishly of their time and talents to the Tyler County Dogwood Festival.
The award, named in honor of the founder of the festival, will be presented annually at the discretion of the directors to the person or persons who are felt to have exhibited the spirit of cooperation which James E. Wheat thought was the key to success in this endeavor.
Congratulations to our
2024 Recipients!
Sandy Reider
Tillman Johnson
Wade Wardlaw