“In that time, I stayed home a lot,” said Rice’s wife, Angelina, of her husband’s last two years. “I started going through his files. I gathered them, I organized them … We have three children … I asked them what they wanted. After they each selected a few pieces, I had this vast amount of artwork.

“I love high school football,” Dawson said. “I think it’s some of the best high school football in the country. I spent 16 years (one year at Redemptorist in Baton Rouge) as a Louisiana high school coach. I’ve spoken at the Louisiana (coaches) clinics. I’ve mentored many of these coaches.

In 1990, a young Ken Epperson Jr. was stationed at Fort Campbell, along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The Shreveport native – training for deployment to fight in Operation Desert Storm – was excited to be the next in a long line of family members who had been in the military.

Fourth-grader Tyler Cooper has Caudal Regression Syndrome. Basically, the lower part of Tyler’s spine did not develop as it should have. So, Tyler is limited to being in a wheelchair, walking on his hands and scooting around on the floor. He needs help in the classroom and with his hygiene.

“I am hoping to dress in a replica of a gown worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,’” Ballengee said. “I love the color, the style and the silhouette. And who doesn’t want to be Marilyn for a few hours?” Ballengee won’t be at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Pierce believed her part. “I run in first saying, ‘Grandpa, Grandpa. We saw him! We saw the Fouke Monster!’” Now, 50 years after the movie’s release about a creature who lived in the woods near Fouke, Ark., Pierce still believes in the “monster,” also known as Bigfoot.

“I started seeing the writing on the wall, with things that were happening in the congregation. It all sort of came to a realization for me that it was time to leave my vocation as a pastor and return to my vocation under the Fourth Commandment of...

Kent, who was born and raised in Shreveport and lives in New Orleans, is vice-president and curator of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and Museum. The RHOFM will be built on The Circle G — Elvis Presley’s former horse ranch — in Horn Lake, Miss.