Summer of ‘98: sad and hot
Landmark fire,
scorching heat,
deaths of town
leaders recalled
By MIKE BROWN
Reporter Editor
Like most towns, Rockdale has had good years and bad years. This is the 10-year annivesary of one of the worst.
The spring, fall and winter of 1998 had their moments but the summer was not a season local residents want to repeat. Within the space of late spring to early fall that year:
• Rockdale’s 33,000-square-foot Brookshire Bros. super market burned to the ground, one of the landmark fires in town history.
• The town endured its hottest summer in recorded history with 59 days of 100-degree-plus temperatures, drouth, almost daily grass fires and a water shortage.
• Three irreplaceable civic leaders died. Rockdale said farewell to Dan Kubiak, Harold Love and Glenn Hodges.
‘Beyond help’
A winter-spring drouth continued into the summer. By the second week in June, Milam County’s corn crop was pronounced “beyond help.”
Hay supplies dwindled and ranchers began selling off cattle. By late summer Central Texas farmers were buying hay from as far away as Kansas and South Dakota.
The first 100 degree reading was logged May 31. Rockdale firefighters were answering one grass fire call per day.
July 4 fireworks were cancelled. That week would see fireworks of a different kind.
Brookshire Bros.
At 2:27 a.m., July 7, a daily newspaper carrier glanced over and saw flames at the back of Rockdale’s Brookshire Bros., a showpiece super market which had been remodeled and expanded six years previously.
Ofc. Brian Olsen of the Rockdale Police Department was first on the scene. He heard cries for help, shattered door glass with his hand and rescued maintenance employee Salvador Amenta from the burning building.
Olsen was treated for cuts. His was the only injury at the fire.
But it was too late for the store. Three firefighters entered from the rear of the super market and got all the way to the produce area but were forced back by heavy smoke.
Rockdale awoke in shock. Employees of the store, not knowing of the fire, showed up for work. Firefighters stayed on the scene for two days.
An investigation by the state fire marshal’s office traced the blaze to a meat wrapping machine.
Brookshire Bros. decided to rebuild and a new store now stands on the spot.
59 days
There was no letup in the heat and Rockdale residents faced a water shortage with one city well down. A new one was being drilled.
The city tied what was then its all-time high temperature of 109. By mid July every high temperature record but one had been broken for Rockdale.
That final record, number of 100-degree days, fell in August. Final total was 59, a record that still stands.
NBC bank opened its community room to the public so those without air conditioning, mostly senior citizens, would have a cool place to spend the afternoon hours.
Some relief was provided when the city’s new water well came in the fourth week in August. But those weeks would be sad for other reasons.
Deaths
Harold Love, whose list of civic accomplishments would continue to the bottom of this page, died at age 81 on Aug. 21.
A four-time Chamber of Commerce president and two-time citizen-of-the-year, Love led most of the organizations he worked in, and he worked in a lot.
He held every position in the Lions Club up to district director and organized Rockdale’s Jerry Lewis Telethon for many years. Somehow he found time to run three businesses.
Nine days later Rockdale was shocked when popular 11-term State Representative Dan Kubiak died in his sleep from a heart attack.
Kubiak, also an educator and author, was a leader in the state Democratic Party, with broad bipartisan support, and was one of Rockdale’s most recognizeable faces.
More than 1,100, including dozens of state leaders, attended his funeral in the Rockdale KC Hall.
In October, Glenn Hodges, the archetype of the locally-owned Rockdale business person, died at age 82.
He owned and operated Hodges’ Man Shop, a clothing store, for 35 years and had served on the Rockdale ISD school board and Rockdale Hospital Board.
Hodges led the fund drive which led to the creation of Richards Memorial Hospital in 1973-74.
Finally, the end
In mid-September, remnants of Tropical Storm Frances moved into Central Texas and soaked the Rockdale area with 5.2 inches of rain.
High temperatures for that week ranged from 76 to 79.
The long, hot, sad summer of 1998 was over.
Mercifully.
