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CURRENT NEWS:
DR PEPPER MUSEUM MOURNS THE LOSS OF RICHARD E. SCOTT
The Board and Staff of the Dr Pepper Museum mourns the loss of Richard E. Scott. Mr. Scott, past President and CEO of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center (1992-2002), past President of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute (1996), life member of the Museum, and active in its leadership as a member of the Board of Directors for many years, died today after a lengthy illness. Sympathy is extended to his wife, Carol Lou, and his family. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Nominating Committee Report
Slate of Directors and Officers for 2012
President Jim Clifton issued a call for nominations at the July 21, 2011 meeting of the Board of Directors. The Nominating Committee met on Monday, September 19, 2011 to consider nominees for the 2012 Directors, Officers and Executive Committee of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute.
The Committee submits the following slate of candidates for Directors for approval by the Board of Directors and election by the membership:
Nominated for three-year terms on the Board of Directors:
Place 8 Howard Edmiston
Place 9 Angie Wallander
Place 10 Mel London
Place 11 Felicia Goodman
Place 12 Roger Camp
Place 13 Jim Alexander
Place 14 Joe Cross
Nominated for membership as a Distinguished Director (one-year term):
Frank Alexander, Jim Ball, Gaylan Beavers, Robert Borchgardt, Charles Brizius
Virginia Clements, Jim Clifton, Bob Cragen, Larry Dagley, Claude Ervin, James Hardwick
Jack Kilduff, Wilton Lanning, Scott Livesay, Robert O'Beirne, Bill Tilghman, Jim L. Turner
Jim Westberry
Nominated for membership as an Ex-officio members of the Board of Directors (one-year term):
Calvin Smith (Consultant); B.J. Greaves (Architect); and John Fletcher (Marketing)
The Committee submits the following slate of candidates for Officers and Executive Committee for approval by the Board of Directors and election by the membership:
Nominated to be an officer of the Board of Directors:
President Elect: Angie Wallander
Vice President: Tom Tyler
Secretary: Jim Westberry
Treasurer: Michael Brown
Past President Jim Clifton
Pat Cargill (President for 2012 elected at last year’s Annual Meeting)
Nominated for membership on the Executive Committee:
Frank Alexander, Charles Brizius, Felicia Goodman, Richard Kaga, and Janet McCarty
The Flight of the Vin Fiz
Video Premier at the
Dr Pepper Museum’s Kellum-Rotan Building
318 S. 5th Street
Wed, October 19, 2011
Two Video Presentations at
7pm - 7:45pm OR
8:15pm - 9pm
Free Admittance
In 1911 Vin Fiz, a grape-flavored soft drink, sponsored pilot Cal Rodgers as he made the first American transcontinental flight! Waco, Texas was one of his many stops. On October 19, 1911 Cal famously flew his bi-plane around the Amicable Building twice before landing at Gurley Field.
Exactly 100 years later, The Dr Pepper Museum invites you to enjoy a new WCCC video chronicling this fun historic Waco event.
Sponsored by The City of Waco
MUSEUM MOURNS THE LOSS OF TOM TASZAREK
The Dr Pepper Museum mourns the loss of Thomas
Joseph (Tom) Taszarek. Tom, a life member of the
Dr Pepper Museum, served as a member of the Board
of Directors and on the Executive Committee of the
Museum from 1993 to 2006. As an employee of the
Dr Pepper/ 7-Up Bottling Group, he was instrumental
in helping the Museum create a 10th Anniversary
commemorative Dr Pepper bottle in 2001.
A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m., Friday, September 16, 2011, at St. Andrew
United Methodist Church in Plano with Rev. Charles Stokes officiating. A reception will
follow at the church.
NEWS RELEASE
DR PEPPER MUSEUM TALKS TOYS!
The Dr Pepper Museum is excited to announce that it is hosting Toy Tech, a traveling exhibition from June 4 through September 11. The 2,000 square-foot exhibition, located within the Dr Pepper Museum, gives visitors the opportunity to learn about the making, developing and history of toys.
This exhibition provides visitors with hands-on opportunities to:
· Learn how play encourages creative talents among children as well as adults
· Understand how toys work by seeing them disassembled
· Trace the development of toys through history
· Engage in multi-sensory experience through hands-on activities that involve mechanical, optical and acoustical toys
· Experience their own playful and inventive abilities by inventing new toys
· Understand how children’s play parallels processes used by inventors
Sponsorship for Toy Tech is generously provided by Mrs. W. W. Clements, Waco Tribune Herald, and Wacoan Magazine.
Remember, Toy Tech will be at the Dr Pepper Museum for a limited time! The exhibition runs from June 4 through September 11 extended date October 30th!
SPECIAL FALL TOY TECH TOUR!
Toy Tech is a very popular exhibit on the 2nd floor of the Dr Pepper Museum. It has thrilled over 25,000 visitors this summer. NOW is the time to catch it before it leaves on October 30th!
- Make toys according to instructions provided in the exhibit
- Play with mechanical, optical, and acoustic toys
- See inside of toys to understand how they work
- See nostalgic toys and read about them
- Invent new toys
Where? At the Dr Pepper Museum!
Now through October 30, 2011
PRICE SPECIAL: $1.50 per student
Chaperones: 6 free, then $1.50 / additional adults, siblings
Advanced booking required for this fall special
10-30 students max
Time slots: 1 hour, self-guided tour
- 9:30-10:30 a.m.
- 11-12 Noon
- 12:30-1:30 p.m.
- 2-3 p.m.
To schedule a time to visit Toy Tech, contact:
Diane Bernhardt, Programs Manager at 254-757-1025 ext.129,
Email diane@drpeppermuseum.com
Toy Tech is on loan from the Northwest Invention Center in Redmond, Washington. Sponsorship for Toy Tech is generously provided by Mrs. W. W. Clements, Waco Tribune Herald, and Wacoan Magazine.
Wilton Lanning, Waco Tribune Herald Board of Contributors: Dr Pepper Museum hits 20-year mark with the best yet to come
Wednesday May 11, 2011
May 11 is a day that conjures up many memories for folks who live in or hail from Waco. It was on that date in 1953 that an F-5 tornado leveled much of our downtown, killing 114 people and injuring almost 600. On the 50th anniversary, the Tribune-Herald correctly headlined it as “The Day that Time Stood Still.”
But May 11 is also etched in my mind as when the building once producing our nation’s oldest major soft-drink re-opened as the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. That was May 11, 1991.
Of course, the story really begins in 1885 at the corner of Fourth and Austin in the Old Corner Drug Store. It was behind the counter that Dr. Charley Alderton mixed up a combination of fruit flavors now known worldwide as Dr Pepper.
Thus Waco became what some today consider the holy land of soft drinks. More than 1.2 million visitors have come here from all over the world. The historic Richardson Romanesque building housing the plant was originally completed in 1906 at the corner of South Fifth Street and Mary Avenue, beside the Cotton Belt Railway tracks in the heart of our industrial district of the time. The building took a hit from the Waco tornado on May 11, 1953. The wind tore off the front parapet, entire left side and cupola, and virtually the entire roof.
The restored “Home of Dr Pepper” that stands today is a landmark of that fateful day and our recovery efforts.
It was on the 100th anniversary of Dr Pepper’s very birth that the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and the Dr Pepper Company decided to recreate the historic “Prosperity Banquet” held outdoors back in 1911 on Fifth Street between Austin and Franklin. The original 1911 event marked the near-completion of the Amicable Life Insurance Company building — our town’s first skyscraper — plus the arrival of other industry. More than 2,000 joined in the 1985 recreation of that event with entertainer Bob Hope helping us all say, “Thanks for the memories.”
About that time, W.W. “Foots” Clements, colorful chairman of Dr Pepper, challenged me, as chamber vice chairman, to form a unique partnership to restore their original bottling plant, devastated and heavily damaged 32 years earlier. Although still standing, it was in terrible shape, largely inhabited by pigeons and cats chasing those pigeons.
Waco leadership and corporate headquarters of Dr Pepper in Dallas forged a dynamic partnership. On Sept. 11, 1987, local leadership visited with Dr Pepper higher-ups, including board chairman Clements, president John Albers, chief financial officer Ira Rosenstein and Jim Turner, president of the Dr Pepper Bottling Company of Texas. The Waco contingent included Willard J. Still, Joe Cross, City Manager David Smith and me. The task force formed to oversee the building’s restoration envisioned not only a museum but a free enterprise institute.
It was a formidable task but one that our city and Dr Pepper folks were up to. A lot of it involved teamwork and fund-raising, but ingenuity was also part of the mix. For instance, one civic leader timed the daily departure and return of pigeons so that, at the right time, the building could be sealed up once and for all with the pigeons on the outside, not the inside of our museum in the making.
The leadership of the chamber, the city and the Cooper Foundation raised funds locally to challenge Dr Pepper’s corporate empire in its own efforts. Today the hard work and dedication of many enable us to proudly say we are the home of the nation’s oldest major soft drink.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute. But the best is yet to come. The museum celebrates the opening of its latest expansion in early June with classrooms, a conference center and administrative offices. They will soon be joined by the Getterman Bottling Line, a replica of an old-fashioned bottling line. Ironically, it makes use of a vintage assembly line provided to us by Coca-Cola. And it honors Waco’s Getterman family and their involvement in the 7UP bottling business in Texas.
Yes, at the end of the day in the ever-competitive soft drink bottling business, we’re still all sweet on one another.
Local businessman Wilton Lanning is a former chairman of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. He is executive director of the Waco Business League.
MUSEUM MOURNS THE LOSS OF BILL AGEE
It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Rev. William Daniel Agee.
William Daniel Agee was born in Hope, Arkansas on September 20, 1930 and died January 24, 2011 in Waco, Texas after a brief illness. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 26, at Columbus Avenue Baptist Church with the Rev. William Pratt officiating. Visitation with the family will be from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 25, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey.
His career as a Baptist minister included churches in Waco, Hearn, Tyler, Texas and other communities. After his retirement, Bill served as a substitute minister for churches in need.
Bill Agee was a life member, co-founder, and past president of the Dr Pepper 10-2-4 Collector’s Club. Bill had a terrific passion for collecting cure bottles and Dr Pepper memorabilia. He authored two books about bottle collecting that are a comprehensive listing of cure bottles with photos and detailed descriptions of the bottles.
Bill worked closely as an appraiser with the Dr Pepper Museum. He was asked to appraise the Sterling Collection for Dr Pepper Company President John Albers in 1990 and the later the Behrens Collection of pharmacy items that was donated to the Museum in 2002. During the last 10 years, Bill worked closely with Dr Pepper Museum staff members Jessica Harris and Mary Beth Tait to provide expertise as the Museum’s collections grew dramatically.
Fellow Club member Wilton Lanning credits Bill Agee with infecting him with the Dr Pepper collecting bug in about 1980. He arrived one day unannounced at Padgitt’s with an assortment of Dr Pepper bottles.
Bill Agee’s expertise and enthusiasm for the Club and Dr Pepper will be greatly missed by all his friends, collogues, and students.
Dr Pepper Celebrates Historic Date and 125 Years of Iconic Flavor
America's Oldest Major Soft Drink Wraps Up a Yearlong 125th Anniversary Celebration
December 1, 2010
6:00am
PLANO, Texas, Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr Pepper, the oldest major soft drink in America, today commemorates the 125th anniversary of the first time Dr Pepper was served at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco, Texas, as recognized in documents filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The date concludes a yearlong celebration of the brand's flavorful history. The soft drink made a big splash at the World's Fair in 1904 and has grown to become one of the most recognized brands enjoyed worldwide.
"This has been a landmark year for Dr Pepper and our fans, highlighting its rightful place in 'pop' culture," said Dave Fleming, director of marketing for Dr Pepper. "A true beverage original, Dr Pepper is the oldest major soft drink in America, and our fans have made us one of the best-selling soft drinks nationwide."
Dr Pepper officially kicked off its anniversary year on the symbolic date of January 25, teaming up with advertising icon David Naughton and legendary rock band KISS to ring the Closing Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Dr Pepper Snapple Group President and CEO Larry Young and other company executives closed the trading day with the Dow gaining just over 23 points – coincidentally matching the 23 unique flavors of Dr Pepper. Naughton also led a choreographed sing-along of the classic "I'm a Pepper" jingle on the floor of the NYSE.
Continuing the celebration, the brand advertised its Dr Pepper Cherry flavor during Super Bowl XLIV with a new ad spot featuring KISS and tribute band MiniKISS. And, this summer, Dr Pepper released six collectable cans inspired by the brand's first 125 years, along with a version made with real sugar. The anniversary cans featured legacy artwork and memorable advertising slogans such as "I'm a Pepper" and "10, 2 and 4." In addition, 12-pack cases highlighted key moments in the brand's history over the last century.
Rounding out the year, Dr Pepper partnered with the king of the deep fryer, Abel Gonzales, to host a 125th anniversary Dr Pepper cake competition at the State Fair of Texas. Gonzales judged the competition, introduced a Dr Pepper-inspired dipping sauce, and deep fried the winning entry to give it his signature State Fair flair.
Dr Pepper also brought the celebration online with an interactive visual timeline on DrPepper.com which highlights the brand's most popular advertising campaigns and invites fans to upload photos and videos to mark their place in the brand's rich history. The brand posted "125 Things You Didn't Know About Dr Pepper" on Facebook and Twitter throughout the year. Dr Pepper now has more than 5.8 million fans on Facebook and over 25,000 Twitter followers.
"The enduring success of Dr Pepper can be attributed to its unique flavor and ability to connect with generations of fans. Fans of the brand view it as an exceptional and refreshing way to express their own uniqueness," said Fleming.
For more information on Dr Pepper and its 125-year history, visit drpeppermuseum.com