ODESSA - Raul "Rudy" Acosta was born November 25, 1964, in Mexico.
He died February 18, 2008, in Austin, Texas.
Orphaned at an early age, he graduated from Permian High School in May of 1984, through the ECISD Homebound Student Program, while he was a resident of Avalon Place Nursing Home in Odessa, and entered Odessa College in September, 1984. With the unusual support and dedication shown at Odessa College by countless staff and instructional personnel, he received his Associate of Arts degree there in May of 1990, and entered UTPB, where he attended until 1996, when he transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
In December of 1998, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Texas Tech, receiving a standing ovation from his classmates and an overflow crowd at Tech's Coliseum Arena. Dr. Donald Haragan, President of Texas Tech University, then proudly posed for photographs with Rudy on the Coliseum floor. Thus came to its conclusion a fifteen-year quest for that degree awarded to a courageous young man who was never physically able to turn a page in a book.
Shortly thereafter, Rudy was appointed, by then Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, and moved to Austin, where he lived until his death.
During his years in Austin, he became a tireless and widely renowned advocate in the Texas Legislature seeking and securing support for numberless programs to assist disabled people in all walks of life throughout Texas.
During his college years, he managed to overcome his own total paralysis and with remarkable determination, he finally earned the degree, which was such a meaningful goal ahead of him for his entire life. He once explained that his motivation came from the certainty that having a college degree would better qualify him to help people who had "real problems." The reputation that he built for himself in the Texas Legislature in Austin makes clear that he was successful in those efforts, as he lived out his dream of serving unselfishly those whom he felt he could help.
He was honored in 2003, by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation as a Distinguished Former Odessan. He was also the subject of several newspaper articles and columns in the Odessa American relating to his unique academic accomplishments as well as his long and successful career as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Rudy is survived by a large number of aunts and uncles and cousins in the Odessa area.
He is also survived by his loyally devoted and constant companion of many years. Pansy Case. Other survivors are his adoptive parents, Mary Lou and Jim Headlee, as well as long-time loving friends, Ellen Blanch and Gertrude Terrell, all of Odessa.
Funeral services in Austin are scheduled at Weed-Corley Funeral Home for Friday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m.
Services in Odessa will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Chapel on Tuesday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
Published in the Odessa American on 2/21/2008.
He died February 18, 2008, in Austin, Texas.
Orphaned at an early age, he graduated from Permian High School in May of 1984, through the ECISD Homebound Student Program, while he was a resident of Avalon Place Nursing Home in Odessa, and entered Odessa College in September, 1984. With the unusual support and dedication shown at Odessa College by countless staff and instructional personnel, he received his Associate of Arts degree there in May of 1990, and entered UTPB, where he attended until 1996, when he transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
In December of 1998, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Texas Tech, receiving a standing ovation from his classmates and an overflow crowd at Tech's Coliseum Arena. Dr. Donald Haragan, President of Texas Tech University, then proudly posed for photographs with Rudy on the Coliseum floor. Thus came to its conclusion a fifteen-year quest for that degree awarded to a courageous young man who was never physically able to turn a page in a book.
Shortly thereafter, Rudy was appointed, by then Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, and moved to Austin, where he lived until his death.
During his years in Austin, he became a tireless and widely renowned advocate in the Texas Legislature seeking and securing support for numberless programs to assist disabled people in all walks of life throughout Texas.
During his college years, he managed to overcome his own total paralysis and with remarkable determination, he finally earned the degree, which was such a meaningful goal ahead of him for his entire life. He once explained that his motivation came from the certainty that having a college degree would better qualify him to help people who had "real problems." The reputation that he built for himself in the Texas Legislature in Austin makes clear that he was successful in those efforts, as he lived out his dream of serving unselfishly those whom he felt he could help.
He was honored in 2003, by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation as a Distinguished Former Odessan. He was also the subject of several newspaper articles and columns in the Odessa American relating to his unique academic accomplishments as well as his long and successful career as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Rudy is survived by a large number of aunts and uncles and cousins in the Odessa area.
He is also survived by his loyally devoted and constant companion of many years. Pansy Case. Other survivors are his adoptive parents, Mary Lou and Jim Headlee, as well as long-time loving friends, Ellen Blanch and Gertrude Terrell, all of Odessa.
Funeral services in Austin are scheduled at Weed-Corley Funeral Home for Friday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m.
Services in Odessa will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Chapel on Tuesday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
Published in the Odessa American on 2/21/2008.
ODESSA - Raul "Rudy" Acosta was born November 25, 1964, in Mexico.
He died February 18, 2008, in Austin, Texas.
Orphaned at an early age, he graduated from Permian High School in May of 1984, through the ECISD Homebound Student Program, while he was a resident of Avalon Place Nursing Home in Odessa, and entered Odessa College in September, 1984. With the unusual support and dedication shown at Odessa College by countless staff and instructional personnel, he received his Associate of Arts degree there in May of 1990, and entered UTPB, where he attended until 1996, when he transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
In December of 1998, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Texas Tech, receiving a standing ovation from his classmates and an overflow crowd at Tech's Coliseum Arena. Dr. Donald Haragan, President of Texas Tech University, then proudly posed for photographs with Rudy on the Coliseum floor. Thus came to its conclusion a fifteen-year quest for that degree awarded to a courageous young man who was never physically able to turn a page in a book.
Shortly thereafter, Rudy was appointed, by then Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, and moved to Austin, where he lived until his death.
During his years in Austin, he became a tireless and widely renowned advocate in the Texas Legislature seeking and securing support for numberless programs to assist disabled people in all walks of life throughout Texas.
During his college years, he managed to overcome his own total paralysis and with remarkable determination, he finally earned the degree, which was such a meaningful goal ahead of him for his entire life. He once explained that his motivation came from the certainty that having a college degree would better qualify him to help people who had "real problems." The reputation that he built for himself in the Texas Legislature in Austin makes clear that he was successful in those efforts, as he lived out his dream of serving unselfishly those whom he felt he could help.
He was honored in 2003, by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation as a Distinguished Former Odessan. He was also the subject of several newspaper articles and columns in the Odessa American relating to his unique academic accomplishments as well as his long and successful career as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Rudy is survived by a large number of aunts and uncles and cousins in the Odessa area.
He is also survived by his loyally devoted and constant companion of many years. Pansy Case. Other survivors are his adoptive parents, Mary Lou and Jim Headlee, as well as long-time loving friends, Ellen Blanch and Gertrude Terrell, all of Odessa.
Funeral services in Austin are scheduled at Weed-Corley Funeral Home for Friday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m.
Services in Odessa will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Chapel on Tuesday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
Published in the Odessa American on 2/21/2008.
He died February 18, 2008, in Austin, Texas.
Orphaned at an early age, he graduated from Permian High School in May of 1984, through the ECISD Homebound Student Program, while he was a resident of Avalon Place Nursing Home in Odessa, and entered Odessa College in September, 1984. With the unusual support and dedication shown at Odessa College by countless staff and instructional personnel, he received his Associate of Arts degree there in May of 1990, and entered UTPB, where he attended until 1996, when he transferred to Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
In December of 1998, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Texas Tech, receiving a standing ovation from his classmates and an overflow crowd at Tech's Coliseum Arena. Dr. Donald Haragan, President of Texas Tech University, then proudly posed for photographs with Rudy on the Coliseum floor. Thus came to its conclusion a fifteen-year quest for that degree awarded to a courageous young man who was never physically able to turn a page in a book.
Shortly thereafter, Rudy was appointed, by then Governor George W. Bush to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities, and moved to Austin, where he lived until his death.
During his years in Austin, he became a tireless and widely renowned advocate in the Texas Legislature seeking and securing support for numberless programs to assist disabled people in all walks of life throughout Texas.
During his college years, he managed to overcome his own total paralysis and with remarkable determination, he finally earned the degree, which was such a meaningful goal ahead of him for his entire life. He once explained that his motivation came from the certainty that having a college degree would better qualify him to help people who had "real problems." The reputation that he built for himself in the Texas Legislature in Austin makes clear that he was successful in those efforts, as he lived out his dream of serving unselfishly those whom he felt he could help.
He was honored in 2003, by the Heritage of Odessa Foundation as a Distinguished Former Odessan. He was also the subject of several newspaper articles and columns in the Odessa American relating to his unique academic accomplishments as well as his long and successful career as an advocate for people with disabilities.
Rudy is survived by a large number of aunts and uncles and cousins in the Odessa area.
He is also survived by his loyally devoted and constant companion of many years. Pansy Case. Other survivors are his adoptive parents, Mary Lou and Jim Headlee, as well as long-time loving friends, Ellen Blanch and Gertrude Terrell, all of Odessa.
Funeral services in Austin are scheduled at Weed-Corley Funeral Home for Friday, February 22 at 10:30 a.m.
Services in Odessa will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Chapel on Tuesday, February 26 at 1 p.m.
Published in the Odessa American on 2/21/2008.
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