Going West

(Aubrey, TX) – The Aubrey ISD Board of Trustees approved the naming of Elementary School #4 as Pete and Myra West Elementary School at its March board meeting on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

“Pete and Myra West were a staple of our community for years and very well respected,” Aubrey ISD Board of Trustees President Jim Milacek said. “We’re honored to be able to name the school after them.”

Aubrey ISD Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor is thrilled with the school board’s decision.

“Being in Aubrey ISD since 1997, these are names I’ve heard for years, including having an endowment with the Aubrey Education Foundation in their name and honoring a senior every year,” Dr. Saylor said. “This is a huge honor to give back to this family.”

The Aubrey ISD Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Jennie Petrasic as principal of Elementary #4 in June 2023. Petrasic is excited about plans for the new campus in celebrating the namesakes.

“As the first principal of Pete and Myra West Elementary School, we plan to honor their legacy by making education available to all of our students and putting it at the forefront of learning,” Petrasic said. “We’ll also instill in our students that education is not only about learning, but also bettering ourselves, being kind, compassionate and welcoming to those in the world around us.”

Clayton “Pete” Lagree and Myra Ann West were a devoted couple who shared 55 years of love, while serving Aubrey Independent School District with compassion, care and thoughtful leadership.

Mr. West, born in Hamilton, Texas on Sept. 21, 1928, was a 1947 graduate of Hamilton High School. He received his bachelor’s degree from Tarleton State College (now Tarleton State University) and a Master’s in Education from North Texas State College (now University of North Texas).

Mrs. West was born on June 16, 1933 in Blanket, Texas.

Mr. and Mrs. West married in 1954, the same year Mrs. West graduated from Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman’s University) with a degree in Education. Mrs. West later earned her Master’s in Education as well.

The couple moved their family of six to Aubrey in 1969, the same year Mr. West started as a math teacher and Mrs. West as a second grade teacher in Aubrey ISD. Mr. West later became the elementary school principal and then, due to the death of the campus leader, became principal of Aubrey High School. Mr. West ascended to the role as Aubrey ISD superintendent of which he served for six years until retiring in 1984.

Mrs. West taught second grade for 23 years in Aubrey ISD until her retirement in 1992. Mrs. West was known for weaving her expressions of love for reading, music and nature throughout her classroom lessons. Over the years, she was known to have accompanied many students to numerous University Interscholastic League (UIL) competitions, including her oldest great-granddaughter. In addition, Mrs. West was very active in the community, serving on the Aubrey Library Board for a number of years where she wrote grants for computers, organized fundraisers and assisted with book sales.

Both Mr. and Mrs. West were longtime, active members of First Baptist Church (now First Rock Fellowship) in Aubrey. Mr. West was a 40-year member while Mrs. West served as the church pianist for 50 years. In a desire to impact the entire community, her civic duties included being an Aubrey election judge and worker.

From their union came four children, Carson, Teresa, Edward and Kathleen; all esteemed Aubrey High School graduates. Three of them were valedictorians of their class while one was the salutatorian. They each attended Texas A&M University.

Leaving their indelible marks on the Aubrey ISD and greater area community, Mr. and Mrs. West were married until Mr. West’s death on Feb. 8, 2009. Mrs. West died Oct. 8, 2021.

The children of Pete and Myra West were filled with much emotion at the news of the latest Aubrey ISD elementary school being named after their parents.

“It does bring a tear to my eye a little bit,” eldest child Carson West said. “I know mom and dad both loved their students and the way they were able to serve in their time there [Aubrey ISD].”

He recalled selecting his father as the subject for a college paper of which he had to write about a manager.

“I chose daddy,” Carson said, evoking smiles and laughter from all. “I had to interview him and tell about his accomplishments and it was the highest grade I got in the class all year. It was while he was superintendent of Aubrey schools, and in my opinion at least, he did a wonderful job of guiding the schools during his time there.”

Some words at the school being named Pete and Myra West Elementary were few, yet through tearful eyes.

“Honor and joy,” Teresa West Mancuso said.

Teresa later added, “Mom really loved her students. You know students give little presents to teachers; well mom kept every present every student gave her and she would write on the back who it was from and when they gave it to her.”

She emotionally recalled going through their mother’s house after she died.

“We found all of these things that she had kept because they meant so much to her.”

From the classroom to leading the district, even delivering food to the elderly through Meals on Wheels, the West children recalled several stories of their parents showing love for them and others in the community, especially the students they encountered.

“Watching mom living there, she always used to go on about the kids that she taught, that she’d see grow up and have their kids going to school; and the stories that she’d tell about them, you could tell how much she just enjoyed teaching,” Edward West said. “I know she enjoyed teaching us kids as well, Carson, Teresa and Kathleen at home; knowing that she loved doing that so much at school as well.”

The youngest of them all expressed gratitude for the lives of Pete and Myra West as the ones who raised them.

“I’m really thankful that God gave us the parents he gave us,” Kathleen West Thompson said. “They were wonderful parents and I just feel like it’s a blessing from the Lord. I know they would be very honored and humbled. They loved the students and they were educators first and foremost.”

Pete and Myra West Elementary School is scheduled to open in August 2024.