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GOODBYEFROM A9“Whoever heard of Rio Hondo?”But Alaniz disagreed, saying that visitors would drive many miles to see the unique collection.Alaniz said many schools would use visits to the museum to bolster history lessons.“Whenever they were covering certain periods of history, they would go out to the museum, look at artifacts, look at certain vehicles of war and tie that into their curriculum.”Houston’s guided tours were the best part of a visit, Alaniz said.“John was quite a showman, Alaniz said.“He worked with the schools. They would bring tons of kids out here. With the museum relocating, that’s going to be a big loss in the Rio Grande Valley, I feel.”Becky Barlow, TAM Director Labar’s sister, believes that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks reduced the number of Winter Texans traveling to the Valley, which in turn hurt the air museum by reducing visitors and available volunteers.Despite efforts to get their message out, it seemed like an uphill battle to get people’s attention, Barlow said.It’s surprising that a lot ofpeople that have grown up in the Valley don’t even know that we are here, she said of the air museum. And that’s sad, because of the publicity that we’ve had.”Barlow said that people were more willing to volunteer for fun things at the museum, such as fly-ins and waffle breakfasts, but fewer volunteers would show up in the days before and after fly-ins to prepare the buildings and grounds, or to help clean up afterward.“I met my husband (Eddie Barlow) at the museum and we were married at the museum, so it’s going to have some memories for me,” she said.
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