This is National Hispanic Heritage month. Over the coming weeks, the Amarillo Globe-News will be telling the stories of prominent leaders in the Amarillo Hispanic community.
Jose Ignacio Rael believed in education.
Rael moved to Amarillo in the late 1950s, and was elected to the school board in 1972. He served through 1984 as an Amarillo Independent School Board Trustee.
“Quality education comes from the classroom and cannot be mandated out of Washington, D.C. or Austin,” Rael said in a September 1989 Globe-News article.
Jack Thompson served on the board with Rael. He said Rael was a dedicated board member who spent time researching the issues.
“He was sincere,” Thompson said. “He was passionate about kids, all kids. He was very, very intelligent.”
Rael was involved in many community organizations including Amarillo Area Foundation, United Way, Amarillo Art Center, Panhandle-Plains Historical Society, and the Downtown Kiwanis Club.
He was born in 1927 in Conejos, Colorado, moved to Palo Alto, California, served in the army, received a Bachelor of Science in geology from Stanford University in 1951. He worked as an exploration geologist, and then became an insurance representative in the late 2950s.
He was married to Nancy Milburn in 1955.
He passed away in December of 2007, and is buried at Llano Cemetery.
