The veterans medical center in Bonham, where U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn gave the keynote address when it opened in 1951, will celebrate its 75th year with a ceremony next week, VA North Texas Health Care System announced Tuesday.
The event at the Sam Rayburn Memorial Veterans Center begins at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6. The health system says VA leaders will be joined by local officials, community partners, veteran advocates, former operations managers and family members.
Among those expected, according to the announcement: Bonham Mayor Allen Sanderson, City Manager Sean Pate, Economic Director William Myers, County Commissioner Doug Kopf, Police Chief Andrew Hawkes and Sheriff Cody Shook. Harlen Wright, a veteran advocate for the Choctaw Nation, plans to attend with three other representatives, as do former operations managers James Douglas and Elizabeth Dannel.
JB McNatty, whom the VA describes as the center's oldest enrolled veteran, is also on the list.
A campus older than the regional system
The push for a veterans facility in Bonham started with local leaders in 1943, the VA says. Construction got underway in 1948, and the center opened in November 1951 with Rayburn, then speaker of the U.S. House, as the keynote speaker. Its first residents arrived that year.
