GALVESTON HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
November 6, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Molly Dannenmaier
Director of Marketing and Public Relations
409-765-7834
Molly.Dannenmaier@galvestonhistory.org

Galveston Historical Foundation Leader Honored By Gov. Perry With Appointment As An Admiral In The Texas Navy

Galveston, TX – Galveston Historical Foundation Executive Director Dwayne Jones has been named an admiral in the Texas Navy, an honor used for more than 50 years by Texas governors to recognize citizens who have performed extraordinary services for their fellow Lone Star state residents.

“This is a great honor,” Jones said after being presented a framed Texas Navy admiral’s commission during a ceremony in Galveston Friday (Nov. 6). “I’m very surprised and touched. I grew up in Texas and it’s nice to be a part of an honored segment of the state’s history.”

Texas Navy Commission Director Robert A. Callanan presented the commission to Jones on behalf of Gov. Rick Perry.

“This honors Mr. Jones not just for his great efforts here in Galveston in historical preservation, but for his efforts in Dallas, San Antonio and other communities in our state,” said Robert A. Callanan, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a director of the Texas Navy Commission. “Mr. Jones is most deserving of the admiral’s commission.

Jones has led the Galveston Historical Foundation through the historic island city’s continuing recovery from the ravages of Hurricane Ike. The storm inundated most of Galveston—including the foundation’s own headquarters—with a huge storm surge on Sept. 13, 2009. Jones received his commission in the ceremonial navy established in 1958 by Gov. Price Daniel.

Jones headed a preservation program in Wharton, TX before joining the Texas Historical Commission to work with local governments and the National Register of Historical Places. After a stint with the San Antonio city neighborhood planning division, he became executive director of Preservation Dallas. He took Galveston Historical Foundation’s top job in 2006.

Jones and his staff have been deeply involved in the efforts to restore Victorian buildings in downtown Galveston heavily damaged by Ike. The foundation also has worked to help residents to clean up and repair historic homes flooded by Ike.

The commissioning ceremony for Jones took place in the 1861 U.S. Custom House, the foundation’s current headquarters, which also served as the U.S. Courthouse in Galveston beginning in 1917. As Jones received his commission in a restored second-floor courtroom, workers on the first floor of the building still were painting and repairing serious damage on the first floor caused by Hurricane Ike more than a year ago.

In a letter also presented to Jones, Gov. Perry expressed his regrets that he could not be present to make the award to Jones himself but said he expects to visit Galveston next month for the Texas Navy’s annual meeting and Christmas party at the Galveston Artillery Club.

Callanan said Galveston remains the official headquarters of the ceremonial Texas Navy, also known as the “Third Texas Navy.”

Although relatively few people know it, the four sailing vessels of the First Texas Navy prevented Mexico from landing a second army that could have reinforced Mexican Gen. Santa Anna’s force at San Jacinto, Callanan told a group gathered for the commissioning ceremony. Had that army been able to join Santa Anna’s, Sam Houston’s army of Texans might have been defeated in the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto that resulted in creation of the Republic of Texas, Callanan said.

The Second Texas Navy was instrumental in thwarting an 1839 attempt by Mexico to conquer the struggling Texas nation. That Texas Navy harried Mexican forces for three years along the entire Texas coast, Callanan said.

Membership in the Texas Navy is a way not only to honor outstanding Texas residents but to preserve memories of the original Navy’s importance in Texas quest for independence, Callanan said after the ceremony.

“I’m honored to help expand awareness that there was a Texas Navy and the service that it performed,” said Callanan. “Too often, I hear that it was the Army, Sam Houston and others who won independence for Texas but people forget that the Navy was a very critical element.”

Jones has served as chair of the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Jones grew up in Buffalo and Garland Texas and received an undergraduate degree in history and Asian Studies from Trinity University in San Antonio and holds a master's degree in urban and regional planning from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.