education division, a job that lasted
over five years. Eric Dale Roman, now
in the restaurant business in
McKinney, TX was born in 1991.
Jason Roman, now studying theatre at
SRSU, was born in 1995.
Now there was a new change and
challenge. Brian heard about the new
Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald
Observatory and he joined the team as
Telescope Operator. He was subse-
quently promoted to Resident
Astronomer. Roman discovered Sul
Ross State University and its Theatre
Department. They moved in 1998. She
took a job as “Visiting Lecturer in
Communications” that led in 2004 to a
position as head of the department.
In 12 years as Professor of Theatre,
Roman has achieved considerable pos-
itive changes: a bilingual theatre pro-
gram was launched; the budget has
increased fourfold, and a Bachelor of
Fine Arts degree has been established.
Roman saw the development of the
summer Theatre of the Big Bend, per-
forming for over 50 years, as the biggest
opportunity. Annie Get Your Gun (2014)
was ambitious and successful; the bi-
lingual production of Aye, No (2010), by
SRSU playwright Liz Castillo, attract-
ed many Hispanic residents of Alpine.
Roman believes that all theatre is
political. Of the 30 plays she has direct-
ed, she is proudest of Spring Awakening,
the Sondheim musical of the trials and
tribulations of growing up. With a the-
atre professor like this, Alpine can
expect more exciting plays in the
future.
BOB MILES
The Miles family arrived in the area
in 1898, and his mother’s side (Sprouls)
came from Oklahoma to Balmorhea in
1912. Robert William Miles was born
in 1940 in Fort D.A. Russell hospital in
Marfa, the only child of W. Otis and
Evelyn Goss Miles of Fort Davis.
He started school in Fort Davis, but
the family moved to El Paso after
fourth grade when his dad, a mechan-
ic, got a better job. Graduating from
Ysleta High School in 1958, Miles
joined the US Air Force. He was post-
ed to Vandenberg Missile Base in
California and performed security and
policing duties.
Finished with the U.S. Air Force, he
enrolled at the University of Texas at
El Paso in journalism, graduating in
1968. He worked for the El Paso Times
and loved it, but it paid very little. Off
work late at night, he and friends would
take off to Juarez, where a shot of tequi-
la cost a nickel.
During that time he also worked as a
teacher’s assistant at UTEP, and
enrolled in a Master’s course in western
history, which he enjoyed. On gradua-
tion, he started writing for the in-house
magazine of the El Paso Natural Gas
Co.
It was his degree in history which got
Miles his first job with Texas Parks and
Wildlife in 1976, a career which would
last 21 years. He became the first
Superintendent of the MaGoffin
Homestead in El Paso, a 19-room
adobe structure, built in 1875.
In 1979, he transferred to
Balmorhea State Park. Two years later
he moved to Hueco Tanks State Park.
The park was popular with rock
climbers, who could be a problem.
Vandalism of the rock paintings, which
are the park’s highlight, was also a
problem.
Miles married Sharon Lauritsen in
1969, who bore a son, Joe, and a
daughter, Laura. They were divorced
in 1992. In 1994, he married Edith
Owen, whom he had known since high
school. Today they live in Fort Davis.
Over the years, Miles has been
involved in a variety of local projects,
such as the fire department and the
Fort Davis museum. He was chairman
of the Fort Davis Sesquicentennial
Committee, which successful work
later got him named Citizen of the
Year. He is a member of the Western
Writers of America.
He wrote regularly for Cenizo Journal
from 2009 (“Roadside Memorials” to
2014 (“Horsehead Crossing”). The
piece he is proudest of was about
Henry Skillman, 1814-1864, the mili-
tary scout, pioneer mail carrier and
stage driver.
His interest in history continued and
increased, particularly regarding the
Mescalero Apaches. He had a friend in
the tribe, visited the reservation in
Ruidosa, NM and learned a few Indian
words. He has over 100 books about
the Mescalero Apaches in a house well-
filled with books.
Fort Davis has always been home.
The beauty of the countryside is the
same as ever, and the people today less
clannish than before. He shakes his
head at the thought of the pipeline, and
continues shaking his head about
“new” Marfa.
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2016
17