b'W HYFARRAH?WhatmakesFarrahFawcettinterestingto most of us Coastal Benders is that she was one of us, hav-ing been born and raised in Corpus Christi, having gone to elementary and middle school at Saint Patricks, and having graduated from W. B. Ray High Schoolshe even attended the great University of Texas at Austin, which was the goal for so many of us growing up. Lets be honestthats the story for this humble publication: Farrah was a Corpus Christi girl through and through.In somewhat gratuitously choosing Farrah Fawcett to be this issues Coastal Bend Legend, admittedly timed for the sizzling summer, it was eye-opening to begin un-derstanding the complexity of her life. For the vast majority of us born of average physical appearance, there is a perspective to be understood of a person who so shockingly stood out for her physical beauty as a child, a teenager, a college co-ed and as a young woman. While young Farrah Fawcett often basked in the attention and favor that came with her beautythe beauty that led to her fame and fortune as an adultthe endless pressure that accompanied that attention ended in a story that was as much tragedy as triumph.James Fawcett grew up in Hillsboro, halfway between Waco and D-or-FW, with his six siblings. A child of The Great Depression, James went to work in the oil fields right out of high school. He and his young bride, Pauline, had their first daughter, Diane, in 1938 while the couple were living in Montgomery, north of Houston. James left the oil field to take a refinery job in Corpus Christi, where Ferrah Leni Fawcett was born on February 2, 1947.My mother just kind of made up Ferrah because it went well with Fawcett, Far-rahthe e swapped for an a in her stage nameonce told an entertainment report-er. As a toddler she became something of a neighborhood celebrity, Pauline often stopped while shopping at HEB so grandmas and grandpas could coo at her beau-tiful, little angel riding in the shopping carts baby seat. By the time she was in her middle school years at St. Patricks, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl with the perfect smile and bubbly personality was receiving home visits from young admirers who just wanted to gaze upon her with their own eyes.When Farrah was enrolled at Ray High School, the Fawcetts were living nearby on Rosedale Street, the one just south of Buccaneer Apartments. She excelled at tennis and was an A studentnot to mention voted the most beautiful girl in school every year. Farrah graduated from Ray in 1965 and headed to UT Austin, an ambitious Mi-crobiology major that she changed to Art History after her first semester. Her mother, Pauline, naturally protective of her daughter, played a major role in her life in college, often visiting for days and staying with Farrah in her dorm.Ferrah, the name made up by her mother because it went well with Fawcett, photographed with classmates at St. Patricks Catholic School at age 12 (top). Left: Farrahs yearbook photos from three of her four years at W.B. Ray High School. Above: Photographed at the Corpus Christi Marina on a summer break from college at the University of Texas at Austin.TheCoastalBend.com THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE67'