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The Way (song)

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-{{Notability|date=April 2010}}
-'''Lela''' and '''Raymond Howard''' were an elderly married couple from [[Salado, Texas]] that made national headlines in July 1997 when they disappeared while driving to a local festival. They were later found deceased over 500 miles away near [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]]. The hit song "[[The Way (song)|The Way]]" by [[Fastball (band)|Fastball]] was inspired by their story.
-==Biography==
-===Raymond Howard===
-Arthur Raymond Howard was born in [[The Grove, Texas]] (now a [[ghost town]]) to William Arthur Howard and Fannie Adele Hardin Howard. Raymond was a carpenter and belonged to the local carpenter's union. He moved to Salado after marrying Lela Howard and resided there for eleven years. He was first married to Ethel Lewis who preceded him in death after 56 years of marriage.<ref>Temple Daily Telegram, Obituary for Arthur R. Howard, July 16, 1997</ref> Approximately two years before his death, Raymond was in a car accident where he consequently underwent surgery to relieve swelling in his skull. Later he complained of headaches and memory problems. He kept driving for some time after that until he hit a parked car and his children took his keys from him.<ref>Temple Daily Telegram, "Salado Couple Finally on the way home," July 14, 1997</ref>
-===Lela Howard===
-Lela Copeland Howard was born in the farming community of [[Oenaville, Texas]] to Jeff and Effie Morris French. She was first married to Jessie David Copeland who preceded her in death after 43 years of marriage.<ref>Temple Daily Telegram, Obituary for Lela Copeland Howard, July 16, 1997</ref>
-===Marriage===
-Raymond met Lela at the First Nazarene Church of Belton, of which both were members. After Raymond's first wife died, they would frequently talk after morning and evening services. They were married shortly thereafter at a parson's house in [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]]. Raymond moved in with Lela in Salado. The couple would frequently go out socializing or to church events.
-==Disappearance==
-The couple left their home on the morning of Saturday, June 28, 1997. They were headed to the Pioneer Days Festival, a festival honoring longtime residents, in nearby [[Temple, Texas|Temple]], a fifteen mile trip. They stopped at the neighborhood [[Wal-Mart]] for coffee, something they often did during the week.
-About twelve hours after they initially left home, they were stopped in northern [[Arkansas]] near the town of [[Subiaco, Arkansas|Subiaco]] by [[Logan County, Arkansas|Logan County]] sheriff's deputy Harold Cole because they were driving with no headlights. Cole radioed Lela's information in, but, unaware that the couple was lost or missing and having no reason to detain them, let them go.
-Looking back on the incident, officer Cole later stated that there were warning signs that something might have been wrong. It took several miles of flashing his lights before Lela pulled over, she was fumbling a little when Cole instructed her to turn on her headlights, and though she said she was going to Texas, she was headed the wrong way. However this was not enough to warrant holding them.
-"I feel terrible about it. I just wished I'd known more that night to give me a little suspicion. There was just nothing there out of the ordinary... I was impressed by the lady... She was polite. She was kind. She was gentle… I had no probable cause to detain them any longer. And I certainly had no probable cause to think they were wanted," Cole said.
-Forty-five minutes later they were stopped again near the town of [[Plainview, Arkansas|Plainview]] by a [[Yell County]] sheriff's deputy for driving with their high-beams on. Although by this time the couple had been reported as missing, unfortunately no computer checks were run, and again they were let go. This was the last time they were seen alive.
-When the couple did not return home by 4 p.m. that day, Lela's son Hal Copeland called the [[Bell County, Texas|Bell County]] sheriff's office to report them missing.<ref>Austin American Statesman, "Elderly Salado couple missing on a trip to nowhere," July 2, 1997</ref>
-Several relatives of the Howards spent the July fourth weekend searching for them. They distributed fliers, drove back roads, and questioned law enforcement officials and storekeepers. The Howards' grandson James Stewart offered a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the couple.
-Police were flooded with tips about the couple nationwide after a segment was aired on CBS's [[The Early Show|This Morning]], however none of them led anywhere according to officer Wayne Jordan of the Arkansas State Police.<ref>[http://www.texnews.com/texas97/miss071097.html]|Abilene Reporter-News, "Family remains mystified by disappearance," July 10, 1997</ref>
-==Death and discovery==
-Exactly two weeks after they disappeared, two teenagers on a hike through the [[Ouachita Mountains]] found the Howards' maroon [[Oldsmobile 88|Oldsmobile Delta 88]] and the bodies of Lela and Raymond at the bottom of a 25-foot cliff. The highway they were driving on before the crash was known for being a treacherous, curvy road.<ref>Austin American Statesman, "Salado couple's car, bodies found below cliff," July 13, 1997</ref>
-Although it was initially reported that Raymond was driving the car, when the full investigation's details were released, they showed that Lela had in fact been behind the wheel. Police estimated that Lela was driving about 50 miles per hour when she ran a stop sign and drove off the road and over the cliff, most likely due to a combination of the dark, winding road and mental fatigue. There were no skid marks, indicating Lela was unaware she had run the sign. The report stated that after the crash, Lela put the car in parking gear and removed the keys. She walked around to the passenger side door which she apparently opened, then walked about 20 feet away from the car before collapsing. Raymond never left the passenger seat.<ref>Austin American Statesman, "Injuries from car wreck killed Salado couple,"July 18, 1997</ref> She was 83 years old. He was 88.
-==Aftermath==
-Because the disappearance of Lela and Raymond made national headlines, their eventual discovery raised concerns on whether or not the elderly need to undergo driver testing. Texas State Representative [[Tony Goolsby]] introduced a bill that would order the [[Texas Department of Transportation|Department of Transportation]] to come up with some way to ensure that drivers 75 years of age and older could "exercise ordinary and reasonable control in the operation of a motor vehicle."
-This fueled a national debate on whether or not such a bill would infringe on the rights of senior citizens. The [[American Association of Retired Persons]] strongly disapproved of any such legislation stating, "It is discriminatory in all senses of the word."
-However others such as Homer Lear of the [[Silver-Haired Legislature]] disagreed and said the idea did have merit.<ref>Austin American Statesman, "Elderly Driver Testing Sought," November 12, 1998</ref>
-==In popular culture==
-The song "[[The Way (song)|The Way]]" by the group [[Fastball (band)|Fastball]] was written by bassist [[Tony Scalzo]] after reading the reports of the Howards' disappearance. "It's a romanticized take on what happened," said Scalzo. He "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met."
-==References==
-{{Reflist}}
-{{Persondata         <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
-| NAME              =Howard, Lela and Raymond
-| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
-| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
-| DATE OF BIRTH     =
-| PLACE OF BIRTH    =
-| DATE OF DEATH     = 1997
-| PLACE OF DEATH    =
-}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Lela and Raymond}}
-[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
-[[Category:Road accident deaths in Arkansas]]
-[[Category:1997 deaths]]