(Editor's Note: This morning's newsletter leads with our obit for Jon Wolfmueller, who died Wednesday. Please indulge this departure from our standard format.)

The call came at 8:38 p.m. Wednesday, a bit late for Sandy Wolfmueller to phone, and I thought she read something she wanted to share or maybe move the time when I was supposed to come over and visit her and her husband, Jon, on Thursday.

"Louis, Jon died tonight," she said in a wisp of a voice I had never heard from Sandy.

Some people come in and out of your life, and then there are those you never want to lose. So, when Sandy Wolfmueller said Jon died, I couldn't get words out.

My suspicion is that many people who knew Jon Wolfmueller couldn't get words out about his passing either. Wolfmueller died Wednesday night at Peterson Regional Medical Center. He was 77.

I never had an opportunity to buy a suit of clothes from Jon Wolfmueller or have him make me an ice cream sundae at Pampell's, but I did buy plenty of books from him and Sandy. That's how I first met them.

The Jon Wolfmueller we knew seemed to fit just out of the spotlight, but in this case he was in the orbit of his wife, Sandy, author Stephen Harrigan, left, and Kinky Friedman, right.

I vividly remember being initially amazed by four things when I came here in 2019 — the Guadalupe River, Pax, Pint and Plow and Wolfmueller's Books. I knew I could call Kerrville home when I walked into that magnificent store that Jon and Sandy built. Little did I know an everlasting friendship would emerge from that initial meeting.

Shortly after Sandy called, my wife, Cherie, and I drove to the Wolfmueller's home, and we arrived as the couple's other good friends, Rachel and Dean Fitch, were getting out of their SUV to visit Sandy. I had spent part of the day with Rachel and saw the couple at lunch, but now Rachel's face was stained by tears. "Not Jon," she said.

My wife's tears started to stream as we entered the house to the embrace of Jon's twin sisters, Jean Weber and Joan Miller. To say the Wolfmuellers have been supportive of my family is putting it mildly — we consider them our adopted Kerrville family. On Sept. 10, they came to my daughter's 25th birthday, where she predictably received two books about Big Bend National Park from the company.

This is admittedly not the clearest photo, but Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller were on hand for my daughter Alyson's 25th birthday celebration at Trailhead Beer Garden at Schreiner University.

So, we both gave Sandy our love and joined the Fitches to share a few stories and tears about Jon. We were grateful to share that time with all in that living room.

For those who don't understand the impact of the Wolfmueller family on Kerrville and Kerr County, it's hard to quantify — because it was quiet. However, Jon Wolfmueller believed in serving this community. He did that by spending 15 years on the board of Peterson Hospital, and he served eight years on the Kerrville Planning and Zoning Commission. There were other duties, including the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce.

There's no question that Jon Wolfmueller was a Texan, who loved his home state, but he was born in Santa Monica, Calif. His father, a decorated P-38 fighter pilot, was stationed in Southern California when Jon was born on July 26, 1945. The family soon returned to Kerrville, and the family grew with the addition of Jon's brother, Chuck, and his twin sisters.

Over the last two years, Jon Wolfmueller always had a story or analogy about growing up in Kerrville. He graduated from Tivy High School in 1963 before matriculating to Schreiner Institute and Texas Tech. He ran a trash hauling business as a teenager, worked in the summer camps, was a member of the U.S. Air Force, served in Alaska, and then came home and met the love of his life, a spitfire of a woman named Sandy Hayes from Oklahoma.

Jon and Sandy married in 1973 and had two sons, but their family met heartbreak when their sons, Eric and Jeff, died from a genetic disease. The Wolfmuellers proved resilient, throwing themselves into work and found joy by adopting twin boys — Karl and Kurt.

The couple loved good music, especially Robert Earl Keen and Kinky Friedman, books and good conversation. Jon was a fastidious gardener who helped maintain a backyard oasis where a glass of wine and a chat were always welcome. Jon and Sandy often bantered back and forth about the backyard birds, including the thrilling arrival of Painted Buntings.

Painted Buntings in Jon and Sandy Wolfmueller's backyard.

There were vacations — often to Sanibel Island, Florida — and trips around Texas, especially in the last few months, to see Keen finish his career. But Kerrville was always their home — a comfortable one. Jon grew up and grew old in and around downtown and Earl Garrett Street, where his grandparents started the family's business acumen as bakers.

In the last two years, there were times when I would go to Jon and Sandy for advice about an issue. They frequently talked over each other, resulting in minor and sometimes amusing disagreements, but they always provided unified guidance. I will miss Jon Wolfmueller's wisdom, humor and intellectual curiosity. He always had a question for me, and they always made time— a gift I can never repay. Thank you, Jon Wolfmueller, for being my friend and supporting my family as you have done for many others.

Jon was preceded in death by his sons Eric and Jeff. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Sandy, his twin sons Kurt and Karl (Karla) and grandchildren Holly, Heidi and Korbin. He is survived by his brother, Chuck (Allenda) of Grants Pass, Ore., sisters Joan Miller (Jim) of Kerrville and Jean Weber of Kerrville, brother-in-law Randy Hayes of Porter, Texas, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Garden of Memories Cemetery, 1517 Fredericksburg Road in Kerrville. Jon's nephew Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller will officiate the service.

Memorials may be made to Purple Songs Can Fly, 2455 Dunstan Rd. No. 513, Houston, Texas, 77005.

Featured upcoming events!

Mark your calendar for Public Power Week Oct. 2-8, and the Bucket Truck Rides.

The Kerrville Public Utility Board (KPUB) is hosting a family-friendly event to meet our heroes in hardhats while we celebrate Public Power Week!

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, October 8, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., to join us in Louise Hays Park for a free community event!

This will be a free community event with family-friendly activities that will include taking a ride in one of KPUB’s bucket trucks, arc & spark demos, line worker tool displays, photo ops with our linemen, face painting and more.

KPUB will be providing free hot dogs, chips and refreshments on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as a free t-shirt for the first 100 attendees. For more information: https://www.kpub.com/community/public-power-week/

The Kerrville Chalk Festival, Oct. 15-16, Kerrville City Hall.

Kerrville Chalk Festival is a family-friendly art event for the Texas Hill Country. More than 65 artists create large-scale chalk drawings directly on the pavement. Kerrville’s downtown becomes a festive canvas for local and regional artists, as wells as invited guest artists from around the United States.

The Festival has live music, many free activities, food trucks, as well as wine and craft beer. It attracts an estimated 10,000 attendees annually. Read about the history of chalk art.

Held at Peterson Plaza in the heart of downtown, the event encourages tourists and locals to dine, shop, and experience the beauty and charm of Kerrville, Texas.

The 2022 beneficiary is Kerrville Arts and Cultural Center (KACC). KACC was founded in 1995 by a group of artists with a mission of providing a show place for local artists and to further the arts and culture in the community. The Center is comprised of sixteen affiliated groups representing over 500 artists and has three distinct gallery spaces. It attracts over 20,000 visitors annually.

Good morning, Kerr County!

After the first day of fall, we can expect more sunny and warm conditions over the next few days. However, the National Weather Service offered this caveat: "Morning lows are expected to drop to the upper 50s to lower 60s with comfortable dewpoints. Perfect weather for those morning walkers and runners."

On today's The Lead Live!

We wrap up our week on small business development and leadership with a bit of a history lesson about multigenerational businesses from Joe Herring, who is part of just such a business. We'll also chat with Andrew Gay, Leslie Jones, and the Museum of Western Art's Darrell Beauchamp will provide a preview of this weekend's Roundup Show and Art Sale. Today's show is two hours, and Debbie Taylor Williams joins us in the second hour to share with us about her ministry work.

Today's events

High School football

• Tivy High School at Liberty Hill, 7 p.m. The Antlers open up District play against the state 5A-Division II runners-up from 2021. Liberty Hill is 3-1 on the season.
• San Antonio Cole at Ingram Tom Moore, 7 p.m.

High school volleyball

• Seguin at Tivy, 6 p.m.
• Llano at Ingram Tom Moore, 6 p.m.

Performing arts

• Leading Ladies — The Cailloux Theater, 7:30 p.m. The details: https://www.playhouse2000.com Two down-at-the-heels Shakespearean actors try to take advantage of a rich Pennsylvania widow who is looking to leave her fortune to missing relatives. They plan to impersonate the lost nephews "Max" and "Steve," and are surprised when the pair turn out to actually be nieces "Maxine" and "Stephanie." Undeterred, the pair continue the ruse by assuming female form. Their ploy becomes even more complicated when love enters the picture, and the laughs just keep on coming.

Science and Nature

• Star Party — Schreiner University, 8 p.m. Information: kdarvidsson@schreiner.edu The details: Participants will be able to view celestial objects in the Hill Country sky in the domed observatory containing Schreiner's 16-inch telescope. Several eight-inch telescopes will also be available for public viewing.
• 1-on-1 with a naturalist — Riverside Nature Center, 10 a.m. Information: https://www.riversidenaturecenter.org The details: Naturalist, author, and columnist Jim Stanley and Texas Master Naturalist and native plant enthusiast John Hucksteadt will be available to meet one-on-one to answer questions, and discuss various topics, or listen to ideas about nature.

The Arts

• The 39th Roundup and Art Sale — Museum of Western Art, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: https://www.musuemofwesternart.com The details: This year's exhibition includes two days of art sales, demonstrations, and other festivities. Friday will include daytime educational opportunities, demonstrations, and an exclusive members-only, high-end cocktail preview party with a chance to meet artists and preview the art before the exhibition opens to the public. (Western Chic Attire).
• Paint Kerrville! — Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Information: https://www.kacckerrville.com The details: The annual Plein Air painting competition begins with 50 talented artists from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Artists will paint within the constraints of time, sunlight, outdoor elements, and energy-whatever conditions may be. KACC supporters allow their VIP's a first peek at the works on Friday evening.

Live music

• Camerata San Antonio — Just a note that this event has been canceled.
• Tim Porter and Gary Hatch — Cafe at the Ridge, 6 p.m. Information: https://www.shopsattheridge.com
• Charlie Bravo — Pier 27 River Lounge and Pizzeria, 8 p.m. Information: 830-896-7437
• Eley Buck Davis — Southern Sky Music Cafe, 6 p.m. Information: southernskymusiccafe.com
• Allen Love & The Country Pride Band — The Pub at Inn of the Hills, 7 p.m. Information: Fcampbell@innofthehills.com
• Aaron Lacombe — Pint and Plow Brewing Co., 6 p.m. Information: https://www.pintandplow.com The details:
• Devin Baize — Joanne Marie and Me Wine Boutique, Ingram, 6 p.m. Information: https://www.facebook.com/wineboutique1
• Travis Pierce — Arcadia Live, 7 p.m. Information: https://www.thearcadialive.org The details:
• La Escondida 1962, 7 p.m. Information: La Escondida 1962

Dance

• Learn to Belly Dance — Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, 6 p.m. Information: The Cheeky Peacocks Dance Company The details: Bring a yoga mat, a bottle of water and a friend! The class is $10.

Markets and sales

• Kerrville Farmer's Market — Butt Holdsworth Memorial Library, 4 p.m. Information: https://www.kerrvillefarmersmarket.com The details: There are some key changes to the market, with new management, and some additions and subtractions to the lineup. There's a wide variety of locally sourced produce, meat, eggs, bread, cheese, beer, wine and a selection of prepared food, all sourced within the Texas Hill Country.

Hey Joe, we thought the pandemic was over

President Joe Biden, known for gaffes, made one this week on CBS News' 60 Minutes when he said the coronavirus pandemic was over, but the data certainly doesn't agree with that assessment.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reported three additional Kerr County fatalities related to COVID-19, but it's unclear when those deaths occurred. Kerr County's death toll is now more than 200 people.

More than 2,000 people test positive for the virus daily. Unlike the flu, COVID-19 has killed someone every day in Texas since March 20, 2020.

Supporting the banning of books is the goal of county commissioner

Using all his words — woke, grooming, elite, lies — radio host turned Kerr County Commissioner Harley Belew stoked the fire of culture wars on Thursday with a verbal assault on the Kerrville Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library.

The invective is part of a statewide effort to rid libraries of content with themes centered on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer characters or discussion. Belew, never shy to wade into a fight, invited fellow right-wing activists Brandon Aery and Bethany Puccio onto his radio show to discuss the library's celebration of banned book week.

It coincided with an announcement of a planned protest by We The People, Patriots in Action, which will demonstrate at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library starting at 4 p.m. today. Kerr County Democrats vowed to offer a counterprotest.

The ongoing backlash by right-wing and Christian nationalists against LGBTQ+ themes in libraries is at the heart of the discussion. Aery is persistent in his attendance at Kerrville Independent School District Board of Trustees meetings to urge them to remove books that feature mentions of LGBTQ issues. Puccio helped lead an effort to stop the construction of a new Kerrville public safety building last year.

Belew's focus is on grooming — suggesting that all books about homosexuality groom children toward sex.

Puccio recorded a conversation with Library Director Danielle Brigatti, where she confronted Brigatti about the context of banned books. Indeed, the Butt-Holdsworth Library displayed several books with LGBTQ+ themes, including the book "Gender Queer," a comic book-style memoir of a non-binary author who illustrated the complexity of the nature of sexual identity. It's graphic and not available in the children's section.

The battle over books is an ongoing controversy across Texas, and the nonprofit advocacy group PEN, which defends First Amendment rights, said the state is No. 1 for banning books. In most cases, LGBTQ+ books are the top target, but those lists also include books about people of color.

Texas state Rep. Matt Krause sent a list of 850 books he considered problematic to the Texas Education Agency. The list included Ruby Bridges' book about being the first Black kindergartener in New Orleans. Others on Krause's list had titles about human sexuality, race and gender and American history.

During Belew's radio interview, Aery summarized "Gender Queer" in the tawdriest manner possible: "One has a dick in his mouth giving a blowjob," Aery told Belew, who quickly clarified that the language wasn't appropriate for an over-the-air broadcast. The American Library Association said "Gender Queer" is America's most challenged library book.

Belew said he went to the library to see the books for himself and dismissed the suggestion that the library was highlighting all banned books. Instead, Belew said the library staff lied about the context of banned books and attacked the staff as lazy and overpaid.

Belew played Puccio's recorded conversation with Brigatti on the air. Brigatti defended the books on the display.

The city of Kerrville fielded approximately 100 calls opposing the exhibit and supporting it, said Stuart Cunyus, the city's public information officer.

More events for the weekend

Saturday, Sept. 24

Triathlon

• Kerrville Triathlon Festival — Louise Hays Park, 7 a.m. Information: https://kerrvilletri.com/ The details: Kerrville Tri was founded with the idea of bringing out the beauty and welcoming nature of the Texas Hill Country. Since then, thousands of participants have crossed the finish line to collect their medals. Famed for its 70.3 distance triathlon on Sunday, the weekend also includes seven other events, including a rookie and sprint distance on Saturday and a Quarter distance on Sunday.

Performing arts

• Leading Ladies — The Cailloux Theater, 7:30 p.m. The details: https://www.playhouse2000.com Two down-at-the-heels Shakespearean actors try to take advantage of a rich Pennsylvania widow who is looking to leave her fortune to missing relatives. They plan to impersonate the lost nephews "Max" and "Steve," and are surprised when the pair turn out to actually be nieces "Maxine" and "Stephanie." Undeterred, the pair continue the ruse by assuming female form. Their ploy becomes even more complicated when love enters the picture, and the laughs just keep on coming.

Haunted houses

• Guadalupe River Haunted House — Jellystone Park, 8-10 p.m. Information: https://www.jellystoneguadalupe.com The details: The haunted house is open every Saturday from Sept. 24-Oct. 29. This haunted house will be lots of fun and VERY scary. This house is rated R and not intended for children.

Comedy

• Kerrville Comedy 2Nite — Babez Seafood Bucket, 8 p.m. Information: 830-739-9451 The details: Join Babez Seafood Bucket for its next comedy extravaganza starring Jay LaFarr, featuring Ryan Shields and Tammie Bernal.

The arts

• The 39th Roundup and Art Sale — Museum of Western Art, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: https://www.musuemofwesternart.com The details: This year's exhibition includes two days of art sales, demonstrations, and other festivities. Friday will include daytime educational opportunities, demonstrations, and an exclusive members-only, high-end cocktail preview party with a chance to meet artists and preview the art before the exhibition opens to the public. (Western Chic Attire).
• The Texas Arts and Crafts Fair — The Hill Country Arts Foundation, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Information: https://txartsandcraftsfair.com/ The details: The Fair can trace its roots to 1972 and Schreiner University. The Hill Country Arts Foundation, with the guidance of Wanda "Fluffy" Cash, helped bring the arts fair back to Ingram, and it flourished last year. Last year's fair produced a bonanza for artists — some saying they had their best show of the year. In 2022, the fair's exhst stands at more than 90 — from painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, and photographers to fiber artists. And there will be plenty of food with Bill's BBQ, Chimney Cakes, Come and Crepe It, Conchita's Fusion Cuisine, Nobilitea, Mac' N Wag' N, Sassy's Snack Shack, Shim's Be Blessed, and West Kerr Youth Sports desserts.
• Paint Kerrville! — Kerr Arts and Cultural Center, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Information: https://www.kacckerrville.com The details: The annual Plein Air painting competition begins with 50 talented artists from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. Artists will paint within the constraints of time, sunlight, outdoor elements, and energy-whatever conditions may be. KACC supporters allow their VIP's a first peek at the works on Friday evening.

Education

• Writer's Conference — Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: (830) 258-1274 The details: The Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library will host a day for readers and writers to get a look into the literary publishing world at the 2022 BHML Writer's Conference in the library meeting room. The program will feature a keynote address by award-winning author Johnnie Bernhard, followed with author panels leading up to an Author Alley at 4 p.m. Come for one panel, or come for all. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required for lunch planning purposes.

Golf

• 26th Annual Dan Gatewood Tournament — Scott Schreiner Golf Course, 1 p.m. Information: https://www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/kerrvillehosttx/ The details: Kerrville Host Lions Club. Shotgun start, 4-person Scramble tournament limited to 24 teams. Hole sponsorship and team play support projects benefit the community and the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville for special needs children.

Live music

• Steve Garry — Cafe at the Ridge, 6 p.m. Information: https://www.shopsattheridge.com
• Starseed — Pier 27 River Lounge and Pizzeria, 8 p.m. Information: 830-896-7437

Fundraiser

• Let's Rock The Night — Hil Country Youth Event Center, 5 p.m. Information: https://www.hcdjls.org The details: 39th Annual Kerr County Jr. Livestock Show Fundraiser. Social, dinner, auction, and dance to follow.