Ray Farabee
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Ray Farabee, known as Ray Farabee (born November 22, 1932), is a retired attorney in Austin
, Texas
, who served as a Democratic
member of the Texas State Senate from Wichita Falls
from 1975 to 1988. He is credited with the authorship of 245 Senate bills that became law during his 13-year tenure. In 1985, he was the Senate President Pro Tempore
. He is the father of retiring State Representative
David Farabee
of Wichita Falls.
in north Texas. His attending physician did not expect him to live through the night of his birth, but he survived. Well into the Great Depression
years, he attended Alamo Elementary School and Zundelowitz Junior High School. He graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School
. During his junior and senior years of high school, he attended a Young Men's Christian Association youth program called Hi-Y at the Texas state capitol in Austin. The organization trained young people in various aspects of government
service. Farabee hence developed an understanding of public affairs more than three decades before he entered the Texas Senate to succeed newly elected U.S. Representative Jack English Hightower
of Vernon
, the seat of Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls. Farabee has been a high achiever throughout his life but confesses that he failed to make the coveted promotion to Eagle Scout
in his youth.
Read Granberry, parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, heard Farabee at a youth speech event and urged him to attend the University of Texas at Austin
, where he procured Bachelor of Business Administration
and Juris Doctor
degrees. He managed to procure a small scholarship and lived in a $10-per-month barracks dormitory
. He became acquainted with the Texas Secretary of State John Ben Shepperd
and worked thereafter for him when Shepperd served as the state attorney general
from 1953 to 1957. Farabee was the UT freshmen class president and later the student body president. He visited the University of Wisconsin at Madison as part of his student political activities. There he met his future first wife, the former Helen Jane Rehbein
(1934–1988), who became the mother of his two sons. Helen was the student body president at UW, a rare accomplishment for a young woman at that time. The couple married in 1958 after their graduations and following Farabee's service in the United States Air Force
.
in Archer County
.
Senator Farabee worked for passage of the Texas Natural Death Act, a law which "provides patients the opportunity to make their own end of life decisions... I got interested in medical ethics
. There was a lot of technology that would keep people alive, and Texas didn't have a legal definition of death... There needed to be a statutory definition. I carried that legislation." He also supported bills to encourage organ donation
s.
Farabee sponsored a constitutional amendment to allow garnishment
of wages for child support. He secured passage of a bill allowing state agencies to maintain daycare facilities on the premises for the employees. He worked for modernization of juvenile justice policies to guarantee due process and the prevention of young persons from being housed in adult facilities. He attempted to prevent outside groups from dominating state textbook selection through the 15-member elected Texas State Board of Education. He opposed the state's blue law
s and advocated industrial development and urban renewal
. He sponsored legislation referring to HIV
and AIDS
cases. He supported the first limitation in Texas on medical malpractice. He worked to accelerate the time that a criminal case reaches the appeal stage.
He failed in his effort to change the partisan election method of choosing Texas appellate court judges, having favored some kind of merit-based system. Farabee said that Texas attorneys often raise money for judicial candidates and can later appear in court before those judges, who may feel beholden to their previous benefactors and lack impartiality on the bench.
Texas Monthly
magazine for five consecutive sessions dubbed Farabee one of the state's best legislators.
, unexpectedly resigned his seat after thirteen years to accept a position as general counsel for his alma mater
, the University of Texas System. The new position required relocation from Wichita Falls to Austin. He represented nine academic institutions, four medical schools, two hospitals, and the regents and administration.
Helen Farabee, a prominent civic leader in her own right, was particularly involved with mental health issues, and facilities, which first opened in 1969 in Wichita Falls and Graham
, Texas, bear her name. Senator Farabee worked to update the mental health code in line with much of his wife's efforts in the field. Mrs. Farabee died of lung cancer
in Austin in July 1988, shortly after her husband had become the UT counsel. Before the decline in her health, she had briefly attempted to run in a special election to succeed her husband in 1988, but Democratic Party leaders anointed another candidate for the slot, state Representative Steve Carriker of Roby
in Fisher County, who went on to win the fall campaign against the Republican businessman, Bobby Albert of Wichita Falls.
In 1991, Ray Farabee remarried. His second wife is the former Mary Margaret Albright (born 1939), a divorcee with two children, David (1964–1996) and Patricia (born 1968). She worked with Texas First Lady Laura Bush
to found the Texas Book Festival
. The first event opened a month after her son David overdosed. In 2000, Farabee retired from UT but remained for two years as executive assistant to the chancellor. He also served on the state board of Blue Cross Blue Shield. In retirement, he is a volunteer for public television and sits on the board of the interest group, the Equal Justice Foundation, which funds up to $20 million annually in legal services for low-income Texans. Farabee and his wife also travel extensively. In 2006, while in New Zealand
they came across a former classmate from Wichita Falls Senior High School and a state representative from Midland
, Frank Kell Cahoon
. In the 1965 legislative session, Cahoon was the only Republican in the 150-member Texas House.
Farabee has been a longtime Democratic donor, having given to the Bill Clinton
and Barack Obama
presidential campaigns in 1992 and 2008 and, over the years, to congressional campaigns of Jake Pickle, Martin Frost
, Lloyd Doggett
, and Pete Geren
. He also contributed in 1991 to State Senator Hugh Parmer
, a former mayor
of Fort Worth
, the Democrat who failed in the 1990 campaign against Republican U.S. Senator Phil Gramm
.
In 2009, Ray and Mary Margaret Farabee were presented by former CBS
anchorman Dan Rather
the annual Clara Driscoll Arts Award, named for the Austin artist Clara Driscoll Farabee published his autobiography
in 2009, basing the title on his premature birth: Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir.
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who served as a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the Texas State Senate from Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...
from 1975 to 1988. He is credited with the authorship of 245 Senate bills that became law during his 13-year tenure. In 1985, he was the Senate President Pro Tempore
President pro tempore
A President pro tempore is a constitutionally recognized officer of a legislative body who presides over the chamber in the absence of the normal presiding officer...
. He is the father of retiring State Representative
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...
David Farabee
David Farabee
David Lee Farabee is a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 69...
of Wichita Falls.
Early years, education, and family
Farabee was born six weeks prematurely in Wichita Falls, the seat of Wichita CountyWichita County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 131,664 people, 48,441 households, and 32,891 families residing in the county. The population density was 210 people per square mile . There were 53,304 housing units at an average density of 85 per square mile...
in north Texas. His attending physician did not expect him to live through the night of his birth, but he survived. Well into the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
years, he attended Alamo Elementary School and Zundelowitz Junior High School. He graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School
Wichita Falls High School
Wichita Falls High School or WFHS is a public school in Wichita Falls, Texas . It is part of the Wichita Falls Independent School District and is one of the district's three high schools....
. During his junior and senior years of high school, he attended a Young Men's Christian Association youth program called Hi-Y at the Texas state capitol in Austin. The organization trained young people in various aspects of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
service. Farabee hence developed an understanding of public affairs more than three decades before he entered the Texas Senate to succeed newly elected U.S. Representative Jack English Hightower
Jack English Hightower
Jack English Hightower is a former Democratic U.S. representative from Texas. Born in Memphis, the seat of Hall County in west Texas, Hightower received a bachelor of arts degree from Baylor University in Waco in 1949, an LL.B. from Baylor Law School in 1951, and an LL.M. from the University of...
of Vernon
Vernon, Texas
Vernon is a city in Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 11,660; it was 11,077 in the 2005 census estimate. Vernon is the county seat of Wilbarger County....
, the seat of Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls. Farabee has been a high achiever throughout his life but confesses that he failed to make the coveted promotion to Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in his youth.
Read Granberry, parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, heard Farabee at a youth speech event and urged him to attend the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, where he procured Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...
and Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degrees. He managed to procure a small scholarship and lived in a $10-per-month barracks dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
. He became acquainted with the Texas Secretary of State John Ben Shepperd
John Ben Shepperd
John Ben Shepperd was the segregationist Texas attorney general from 1953–1957 who led resistance to the desegregation of public schools mandated by the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka...
and worked thereafter for him when Shepperd served as the state attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
from 1953 to 1957. Farabee was the UT freshmen class president and later the student body president. He visited the University of Wisconsin at Madison as part of his student political activities. There he met his future first wife, the former Helen Jane Rehbein
Helen J. Farabee
Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee, known as Helen J. Farabee , was a 20th century advocate of improved mental health and human services in Texas. She was the first wife of State Senator Ray Farabee , an attorney originally from Wichita Falls...
(1934–1988), who became the mother of his two sons. Helen was the student body president at UW, a rare accomplishment for a young woman at that time. The couple married in 1958 after their graduations and following Farabee's service in the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
.
State Senate service
After thirteen years in private law practice in Wichita Falls, Farabee entered the Democratic primary for the state Senate. He defeated veteran State Representative Charles Finnell of HollidayHolliday, Texas
Holliday is a city in Archer County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,632 at the 2000 census...
in Archer County
Archer County, Texas
Archer County is a county located in the US state of Texas, and was formed in 1858 from Fannin County. It is part of the Wichita Falls, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2005, the population estimate is 9,095, up from 8,854 in 2000. Its county seat is Archer City. Archer is named for...
.
Senator Farabee worked for passage of the Texas Natural Death Act, a law which "provides patients the opportunity to make their own end of life decisions... I got interested in medical ethics
Medical ethics
Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...
. There was a lot of technology that would keep people alive, and Texas didn't have a legal definition of death... There needed to be a statutory definition. I carried that legislation." He also supported bills to encourage organ donation
Organ donation
Organ donation is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation. Transplantable organs and tissues are removed in a surgical procedure following a determination, based on the donor's medical and...
s.
Farabee sponsored a constitutional amendment to allow garnishment
Garnishment
A garnishment is a means of collecting a monetary judgment against a defendant by ordering a third party to pay money, otherwise owed to the defendant, directly to the plaintiff...
of wages for child support. He secured passage of a bill allowing state agencies to maintain daycare facilities on the premises for the employees. He worked for modernization of juvenile justice policies to guarantee due process and the prevention of young persons from being housed in adult facilities. He attempted to prevent outside groups from dominating state textbook selection through the 15-member elected Texas State Board of Education. He opposed the state's blue law
Blue law
A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...
s and advocated industrial development and urban renewal
Urban renewal
Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...
. He sponsored legislation referring to HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
cases. He supported the first limitation in Texas on medical malpractice. He worked to accelerate the time that a criminal case reaches the appeal stage.
He failed in his effort to change the partisan election method of choosing Texas appellate court judges, having favored some kind of merit-based system. Farabee said that Texas attorneys often raise money for judicial candidates and can later appear in court before those judges, who may feel beholden to their previous benefactors and lack impartiality on the bench.
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...
magazine for five consecutive sessions dubbed Farabee one of the state's best legislators.
Later years
In the spring of 1988, Farabee, already the Democratic nominee for another Senate term in the upcoming November general electionGeneral election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, unexpectedly resigned his seat after thirteen years to accept a position as general counsel for his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, the University of Texas System. The new position required relocation from Wichita Falls to Austin. He represented nine academic institutions, four medical schools, two hospitals, and the regents and administration.
Helen Farabee, a prominent civic leader in her own right, was particularly involved with mental health issues, and facilities, which first opened in 1969 in Wichita Falls and Graham
Graham, Texas
Graham is a city in north central Texas. It is the county seat of Young County, and as of the 2010 Census had a population of 8,903.-History:...
, Texas, bear her name. Senator Farabee worked to update the mental health code in line with much of his wife's efforts in the field. Mrs. Farabee died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
in Austin in July 1988, shortly after her husband had become the UT counsel. Before the decline in her health, she had briefly attempted to run in a special election to succeed her husband in 1988, but Democratic Party leaders anointed another candidate for the slot, state Representative Steve Carriker of Roby
Roby, Texas
Roby is a city in and the county seat of Fisher County, Texas, United States. The population was 643 at the 2010 census.- History :In 1885, shortly after Fisher County was organized, a dispute arose between business partners from Mississippi and a town called Fisher. Both wanted their land to host...
in Fisher County, who went on to win the fall campaign against the Republican businessman, Bobby Albert of Wichita Falls.
In 1991, Ray Farabee remarried. His second wife is the former Mary Margaret Albright (born 1939), a divorcee with two children, David (1964–1996) and Patricia (born 1968). She worked with Texas First Lady Laura Bush
Laura Bush
Laura Lane Welch Bush is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001, to January 20, 2009. She has held a love of books and reading since childhood and her life and education have reflected that interest...
to found the Texas Book Festival
Texas Book Festival
The Texas Book Festival was established in 1995 by Laura Bush, then the First Lady of Texas, and Mary Margaret Farabee, wife of former State Senator Ray Farabee. The festival was created to benefit the state's public library system, to promote the joy of reading, as well as to honor Texas authors. ...
. The first event opened a month after her son David overdosed. In 2000, Farabee retired from UT but remained for two years as executive assistant to the chancellor. He also served on the state board of Blue Cross Blue Shield. In retirement, he is a volunteer for public television and sits on the board of the interest group, the Equal Justice Foundation, which funds up to $20 million annually in legal services for low-income Texans. Farabee and his wife also travel extensively. In 2006, while in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
they came across a former classmate from Wichita Falls Senior High School and a state representative from Midland
Midland, Texas
Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States, on the Southern Plains of the state's western area. A small portion of the city extends into Martin County. As of 2010, the population of Midland was 111,147. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas...
, Frank Kell Cahoon
Frank Kell Cahoon
Frank Kell Cahoon is an oilman and natural gas entrepreneur from Midland, Texas, who was the only Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives in the regular 1965 legislative session. Cahoon served two terms in the legislature from 1965 to 1969...
. In the 1965 legislative session, Cahoon was the only Republican in the 150-member Texas House.
Farabee has been a longtime Democratic donor, having given to the Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
and Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
presidential campaigns in 1992 and 2008 and, over the years, to congressional campaigns of Jake Pickle, Martin Frost
Martin Frost
Jonas Martin Frost III is an American politician, who was the Democratic representative to the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 24th congressional district from 1979 to 2005.-Personal life:...
, Lloyd Doggett
Lloyd Doggett
Lloyd Alton Doggett II is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He previously represented from 1995 to 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, and Pete Geren
Pete Geren
Preston M. "Pete" Geren, III served as the 20th United States Secretary of the Army from July 16, 2007 to September 16, 2009...
. He also contributed in 1991 to State Senator Hugh Parmer
Hugh Parmer
Hugh Q. Parmer is an attorney and Democratic politician in Fort Worth, Texas. He served in both houses of the Texas State Legislature, on the Fort Worth City Council, and as mayor of Fort Worth. In 1990, he was his party's unsuccessful nominee for the U.S...
, a former mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, the Democrat who failed in the 1990 campaign against Republican U.S. Senator Phil Gramm
Phil Gramm
William Philip "Phil" Gramm is an American economist and politician, who has served as a Democratic Congressman , a Republican Congressman and a Republican Senator from Texas...
.
In 2009, Ray and Mary Margaret Farabee were presented by former CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
anchorman Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
the annual Clara Driscoll Arts Award, named for the Austin artist Clara Driscoll Farabee published his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
in 2009, basing the title on his premature birth: Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir.