No. 10: Vietnam veteran receives honorary RVHS diploma
Jan. 6—Seventy-five-year-old Guadalupe "Lupe" Garza Reyna was surprised during a Veterans Day ceremony at Rio Vista High School when he was presented with his high school diploma, a rite of passage he missed when he joined the service and went to serve in Vietnam.
Born May 8, 1948, in Robstown near Corpus Christi, Reyna grew up picking cotton before his family moved to Rio Vista. One of 11 siblings, he attended Rio Vista schools back when kindergarten through 12th grade was housed in the Rio Vista administration building.
Once he turned 18, Reyna registered for selective service. He decided to put his high school career on hold to serve his country in the United States Army. His older brother, Frankie, was already serving in the United States Army and was stationed in Germany.
Reyna wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps of being an aviation mechanic. Unfortunately, the Army didn't have any aviation mechanics positions available so he chose communications — not knowing this training would lead him into the telephone industry years later.
While stationed at Fort Hood, he met Sharon Neal. They dated for six months and were married Feb. 9, 1969. Ten days after their wedding he left for Vietnam. They have been married for 54 year.
On February 19, 1969, he was deployed to Tan Tru, Vietnam and attached with the 9th Infantry Division 2nd Battalion 4th Artillery Charlie Battery. His job was to keep communications for the camp to make sure the artillery could communicate at all times and be ready to use 24/7. He fulfilled his three-year commitment and returned home from Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1970.
Reyna's real life job was with Texas Midland in Grandview, where he was hired in 1971. Texas Midland was a telephone company that changed names throughout the years.
Reyna's duties included, but were not limited to, lineman, install, repair, etc. He serviced a 50-mile radius serving small communities within Johnson, Bosque and Hill counties.
Around Rio Vista, everyone knew him as the telephone guy that could fix your telephone. He retired from Windstream Communications after 43 years.
Reyna installed all the communications lines/fiber optics to all the Rio Vista ISD campuses and wired the whole high school by himself.
Lupe has lived in Rio Vista over 70 years. He still continues to support Rio Vista by attending football and baseball games watching his great-grandson, seventh-grader Leighton.
All of Reyna's children and grandchildren graduated from Rio Vista, including his daughters, Linda Reyna-Martin and Shelbie Reyna-Norton.
