Nelda Laney Creates Keepsakes

By NICKI BRUCE LOGAN Herald Lifestyles Editor, From the Plainview Daily Herald
August 8, 2007

Little did Nelda Laney think she was starting an empire, albeit a small one peopled with collectible ornaments, when she started the Texas State Capitol ornament series in 1996.

"We had gone through the renovation of the Capitol and I was looking for a way to raise money that could be renewable each year. As part of opening the Capitol to the public, we also decorated an enormous Christmas tree in the House chambers each year. Someone had given us an ornament from the White House for the tree and I thought maybe I could do that,” remembers Nelda, whose husband, Pete, was then speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and a member of the State Preservation Board overseeing the renovations.

“I thought that if the ornaments were a successful fund-raiser for the nation’s White House, the same concept would work in Texas.”

Nelda’s solution was to design a Christmas ornament focusing on Texas history and its symbols, which evolved by the time it was released into the Capitol Ornament Collection. Her story is familiar to the tens of thousands who have purchased the ornaments, beginning with the first edition in 1996.

Fast forward to 2002, when the new State Preservation Board, House Speaker Tom Craddick, Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst decided they no longer needed Nelda’s volunteer work on the project that had raised more than $2 million for preservation of the state Capitol through the sale of more than 300,000 ornaments.

“I thought my time designing ornaments was over,” she said, laughing at the thought.

While rumors and actual confirmation of dropping Laney after Craddick took over as House speaker were making the rounds, Nelda was contacted by Keep Texas Beautiful asking her to design a series of ornaments. At first she hesitated. All profits from the Texas Capitol series went directly to fund state preservation, but she agreed, knowing KTB would use the funds for Texas beautification.

Four years later, the latest in the KTB series was released at the KTB state conference at Austin in July. It features a bouquet of wildflowers set above a gold-brushed Texas and is dedicated to the late Lady Bird Johnson.

In the process of designing the ornament, Nelda admits she “drove the company crazy” with her tweaking of the design.

“It is important to me that the bouquet was as perfect as we could get it,” Nelda explained, pointing out the tiny flecks of blue depicting the bluebonnets shown below a ribbon. “Those dots were white and I knew they should be blue since they were part of the bluebonnet. I really want all of the ornaments to be perfect, but particularly this one dedicated to Mrs. Johnson, who has meant so much to Texas.

“Lady Bird died the day before her daughter, Lucy, and I were to reveal the ornament,” Nelda said.

“Lady Bird had seen the ornament and I was told she was thrilled and loved it.”

The fourth edition of the KTB series, as were those before it, will fund community improvement projects so KTB can carry out its mission to educate and engage Texans to improve their community environment. That’s the mission printed on the ornament insert, but what it means in laymen’s terms is that Nelda’s desire to improve and preserve our Texas heritage is being carried out.

Nelda’s other love, alongside that of her native Texas, is children. A reflection of that interest is the numerous awards and honors she and her husband have received from a number of organization charged with child protection and abuse prevention. In February, Laney was guest of honor at the 2007 Legacy Luncheon hosted by the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.

Nelda is a founding member of Community Partners of the Central Plains, known locally as the Rainbow Room, and has been active at the state level since it was organized. She began her term as president of Greater Texas Community Partners (GTCP) in June.

Inevitably, when GTCP started looking for a state-wide fund-raiser for abused and neglected children in Child Protective Service care, they asked Nelda to design an ornament that reflected their work with children. The third of the GTCP series was released earlier in the year.

Plainview’s Centennial ornament, introduced July 6 at the Centennial Walk of Fame program at the Fair Theatre honoring the Laneys, shows the city’s new brand — a green and blue enamel emblem centered with a stylized sun representing a prosperous past and a promising future.

Although she has completed the current editions of Community Partners, Keep Texas Beautiful and Texas Tech University series, she is hard at work on the City of Lubbock and Wayland Baptist University Centennial ornaments.

She also has a number of “singles” to her credit beside the City of Plainview Centennial ornament: Post’s Centennial, Rotary International and Soroptimist International, the Hali project, the Vatican ornament designed for the Vatican exhibit in Lubbock and the Bob Bullock State History Museum. In addition, she set up the Children’s Art Project series for M.D. Anderson Hospital in Houston.

A first this summer was the design of a family ornament for the Hill-Horton family reunion commissioned by Rubye Henderson. She positioned a number of crosses of different sizes across the state of Texas to represent the strong religion faith of the families.

“We are so proud of this keepsake for our family,” Mrs. Henderson said.

The City of Plainview Centennial, Keep Texas Beautiful and Community Partners (Rainbow Room) ornaments are available at local merchants, King’s Keepsakes and Evalene’s. The city ornament also can be purchased by calling city hall at 806-296-1100 or going by 901 Broadway.