In an email I sent the Caney Creek High School staff approximately a month ago, I mentioned that one of the biggest reasons I decided to give up my central office position as an Assistant Superintendent and return to Caney Creek as principal was how much I respected and loved this wonderful staff for their care for these students and passion for setting them up for success in life via a great education. When I heard the news that one of our strongest supporters, who is also one of our hardest working and longest tenured Creek family members, was looking for her daughter that had disappeared in a flood, my heart sank. I was in a state of shock for hours. I have known Reese for many years. I had spoken to her when she wasn’t yet a high school student but would wait for her junior high school day to start, sitting on the floor by her mom’s desk, working on homework. As a student here at Caney Creek, she always had such a wonderful smile, was so kind, caring and helpful. She was the kind of student you wish your own child would grow up to be.

I, like most of you, have not been very happy with the media coverage of the flood, especially when it pertains to our sweet Caney Creek graduate. Articles have been written with a clinical feel, reporting on the disaster and the horrible things that occurred. Our Caney Creek community doesn’t need to read about or think about one of our precious students in that manner. What the Stafford Family needs, what our Creek family needs, is a time to remember sweet Reese Manchaca, remember her time in these halls, and the positive difference she made in others’ lives just by being herself! We all grieve with the family. Our hearts have a hole in them that won’t ever go away, but can only be filled with the good memories we have of Reese, her two kind and caring sisters, and her wonderful mother.

To the Stafford Family, from the Creek Family, we love each one of you, our hearts break for you, and we will always be here with you and for you.

God Bless,

Jeff