Robbi and Dan Boone Scholarships Awarded to CHS Students

Canyon High School students Ana Fuentes and Jessie Ortega Jr. are recipients of the 2020 Robbi and Dan Boone scholarships.

The $1,000 scholarships, awarded by the Democratic Women of Comal County (DWCC), are named in honor of the longtime Canyon Lake residents and Democratic party activists, who died within months of each other in 2016-17.

Recipients are traditional or non-traditional students who aim to make a positive difference in the world.

The Third Annual Robbi and Dan Boone Dinner, originally scheduled for April 25, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement on May 18, DWCC’s executive committee also expressed their appreciation for The Honorable Wendy Davis, former Texas state senator and candidate for Texas Congressional District 21; community race-relations activists Gloria and Henry Ford; and Ann Patla, Comal County Democratic Party advocate and first DWCC president.

They were the scheduled honorees before the dinner was canceled.

Ortega is the son of Jessie and Laura Otega. He plans to enter the Diesel Trade Program at St. Phillips University in San Antonio.

Fuentes is the daughter of Raul Fuentes and Dora Salazar. She will study government and pre-law at University of Texas at Austin.

About Robbi and Dan Boone:

Dan Boone
A descendant of Daniel Boone, the famed American pioneer and frontiersman, Dan earned doctorate degrees in both clinical and experimental psychology while attending University of Texas and the University of Wyoming. He served in the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force, where he attained the rank of Lt. Colonel.

After Dan’s retirement from the Air Force the family settled in Canyon Lake and opened a bed-and-breakfast on their ranch. They began work on behalf of the Democratic Party in 2004.

Dan ran for office three times: 2008-Texas House Representative D-73; 2010-State Board of Education; 2014-Texas Senate D-25.

“If you can’t win if you don’t take the field,” he said. “The honor is in the fight, not in the winnng.”

Dan died in December 2016 after a year-long fight with pancreatic cancer.

At his memorial service, Robbi Boone said “He never quit and he never let us down.”

Robbi Boone
Robbi was killed in an automobile accident just four months after Dan passed. Her car was hit by a commercial truck that ran a stop sign.

She was memorialized in a Texas House resolution: “This dynamic woman loved her adopted state and was active in many organizations over the years, and in her free time nurtured a lifelong interest in art by drawing and painting; kind and generous, she had a positive outlook that was contagious and that galvanized everyone around her to do the best they could to achieve their goals.”

Robbi was a Chicago native who earned a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and a master’s degree from DePaul University. She began her career as a teacher.

In Texas, she served as president of the Democrats of Comal County then as chair of the Comal County Democratic Party.

Robbi also supported the formation of a Democratic women’s group in western Comal County. The group evolved into the Democratic Women of Comal County. She also served as vice president of the Texas County Chairs Association.