It was standing-room-only at the Navasota Center, as the community came together to say good-bye to Marvin Longabaugh.
Fellow Kiwanian Richard Grimes began what wound-up being more than two hours of spontaneous tribute to the originator of, among other things, the term, “Navaplex,” much like his beloved Dallas/Fort Worth “Metroplex,” so every time we hear that word, we will know where it came from because he was the author of that.
Among dozens of others who came forward or shared their thoughts with the packed-out crowd from where they stood was a man who’d known Longabaugh for years; Mayor Bert Miller.
Miller admitted Marvin both goaded him into his current leadership role in the Kiwanis and encouraged him in his most recent business venture, the Classic Rock Coffee Company.
Miller said it has been successful partly because of him. He said he had a picture of Marvin handing him the first dollar. And he had his very first cup of coffee, the mayor went on. His family can attest this, Miller said, Marvin never drank coffee, but he drank his first cup for for me.
The Mayor than held up a copy of the last edition of Marvin’s beloved Navasota Star, showing him drinking that very cup on the cover.
That newspaper WAS Marvin, as many of you who read it know, Miller observed. Impossible is probably the word to try to keep it going without him.
A sentiment shared afterwards by Longabaugh’s widow, TJ, who said that, while her plans are to continue living here in Navasota, unless someone wants to buy the Star, that last edition will also be the paper’s final one.