The NBISD Education Foundation inducted three new members as Distinguished Alumni during its annual banquet that was held on Sept. 11 at the McKenna Events Center. This year’s honorees are Rocky Hill, Karen (Goff) Boyd and Scott Haag.
The three distinguished alumni were also honored during halftime at the varsity football game against Del Rio that was played on Sept. 13. Rocky Hill: Class of 1972 If you were lucky enough to be in New Braunfels on July 4, 2021 and saw the fireworks show, you were treated to an over-the-top fireworks extravaganza brought to you partly from a generous gift by Rocky and Joy Hill.
The donation was initially given in 2020 to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of New Braunfels, but the onset of the COVID pandemic delayed the celebration. This gift to New Braunfels is just one of many given to New Braunfels and Comal County by Rocky and Joy. Rocky and Joy built a successful business, Rocky Hill Equipment Rentals, that has allowed them to give back to their school district and community.
Rocky’s family are fourth generation Unicorns — Rocky’s mother, Norma Jo Hill, daughter, Cristina, and grandchildren all went through the NBISD. In fact, niece Amber taught at New Braunfels and nephew Trent Wenzel, a 2011 Distinguished Unicorn alumni, both teach at NBISD schools. Rocky attended Seele Elementary, New Braunfels Junior High, and is a1972 graduate of New Braunfels High School.
He was involved with FFA, played golf, and was a roving defensive back under a young position coach, Jim Streety, and head coach, Luke Thomas. After graduating with the class of 1972, Rocky attended Texas Tech University and graduated with a degree in Animal Science. He was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity and is a current member of the Red Raider Club.
Rocky was destined to return home to New Braunfels to help run the family’s Ol’ Bossy dairy operations, but the dairy would close five months before he graduated. Rocky came home and worked with Roy Duelm House Moving until he took a job with Southwest Texas State University at their ag farm. It was around this time that Rocky married Joy Colson, a 1975 NBHS graduate.
Rocky went on to work for the United States Department of Agriculture testing milk. A short time after this, Rocky began selling used farm equipment at FB Tractor. The owner had started an equipment rental business and wanted Rocky to buy it from him so he could concentrate on the farm equipment.
At Joy’s urging, they instead opened their own business, Rocky Hill Equipment Rentals, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary next year. Their second company, JCH Construction, was opened in 1989. Professionally, Rocky has been a member and board member of the Texas Rental Association and the American Rental Association.
He is a member of the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce. Rocky has been president of the Comal County Fair Association, the Comal County Junior Livestock Association, and a top ten youth auction buyer for many years at the junior shows. NBISD has also been the beneficiary of Rocky and Joy’s generosity.
Rocky Hill Equipment was the inaugural sponsor of a video scoreboard which they continue to sponsor today. They have sponsored numerous athletic activities like the NBHS All Sports Booster Club, breakfasts for teachers at their annual convocation, and pretty much anything that they’re asked to support! Rocky Hill Equipment Rentals has supported Communities in Schools and sponsored scholarships for students for many years, and in the summer of 2013, when the Braunfels Foundation Trust launched the First Step Campaign, a five-year fundraising effort to raise one million dollars to provide vocational and technical scholarships, as well as building the Trust’s assets, Rocky Hill Equipment Rentals was one of the founding sponsors. Karen (Goff) Boyd: Class of 1974 Karen Goff Boyd was born to Myra Lee Adams (also a Distinguished Alumni) and Glyn Goff and is a sixth-generation New Braunfelser.
Myra Lee, Karen and her siblings, Patty and Marc, are all Unicorns and Karen graduated from NBHS in 1974. During her time at New Braunfels High School, Karen was a member of the National Honor Society, Student Council and German Club, but her proudest moments as a Unicorn were served marching, with her flute at half time, as the Lt. Colonel of the Mighty Unicorn Band.
After graduation, Karen attended the University of Texas in Austin where she majored in Pharmacy. Her college years were also where she met her husband, Rich Boyd, who was an athletic trainer for the Longhorns. Following college, Karen would go on to serve for 38 years as a pharmacist for McKenna/Christus Santa Rosa, a career of which she is tremendously proud.
Another of Karen’s proudest and notable accomplishments is her service on the Comal County Historical Commission. She was appointed to the Commission in 2010, by then County Judge, Danny Scheel and has held various positions on the Commission since, including Chairman, Vice Chairman, Historical Preservation Officer, Grant Writer and the current Treasurer. Karen has worked tirelessly to preserve the historical treasures of this county and has, with herculean effort, led several monumental projects to ensure their conservation and preservation.
During her tenure, Karen and Myra Lee have traveled all over Comal County, spending thousands of hours and driving hundreds of miles, conducting interviews and research on the many communities and people that reside here, both historically and at present. In addition, Karen, along with a team of volunteers also led a Historical Research Survey project that surveyed over 1,200 structures in the county for possible historical marker eligibility, like Anhalt Halle, The New Braunfels Post Office, Slumber Falls and Walzem Chapel to name a few. The preservation of our heritage and history in Comal County is thanks in large part to the work that Karen has done and continues to do.
Other volunteer positions Karen has held include: — Member and past president of the Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. — Member and past president of the Sophienburg Museum and Archives. — Member of the 175th Anniversary of the Founding of New Braunfels.
— Committee member of the Comal County Courthouse Restoration Celebration. — Editor and technical assistant for the ‘Around the Sophienburg,’ a historical compilation of 11 years of Herald Zeitung articles, chronicling our history. — Member of the Mission Hill Heritage Park Steering Committee.
For all the work Karen has accomplished, she has been awarded the Comal County Historical Commission Distinguished Service Award in 2018 and the Texas Historical Commission Volunteer of the Year Award, and now the NBISD Education Foundation’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Karen’s roots run so deep in our community that this anecdote is worth sharing. Her house that she grew up in and still lives in today will be 100 years old this year and it was built by her great-grandfather who was a prolific builder in New Braunfels at the time.
Myra Lee’s house, which is next door, is only a year older and it is the home that Myra Lee was born and grew up in. The Rock House on Austin St., that Schlitterbahn now owns, was built by her great-great-great grandfather.
Her entire maternal side of the family has lived within a three-block area in Comal Town for six generations! Karen and Rich have two children, Erin who lives in Austin and Brett who lives in Corpus Christi, are also both Unicorns. They also have two grandchildren, Jack and Reed. The Boyd’s are multi-generational members of First Protestant Church, where Karen and Rich served as the Youth Fellowship Sponsors.
Karen is also a multi-generational member and past president of the Gay Forties club. During her free time, she loves to host family from near and far and enjoys traveling, with one of her favorite trips being to Scotland. Scott Haag: Class of 1977 Scott Haag, a fifth-generation Comal County resident, is a 1977 graduate of New Braunfels High School.
His father and both daughters are also proud Unicorn graduates. While in High School, Scott was a four-year member of the Mighty Unicorn Marching Band. Additionally, he attained the rank of Eagle Scout from the Boy Scouts of America in 1974.
After high school, Scott attended Texas A&M University, and Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos. In January of 1980, Scott left college and was hired by the Texas Department of Public Safety as a Texas Highway Patrol trooper. Once he graduated from recruit school, his first duty station was Palacios, Texas.
This is where he met his future wife, Sandra, and they were married in 1981. As luck would have it, in 1983, Scott was able to transfer back to his hometown and was assigned to the Highway Patrol station here where he would serve for the next 13 years, patrolling the highways and roads of Comal County. It was during this time that Scott and Sandra welcomed two beautiful girls to their family, Kathleen and Sarah.
Both girls are married and have families, making Scott and Sandra proud grandparents to a grandson and granddaughter. Also, during his time stationed in New Braunfels, he and other troopers sponsored a Police Explorer post in which they mentored high-school aged youth who were interested in a law enforcement career. Scott embodies the definition of a true public servant.
Aside from his service to Comal County, during his time as a State Trooper, Scott and several other law enforcement officers from the area fielded a softball team. One of Scott’s co-workers formed the idea of a benefit softball tournament that benefitted the Children’s Shelter of Comal County. This annual event successfully raised money every year for this charity and was a tournament that was attended by teams across the region.
In 1996, Scott transferred to the License and Weight Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety in San Marcos but was still able to live and work in New Braunfels and Comal County. Scott would complete his law enforcement career at the San Marcos station and retired in 2008 after a 28-year career with the Texas Department of Public Safety. Scott would soon embark upon another career, this time in Comal County politics.
Scott was elected as Precinct 2 County Commissioner and was sworn into office Jan. 1, 2011, where he still serves in that role. During his time as commissioner, Scott was instrumental in forming the Comal Trinity Groundwater Conservation District.
After that accomplishment, Scott received the Chair of the Board award from the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce for his work in water conservation. Scott is always working to improve the infrastructure in the county to not only keep up with the rapid growth, but to position the county moving into the future to stay ahead of growth. Additionally, Scott is very passionate about preserving the history of Comal County.
His most recent effort has been to re-acquire some of the original limestone used in the third county jail and utilized some of the stones from the fourth county jail to incorporate it into the design of the current jail and the newly remodeled Sheriff’s Office. Scott graduated from the Texas Association of Counties Executive Leadership class in 2013 and has been instrumental in working with local law enforcement agencies across the county on upgrading the radio system used by the Comal County Sheriff's Office, as well as the local emergency services districts, and the police departments in both Bulverde and Garden Ridge. Scott remains active and involved with his community.
He is an Opa Emeritus and Past President of the Wurstfest Association, member of the New Braunfels and Bulverde/Spring Branch Chambers of Commerce. He is also a member of several Comal County Republican clubs, a Baron with the Braunfels Foundation Trust, and a longtime member of First Protestant Church of New Braunfels..
