McElligott, John (RIP) – What's in the Water in Midland, Texas?

If You Can’t Be Good, Be Great!

March 13, 2026March 13, 2026What's in the Water6 Comments

Remembering Our Founder – Dr. John McElligott

By Dana Karnowski

This post has taken me some time to write. Losing John left a space that words simply could not fill right away. It comes with heavy heart and many tears. I know that all of you that knew Dr. John will understand.

However, this blog was built on memories and continuing to share them is exactly what he would want us to do.

Some people come into your life for a short time. Others stay long enough to change it forever.

Dr. John McElligott was one of those people.

In 2017, John and I first talked about the idea for this blog. At the time it was just a dream — make a place where Midlanders could share memories and stories from a special time in their lives.

In 2018, we decided to make that dream a reality.

What started as a simple idea became something much bigger.

Together we helped create a place where more than 500 stories now live, and where thousands of readers and proud “water drinkers” return to laugh, remember, and reconnect. Through this project he and I met many Texans who now feel like family.

Somewhere along the way, Dr. John became my best friend.

John believed deeply that stories mattered. He used to joke, “Why write a blog when you can’t spell?” But then he would answer his own question.

Because once a story is written down, it can last forever.

He also liked to say that he would retire “the day before they cremate me.” That was John, always working to save lives, always laughing, always finding a reason to celebrate life.

Dr. John McElligott passed away peacefully on February 15, 2026.

Please see his obituary here: Dr. John McElligott Obituary – Knoxville News Sentinel

I miss him terribly and probably will for the rest of my life. But his dream will not end here.

As long as these stories continue to be shared, his spirit will live on — in every memory, every laugh, and every story told here.

And maybe that is the real story John left with us…that as long as memories are shared and stories are told, the people we love are never truly gone.

John believed this blog belonged to the people of Midland, Texas who lived these stories.

If you have a memory of Dr. John, a story that made you laugh, or even a small moment you remember from those Midland days, I invite you to share it. That was always John’s hope — that the stories would continue long after he was gone.

By sharing those memories, we keep his spirit alive and carry forward the dream he started.

Let’s keep telling the stories. Let’s keep remembering. And together, let’s carry on the legacy John believed in so deeply.

Each day, as I would leave him, he always reminded me, “If you can’t be good, be great.”

He was the greatest of all time.

Please join his live stream funeral mass celebrated March 14, 2026 at Noon All Saints Catholic Church, Knoxville, TN here:

https://boxcast.tv/view/funeral-mass-for-john-mcelligot-md-ixtzsdqlj5grjgcmtqjg

Gypsy…The Best Rescue I Ever Made

April 13, 2024May 16, 2024What's in the Water3 Comments

Written by John McElligott

Gypsy… the best rescue I ever made thanks to the “President Eisenhower Hole.”

(See the before and after pictures below.)

I thought saving lives in Vietnam was something that would never be surpassed… until I was certifying an old Nuclear Power Plant for demolition.

Well, it was easy since the site was called “The Eisenhower Hole” and was deserted for years except for the two young men in their 30’s supervising, who met me in order to show me the facility and the hole.

My wife dropped me off at the site while she went shopping in a near by town. The two men were waiting for me and smoking cigarettes. They instructed me that we must go up 10 flights of stairs in order to inspect the entire facility bottom to top.

The men decided we could do a stair run to get up to the top to see the hole that caused the facility to shut down. Well, I took off running the stairs floor by floor. Then I noticed the two chaperones were barley keeping up. So, I waited and finally they caught up with me on the 5th floor. They were throwing up and out of breath. So, I told them to walk up, and I would meet them on the top of the building. An hour later, they finally made it to the top and were vomiting and had to lay down. I proceeded to inspect the top of the facility on my own and found the hole that shut down the facility. I was amazed how big and deep it was.

This hole was a definite hazard and I decided that it was not safe to even operate the facility even for simple storage. So, I left the two supervising men on the roof and got a ride to the nearest roadside gas station and called my wife, Lisa.

Well… Lisa had found a dog pound that had hundreds of dogs barking and wanting out of the facility. Being a dog lover, I was mad and did not like how the facility operated. I requested to see the black poodle they were giving away and I was rushed since I was sick to see how the dogs were housed and treated.

We sat down and the owner brought in a small black dog and set the pet on the floor next to me. Well… I looked down and the dog looked up and it was love at first site on my part. The small dog just gazed into my eyes, and I grabbed her and took off to the car and left my wife to work out the details.

I carried to black poodle to the car, and she was shaking badly, having been in a cage for the last 7 years and was she was used for breading purposes only. My temper was at a level that made me feel like I was exploding every time the dog looked at me.

This is how Gypsy looked the day I rescued her!

Well as soon and we got home Gypsy (new name) took off from the car and it took us hours to find her in the bushes, but we did finally and put her back in her cage. We left the door open, but she never came out for several weeks or more and avoided contact with me or Lisa.

This lasted for a few months and then one day Gypsy looked at me and we have been joined at the hip ever since.

We sleep together when I am home, and I have never loved a pet this much since my dog Roof.

John, Tom, Bruce McElligott with Roof

Not a day or night goes by that Gypsy and I don’t make “Eye to Eye Contact” and it Makes My Heart Throb!!!

“Water in Midland Career Fund”

October 11, 2023March 5, 2024What's in the WaterLeave a comment

By John McElligott

Many have been asking so I wanted to update all of you about “ The Water in Midland Career Fund” at Odessa College. So many of you have generously contributed to the fund for students seeking to receive a degree and/or certificate in the trade fields.

The fund we established in 2021 is designed to help those students that are enrolled in workforce high skilled, high wage programs (electricians, engineers, medical careers, welding, truck drivers etc.) at the college. Odessa College provides the necessary training that leads students to gainful employment. The programs at the college are designed to prepare students for in demand careers that will help solidify longevity in the workforce and trade careers.

Our fund is able to assist students that show a lot of promise to excel but have financial need. It is not a scholarship based on high school academic scores. There are a lot of students, including myself, that were not academic scholars, but are bright students that want to advance in the workforce.

The programs at Odessa College allow them to get the necessary training and skills in order to get very good jobs without a four-year university degree. Students selected to receive “The Water in Midland Career Fund” have tuition, fees and supplies covered.

Here is the update on the fund:

⦁ Currently 40 generous donors to the “Water in Midland” endowment fund. Please consider this worthwhile program to make your donations. This is a legacy we can leave for future generations. You can make donations here: whatsinthewaterinmidlandtexas.com/water-in-midland-fund/

⦁ All donations are tax deductible! Help stimulate the economy by training students to enter the workforce and receive a tax break…WIN! WIN!

⦁ The first donations were invested in an endowment fund in 2021 and accrued interest until December 2022. We awarded 5% of the interest earned from the fund to the first 7 student recipients in 2023.

⦁ Read more about it at: The Water in Midland Career Fund (touchnet.net)

The Water in Midland Career FundThe Water in Midland Career Fundsecure.touchnet.net

Please note: This does not reflect the most recent donations for 2023. These numbers are based on the in investment of 2021 and 2022 funds.

2021:

Donations: $56, 335.68

Dividends: $1342,34

Gains: $2898.59

2022:

Donations: $10,480

Dividends: $1847.88

Gains: $1650.25

Funding for tuition, fees and supplies were awarded to a total of 7 students in January 2023 for the Spring Semester. Of note, 1 of our donors (MHS 1963 graduate) graciously paid for 1 student to complete the certificate program in its entirety. That student will complete the program this Fall 2023.

Please keep in touch and continue to send stories for the blog. If you have any questions about the fund or would like to donate please reach out to me and/or leave a comment below and I will contact you.

1961 MHS Swimming Team

October 11, 2021December 8, 2023What's in the Water3 Comments

By John McElligott

I made the Swim team at MHS when I was a sophomore and decided not to play football.

The 1^st Captains of the team were Rhodney Schultz and Fred Durham. Both were seniors and swam with the Midland Aquatic Club which I swam on when I was 9 yrs. old. I also swam with the 12 yr. old group but always came in last. Although we never placed, I did make the finals each time.

Rhodney and Fred always placed in the top 3 each time we raced. I looked like a midget compared to the 12-year-olds but was a fast free styler and always was able to swim against the 12-year-old guys most of whom were behind me. I always was trying to keep up with Rhodney and Fred!

I had to hitch hike to Hogan Park Pool where the Aquatic Club worked out. I never had a ride home, so Rodney would always take me home with him. He took me to the pool the next day for the swim meet with other towns swimming from all over Texas.

The best teams were Austin and Houston and that’s where I learned to swim butterfly with a dolphin kick years later. By the time I was 12, I was All State in the 12 year old age group. Rhodney had already moved on and I was in what was called the midget division, all under 12.

I was 9 when I started winning along with another swimmer named Doug Russell who eventually won the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City beating Mark Spritz in the butterfly finals. By then, I was home from the Military coming home from Vietnam. In Vietnam, I was still flying but, in a helicopter, (UH 34 D) as a Navy Medic with the US Marines in the DMZ the summer of 1967. See picture below.

So I have never saw Rhodney or Fred again but I never forgot who made me fearless and helped me save many wounded Marines because I never blinked, just like when I was swimming butterfly at MHS!!.

I never could find Rhodney or Fred, so if you know them or about them, please let me know.

The Best Rescue I Ever Made

October 9, 2020December 8, 2023What's in the Water8 Comments

Written by John McElligott

Gypsy… the best rescue I ever made thanks to the “President Eisenhower Hole.”

I thought saving lives in Vietnam was something that would never be surpassed… until I was certifying an old Nuclear Power Plant for demolition.

This lasted for a few months and then one day Gypsy looked at me and we have been joined at the hip ever since. We sleep together when I am home, and I have never loved a pet this much since my dog Roof.

John, Tom, Bruce McElligott with Roof

Not a day or night goes by that Gypsy and I don’t make “Eye to Eye Contact” and it Makes My Heart Throb!!!

The Sidewalk

February 16, 2020March 12, 2023What's in the Water3 Comments

By John McElligott

My first memory as child is standing on an old asphalt sidewalk in my underwear (A.K.A. “Tidy Whities”). I looked at my brothers, Tom, Bruce and their friends all dressed in their jeans and shorts. I ran into our home, the old military barracks, and quickly put on some shorts and went back out to face the world. It’s here in Terminal, Texas, a plot of 220 acres between Midland and Odessa, Texas, that my journey began. Terminal was later purchased by Midland County, and as you will learn, Midland is where I drank the water until 1965.

Lots of kids of all ages gathered on that sidewalk. We all shared one thing in common in that we all lived with hard working parents in an abandoned Army military airbase. How did they get there? I don’t know, but we all lived near the sidewalk in either a one- or two-story barrack. Most were two income working families with one car. Most worked as roughnecks, pumpers and chemical operators for the oil companies or were employed with the airlines. There were also ranch hands, barbers, grocery store operators, and a lot of teachers. My mom was a part-time teacher, and sold tickets at the Texas Drive Inn Theater at night. My dad worked for the airlines.

One of my most vivid memories is the sewer plant where we played tag and often ran around the 3-foot pools of poop and water. If you fell in the sewer water, you could expect ass kicking time when you got home, since we did not have any extra sets of clothes and the sewer smell never went away.

I distinctly remember the sewer plant operator, Mr. Davis. He looked just like Santa. Mr. Davis went off one day, got a gun and held up the Terminal Police and the Texas Highway Patrol. I think the smell of the poop must have driven him crazy. I don’t remember ever seeing him again.

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My Family

February 14, 2020February 9, 2021What's in the WaterLeave a comment

By John McElligott

Italiano solimente.

Left first row: Me, my mother, aunts and uncles (from Sicily)

The Fisher and Hammock Families

February 14, 2020December 8, 2020What's in the Water3 Comments

By John McElligott

There were several families in Terminal, Texas that influenced my brother, Tom and me. This is the one that influenced me the most.

The Fisher Family

(John, Joe, Tom, Jim, Jerry, Gene, Mike, Pat, Frank, and Susie)

We all grew up within walking distance of my family’s one story barracks (see pictures) and then later, our two story barrack which housed the Terminal Texas Post office.

*My house, and the sidewalk where I became a 3 year old nudist. The water tower which we climbed many times and sat on the cat walk at the top.*

Since we went to St Ann’s with most of the kids in the Fisher family, we spent a lot of time with them. Tom, my older brother and John Fisher were in the same grade and together they graduated from 8th grade at St. Ann’s. John and my brother Tom went to MHS together until graduation in 1958. John received a scholarship for Texas A&M, and later Joe, Tom and a few other Fisher kids followed him to Texas A&M. Let’s put it this way, the Fisher family became one of the first families (to my knowledge), to populate Texas A&M .
Now lunch at the Fisher house, with all the kids, was my favorite part of the day. The mother, Alice Fisher, would lay out lunch meat and bread with mustard and jalapeno peppers (with the dragon on the jar). I never missed a day eating lunch, and enjoyed woofing down those peppers that would smoke your poop shoot for days. This is why I have never had hemorrhoids! Thanks, Alice Fisher!

Clyde Fisher would eat peppers by the jar. He was a different and yet amazing father. Mr Fisher was an electrician by trade and the first person I ever met who was in a Union. He got the union to sponsor our Boy Scout Troop.

Speaking of Boy Scouts, I was one merit badge away from making Eagle Scout. (You will see the reason later in the book and it had to do with a trip I took at the age of 13.) Since we had the best scout troop ever, we entered all kinds of competitions like starting a fire to tying knots. Roy Vaughn, MHS 63, was also a member of the troop, and coincidentally, my first trauma case on my way to becoming a medical professional. Mr. Fisher made the camping trips something special and really made you want to be an outdoors person. I can say the trips actually made being in the military much easier for me, in comparison to those who came from families that did not have the Fishers (and the other scouts) that taught us how to suck it up.

Now my second trauma case with the scout troop was me! We were out camping in the dead of winter in the middle of West Texas and I stabbed a can of beans with my pocket knife. The blade folded up and cut my finger half off at the joint of my little finger on my right hand. Scout Master Clyde Fisher washed out my wound with a canteen of water, and put my finger in a cloth glove. The glove soaked up the blood and the winter cold froze the finger. I left the glove on night and day. Upon arriving home three days later, my mother soaked the glove off my finger and, to my surprise, my finger was in one piece! To this day, that finger functions normally. While in the military, serving with the Marines, I used the same technique on many occasions. I tell people that growing up in Terminal and being a boy scout with Clyde Fisher made the boot camp in the military seem like nothing!

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First Grade-St Ann’s Catholic School

February 9, 2020May 12, 2020What's in the Water7 Comments

By John McElligott

I did not know how to read, write, or even how to count. I was 5 years old and scared to death. I sat down as straight as I could and interlocked my fingers on top of the desk. I looked to my right. Skipper Goulet was down below me and Joe O’Neill, Harry Miller and Cathy Colligan were at the end of the row. They all were staring straight ahead at a black board with letters from top to bottom. I later found out the writing on the board was all capital letters. A very pleasant Nun introduced herself as Sister Jean Marie, and she called upon me to point out the letter “A”. I stood up and saw the first letter in the upper left corner and the last letter in the lower right corner. Not knowing anything, including my ABC’s, I picked the first letter at the top left. I was so proud of myself for picking the correct letter. I had become a student!

I looked around and saw a beautiful girl with long blond hair. Her name was Margery Chase, and to her side,a boy named John De Julio. I decided I needed to meet them. There were some big boys in the class, as well, who soon became my playmates. My only saving grace was that I could out run them all.

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2nd Grade-My amazing stardom!

February 8, 2020May 12, 2020What's in the WaterLeave a comment

By John McElligott

I spent the First Grade at St. Ann’s in Midland, but changed schools for the second grade. In those days, my mother worked at the Terminal Independent School System as a part time substitute teacher, so I requested a transfer. My brothers, Tom and Bruce, already went to school there. Tom tells me that my dog, Roof, and I slept on the ground outside the school window waiting for the bell to ring at 3 pm. We wanted to make sure both got home OK.

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