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|name=Kenneth Ray Farabee
|name=Kenneth Ray Farabee
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
| office=[[Texas]] State Senator for District 30 ([[Wichita Falls]] and West Texas)]]
| office=[[Texas]] State Senator for District 30 ([[Wichita Falls]] and West Texas
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| term_start=1975
| term_start=1975
| birth_place=Wichita Falls, Texas
| birth_place=Wichita Falls, Texas
| occupation=[[Attorney at law (United States)|Attorney]]
| occupation=[[Attorney at law (United States)|Attorney]]
| spouse= (1) [[Helen Farabee]] (died 1988)<br>
| spouse= (1) [[Helen Farabee]] (died 1988)
(2) Mary Margaret Albright Farabee (married 1991-2014, his death)
(2) Mary Margaret Albright Farabee (married 1991-2014, his death)
| children= Steven R. Farabee<br>
| children=Steven R. Farabee<br>
David Lee Farabee
David Lee Farabee
|alma_mater=(1) Wichita Falls High School<br>
|alma_mater=(1) Wichita Falls High School<br>
|footnotes='''Notes'''
|footnotes='''Notes'''
(1) Considered a moderate member of the [[Democratic Party]], Farabee worked to secure passage of more than two hundred bills during his thirteen years in the state Senate, including a revision of the mental health code, particularly important to his first wife, [[Helen Farabee]]. He supported most of his party's agenda.
(1) Considered a moderate member of the [[Democratic Party]], Farabee worked to secure passage of more than two hundred bills during his thirteen years in the state Senate, including a revision of the mental health code, particularly important to his first wife, [[Helen Farabee]]. He supported most of the [[liberal]] measures in his party's agenda.
(2) His younger son, David Lee Farabee, was a member of the [[Texas House of Representatives]] from Wichita Falls from 1999 to 2011.
(2) His younger son, David Lee Farabee, was a member of the [[Texas House of Representatives]] from Wichita Falls from 1999 to 2011.
}}
}}
'''Kenneth Ray Farabee''', known as '''Ray Farabee''' (November 22, 1932 – November 20, 2014), was an [[attorney]] in [[Austin]], [[Texas]], who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the state Senate from his native [[Wichita Falls]] from 1975 to 1988. He is credited with the authorship of 245 Senate bills that became law during his 13-year tenure.<ref name=tsc/> In 1985, he was the Senate President Pro Tempore. He is the father of former state Representative David Lee Farabee of Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wcmessenger.com/opinion/columns/EkVuVApFlpBpkyOFbO.php|author=Dave McNeely|title= "Representative David Farabee retiring a blow for Democrats"|date October 4, 2009|publisher=''Wise County Messenger''|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
'''Kenneth Ray Farabee''', known as '''Ray Farabee''' (November 22, 1932 – November 20, 2014),<ref name=tsc>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=7169|title=Kenneth Ray Farabee|publisher=Cemetery.tx.us|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> was an [[attorney]] in [[Austin]], [[Texas]], who served as a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] member of the state Senate from his native [[Wichita Falls]] from 1975 to 1988. He is credited with the authorship of 245 Senate bills that became law during his 13-year tenure.<ref name=tsc/> In 1985, he was the Senate President Pro Tempore. His younger son is former state Representative David Lee Farabee of Wichita Falls.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wcmessenger.com/opinion/columns/EkVuVApFlpBpkyOFbO.php|author=Dave McNeely|title=Representative David Farabee retiring a blow for Democrats|publisher=''Wise County Messenger''|date=October 4, 2009|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
==Background==
==Background==
Farabee was born<ref name=tsc>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=7169|title=Kenneth Ray Farabee|publisher=cemetery.tx.us|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> six weeks prematurely in Wichita Falls. His attending physician did not expect him to live through the night of his birth, but he survived.<ref name=autobio>''Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir'', 2009, ISBN 978-0-615-25762-4</ref> Well into the [[Great Depression]] years, he attended Alamo Elementary School and Zundelowitz Junior High School. He graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School. During his junior and senior years of high school, he attended a [[YMCA]] youth program called Hi-Y at the Texas state capitol in Austin. The organization trained young people in various aspects of [[government]] service. Farabee hence developed an understanding of public affairs more than three decades before he entered the state Senate to succeed newly elected [[U.S. Representative]] Jack English Hightower of Vernon in Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls.<ref name=farabee>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2007/nov/03/a-man-called-fairabee-getting-started-making-an/|title=Jessica Langdon, "A Man Called 'Fairabee': Former Wichita Falls lawyer, legislator known as man of respect"|publisher=''Wichita Falls Times Record News''|date=November 3, 2007|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Farabee has been a high achiever throughout his life but confesses that he failed to make the coveted promotion to [[Boy Scouts|Eagle Scout]] in his youth,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-en/blogs/austin/outandabout/entries/2009/10/12/through_the_nig.html|author=Michael Barnes|title="Through the Night and Beyond with Ray Farabee, Part 1"|date=October 12, 2009|publisher=Austin360.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009; no longer on-line}}</ref> a goal achieved by his son David.
Farabee was born six weeks prematurely in Wichita Falls. His attending physician did not expect him to live through the night, but he survived.<ref name=autobio>''Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir,'' 2009, ISBN 978-0-615-25762-4</ref> Well into the [[Great Depression]] years, he attended Alamo Elementary School and Zundelowitz Junior High School. He graduated in 1952 from Wichita Falls High School. During his junior and senior years of high school, he attended a [[YMCA]] youth program called Hi-Y at the Texas state capitol in Austin. The organization trained young people in various aspects of [[government]] service. Farabee hence developed an understanding of public affairs more than three decades before he entered the state Senate to succeed newly elected [[U.S. Representative]] Jack English Hightower of Vernon in Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls.<ref name=farabee>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2007/nov/03/a-man-called-fairabee-getting-started-making-an/|title=Jessica Langdon, "A Man Called 'Fairabee': Former Wichita Falls lawyer, legislator known as man of respect"|publisher=''Wichita Falls Times Record News''|date=November 3, 2007|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Farabee has been a high achiever throughout his life but confesses that he failed to make the coveted promotion to [[Boy Scouts|Eagle Scout]] in his youth,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-en/blogs/austin/outandabout/entries/2009/10/12/through_the_nig.html|author=Michael Barnes|title="Through the Night and Beyond with Ray Farabee, Part 1"|date=October 12, 2009|publisher=Austin360.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009; no longer on-line}}</ref> a goal achieved by his son David.
Read Granberry, parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, heard Farabee at a youth speech event and urged him to attend the [[University of Texas]] at Austin, from which Farabee obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration and then [[Juris Doctor]]ate from the UT Law School. He managed to procure a small scholarship and lived in a $10-per-month barracks dormitory. He became acquainted with the then [exas Secretary of State John Ben Shepperd, for whom he worked when Shepperd served as the state attorney general]from 1953 to 1957.<ref name=farabee/> Farabee was the UT freshmen class president and later the student body president. He visited the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] as part of his student political activities. There he met his future first wife, the former [[Helen Farabee|Helen Jane Rehbein]],<ref name=helen>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa33|title=Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee|publisher=Tshaonline.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> who became the mother of his two sons. Helen was the student body president at UW, a rare accomplishment for a young woman at that time. The couple married in 1958 after their graduations and Farabee's service in the [[United States Air Force]].<ref name=helen/>
Read Granberry, the parliamentarian of the Texas House of Representatives, heard Farabee at a youth speech event and urged him to attend the [[University of Texas]] at Austin, from which Farabee obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration and then [[Juris Doctor]]ate from the UT Law School. He managed to procure a small scholarship and lived in a $10-per-month barracks dormitory. He became acquainted with the then [exas Secretary of State John Ben Shepperd, for whom he worked when Shepperd served as the state attorney general]from 1953 to 1957.<ref name=farabee/> Farabee was the UT freshmen class president and later the student body president. He visited the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]] as part of his student political activities. There he met his future first wife, the former [[Helen Farabee|Helen Jane Rehbein]],<ref name=helen>{{cite web|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ffa33|title=Helen Jane Rehbein Farabee|publisher=Tshaonline.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> who became the mother of his two sons. Helen was the student body president at UW, a rare accomplishment for a young woman at that time. The couple married in 1958 after their graduations and Farabee's service in the [[United States Air Force]].<ref name=helen/>
==State senator==
==State senator==
He failed in his effort to change the partisan election method of choosing Texas appellate court judges, having favored some kind of merit-based system. Farabee said that Texas attorneys often raise money for judicial candidates and can later appear in court before those judges, who may feel beholden to their previous benefactors and thus fail to show impartiality on the bench.<ref name=farabee/>
He failed in his effort to change the partisan election method of choosing Texas appellate court judges, having favored some kind of merit-based system. Farabee said that Texas attorneys often raise money for judicial candidates and can later appear in court before those judges, who may feel beholden to their previous benefactors and thus fail to show impartiality on the bench.<ref name=farabee/>
''Texas Monthly'' magazine for five consecutive sessions dubbed Farabee one of the state's best legislators.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/magazine/bestworst#1977|title=Texas Monthly: Best and Worst Legislators|publisher=''Texas Monthly''|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref><!-- The ''Wichita Falls Times Record News'' once called him "Fairabee" to show his dedication to fair play in the legislative arena.-->
''Texas Monthly'' magazine for five consecutive sessions dubbed Farabee one of the state's best legislators.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/magazine/bestworst#1977|title=Texas Monthly: Best and Worst Legislators|publisher=''Texas Monthly''|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
==Later years==
In the spring of 1988, Farabee, already the Democratic nominee for another Senate term in the upcoming November [[general election]], unexpectedly resigned his seat after thirteen years to accept a position as general counsel for his alma mater, the' University of Texas System. The new position required relocation from Wichita Falls to Austin. He represented nine academic institutions, four medical schools, two hospitals, and the regents and administration.<ref name=farabee/>
In the spring of 1988, Farabee, already the Democratic nominee for another Senate term in the upcoming November [[general election]], unexpectedly resigned his seat after thirteen years to accept a position as general counsel for his alma mater, the' University of Texas System. The new position required relocation from Wichita Falls to Austin. He represented nine academic institutions, four medical schools, two hospitals, and the regents and administration.<ref name=farabee/>
Helen Farabee, a prominent civic leader in her own right, was particularly involved with mental health issues, and facilities, which first opened in 1969 in Wichita Falls and Graham, bear her name.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.helenfarabee.org/|title=Helen Farabee Regional Mental Health Mental Retardation Centers|publisher=helenfarabee.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Senator Farabee worked to update the mental health code in line with much of his wife's efforts in the field. Mrs. Farabee died of [[lung cancer]] in Austin in July 1988, shortly after her husband had become the UT counsel. Before the decline in her health, she had briefly attempted to run in a [[special election]] to succeed her husband in the state Senate in 1988, but Democratic Party leaders anointed another candidate for the slot, state Representative Steve Carriker of Roby in Fisher County, who went on to win the fall campaign against the Republican businessman, Bobby Albert of Wichita Falls.<ref name=google/> Mrs. Farabee died not long after her attempt to run for the state Senate.
Helen Farabee, a prominent civic leader in her own right, was particularly involved with mental health issues, and facilities, which first opened in 1969 in Wichita Falls and Graham, bear her name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.helenfarabee.org/|title=Helen Farabee Regional Mental Health Mental Retardation Centers|publisher=helenfarabee.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Senator Farabee worked to update the mental health code in line with much of his wife's efforts in the field. Mrs. Farabee died of [[lung cancer]] in Austin in July 1988, shortly after her husband had become the UT counsel. Before the decline in her health, she had briefly attempted to run in a [[special election]] to succeed her husband in the state Senate in 1988, but Democratic Party leaders anointed another candidate for the slot, state Representative Steve Carriker of Roby in Fisher County, who went on to win the fall campaign against the Republican businessman, Bobby Albert of Wichita Falls.<ref name=google/> Mrs. Farabee died not long after her attempt to run for the state Senate.
In 1991, Ray Farabee remarried after more than two years as a widower. His second wife is the former Mary Margaret Albright (born 1939), a divorcee with two children, David (1964–1996) and Patricia (born 1968). She worked with Texas First Lady [[Laura Bush]] to found the Texas Book Festival. The first event opened a month after her son David overdosed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinwomanmagazine.com/Articles/2009/05_MAY/68_sf_2.html|title=Mary Margaret Farabee|publisher=aaustinwomanmagazine.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
In 1991, Ray Farabee remarried after more than two years as a widower. His second wife is the former Mary Margaret Albright (born 1939), a divorcee with two children, David (1964–1996) and Patricia (born 1968). She worked with Texas First Lady [[Laura Bush]] to found the Texas Book Festival. The first event opened a month after her son David overdosed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinwomanmagazine.com/Articles/2009/05_MAY/68_sf_2.html|title=Mary Margaret Farabee|publisher=aaustinwomanmagazine.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
In 2000, Farabee retired from UT but remained for two years as executive assistant to the chancellor. He served on the state board of Blue Cross Blue Shield. In retirement, he was a volunteer for the [[Public Broadcasting System]] and sits on the board of the Equal Justice Foundation, which funds up to $20 million annually in legal services for low-income Texans. Farabee and his wife also travel extensively. In 2006, while in [[New Zealand]] they came across Frank Kell Cahoon (1934-2013), a former classmate from Wichita Falls Senior High School and a former state representative from [[Midland]].<ref name=farabee/> In the 1965 legislative session, Cahoon was the only Republican in the 150-member Texas House.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=792&leg=60&from=sessionList|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
In 2000, Farabee retired from UT but remained for two years as executive assistant to the chancellor. He served on the state board of Blue Cross Blue Shield. In retirement, he was a volunteer for the [[Public Broadcasting System]] and sits on the board of the Equal Justice Foundation, which funds up to $20 million annually in legal services for low-income Texans. Farabee and his wife also travel extensively. In 2006, while in [[New Zealand]] they coincidentally encountered Frank Kell Cahoon (1934-2013), a former classmate from Wichita Falls Senior High School and a former state representative from [[Midland]].<ref name=farabee/> In the 1965 legislative session, Cahoon was the only Republican in the 150-member Texas House.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberDisplay.cfm?memberID=792&leg=60&from=sessionList|title=Frank Cahoon|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
Farabee has been a longtime Democratic donor, having given to the [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Barack H. Obama]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=FARABEE|title=Farabee campaign contributions|publisher=fundrace.huffingtonpost.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> in the presidential campaigns of 1992 and 2008 and, over the years, to congressional campaigns of the Democrats Jake Pickle, Martin Frost, Lloyd Doggett,, and Pete Geren. He also contributed in 1991 to state Senator Hugh Parmer, a former [[mayor]] of [[Fort Worth]], the Democrat who failed in the 1990 campaign against Republican [[U.S. Senator]] [[Phil Gramm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://watchdog.net/contrib/78704/ray_farabee|title=Ray Farabee, 78704 Political Contributions|publisher=Watchdog.net|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
Farabee has been a longtime Democratic donor, having given to [[Bill Clinton]] and [[Barack H. Obama]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name&lname=FARABEE|title=Farabee campaign contributions|publisher=fundrace.huffingtonpost.com|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> in the presidential campaigns of 1992 and 2008 and, over the years, to congressional campaigns of the Democrats Jake Pickle, Martin Frost, Lloyd Doggett,, and Pete Geren. He also contributed in 1991 to state Senator Hugh Parmer, a former [[mayor]] of [[Fort Worth]], the Democrat who failed in the 1990 campaign against Republican [[U.S. Senator]] [[Phil Gramm]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://watchdog.net/contrib/78704/ray_farabee|title=Ray Farabee, 78704 Political Contributions|publisher=Watchdog.net|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref>
In 2009, Ray and Mary Margaret Farabee were presented by former [[CBS]] anchorman [[Dan Rather]] the annual Clara Driscoll Arts Award, named for the Austin artist and philanthropist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amoa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=claradriscollaward|title=Clara Driscoll Art Award|publisher=amoa.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Farabee published his [[autobiography]] in 2009, basing the title on his premature birth: ''Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir''.<ref name=autobio/>
In 2009, Ray and Mary Margaret Farabee were presented by former [[CBS]] anchorman [[Dan Rather]] the annual Clara Driscoll Arts Award, named for the Austin artist and philanthropist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amoa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=claradriscollaward|title=Clara Driscoll Art Award|publisher=amoa.org|accessdate=December 5, 2009}}</ref> Farabee published his [[autobiography]] in 2009, basing the title on his premature birth: ''Ray Farabee: Making It Through the Night and Beyond: A Memoir''.<ref name=autobio/>