General W.W. Sterling

Sterling's Ranger years followed the oil boom. Governor Dan Moody appointed him captain of Company D in 1927 and sent him to Borger. Headquarters moved to Falfurrias in 1928, and in 1929 he helped curb lawlessness in the Pettus oil boom. As adjutant general under Governor Ross Sterling in 1931 he closed the Red River bridge at Denison during the Red River bridge controversy. He left the Rangers in 1933, served as a colonel in World War II, and published Trails and Trials of a Texas Ranger in 1959.

What the plaque says

General W.W. Sterling (April 27, 1891-April 26, 1960) Officer who rose from ranger to adjutant general. Ranching, law enforcement were his life's work. Six feet, four inches tall, he was expert shot and horseman. Scout for U.S. Army in 1914-1917 border troubles; served in two World Wars; a colonel in World War II. Adjutant General of Texas, 1931-1933, he enforced the law, achieved order, invoked equal justice for all. Married Zora Eckhardt; had two daughters, Inez and Sara Ross. Recorded - 1969

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Mirador de la Flor — 4.6 mi
  Corpus Christi's bayfront memorial to Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the Tejano singer from this city, killed in 1995 at twenty-three, visited by about thirty thousand people a year.
• Art Museum of South Texas — 5.5 mi
  Philip Johnson's 1972 museum on the Corpus Christi bayfront, joined in 2006 by Ricardo Legorreta's Miller Wing, holding more than 2,000 works mostly from Texas and the Americas.
• Texas State Aquarium — 5.8 mi
  A nonprofit aquarium on the tip of Corpus Christi Beach built around the Gulf and the Caribbean, with the largest coastal wildlife rescue center in Texas behind the exhibits.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 5.8 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• Rabbi Sidney A. Wolf — steps away
• Elihu Harrison Ropes — 1.5 mi
• Clara Driscoll, The Driscoll Foundation and Driscoll Children's Hospital — 1.6 mi
• Alta Vista Hotel, Site of — 2.0 mi