Death of a Family

Saturday, September 8, was Pete's 55th birthday and the anniversary of both their wedding and their deaths. It also marks the day Tammie's first husband was killed, leaving her five months pregnant and alone. Tammie signed up months ago to fish in the All-Girl Invitational Red Fish Rodeo Roundup. Her father talked about driving down with her daughter to watch her win. "This is where my dad would want me to be," she says. "Fishing." She paints her toenails with her mother's mauve nail polish and takes her dad's rod for luck.

She's out in Rockport where the twisting roads are lined with black-eyed Susans and the wind has blown the mesquite trees back over the houses. The Kontiki Beach water is rough; after 30 minutes on the boat the sky opens up and rain pours down. Her mother would have loved it, she thinks; Lee could have slept away the day. Tammie and her cousin pull on rain ponchos and crawl under the boat's bridge and take a nap. In an hour, the water flattens out and they find a clear patch with schools of redfish swimming in the grass. Tammie catches an 18-inch trout with her dad's pole; it bites her.

David Hollenbach

Lee loved to sleep through thunderstorms.

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• ICU Glen
• South Houston
• Lee Brewer
• Miller Lite
• Isuzu Rodeo

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The next day they catch 28 pounds of fish and her team comes in second place out of 30. Her dad would be proud.