By Tracy Gupton

A current local schoolteacher will be acting as former Columbia High School teacher-coach Doug Balkum when the Columbia Historical Museum and the Columbia Cemetery Association sponsor their annual Meet Your Ancestors event on Saturday, November 1, 2025.

Coach Balkum, who passed away five years ago, will be “brought to life” by West Columbia Elementary School fourth grade teacher Korey Langford, a valuable member of the Columbia Historical Museum Board of Directors. Other former outstanding athletes buried at Columbia Cemetery who will be portrayed by actors include Hershel Orr, Ed Cole, Mattie Sue Ringgold and Buddy Tinsley.

“I have recruited some family members of the top-notch athletes buried at our cemetery,” said Tracy Gupton, president of the Columbia Cemetery Association and secretary of the Columbia Historical Museum boards of directors, “and asked a few talented individuals to help us out this year by portraying several others who will be featured at our November 1st Meet Your Ancestors.”

Charles Douglas Balkum and Darlene Barrow were always pictured side-by-side in their Gusher yearbooks due to their close alphabetic proximity. Little did they know at the time that their future would be highlighted by 64 years of marriage. Both Doug, the son of Roy Whitfield Balkum and Margarette Evelyn Brannon Balkum, and Darlene were 1952 graduates of West Columbia High School. Darlene is the daughter of Melvin and Madie Barrow, the couple who Barrow Elementary School in Brazoria is named for. Her parents were both longtime educators while Darlene Balkum is a former teacher at West Columbia Elementary School herself.

The Balkums had been residents of Alvin since 1970. Prior to that Doug served as an assistant football coach and the head baseball coach at Columbia High School throughout the bulk of the 1960s. His widow, Darlene, still lives in Alvin. Doug passed away September 11, 2020, at the age of 85. He was born in West Columbia October 21, 1934.

His high school years in West Columbia were filled with Doug’s participation in just about every sport while also being very active in school clubs. He lettered in football, basketball and baseball as a Roughneck and continued playing baseball in college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. After first playing college baseball at Wharton County Junior College, Doug Balkum earned a scholarship to pitch for the Horned Frogs at TCU. He earned All Southwest Conference honors as a pitcher his senior year at TCU.

Doug graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in 1958 from TCU and later earned his Masters in Education from TCU in 1972. In 1975 he would acquire an Administrative Certification from the University of Houston at Clear Lake.

In between finishing college and embarking on a long career in the coaching and education field, Doug Balkum entered the U.S. Army. He achieved the rank of 2nd Lieutenant while on active duty and stayed in the Army Reserve until 1965 when he was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain.

His career in the field of education spanned five decades. From 1958 to 1990, Doug Balkum was a teacher, coach, counselor and most of all a good friend to the many students and faculty he served with over the years. He retired in 1990 as director of student services for Alvin Community College and became a public servant, spending multiple terms on the Alvin City Council.

While their son David was growing up in West Columbia, Darlene and Doug Balkum taught school from the late 1950s to 1970. Doug was the head baseball coach for many years at Columbia High School while also serving as an assistant football coach for the Roughnecks on the coaching staffs of E.S. Golson, Tex Kassen and Carmen Bonner. Doug and Darlene had a daughter, Laurie Ann Balkum, who died as an infant in 1967. Doug Balkum is buried next to his baby girl at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia.

Doug also had a brother, Roy David Balkum, who died as a baby in 1931, and younger brothers, Edward Arnold Balkum, who died at 40 in 1979, and Robert Balkum, who preceded Doug in death. In addition to his wife of 64 years, Doug was survived by their son, David Balkum and his wife, Kim; granddaughters Laurianne Balkum and Lesleigh Jones (and husband Josh); and sisters-in-law Sharon Balkum and Denice Balkum.

When Doug Balkum passed away at 85 in 2020, his funeral was held at Southview Baptist Church in Rosharon where he and Darlene were members. His newspaper obituary said, “He was a son, friend, husband, father, grandfather and counselor who gave much love and received much love back from his family and friends. In spite of the many demands on his time, his family always came first.”

And, in reference to his long relationship with his wife Darlene, the obituary read, “His loving wife of 64 years, Darlene, was not only his wife but his best friend. One who cared for him as much as he did for her. It was a ‘Honeymoon’ marriage that began when they met in high school and continued on until he passed.”

“Doug was an avid baseball player, coach and fan,” the 2020 newspaper obituary read. “He lettered in all sports in high school and would go on to letter in baseball at Wharton Junior College and TCU. Doug began coaching in West Columbia, then Brazosport High School and would finish his coaching career in the Alvin school district. He would coach from 1958 to 1971, work in counseling from 1971 through 1990, which led him into working with youth baseball as a coach and commissioner during the 1970s and 1980s.”

Everyone is encouraged to attend the November 1st “Meet Your Ancestors” program, beginning at 5 p.m. at historic Columbia Cemetery in West Columbia, located behind Bob Barta Lumber Yard and across Jackson Street from the Columbia Methodist Church.