In a shocking turn of events for a city that usually makes headlines for things like “Truck Drives into Sonic” or “Dust Storm Reaches Sentience,” we actually have some legitimate history to mourn. Billie Caviel, one-half of the first Black couple in the entire nation to own and operate a pharmacy, has passed away at 90.
For nearly 50 years, Billie and her husband Alfred ran Caviel’s Pharmacy at Avenue A and 17th Street. They didn’t just break barriers; they basically spent five decades doing the job that the rest of the city’s segregated infrastructure refused to do. While the rest of Lubbock was busy figuring out new and exciting ways to be “separate but equal,” the Caviels were busy making sure people actually stayed alive, often providing medication to neighbors who couldn’t pay upfront. It’s a wild concept called “community care,” which is currently being replaced city-wide by automated kiosks and 45-minute wait times at the CVS drive-thru.
The pharmacy closed in 2009, but because the Caviels had more class in their pinkies than most local developers have in their entire portfolios, they donated the building. It’s now the Caviel Museum of African American History. So, instead of being turned into another express car wash or a “luxury” apartment complex with paper-thin walls, the site actually preserves the tools and bottles Billie used to serve East Lubbock back when “the other side of town” was a literal boundary line enforced by more than just bad paving.
Billie was a pharmacist, a mother of six, and apparently possessed a level of patience that allowed her to live in Lubbock for nine decades without losing her mind. She even celebrated her 90th birthday in the museum that used to be her workplace—which is arguably the only time in history anyone has ever wanted to hang out at their old office after retiring.
It’s truly a Lubbock miracle: a local institution that ended with a museum and a legacy instead of a “Going Out of Business” sign and a future as a Spirit Halloween. Can we get some of that integrity to rub off on the City Council?
