Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 151, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 23, 2000 Page: 2 of 14
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Page 2—CHEROKEEAN/HERALD of Rusk, Texas—Thursday, November 23,2000
Emmett H. Whitehead
m i / TT i J
publisher
Cherokeean Herald
Marie Whitehead
Vif VI VllWilif/ Al VI. U.1VL
editor
November 23, 2000
Texas' oldest continuously
published weekly newspaper.
Established as the Cherokee
e
Sentinel Feb. 27,1850
O
Scene in Passing
ur day of Thanks-
Giving draws near. This
uniquely, American
holiday had its beginnings in
Massschusetts. It followed a
dreadful first year for Colonists
in 1620. But the following
summer, 1621, corn and other
crops' harvest was abundant.
Those first settlers of the New
Country had cause to celebrate
and thank our Creator
Marie Whitehead
editor@mediactr.com
Folks have continued over the
years since to express a keen
appreciation for all the blessings
of life, especially food, with a festive day of
Thanks-Giving. The holiday slowly evolved from
its small beginning and today it is observed by
many other adjunct events: football, sales, football,
sales. Of course family, friends and food continue
to highlight festivities. We hope that you and all
those you love will enjoy this, the first Thanksgiv-
ing of the new millennium, of the century, the
decade, the year. Talk about time. I'm wrapped up
in it.
One special family will observe the post-Thurs-
day holiday Sunday, Nov. 26. First time, great
grandmother, Sharon Fisher, will participate in
the christening of Jackson Bowser of Fort
Collins, Colorado in ceremonies at First United
Methodist Church, Rusk. This church has
personal meaning for the family, you see.
Jackson's mom, Jacqueline Bowser, was chris-
tened here in 1975; his grandmother, Gail Fisher
Jensen was married here in 1972. The late Dr.
James V. Fisher, Jackson's great grandfather,
served as member and chairman of the church
board. He was also a member of the RISD board of
education and served as Mayor of Rusk. His wife
Sharon has been an active member and Sunday
School teacher of the church for almost 50 years.
Standing with Jackson's parents, Jacqueline and
Justin Bowser, will be Jacqueline's sister,
Courtney and husband, Ian Aberle of Dallas;
also uncles Mark and wife Donna Fisher of
Pueblo, Co. and Gary and wife Cheryle Fisher of
Tyler; aunt Kathy Fisher Wallace of Dallas; also
Jacqueline's cousins, AustinWallace, a pre-med
student at The University of Texas, Brandon
Fisher, a student at SFASU, Bret Fisher, a
freshman at TJC and Bryce Fisher. Completing
the Thanksgiving family portrait will be Bryant
I
Sharon Fisher and great-grandson Jackson
Bowser
Jensen, Sharon's only, and favorite, son-in-law of
Houston. This sounds like a Kodak moment.
We hope that all of you understand this newspa-
per begins days, sometimes weeks ahead, in
preparation for each issue. We are grateful to
those who share suggestions with us. Thank you.
Last week, however, some good copy for this space
came in Monday morning. Too late for inclusion.
Maxine and Joel Cumins brought us a copy of a
poem written by a student in Florida in 1988. It is
titled "Freedom'is not Free." And as you might
expect it covers a wide range of emotions, sounds,
sights which reflect the pain of death in the name
of Freedom. One of the most important be-thank-
ful-fors is the priceless heritage we enjoy, called
Freedom. Freedom to vote and then wait for the
outcome. That really is a special blessing We
should remember this every day, not just special
days. (Is it poetic justice, or what, that a Florida
youth should have penned his thoughts on Free-
dom in 1988?)
From the Ma i I bag now.
Darlene Beasley Pruett, RHS class of 1970,
sends regret in not being here for the recent Rig
Reunion. She would have enjoyed. She recalls a
small vignette from those days.
"Terrie (our daughter No. 1). Debra Richards and
I use to walk from the school to Cartlidge Drug
Store for lunch every day. And we ran all the way
there in a downpour one day—only to have you
(she's means me) walk in and ask her, 'Where did
you park the car?' It seems ihat she had driven to
sichool that day and by lunch time forgot that she
had the car."
Darlene says she and Todd stay busy as foster
parents, plus the four they recently adopted, plus a
steady stream of (¡randkids. She wants to pass on
to all of you ex-Rusk i tes this web address:
highnchoolalumni.com. You can register and
keep in contact with others from their schools as
well as other schools across the nation She savs the
service is free and it's a quick
way to find out where everyone is
and how they 're getting along.
Who knows...the web may rewrite
our memories and our lives. We
appreciate her comments with
regard to this newspaper, too.
How about this name? Remem-
ber Bob Edwards? What year?
I don't remember. But his
parents are the late Billie and
Virginia Edwards. Bob was a
great athlete at RHS. Some of
you will recall he received the
first "Best All Around Ath-
lete" award sponsored by the
Better Half. Today he operates the Bob Edwards
Realty Company, Inc. at Dayton. He is also in
partnership with our own Lewis Caveness who
operates Arrowhead Creek Realty in Rusk.
Another happy reader writes, "We have recently
moved to the Rusk area. Wanda Rawls came by
and visited us, presenting us with a six-months
subscription to the Cherokeean/Herald. We are
certainly enjoying it and wanted to express our
gratitude for the gift. It is really keeping us
informed and is enjoyable reading." That's from
Gerald and Kathy Lewis whose kind words are
gratefully accepted. Inspiration for all of us to work
harder in service to everyone.
Linda Derrington e-mailed us with an update
on her Mom, Doris Norton. She is temporarily
housed at Bonner Place, Room 110, South Bonner
in Jacksonville. Doris is to be moved to
Healthsouth Rehab in Tyler soon. Linda says she
is positive in her goals and is anxious to return
home. With her we hope that this will be soon. In
times like these, the prayers, cards, calls make a
difference in one's attitude about life. It is good
that we can send a little sunshine into the dark
corners of illness.
Mike Stanley says his mother, Jan Prior, is
improving after a serious illness. We all wish her
the best.
Remember Doris and all the others you know
who stand in the need of good thoughts. These
include Eloise Willingham, Cecil Ham, Linda,
Bill, Brittany and Stephen Cobble, Ezra and
Eva Cummins, Maggie and Morris Dixon, the
family of Billie Carter, wife of J. W. and the
mother and grandmother of some of Rusk's out-
standing athletes, Mary Nell, Nancy and Kay in
the loss of their beloved hU^band/father, everyone's
friend, Spooks Norman, Weldon Wallace in m
loss of his father, Corry, Nita Dover and family
in the loss of her mate, David.
We have an update from Harry Dismuke who
lives in San Marcos, California. His research sheds
light on a subject that many of us know little
about. Please read.
"In the 1930s the Rusk State Hospital built three
red brick homes for the doctors on the road we
called Hospital Street. They are located on the left
side just before you get to where the old main gate
was originally. All across the front of these houses
is a retainer wall maybe three or'four feet high. In
this wall is a headstone marker of J. W. Kilgore,
one of the earliest pioneers in the city and county.
"The Cherokee County Historical Commission's
Mr. John Allen Templeton has confirmed the site
as a pioneer's grave and this was their land. The
state of Texas bought the land sometime in the
1880s and had agreed to set aside one acre to
honor the gravesite. The state put a big wall
around it but no marker. In the 1930s when they
built the homes the state took down the wall
around the gravesite and built the retainer wall in
front of the homes with the stone. They must have
had some idea what was there because they put a
small wall about a foot high around an area of 15-
foot square, but still no marker. This is the wall
that I remember.
"If one has any doubt of this wild tale, one could
go to the site and look for the headstone. It is near
the high point on the hill. The stone reads 'J.W. .
KIL...' One can only guess if there may be more
headstones that are turned in toward the bank.
When I was young the story was told to me that
Indians killed the whole family and the reason he
did not finish his headstone was he had more
pressing business at the time. Mr. Templeton has
convinced me that had there been an Indian attack
it would have been picked up by the newspapers.
The story of why he did not finish his own head-
stone may also be buried with him.
"Mr. Bill Traper (Draper?), a retired state
employee (busines manager of RSH) said he saw a
document in the Courthouse's old records that
show in about the 1880s of the transfer of land
from a Mr. J. W. Jimerson to the state prison
system with the acre to be set aside. He also
remembers the story of the family grave site
because the state was grading that hill down while
he was there and he asked the men to not cut into
that site and to put a stone border around it. Mr.
Traper (Draper?) said he had heard the family died
of an epidemic disease, which makes the most
sense.
"Here we have a gravesite known to be one of the
oldest in the county and certainly in the city, about
1845, and it's not marked. So what are we «oing to
do about it. Rusk? Leave it to the next generations
to plough it under to build a new Dairy Queen?"
And our thanks this Thanksgiving season to the
letter's writer, Harry Dinmuke. You can see he
has challenged all histdrians. You may wish to
write him at 637 Corte Inoren, San Marcos, CA.
92069.
And so, life goes on. Re member that "Nothing in
ho bad it can't be made worse...or better.
Depends on our attitude." You hang on to this
thought, with an attitude of gratitude, and see if it
works
humid
High Points From El Camino Real
■S'rv-.v
Thanksgiving has come
again to El Camino Real
and our blessings con-
tinue to be overwhelming. The
saddest people we will see this
holiday season are not the
people who have nothing, but
the people who are too blind to
recognize their blessings what-
ever they might be. When you
get finished reading your
quarter's worth, take a moment
and count a few of your blessings
and remember where they came
from. ————.
Arlie Moake passed away
last week and was buried on Wednesday. Arlie
lived in Deer Park for many years but had retired
back home in Alto several years ago. Please be
with his family as they mourn his passing.
Longtime Red Lawn Community resident,
Mildred Tullis was laid to rest on Saturday. She
had reached the ripe old age of 86. Ms. Tullis was
a colorful character that will be missed dearly by
her large family. Please keep them in your
prayers this Holiday season as they cope with her
absence.
I had to make a trip out to Kerrville last week
and as always I tend to take the back roads to see
things you don't always see on the main highway.
The number of deer in that area of Texas is
unbelievable. They aren't as big as the ones we
have here, but there are plenty of them. This
makes driving pretty interesting and it makes you
slow down and enjoy the scenery. There were
white rock farm houses that looked like they were
built back in the 1800's. Tfife'se houses had a warm
homey look that made you Wish a grandparent or
great-aunt lived there, just so you could stop and
stay for a while. The front porches were the most
inviting part of the houses. I'm afraid if I ever sat
down in one of those big rockers I'd stick like a tick
and someone would have to pull me out of it. I
guess just about everybody has an old house in
their memory that gives them a warm toasty
feeling when they think about it. I think the thing
that made those old houses feel so warm were the
heaters, whether they had a fireplace or a big gas
heater there was something you could back up to
and get warm. In these houses today that only
have central heat, there is no place to warm to,
everything is the same temperature and it just
doesn't do the trick like an open flame. The only
thing warmer than the heaters in those old houses
were the hugs from grandmas that pulled you up
to their cotton apron covered bosoms and tried to
squeeze every drop of love out of you they could. 1
can almost smell the body powder and chicken and
dressing just thinking about it. I guess the most
important things we can be thankful for this
Thanksgiving season are the memories and the
people who loved us enough to make them pos-
sible.
A friend of mine came by the Hall of Justice last
week needing some help. She was wearing her
late husband's wedding band and she thinks it
slipped off her hand at the post office on the
afternoon of October 31. It is a gold ring that has
a nugget look with three small diamonds set in it.
The value of the ring dollar wise wouldn't be very
much, but the sentimental value is immeasurable.
I would love to see this ring back on her hand. If
you find the ring please drop it by my office and
help this nice lady out before the holidays.
While I'm on the subject of helping people out, I
have to switch hats for a minute. I serve as the
Salvation Army Chairman for Alto. As
many of you know, the Salvation Army
does many great things to help folks in the
community. Alto people have always been
very generous in their donations, more
especially at Christmas time when we are
trying to help poor families. The bank
here in town has always been good enough
to place our envelopes in the bank state-
ments in November. This month's state-
ment was stuffed and mailed from the
Nacogdoches branch with one slight
problem. All of the Salvation Army
donation envelopes were addressed to the
Nacogdoches Salvation Army Post. Please
give the money the same way you always
do just make sure you mark "for Alto" on
the bottom of your check. They have
mm
Chris Davis
e-mail: elcaminoreal@inu.net
assured us that they will for-
ward all moneys postmarked
Alto into our account but we
have many out of town folks that
try and help us out. Thanks
again for your support in helping
others who might need a little
hand this holiday season. The
Salvation Army is a wonderful
organization and it can only
exist with your help.
1 was talking about Thanks-
giving to a fellow from up north
last week and the subject turned
to chicken dressing. He said
that they made their dressing
out of light bread instead of cornbread. I nearly
gagged at the thought. I've seen a little bread
thrown into the dressing just for filler but the
main ingredient was always cornbread. There are
only two kinds of dressing and that's good dressing
and bad dressing. There isn't an in between. My
mother-in-law makes good dressing. It has a rich
chicken taste that gives it a great flavor. Her
giblet gravy has some problems that she won't
correct just to spite me.
She put big hunks of boiled egg in the giblet
gravy when anyone that knows anything knows
they should be chopped up in small bits. The
biggest thing in giblet gravy should be the chicken
heart in my opinion. If you have something
floating around in there, bigger than a chicken
heart then you've got trouble. I'm thankful I live
down here in the south where I don't have to eat
light bread dressing. It's hard to even type that
without gagging.
I took my three boys out to my mother and
daddy's house on Saturday, so the wife and 1 could
go and do some Christmas shopping. Daddy said
that he was going to take my twelve year-old,
Garrett deer hunting, so I carried his rifle. It was
pouring down rain, so I didn't think much about
the hunt. I had no more than gotten back home to
pick Jay Anna up when daddy called on his cell
phone and said for me to come back out there that
Garrett had killed a nice buck. They shoot and I
get to drag, load, gut, and hang the thing in the
rain. I remember some fine hunts I went on with
my grandfather and now I get to watch my boys
build memories with theirs. We took the deer over
to Virgil's because we had to show it off to some-
body and he was home. Virgil was watching a
football game with the volume wide open. I told
him that making them louder didn't make them
any faster, so he turned it down. He said if it
didn't quit raining pretty soon he was going to
have to buy mud grips for his handicap scooter. I
gave him some meat off the deer I killed a few
weeks back, so he was trying to be real nice about
Garrett's buck. I figure the whole Schochler brood
will be in for Thanksgiving and he is looking to
feed them some free meat. 1 asked Virgil where
his daughter Ginger was, when I didn't see her.
He said that she had a lot more money than he did
and she had gone shopping. I don't think she has
any more than he has. I think it just flows out of
her hand easier than it does his. Virgil feels about
his wallet like Charlton Heston does about his
gun. He won't let go until they pry it out of his
hand. i
I had to put a rush on this column because the
paper is coming out a day early/this week on
account of Thanksgiving. I hope you and your
family have a wonderful holiday and we'll try and
do the same. I'll see ya next week! And remem-
ber, When everything is coming your way,
you're in the wrong lane.
.
The Alto High School marching band pauses on the
sideline for a photo opportunity In Friday night's contest
against the Lone Oak Buffaloes.
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 151, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 23, 2000, newspaper, November 23, 2000; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth168671/m1/2/?rotate=270: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.