The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 22, 2008 Page: 2 of 36
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THURSDAY 22 MAY 2DDB
THE CANADIAN RECORD
A, amily chooses to serve:
By Congressman Mac Thornberry
RECORD
ESTABLISHED 1833
ORPDRATED FEBRUARY 1338
PD Box 898, Canadian, TX 73014
Phttne: 80B.323.B4BI or 5321
Fax: SDE.323.5738
BEN EZZELL Publisher/Editor
Publisher 1348-1333
NANCY EZZELL Publisher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN Editor
editorlcanadianrecord.com
MARY SMITHEE Business Manager
marffSpanadianrecnrd.com
ADVERTISING Holly Henderson
advertisingScanadianrecDrd.cDm
NEWS/FEATURES
Cathy Ricketts, Julia Schafer
news@canadianrecDrd.cam
SPORTS Jason Turner
jasorlSfcanadianrecnrd.com
DESIGNS PRODUCTION
Laurie Brown, Cathy Ricketts,
Holly Henderson
PHOTOGRAPHY
Laurie Brown, Cathy Ricketts
CONTRIBUTORS: Mary Jane McKinney,
Bob Rogers, Ruth Beasley, Jenny Klein
USPS D87-SBD
Periodicals postage paid at the Post
Office in Canadian (Hemphill County),
TX. Published weekly in Canadian by
Nancy M. Ezzell
POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to The Canadian Record, PO Box 8SB,
Canadian,TX 73D14
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
S3D/S3B/S4Z Annually
Online Subscriptions $42/Annually
Available at
www.canadianrecord.com
RECORD
and the Ezzell Family
WINNERS OFTHE
2DD7 Gish Award
FOR COURAGE, TENACITY B INTEGRITY
IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
SERVICE TD DUR NATION comes in many forms.
We, of course, think of the brave men and wom-
an of the Armed Forces, risking their lives to
answer the call of our country. But, not every
act of service comes with a uniform. Opal and
Dick Naylor of Perryton have showed us a dif-
ferent, but no less admirable, way of serving.
Opal and Dick lived and worked on a farm
at Balko, Oklahoma near Perryton with their
three children. Their oldest son, Darrell, grew
up working on the family farm, graduated from
Balko High School, attended Clarendon Junior
College and Oklahoma Panhandle State Uni
versity, and was studying architecture in Den-
ver. His plans were interrupted when he was
drafted in 1966 and sent to Vietnam. On April
14,1967, as Darrell was leading his unit into a
hostile village, he stepped on a land mine and
was severely njured. He was conscious until
the initial exploratory surgery to find the ex-
tent of his injuries.
Darrell was transported back to the U.S. for
care. After being in the hospital for more than
seven months, the doctors told Opal and Dick
that they had to make a choice — put Darrell n
a nursing home or take him home and care for
him themselves. They chose to take him home
and converted a one car garage into a room for
him. Specialist E4 Darrell J. Naylor was offi-
cially discharged from the Army on December
19,1967, with a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, the
Air Medal, and other awards. Several years lat-
er they moved to Perryton to find some part-
time help with Darrell.
Darrell passed away on January 5, 2006.
After that first surgery, Darrell remained in a
semi-conscious state due to severe brain dam-
age. He could not communicate or move. With
family, a few volunteers, and some part-time
help, Opal and Dick cared for their son them-
selves in their home for 38 years and 9 months.
Darrell Naylor showed ncredible bravery
leading troops into battle in 1967. His parents
have also showed incredible courage in the way
they took care of their son and thus served not
only their family, but the country as well. That
kind of service required that they make a choice
hour after hour, day after day, year after year,
to provide Darrell the care he needed.
On this Memorial Day, Darrell's name will
be added to the Vietnam Memorial in Washi ng-
ton as the most recent casualty of that war. Opal
and Dick and their family will be there to honor
him, and they will also lay a wreath at the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National
Cemetery.
Darrell's sister, Belva, says that their fam-
ly has a favorite saying that they live by, "God
didn't promise days without pain, laughter with-
out sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise
strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and
light for the way." The light provided through
the family of Darrell Naylor helps il luminate for
each of us the true meaning of selfless service
and unconditional love.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A Spring Creek
thank you
WE WANTED TO SAY thanks to all the peo-
ple in Canadian who made it possible for Spring
Creek to play in Canadian. First, we would like
to thank John McGarr and
the Canadian Arts Alliance
for being willing to bring us
back for a 2nd CD release
party.
Also a big thank you to
Keith Meek for making the
band sound great and provid-
ng the complete sound sys-
tem and his expertise free of
charge, to Laurie Brown and
The Canadian Record for
providing free advertising, to
Jim Knight and the teachers
at Baker Elementary for once
again allowing us to come to
the school and share our mu-
sic with the students and to
Debbie Thomas for all she
did to set up and make sure
Spring Creek had everything we needed at the
Middle School. And especially to all the people
who have supported us by coming to our shows
and buying our CDs and t-shirts.
Canadian, you are the best!
SPRING CREEK
(Taylor Sims, Jessica Sm ith, Alex
Johnstone, and Chris Elliott)
£zwiie "BWCUH
SPRING CREEK PERFORMS ON STAGE AT CMS
AUDITORIUM MAY 9
MY MOTHER FELL THIS WEEK. Falling is not an uncom-
mon occurrence for my mom. At 87, she lives alone in the home
she and my father built for their young family. Well-suited to
six growing children, the two-story house is perhaps less hospi-
table to an octogenarian whose bones have become brittle from
osteoporosis and whose joints are swollen with arthritis, but
whose spirit is defiantly proud and determinedly independent.
I watched one day as she struggled to walk to my car for
her daily trip to the newspaper office. "To think that I once
climbed mountains," she said. I turned, surprised by the tears
that came to my eyes.
It is the conventional wisdom that all politics is personal.
My mother's future health and welfare are personal matters—
particularly to her, but also to her six ch ildren, who love and
admire her. Her independence is something of a legend among
those who know her. It impresses us both ways. Yeah, you know
what I mean.
My mother's future health and welfare are also political
matters. They are matters that are affected by public policy—
and by that, I mean the policy of this community toward its se-
nior citizens.
Let me tell you a little bit about my mother and co-publisher.
You already know that she raised six children. What you may
or may not know is that she did so on the fra i 1 shoestring budget
that most rural weekly newspapers provided their owners.
Whether it was her Scotch blood, as she often said, or the
experience borne of living through the Great Depression and
World War II—as both of my parents did—I do not know. But
I do know the wonders my mom once worked with roast beef,
which appeared on Sunday plates with potatoes and gravy, and
appeared each day of the week thenceforth in somewhat al-
tered form: from sandwich to soup to stew to—our particular
favorite—toast-top casserole. We did not know these were left-
overs, and we certainly did not believe leftovers were anything
less than desirable.
While raising six reasonably well-behaved children, my
mother also worked—as she continues to work—each day at
the newspaper office. As my father's co-editor, she covered the
news, attended community events, wrote a column, proofed ev-
ery story for mistakes, and handled billing and bookkeeping.
Back ri the real glory days of the linotype and printing press,
she also helped feed the press and nserted, addressed and
mailed the newspaper.
Despite what many would consider a grueling work sched-
ule, she prepared each breakfast, lunch and dinner from
scratch—real get-out-the-placemats, set-the-table, sit-down-
and-talk family meals for which we were expected to be pres-
ent, alert and reasonably pleasant. She read us stories, helped
with homework, attended school events from band concerts to
football games, coached us for spelling bees, and listened to us
practice our piano assignments.
Throughout all that, she volunteered as a Woman's Club
member and officer, Chamber director and president, First
Presbyterian Church choir member, Cub Scout den mother,
and a generally enthusiastic booster and sometimes firm but
loving clrider of this community. It was never easy. Sometimes
t was harder than most can imagine, given the controversial
editorial stances this newspaper has been known to take, and
her mmediate proximity to the public's not always admiring
opinions.
The point: for a good part of her 87 years, my mom has given
her voice, her time, her imagination, her dedication, her love
and her money to this—her adopted community. And in 87
years, she has asked for very little in return. A good home in
which to raise her children. The community's support of the
business she loves, as my father also did.
Not so much, really. She's still not asking. I am.
I don't know whether there will ever be an assisted living fa-
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 21, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 22, 2008, newspaper, May 22, 2008; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252705/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.