Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 150, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 13, 2000 Page: 2 of 14
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Page 2—CHEROKEEAN/HERALP of Rusk, Texas—Thursday, January 13,2000
1
Emmett H. Whitehead
nri ^ 1 ITT 1 J
publlBher
Cherokeean Herald
Marie Whitehead
wAl w JL IIV W WLAÍ 1 11 w A. %M.M. %A.
editor
January 13, 2000
Texas' oldest continuously
published wsekly newspaper.
Establlshsd as ths Chsrokse
Sentinel Feb. 27,1850
GRASS ROOTS
by Sta|i Lynde
Jim Hogg State Historical
Park, Rusk
Caddoan Mounds State
Historical Site, Alto
Texas State Railroad State
Historical Park, Rusk
High Points From El Camino Real
Chris Davis
e-mail: elcaminoreal@inu.net
I guess so far so good is all we
can say about the first week of
the 21st century. It has been
pretty much business as usual
here on El Camino Real. The
rains have helped settle the dust
and perked the turnip greens
and collard patch up a bit. This
is usually a slow time of year
around here with football and
hunting season over and it still
being too cold to garden or fish.
I figure I'll have to try and give a
little more than a quarter's
worth since folks will have more
time to read.
Things are getting busy out at Old Palestine
Baptist Church in the Linwood community. I
visited with some of the church members the other
day and they are making plans to do some renova-
tions to spruce the church and grounds up. The
church needs some work done to make it more
accessible to the handicapped and to make the
parking area a little smoother for folks whose
footing might not be as sure as it use to be. They
hope to have everything finished by the second
Sunday in June when everyone comes for the
Homecoming. I'm glad folks are taking an interest
in this old church because it is one of the oldest in
our area. If you want to help these folks fix up this
historic landmark you can send donations to a
special account set up at Fredonia State Bank
P.O. Box 430 Alto, Texas. If you need a church
home, they'd be glad to have you.
The Holcomb family suffered the loss of two of its
members during the past few weeks. Edna
Holcomb Smith of Jacksonville, formerly of Alto,
died in late- December at the age of 96. Her siBter,
Otha fjotoomb Harrison, of Aito died on Jan. 8
at the age of 94. These ladies were daughters of
Garrett and Minnie Holcomb. There were six
of these sisters and I had the pleasure of knowing
five of them. Mary Kate Black died during
childbirth many years ago. Maudice Long and
Laura Pearl Allen passed several years back.
Irma Cole, the youngest girl is 92 years old and is
living in Jasper. Two brothers Garrett Holcomb
and J. C. Holcomb have also passed on. The
sisters were an absolute mess when I would see
them all together at the Holcomb Reunion or over
at my father-in-law J. C. Holcomb's house, which
was their old home place. The ladies had a
commanding presence and you could never tell
which one was in charge, but they all wanted to be.
They treated their baby brother J. C. like he was
still a baby plumb into his seventies. They were a
pleasure to know and grow close to they will be
missed, but ninety something years of good
memories is a blessing to their family.
Eunice Morgan celebrated her 92nd birthday
on Jan. 6 with a birthday dinner at her house. Her
son Jimmy came up from Austin with a bunch of
fish he had caught to have a fish fry. Her daugh-
ter and son-in-law, Ruth and Bob Wallace along
with their daughter Vicki Lynn Barnes and
grandson Matthew were there. Her daughter and
son-in-law, Mary and her husband Lehmon
Hassell came. Ms. Morgan's great grandson J. D.
Woodruff was there too. And last but not least
was Ms. Morgan's daughter Nelleva Vining who
showed up for the celebration. I think they forgot
the candles to the cake, but I bet it was eaten
anyway. Ms. Morgan is an especially sweet lady
and I'm glad I got to talk to her on her special day.
Happy birthday, Ms. Morgan.
Tommy Davis came by the Hall of Justice last
week to get license plates and gave me an update
on his daughter Emily who is in the Air Force up
I
FEEDS &
GRAINS
in Fairbanks, Alaska. Emily
came home for the holidays and
enjoyed some of our nice warm
weather. He said it was 50
degrees below zero where she
was stationed in Alaska. Believe
it or not she likes it up there and
will probably be there for the
next couple of years. I don't
think there are enough pine
knots in the world to keep me
warm in weather like that.
My neighbor across the road
Susan Barrow's Dad, Jake
~1 Ransome had a birthday Jan.
12. Jake has been under the
weather for a while, but most everyone remembers
him from when he and his wife Juanita ran the
hardware store and flower shop in the building
where P. T. Kelly's Grocery used to be. Happy
birthday, Jake!
While I'm on the block where P. T. Kelly's
Grocery use to be, I better tell you some more
news. Mary Ann Selman, Diller's wife is the new
owner of the Townhouse Café. I was glad to see
that the café kept its name. When people in a
small town get use to calling something by one
name, you can change the name as many times as
you want to and everyone will still call it by what
they are used to. Mary Ann said that she will be
serving a hamburger buffet on Tuesday nights and
a seafood buffet on Friday nights. The round table
will be open every morning for those who want to
attend some of the best lying, politicking, horse
trading and coffee drinking sessions in Alto.
The new bedroom and bathroom that Bob
Cherry added on my house is finished. It all
looked bo nice after we got everything moved in.
Then just a few days later we had one of those
days where nothing goes right. Creager, the baby
woke up that morning with a touch of cold. He
drank a glass of chocolate milk as he does every
morning and then he started coughing. There are
hardwood floors all through the house, but he
managed to make it to the new carpet before he
threw up. Jay Anna went wild cleaning the new
carpet and upset she was. That afternoon I had
decided to hook up the cable TV and I wanted to do
a real neat job. While finishing up on the outside,
the insulators came and blew insulation in the
attic. The hole to the attic is in the wife's closet
and they got little pieces of that white insulation
on her clothes. She wasn't happy about this either.
I only had one wire to hook up there, so when they
finished I climbed up in the attic. It looked like a
snow drift and the white insulation must have
been two feet thick. I headed across feeling for the
rafters with my feet. I hadn't gone very for when
my foot slipped and I heard the sound of breaking
sheetrock.
When I got down out of the attic, I went to
survey the damage. There in the bedroom ceiling
waB a crack about 12 inches long. When we lay
down in our bed, we are looking at the crack in the
ceiling, and guess who gets reminded of his little
miss step every time. I told Virgil I was having a
problem with the new bedroom and he suggested
Viagra. I said that wasn't the kind of problem I
was talking about. I don't need Dr. Ruth or
Viagra, I need a sheetrocker.
I want to thank everyone who brought me news
this week. It makes my job a lot easier when I get
a few tidbits to get me started. Ever once in a
while I figure I'm about out of soap and need to
quit writing this thing and then somebody drops
by with some news or tells me they liked some-
thing I wrote and then I'm at it again. I'll see ya
next week! And remember, Never be ashamed
of honest tears.
BUSINESS HAS GOT SO BAP
THAT EVEU-THE PEOPLE WHO
AREN'T PAVtN'THEIR BILLS
HAVE STOPPED BUYIN' FROM
ME, SHAG.
«Mr' '
s
AV. WAV
7r>#&wy,
GRAIN
CJlo.'
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Scene in Passing
Marie Whitehead
editor @ mediactr.com
uWhen your memories
exceed your dreams, you
begin to grow old." Maybe you
heard that expressed somewhat
like this in President Bill
Clinton's comments New
Years Eve night. At first
glance, it doesn't make much of
an impression. But after you
chew on the thought a few days,
it begins to make sense. Some of
us do tend to live more in the
past because that's where we
have spent much of life. But this
is still the beginning of a new
period of time and in it, we
should promise ourselves some "new dreams."
And that's another way of planning for "new
memories!"
Many thanks to all of you who help supply
information for this space! An envelope dropped off
at the office contained a note from Neita Byrd of
Rusk. She had been in California in 1998 and kept
a clipping from the Los Angeles Times. It was a
column by Abigail Van Buren, known as "Dear
Abby." It contained a consoling message for those
who lose a pet. Neita recalled a recent mention in
this space of someone losing a pet. She remem-
bered Kay Baby Hunter's longtime pet cat,
Sylvester. Well, Neita intended to send it to Kay
but "a lot of tests got in the way." It might be a
copyright problem for me to reprint the words of
Ms. Abby, so I'll just save it for Kay. And hope-
fully, Neita's tests are over and she scored high!
(She didn't say if the tests were health, history or
algebra!)
A phone call from a former staffer, Cherie
Wilson, now in the county tax office, directed us to
a story written by Becky Whisenant of Rusk, or
the Maydelle area. The article appeared in COUN-
TRY magazine. Our congratulations to her on
having her feature accepted for publication! It is a
fine magazine with lots of appeal, especially for
women!
One day as we stopped for a quick bite to eat, we
saw Travis and Sandra McCain having a fun
lunch with their son, Daniel, now going down
home stretch at Texas A&M. They were joined by
Sandra's mom, Mrs. Hill, who wears one of the
sweetest smiles all the time! It is families like
these who come along, look at our town, like it,
committ and stay to make it better!
Tracie Unger called to let us know Ruby
Berry has been in the hospital at ETMC Jackson-
ville with pneumonia. Tracie lives in the Sardis
Community, as does Ruby. Though not family,
they are like family! She says Ruby spent 22 years
working at the Rusk Garment Factory (how
many of you can remember this business?) and
also worked at Rusk State Hospital. Hopefully
by your reading this space, Mrs. Berry is back at
home.
And back at home after a recent trip are Keith,
Linda and Charlotte Clements. They visited his
parents, Jack and Bettie Clements at Indepen-
dence, Mo. They left Dec. 26 and returned Jan. 3.
At the year's end we met two gentlemen from
what used to bo simply, SESCO, now called TXU
Seseo. They are Richard Saunders and Terry
Story. It is a habit of mine to connect all people
with the same last name! And it proved to be a
good guess when I learned that Richard is not just
related to the late Jim Saunders, but is his son.
So, if you know the family, you now know that
Richard is the brother of our Jan Prior. And we're
glad to say that after several weeks of struggling
with the"Return of the CrudJan is much better.
A note from Carolyn Thompson who helps
keep the Rusk State Park a happy place, wrote to
comment on several references here to Mrs.
Vernelle H. (Aunt Nellie) Ellis of Beaumont.
She writes, *7 know Mrs. Ellis.
You said that she spoke of her
niece Joann and you asked if
anyone knew her last name. Her
name is Joann Perkins and she
lives in Arlington. She is the
daughter of the late Ray ford and
Nora Sanford of Maydelle. Her
sister was the late and much
loved Mildred Roach of Maydelle.
Remember, Mildred worked at
Austin Bank." Well, in the
meantime, I had heard this from
Joann herself! But I didn't know
her beloved sister was our
Mildred. All of us have so much
info to share!
And then, from the small world scenario, a
chance encounter with Ruby Reid brought
questions of the George Atkinson family! She,
and all of you, will be glad to know that their world
is no more beset with problems than yours and
mine...which means they have just enough to keep
life interesting! Jan has had a more healthy year/
though she is recouping from "the bug." Dr. George
is busy breathing life into an auxiliary support ' <
school, SMU's Perkins School of Theology South,
serving the Houston area. He also led the organi-
zation of a 17-denomination ecumenical, end of
year event. He says it was a well received, highly
beneficial time for participants. This is under-
standable, when you think about it. Why can't all
denominations, believing in the same Creator,
come together in an attitude of gratitude? Jan's
mom, Mrs. Lamar Clark, the little ole' lady in
tennis shoes, celebrated her 85th Jan. 8. She is
doing well, keeping busy. After reading a book
authored by ABC's Tom Brokaw concerning his
memories of WW II, she dashed off a note to him
and opined that "he left out a vital part of life for
men in service and that was the role of the chap-
lains. " She offered to share her wealth of informa-
tion from letters written (every day) by her late
husband/chaplain during his military service. Long
story short, Mrs. Clark's contributions have
become a chapter in Tom's latest book! And she
has gained a friend fot life! There's still another
story behind those letters. During her move out of
her home to assisted living, Mrs. Clark almost let
the box of precious letters go to the dumping
ground! Granddaughter Jennifer spotted them in
the nick of time! And of course, New Year's best is
wished to Dr. Clark by this family.
Guess this brings us to the point of updating
health reports. Our Margie Williamson may be
home by the time we get this issue delivered to
you! Spouse Joe has been a constant, attentive
support person. She is doing well at ETMC Tyler.
A bit of improvement is reported for Mary Boone.
As ill as she has been, just to hold her own is still
an improvement! She's at ETMC Jacksonville.
Everyone's much loved Katie Lloyd is recuperat-
ing nicely from a broken hip. She cheers as she
lives! Bill Cobble and children, Britany and
Stephen, spoke with Linda at the hospital in
Galveston Saturday. She is believed to be improv-
ing and that day was sitting up, in a chair! It
helped all the family to touch in love by the sound
of their voices via phone lines! A fund of assistance
to the family has been set up at Austin Bank Rusk.
Opal Crow came home recently afteras delightful
holiday season with her daughter in Georgetown.
Her pacemaker is keeping up with her! Others who
have been less than well with the Crud include our
Miss Dot, Dorothy Jackson. She says she has
never been so sick! We hope that all the ill folks
are about to get bettter!
You've heard it said before that This is the
best time of all times, if we know what to do
with itt" While you're trying to make a decision,
why not plan a dream? Keep smiling!
Old Palestine Baptist Church in the Linwood Community east of Alto.
Loans or CDs
683-227.7
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Whitehead, Marie. Cherokeean/Herald (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 150, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 13, 2000, newspaper, January 13, 2000; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth168626/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.