The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 8, 1999 Page: 4 of 10
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Opinion Pa
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Page 4
The Albany News
1998
Thursday, July 8, 1999
The Albany News
Since 1875
Oldest journalistic venture west of the Brazos
Editor / Publisher Donnie A. Lucas
Managing Editor
Melinda L. Lucas
Advertising/Business Manager
Lytane Parker
Moran Correspondent
Audrey Brooks
editorial
policy
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AFFILIATIONS
1999 MEMBER: Texas Press Association,
West Texas Press Association
ponderings by Pat
By Pat Lidia (ones
A long time ago, Bob and Nancy
Green joined my partner and me on a
tri-purpose trip to our nation's capi-
tal.
My mate had a meetingofthe Inde-
pendent Petroleum Producers of
America, and it coincided with the
opening of the King Tut treasures
exhibit at the Smithsonian. The show
was a sell-out, but Nancy knew a
Kappa sorority sister who had a son
who was working at the Egyptian
show at the Smithsonian. He pro-
vided us with hugs, and passes for a
private, early showing.
I never really asked Nancy, but in
the years ofour friendship, I've met at
least five hundred, maybe more, of
Nancy's either University of Texas
room mates or sorority sisters. They
have an information grapevine that
would put the Internet to shame.
The third purpose cropped up just
as we were leaving Texas Henry
M usselman and his then-fiancee
Melinda McCloud were mugged on a
Washington, D C. street a night or
two before. Henry is the son of John
Musselman, Sr. and nephew of Bob
and Nancy Green. Melinda was okay,
and her-parents were with her; Henry
had a concussion, and he was still
under observation at the hospital.
The four of us went to see Henry ,
after dinner, during whichwe'd seen
John Musselman. Henry was doing
fine, he said, but still, you like to .see
for yourself. It was a frightening Ex-
perience, and D.C. is too, even ifyou're
not mugged.
Rememberin The Godfather, when
Michael "Corleone went to check on
his dad after he'd been shot. The hos-
pital was cold, old, rent-green, and
empty. His father was alone.
That's exactly the way this one
was. Not a patient, not a visitor, not a
nurse, doctor, aide, or receptionist
was in sight. We wandered through
the barren halls, trying to find rooms
that still had room numbers on them.
Finally. Bob found him. Henry was
glad to see us, and we, him. We hated
to leave him there, because he was
virtually alone. He said there was a
nurse, but we never saw anyone but
him Even today, when I see him and
Melinda, healthy and happy, I think
of that scary time.
The Tutankamen show was simply
incredible. Egyptology has always
been an interest of mine, and I dream
of seeing the pyramids and the Nile.
No one among any of my traveling
group shares my interest, so I expect
that the Tut exhibit and the Las Ve-
gas Luxor Hotel are as close as I'll
ever get to Egypt.
At the D.C. show, I ordered an
exact replica of the small goddess,,
Selket, who was one of four who
guarded the four corners of
Tutankamen'stomb. She is beautiful,
and I 've enjoyed her since she came to
my house "to live.
As I stood in the darkened display,
staring at the original Selket, Bob
whispered in my ear "Think about
those eyes, staring into the darkness
for over 3,000 years." And I do.
Soon after Selket came, I was giv-
ing a dinner party, and the mother of
the honoree came early. She brought
me a hostess gift of four small gold
wooden picks that were carved to look
like arrows. When she saw Selket,
she placed the arrows before the
statue's base. Then she turned to me,
and said, "I think we should bow our
heads "
I'm easy. So we did. Then she raised
her head, took my arm, and , said;
"Now, Pat, 1 don't think you should
get into idol worship." I still grin when
I look at Selket and think about it.
Bob uses her as a rainmaker. He'll
call and say, "Why don't you give old
Selket about a quarter-turn. We nepd
rain."He's careful though, ever since
, I moved her across the room about a
week before the flood.
On that same eventful trip, Nancy
and I signed up to go with a group of
1PAA la,dies to a pre-Broadway pre-
sentation of a brand-new musical
called Annie. Little did I know what
an impact that show would have on
my life. ■
In the first place, I had no idea
until I was seated and looking at my
program that the title Annie was Little
Orphan Annie. 1 was thrilled: I've
collected Annie in a rather cursory
history as it lingers.
♦ ♦
fashion since I was a child.
This musical, its actors, its lines,
and its songs, just wiped me out. I
laughed and cried, and at the final
curtain, all I wanted to do was sit
down, and have them do it again.
In the ensuing years, I've seen
Annie 15 or 20 times, mostly on Broad-
way, but really anywhere they have
it. In enjoyed the movie, although it is
different from the play in many ways.
After the D.C. show, I got into Little
Orphan Annie collecting in a big way,
and last week, I was showing my
daughter-in-law, Pati, her niece Alexis
Tierney, and my granddaughter,
Madison, some of my collection. Pati,
who has great ideas, suggested I dis-
play my "treasures" on floor to ceiling
shelves in one of the bedrooms I may
do it.
Interest had surfaced again be
cause of the Annie performances at
the Paramount Theater in Abilene
last week. They did a marvelous pro
ducti'on, the best I've seen off-Broad-
way. Abilene can be very proud of its
amateur cast, who were of the very
highest professional quality.
Because we'd all been up late at the
Fandangle the night before, I thought
Miss Madison would go to sleep when
the theater lights Went down and the
overture began. Shoot, she never even
leaned back. She loved every minute
of it, and got to pet "Sandy" after
ward That's my girl!,
By Emalyn (Sam) Gillispit
Samuel Diller vv as married twice.
His first wife, Ann, and.Samuel had
one son, Samuel Shellabarger His,
second wife, Anns sistgebecca,
gave Samuel five ch'i 1 dren, Jo'hr!,
Howard.' Dave. Lillian and .Grace.
John died at an early age. Samuel and
his brothers., Howard and Dave, came
to this area from Decatur, Illinois in
1883. They bought some land 16 miles
south of Albany and went into ranch-
ing.
.Howard did not like the weather m
Texas It was either too hot or too cold,
too dry or too wet. He moved back to
Decatur and left the ranching to his
brothers Samuel and Dave
A couple of years after the brothers
starting ranching, Samuel and Tho-
mas E Starrett formed the Salt Works
Qattle Company, In 1'886 the com-
pany was dissolved and the stock-
holders received land as their shares
in the company: Several sections, of
the Diller South Ranch was acquired
this way. '
Samuel and his brother Daw were
partners for many years . They en-
larged the holdings by purchasing,
land 10 miles north of Albany They
Called this place the Diller Brothers
North Ranch.
Many head of cattle were bought
by the brothers and were pastured on
both the North and South Ranch,They
were kept busy riding by buggy or
hack from one ranch to the other
They also bought a-small ranch along
the railway west of what was called
Boogsboro This place became known
as the Diller .Switch, There was a
building known as the Cake House,
and there feed was stored and steers
.were fed out until they were ready for
market Other area ranchers used
Diller Switch and had supplies un-
loaded there
In a letter to his father, Samuel
described a cattle drive, from Baird
where they had received the cattle for
the South Ranch. He told his father
the cattle did not .arrive .on.the day
they were expected, so he stayed at.
' Baird and Dave went back to the
ranch to takv care-of things. Samuel
wrote that there was some contro-
■ versy when it came time to cut his
.cattle out of the herd After he took
care of the problem, he and his cow-
hands started to the ranch. Before
the> could get there, night fell and
they had to bed the herd down about
six miles from the ranch. Samuel took
one of the cowhands and rode on to
the ranch where they ate supper. }Ie
returned to the herd with supper for
the ones who had remained with the
cattle He related to his father that a
norther blew in during the middle of
the night and it was so cold that they
could hot sleep. So, early next morn-
ing,.they broke camp iind headed tor
. the ranch He said after they arrived
at the ranch, they had to brand the
.new cows. His last comment was,
"That's the way it goes sometimes in
Texas,.". 1 1 < ,■
Dave moved his family to the North
Ranch and there he raised his four
children, his wife having previously-
died The children were John, Byron,
Nettie turd Edna,
The Diller family then lived in Al-
bany a number of years, and it during
this time that Dave was selected as
Albany's' first mayor in 1918, He
served four years as mayor. While he
was in office, the Albany water sys-
tem was built and Lake Diller was
named to honor him as first Mayor of
the C%.'
Saruiu-l, or S.S., as he was known,
took 0ver the South Kanch, He mar- '
ried Dale Cole on October 17; 1897,in
Albany. There was a big writeup about
the wedding in the local paper aud it
said the newly yiarried couple left for
parts in the east where they spent
their honeymoon.
When the newlyweds returned, ii
was to a new house which S.S. had
built on the,South Ranch. Samuel
aiid Dale had three children, Samuel
Jr., Frank, and Anna, :
Samuel and Dale moved to Albany
about 1913 and Samuel was on the
building board that built the Method-
ist Church. He Was on the board of
directors of the First National Bank
of Albany and served on the school
board for many years: The family
moved to Abilene about 1924, built a
home on Sayles Boulevard and livtjd
there until Samuel's death.
The South Diller Ranch still has a
Diller living there. Betty Diller, the
daughter of Samuel Jr., still make.-
the ranch her home. The North Diller
Ranch is still owned by members of
the Dave Diller family.
So these two men came to Texas t<>-
ranch in 1883 and they left a legacy of
land and family that has lasted 116
years
letter to the editor
Thanks tor the hospitality
Dear Editor,
We would like to thank the
whole town of Albany for your
"Texas Hospitality7 during our
stay, last weekend.
Fandangle brought tls, to Al-
bany, but the town's spirit kept us
there and insures our r t urn soon.
We would also like to send spe-
cial thanks to the ladies that made
sure we had tickets for Fandangle.
Lea Clayton and Debbe Hud man
went above and beyond to make
sure two silly people that had not
reserv ed tickets got them. We do
appreciate their extra time and
energy.
We applaud the Old Jail Art
Center and the Jeanne
Norsworthy showing. 1 finally
found an artist that touched my
Soul. The ladies at the center were
exceptionally nice and helpful.
The spirit of your town and
"Texas Hospitality" that we expe-
rienced during our stay will re-
main in our hearts forever
Again, thank you so very much
for everything
Sincerely,
Steve and Sandy Pierce
round and about
By Emalyn (Sum) (iillispie
This past weekend was the
Fourth of July weekend, with
many people going on picnics and
to the lakes,. So not much news
' was forthcoming by Monday when
I had get this written
Visiting in the home of Rodney
and Jennifer Casey were Howard
and Anne Marks Maran and
daughter, Rivka, age eight fnonths,
from London, England
Six members of the JYK group
from the First Christian Church,
went to Brov, a wood to a church
camp last week and were gone five •
days. The camp had about 75 chil-
dren attending from different parts
of the Big Country. David Mallory.
and Dee Dee Gnnishaw accompa-
nied the Albany group.
Ann New comb has been in the
hospital in Brownwpod for a few
days. She is improving and is ex-
pected to return home soon.
IF you have not been for a drive
around the city of Albany lately,
you should, The flowers are beau-
tiful.' 1 never saw so man) bios
soms on the different trees. The
crepe myrtles are great Some
yards have wisteria bluoming for
the second time this year. 1 guess
it is due to all the rain we have
had.
1 got to go fishing t his past week-
end. We did not catch many fish,
but it was nice just to be out try-
ing. We were at Cisco and the bait
man said no one had reported at y
big catches lately. We did latch on
to some crappie and bass, no cer-
tain depth or bait.
This is Sam
And I will see you Round & About
Community Calendar
JULY Lions Club - Icehouse, 12 noon
GEO class - Resource Center, 2-4 pm
Early deadline for July 15 edition of
Albany News, 5 pm
JULY 9 Chamber luncheon- Icehouse, 12 noon
Deadline to return health care surveys to
Chamber office or hospital office, 5 pm
AA & Al-Anon - Call 762-2447 for location; 8 pm
JULY 11 Texas 2000 luncheon - First Baptist Church,
12 noon
JULY 11-13 Revival services - First United Methodist Church
JULY 12 July for Kids - Old Jail Art Center, 9:00-11:30 am
Immunization clinic - Resource Center, 9 am-noon
Marionette performance - Old Jail Art Center,
3 pm
Toastmasters - Courthouse, 6:30 pm
JULY 12-14 Vacation Bible School - Albany Church of
Christ, 7*8 pm
JULY 13 Commissioners court - Courthouse, 9 am
JULY 14 July for Kids - Old Jail Art Center, 9:00-11:30 am
JULY 15 jiil\ tor Kids - Old |ail Art Center', 9:00-11 30 am
JULY 19 Girl Scout troop meeting - Youth Center,
10-12 pm ■
Hospital board - Clinic board room, 7 pm *
School board - Supt.'s office, 7:30 pm
JULY 20 Teachers workshop - Old jail Art Center
JULY 21 City council - City Hall, 5 pm
JULY 24 Mexican Fiesta for Resource Center - Old Jail Art
Center, 7:15 pm
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Lucas, Donnie A. The Albany News (Albany, Tex.), Vol. 124, No. 6, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 8, 1999, newspaper, July 8, 1999; Albany, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth413854/m1/4/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Old Jail Art Center.