Mattie’s Corner
Today is Monday February 6, 2012. Birthdays for the week are: Feb 6: Center Mayor David Chadwick, Buddy Hancock, Wendall Johnson, Paul D. Duncan and John Doggett. It was the birthdays of Jane Ellen Jones and Dan Liem.
Feb. 7: Larry Ballard and Fred Wulf. It was the birthday of Mary Jo Davis, Ruby Watson, Jane McDonald, Hazel Walling Powell and Bernadine Christian.
Feb. 8: Ricky Schumtz, Johnny Palmer Jr., Lee Elma Jenkins and Sammy Joe Weaver. It was the birthday of my cousin Nancy Ballard Mosby, Laurence Garrett and Bobby Covington.
Feb. 9: Virginia Watlington, Van Hairgrove, Jack B. Palmer and Danny Windham. It was the birthday of my cousin Sarah Carriker Hightower.
Feb. 10: Jeff Young, husband of my granddaughter Deborah, Mary Lynn Tinkle, Andrea McLeroy, John Sancton, Michael Sanders, Debra Wheeler and John Jones a longtime employee of E. L. Bruce.
Feb. 11: Courtney Carrol Davis, Stephanie Sample, Chris Williams, Alice Gene Gilcrhist, Dan Flemings and E.D. Glaze. It was the birthday of Billy Ihlo and Mrs. Jeff Samford.
Feb. 12: Barbara Dance, Bessie Reeves, Melissa Powdrill, Jessica Copelin and Johnny Mac O’Banion. It was the birthday of Doris Parker.
Feb. 13: Charlene Kraemer, Suzanne Hancock Ihlo, Melody Masterson and Mike Middleton.
••••••• Let’s continue to pray for Eloise Porterfield as she is having a setback in her recovery from surgery in a Nacogdoches hospital.
••••••• A number of residents in Center and surrounding area can now have a Sunday Houston Chronicle delivered to their homes.
Kevin McCowan who lives near Shelbyville has obtained enough customers to deliver a Sunday paper. His number is 936-598-4750 if you’d like a paper on Sunday.
I received my big, wrapped, much welcomed paper Sunday morning.
If you’re a coupon saver, then there are lots of them included in the paper.
Kevin said that this venture is subject to change, but that he will continue as long as he can. He can be reached at this number after 6 p.m. for new subscribers.
••••••• The Nacogdoches Lamp-Lite players are now presenting “On Borrowed Time” Feb. 10, 11 and 12. It was a movie with Lionel Barrymore and George C. Scott. It is set in the 1930’s. It’s one I’d like to see because I can remember seeing the movie years ago.
The play starts at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 11 and at 2 p.m. Sunday Feb. 12.
I notice that Ken Wood has a role in it. Many of us remember Ken when he was a visitor to Center as head of our telephone company. He is also a member of the Barber Shop Quartet.
••••••• I hope that someone will find those balloons that Kate’s grandchildren sent into the sky at her grave site.
If found, contact me. However, we can’t let the grandchildren know, because in their little minds, the balloons reached their grandmother Kate in heaven.
••••••• Several of my friends sent me copies of the beautiful tribute to our pets which have died. It is titled “The Rainbow Bridge” where our pets go when they die and await our coming to join them.
I’m not the only one who believes that our pets will join us in Heaven along with our loved ones.
The book of Isaiah in the Old Testament has prophesies of what Heaven will be. That’s my interpretation of it. Others may see it as something else. Read Isaiah 65:21-25.
Isaiah 66: 22 tells us that we will keep our names, and our children in the new world. I like to go by the King James Bible.
••••••• Mrs. Dan Duncan had a copy of Billy Graham’s latest book “Nearing Home” mailed to me from the publisher. Billy wrote it as he was nearing 93 and on the front page is noted that it was published in 2012.
It is so interesting I read the first 25 pages when I first opened the package. It is about life, faith and finishing well. There is lots about being old!
Mrs. Duncan said she has a copy of the book and that is helpful to her in her grief for her husband who died nearly 2 years ago. He was the guest speaker at our annual Chamber of Commerce banquet. I became friends with them there and Mrs. Duncan (Jan) and I correspond.
••••••• Do you know of people who mow yards with riding lawn mowers? If so write and list them with me, as I’ve been asked to find mowers.
A job for our bounty hunters—what became of Mark Anderson a CHS graduate and member of the band? Also, Jack Elliott, another CHS student? Where are they?
••••••• James Lemons, a 1926 graduate of Center’s school was always drawing cartoons for our school newspaper edited by another student, Weldon Sanders. In 1926, when Weldon conducted a contest for a name for our young football team, another high school student Robert Harkrider turned in the name Roughriders, named for President Teddy Roosevelts’ Roughrider army unit. Robert won.
It was then that James Lemons drew that very first cartoon of a rider on a pitching horse. Weldon put it on the front page of the school paper. I have a copy somewhere.
Now, somewhere, in all my accumulations, I have a packet of clippings and letters that James Lemons sent me when he retired from a successful artist career in Dallas. My things are not organized so I can’t always find them.
James had many companies in his work and Borden’s Milk company was one. James designed and originated “Elsie” for Borden’s. I can’t document that, and I was thinking of some of James’ kin who would like to add to what I remember about him.
I know the two sons of Marlin and Hazel Lemons Borders; Joe and Robert are nephews of James. I don’t know where they are now, but Joe Borders worked with me at The East Texas Light. Mrs. Burton Samford was a sister as was Vera Lemons, one of my class mates.
Henry Munnerlyn, one of my 1929 classmates, also drew cartoons of the Roughriders after James left school.
••••••• I had six big Japanese persimmons on my tree which we had eaten and enjoyed. I wonder if there are others who have one of these trees.
The top of my tree was broken off last year during an ice storm and I thought the tree would die, but it leafed out and yielded the fruit.
What about the small persimmons? Are there any of them left? Hinkle Schillings had a persimmon tree in his front yard and each year he gathered a sack or container of them for Jack Mac. I never cared for those kinds of persimmons. I like the large ones.
••••••• Are you enjoying the hymns of Willie Nelson with “Sister Bobbie” at the piano on the James Paul Wilson’s early KDET show?
••••••• Is it true that there is a shape of a cross on some donkey’s back? I’ve heard that there is because of the Bible telling of Christ’s riding on a donkey.
There is a shape of a knife and fork in the seed of some fruit when split open. I think it is in a persimmon seed.
Who knows? I’ve seen it. I wonder if anyone ever finds Sweet Gum on a tree and chews like we did in the 1920s? A few stretch berries chewed into it made it easier to blow bubbles. When I was in school some of the town kids paid a nickel or a dime from someone with a good tamed chewed wad of sweet gum. Germs? We never heard of them!
Sweet gum went out when O-Boy Gum was put on the market.
••••••• I have written a number of articles in my columns about Bro. B.B. Crimm, the Baptist cowboy evangelist.
He bought a big circus tent, and conducted his service under the tent to a standing room only audience.
In the January 19 issue of the San Augustine Tribune, Neal Murphy wrote a lengthy story about Bro. Crimm. Neal writes a weekly history column for this paper as does Harry Noble. I look forward to reading their stories each week as well as the entire paper.
I could identify with all the things that Neal said about Bro. Crimm. Neal had been converted at one of his revivals when he was 13. The revival was in the San Augustine First Baptist Church. I attended all of Bro. Crimm’s revivals in Center and I recall that his favorite sermon topic was “Hell.”
Neal said in his column that “Crimm preached about Hell as though he was born and reared there”.
This article is very valuable historically and I hope readers will save it. I doubt if there are very few, if any, people still living in Center and Shelby County who remember going to a Bro. Crimm revival.
One night during a revival, a storm came up while under the tent which was erected back of our church. We all had to get out and run into the church where the service was completed. Needless to say, there were a lot of converts that night due to the fright of the storm and Bro. Crimm’s preaching on Hell.
–Mattie