Shelby County Today

October 21, 2019 - Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves, two of the most important names in the history of country music, were both from Panola County, so it seems fitting that the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and Tex Ritter Museum should be located there. Established in Carthage in 1998, the Hall of Fame recognizes Texans who have made major contributions to country music and the museum displays a wealth of Tex Ritter artifacts and memorabilia, as well as that from other country artists.

“When I went to school to learn to be a Chamber of Commerce manager I learned that the first thing you need to do to attract tourism to your community is find something that is unique about your town and that no can take away from you and one else can brag about,” said Tommie Ritter Smith, President of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame/Tex Ritter Museum, who also serves as President of the Panola County Chamber of Commerce. “In Carthage that one thing is that both Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves were born in our town,” she added. “When we decided to establish the museum, my first call was to television and movie star John Ritter, Tex's son, to tell him of our plans to establish the museum to honor his father. The family told me they would love that and they had a warehouse full of things that had belonged to Tex Ritter,” Mrs. Smith said. “I made a trip to California and met with Tex's sons John and Tom and their lawyers and made a deal with them to loan the collection to us. In about three months we had a warehouse full of stuff delivered to the old First National Bank building, which was empty at the time. Volunteers inventoried and cataloged the items and an insurance company appraised it.

The museum's first location was upstairs from the Chamber of Commerce. It was created and staffed by Bill and Tommie Ritter Smith and a handful of volunteers, she said. “We did very well with it and had a lot of visitors. I realized that there were still a lot of people who loved Tex and were interested in his things”, she told. “When I got to California and was able to view what the family had, I saw that they had everything that Tex Ritter had ever touched! They had every record he had ever made, they had books about him, they had his whole collection of Western folklore books. They had all of his clothes, some of which were Nudie suits. Nudie was a famous tailor who made many of the fancy suits that country artists like Porter Waggoner wore. They had his boots and boxes and boxes of contracts and correspondence,” Mrs. Smith said.

It took about a year to catalog everything in the collection. The Ritter family decided that they would donate all of the items to the museum and take a tax write-off. It now belongs to The Tex Ritter Foundation, with the stipulation that it cannot be sold and if the museum ever closes the collection will revert to the Ritter family heirs. All of John Ritter's children have visited the museum and are pleased with it, she shared.

John Ritter also visited the museum prior to his untimely death. “He liked to visit Carthage because he could just be John”, Mrs. Smith revealed. “I always tried to get people to leave him alone and let him enjoy himself, because they never would in other parts of the country.” Sometimes they did and sometimes they didn't. It is now suspected that Tex died of the same hereditary heart condition as John. John's widow, Amy, has visited the museum and donated some of John's things. “We have a John Ritter exhibit and hope to increase it in the near future.”

“Our big weekend is the second weekend of August every year. That is when we have the Classic Country Music Festival and honor the new Hall of Fame inductees. This year we had the Gatlin Brothers perform. On Friday night before the big show on Saturday night, we have the John Ritter Tribute Showcase to help up-and-coming country music stars. We pare it down to twenty-four contestants and have the finals the night before the big show in August. The person who wins gets to represent the Hall of Fame for the coming year and possibly land a recording deal. For the past twenty years we have had a band backing the singers we put together from session musicians from the Dallas area. We call them the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Band and the artists just love them! T.G. Sheppard liked them so much that he takes them with him when he is touring in Texas!” Smith said. “They are going to perform in with T.G. In Branson in November.”

“I want y'all to know about an upcoming appearance by Hall of Fame member Linda Davis and her family who are going to be at the Hall of Fame on November 16. It will be a dinner theater and we will be serving a Thanksgiving meal. Linda and her family will be performing songs from their Grammy-Award winning album, which will be on sale. Tickets are going fast so make your reservations soon”! Mrs. Smith said. “Check out our website!”

Following Mrs. Smith's talk, her husband Bill Smith, the bass singer for the Calvary Boys sang several Tex Ritter songs. He revealed that he was wearing the coat of a custom Western suit formerly owned by Tex. “This is a Turk suit that was made for Tex in the 1950's. Turk of Hollywood was another famous tailor of Western stage wear like Nudie.” Bill opened with “Welcome to My World”, written by Hall of Fame member Ray Winkler, which was a hit for Jim Reeves. He followed with the Tex Ritter hit “Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair”. Bill revealed that when Tex was signed by Columbia Records in 1943 he was their first “singing cowboy” but in 1945 he became the first country artist to have the Number one, Number Two, and Number Three records on the Billboard charts at the same time. One of those songs was “New Moon Over My Shoulder”, which Bill performed. He closed with Tex Ritter's most famous song, “High Noon”, from the film of the same name, which won an Academy Award for Best Song.

The Timpson Area Genealogical and Heritage Society meets on the third Wednesday of each month at 2PM in the Meeting Room of the Timpson Public Library, located on the corner of Austin and Bremond Streets in downtown Timpson. The public is invited.

October 18, 2019 - The Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Ambassadors welcomed Veronica's Soul Food Restaurant with a new member ribbon cutting October 18, 2019 at their location of 818 Shelbyville Street in Center.

Veronica's Soul Food Restaurant offers a variety of options on their menu with a focus on soul food. They offer burgers, sandwiches, wings, salads and seafood.

Veronica Haggerty and Connie Brinson said they will have daily lunch plate specials which will also be available with such options as meatloaf, smothered pork chops, smothered hamburger steaks, beef tips, fried chicken, and oxtail. Several sides are available to choose from and the eatery states they have amazing desserts.

They will also take custom food orders, just give them a call.

The hours of operation for Veronica's Soul Food Restaurant will be 10:30am until 9:30pm and the restaurant officially opens Monday, October 21.

October 16, 2019 - The Center Police Department's Blue Santa program is getting ready to load the sleigh and needs your help. Blue Santa is asking for donations of new toys, books, or clothes for all ages of boys and girls. Monetary donations are also welcomed. Mark your Calendars for Cookies & Cocoa with Santa for December the 8th 2-4pm. Enjoy all your favorite treats, and Free Pictures with Santa, and don’t forget to bring Santa a toy to donate! 

We will start handing out forms November 1st. If you know of any child in Shelby County that may not have any Santa this Christmas, please fill out this form. One for each child and turn back into the Center Police Department Dispatch or Shelby County Today. This form will need to be returned to the PD no later than Monday, December 9th, 2019. Any form turned in after the due date will NOT be accepted. This ensures us plenty of time to get all the toys we will need. Remember, all forms are anonymous.

Forms or monetary donations can also be mailed to OPERATION BLUE SANTA at P.O. Box 322, Center, Tx 75935. If you would like to donate new toys, clothing, hygiene items please bring them to the Center Police Dept. Boys and girls of all ages will be needed, infant to 15yrs old. The entire Blue Santa team would like to thank everyone for your generous donation to the Blue Santa program. With your donation and others like yours, we will be able to provide Christmas to many children in Shelby County. Again thank you, we can not do it without you! Let Blue Santa help You make a Childs Christmas blessed this year.

Thank You,
Operation Blue Santa Team!

October 11, 2019 - Timpson Food for Thought Pantry and Thrift Store comes closer to becoming a reality as the community celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, October 11, 2019.

Members of the community gathered at the location at 700 North 2nd Street across from First Baptist Church Timpson for the ceremony. Several check presentations were made and they were by Timpson First Baptist WMU; East Texas Food Bank - Tyler, Texas; Good Hope Baptist Church; 50 Women of Impact; and Danny Mounger and the Funeral Directors Life "Helpers of People Program." 

Following the check presentations Timpson Mayor Debra Smith, Pastor Dee Daniel and Pam Shepherd used ceremonial shovels to turn the dirt at the location of the future structure.

Pastor Daniel then shared a few words, "This has been a long time in the making. It's the vision that Debra [Smith] had 7-8 years ago when she started this down the road at Woodland [Christian Church] and then here for the last 4-5 years."

He expressed how great it is for the location coming to fruition and the ability for those in need to be able to get the help they seek throughout the month. He also remarked on how so many people in the community have come together and helped to support the project coming together. 

"We're within about $5,000 of having it fully funded from our goal of $55,000," said Pastor Daniel. "Thank you for coming on board, thank you for believing in this, and now the hard part starts."

Smith said a pre-application letter has been submitted to the Temple Foundation and approval for the application has been given and the application will go in November, "so y'all pray that we see that come to fruition because that will put the icing on the cake, all of our coolers and everything."

A group prayer was then given at the closure of the event.

The property on which the structure will be built was donated by First Baptist Church of Timpson and the building is projected to be a 2,000 square foot structure.

A garage sale was hosted at the home of Debra and Paul Smith
to help raise additional funds for the project.