Shelby County Today

April 24, 2023 - “Jumbo is located about half-way between Mount Enterprise and Clayton on Highway 315, right on the Panola-Rusk County line. The Handbook of Texas History calls Jumbo 'a dispersed rural community,’ which means that no one is really sure what its boundaries are, so if you want to say you are from Jumbo, no one can dispute it,” laughed Jake Keeling as he began his talk at the April monthly meeting of the Timpson Area Genealogical and Heritage Society. “Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, which is still active and strong, is located where downtown Jumbo used to be and our church sign says 'Jumbo Community' on it, which is Jumbo's only signage.”

Holding a microphone while sitting in a wheelchair, Keeling continued, “I was born with cerebral palsy and that's the reason for the wheelchair,” he explained. “I've had it all my life and I'm used to it. This is normal for me. After I was born, my parents brought me back to Jumbo where most of our extended family had lived for many years. I had a lot of cousins but because of my disability I couldn't go outside and run and play and throw balls as they could. So I would sit and listen to the adults talk and tell stories and these stories became important to me, much like a child might become fascinated by dinosaurs or baseball. I began to make connections between the people in the stories rather than just the events. Eventually I began to ask questions to fill in the gaps. I especially liked talking to my grandfather, Curtis Keeling Jr.”

“Curtis, or Pawpaw as we called him, was 69 when I was born, so he remembered people who had been born in the 19th century as well as the stories and events they had told him about from that era. Hearing these things from a man who had heard them from those who experienced them made them seem much more real and alive to me than something I read in a book. They were a part of his life and he was a part of my life. Pawpaw was a hard-working man who spent most of his days on a dead run from one task to another, so getting him to sit down and talk to me was difficult but I learned how to ask him questions that would spur recollections that he would share with me,” Keeling continued. “I have told many of Pawpaw's stories to other members of the family and they often exclaim that he had never shared that with them. The reason is simply that he certainly wasn't a man who dwelled in the past and they were always involved in other activities, but I had the time and interest to draw them out of him.”

“My love of oral history followed me to East Texas Baptist University where I majored in History and am now a part-time instructor in the History Department. After graduation, I completed a Master's Degree in History at SFA, where I learned that, while oral history is important and it is what I do best, it must be documented and researched,” Keeling said. “That is where my disability presented problems because I can't read for long periods and my hands don't manage books very well. I wish I had recorded my grandfather telling some of his stories but I didn't know at the time how important that documentation would be in the future.”

“I'll share one of the many stories my Pawpaw told me with you today. Uncle Edgar Keeling had a service station on the corner of 840 and 315. He was my great-grandfather's first cousin. He also farmed in the late 1950s and raised cattle. One year he had a big crop of sweet potatoes. When he dug them up they had black spots on them. He called it the blight and he couldn't market them so he decided to feed them to his cows. He had about 50 head of cattle and not long after he had fed them the sweet potatoes they began to die. He lost nearly his entire herd. Pawpaw went to see Uncle Edgar and said 'I'm so sorry about what has happened! ‘Uncle Edgar said 'Oh don't worry about it. I'm better off that a lot of folks.’ 'How do you figure that?,' Pawpaw asked him. 'You've lost your crop of sweet potatoes and nearly all of your cattle!' 'Well.’ he said, 'I do have a good pair of mules to drag them off with.”

Jake Keeling brought two books of Christian fiction that he has written and published with him. “You might wonder how I went from history to writing novels. I have always been interested in people and their interaction with each other. When I was an undergraduate at ETBU they had some Christian writer's conferences which I attended. I learned two things from those conferences. One, write what you know and two, write about something that not everyone has experienced. That is what I did in my two novels, which are about a boy with a similar disability to mine living in East Texas. However, another thing they emphasized in the writer's conference was that conflict is what drives the plot. This is difficult for me because I like my characters and I don't want to create problems for them,” Keeling chuckled. “In my novels, the main character does not have the support system that I had and has to make it on his own. With these novels I was able to develop a set of characters and let their story play out.” Both Horseback Days and Lightening Bug Nights, his first published novel, and the sequel, Beyond the Parmalee Bottom, are available from Amazon.

The Timpson Area Genealogical Society meets at 2PM on the third Wednesday of each month in the meeting room of the Timpson Public Library on the corner of Austin and Bremond Streets in downtown Timpson. The TAGHS library is located within the Timpson Public Library and is open and staffed from 9AM until 5PM weekdays. Telephone 936-254-2966 and ask for the Genealogical Library.

April 21, 2023 - ETEX, a telecommunications company, welcomed Shelby County Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors; City of Center representatives including the council, administration and Economic Development Corporation (EDC); community businesses; and residents to a ribbon cutting event on Friday, April 21, 2023 at their location on 301 Nacogdoches Street in Center.

The location is meant to house the new broadband technology the company is bringing to Center with plans to have the new system successfully running in early 2024. Chad Nehring, City of Center Manager, welcomed everyone to the rollout of a brand new product and availability of services for broadband and internet to citizens of the city.

“We’re very honored to be part of this partnership, we hope to demonstrate to be a model partnership to the state and to the federal government, because this is where the support is needed,” said Charlie Cano, General Manager/CEO of ETEX Telephone.

He stated he was pleased with the EDC and their willingness to move forward with the partnership with ETEX. Cano said ETEX would showcase a good provider has been chosen and they’re here to stay.

Mayor David Chadwick commended the Economic Development Corporation for their foresight in bringing a different level of communication to the community in Center. “We think this is a major step for development of our community, the communications that we need to draw and attract businesses to our community,” said Chadwick. “So we solute them for their wisdom and nerve to be able to commit to this amount of money to develop a program here.”

John Snider, EDC President, reflected on the journey that has brought the community to this point.

“Today we’re celebrating, we’re moving from the ‘planning/development’ and ‘how do we fund this stage’ over into now the ‘getting it done phase,’” said Snider.

Snider remarked on reaching out to other entities in the county to see if a larger project could be accomplished; however, for various reasons including timing, the larger project wasn’t feasible at that time.

“At the completion of the first phase, we should have over 2/3 of the City of Center connected to this project,” said Snider. “Phase two is already being discussed, and plans are already in place.”

Cano said he’s proud of the commitment ETEX has with rural communities and he highlighted his employees are from East Texas and they are dedicated to serving their friends and neighbors in East Texas.

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Lonnie Hunt, Deep East Texas Council of Governments Executive Director, and Jerri Jones, District Director for State Rep. Travis Clardy, were each on hand to welcome ETEX Communications to Center.

ETEX was established in 1952 by a group of farmers in Upshur County and now serves parts of 13 counties providing connectivity to thousands of East Texans, hundreds of cell towers, school districts and countless counties and cities.

April 13, 2023 (Photo Album) - To raise awareness of child abuse for April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month, the Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center with the sponsorship of Farmers State Bank and the help of the community released 130 butterlies at the annual Butterfly Release on the downtown square in Center on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

The events theme, “Stand together in the fight against child abuse,” was highlighted by Shelby County Judge Allison Harbison in her welcome to everyone to the Historic Courthouse square. “I would like to recognize Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center by thanking Director Denise Merriman and her wonderful staff, for all of their hard work supporting our children and their families who have been in crisis. It is our hope that one day their agency will be obsolete and there is no more abuse or neglect of our most precious natural resources - our children. So welcome to this wonderful life affirming event in honor of April being National Child Abuse Prevention Month.”

Judge Harbison also gave special appreciation to law enforcement in the county who work along side the Advocacy Center. Those mentioned included the Sheriff’s Department, Center Police Department, and the District Attorney Office.

City of Center Mayor David Chadwick also addressed everyone, sharing the work being done helps those impacted by abuse and lets them know they are not alone. “These professionals jointly investigate and prosecute child abuse cases while supporting children and their families with services and healing through our Children’s Advocacy Center.”

Chadwick shared that events like the butterfly release help create awareness around the complex problem of child abuse and change the conversation to keep all children in Shelby County safe from abuse. He then shared the Indian Legend of the butterfly. The butterfly is symbolic of the gesture that we try to instill in a child to tell someone what their problems are. According to the legend, by making a wish and giving the butterfly its freedom, the wish will be taken to the heavens to be granted.

Everyone then opened envelopes with the dormant, sleepy butterflies inside and released them.

​Resources:

• Shelbycountycac.com - Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center
• CACTX.org - Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas
• Childwelfare.gov - National child Abuse Prevention Month 2020 Strong and Thriving Families
• Preventchildabuse.org - 2020 Child Abuse Prevention Month

April 14, 2023 - The Center Garden Club is on the inside of the Center downtown historic square on the Nacogdoches Street side with a variety of plants to sell for their annual plant sale. They will be there until 12 noon today, April 14, 2023.

A wide variety of plants are available, such as succulents, bromeliads, Kalanchoes, begonias, verbenas, stagleaf ferns, etc., as well many indigenous plants. All offered at VERY reasonable pricing.

Do come early while the plant selection is at its best; you are sure to find many of Nature’s delights that can be yours!