August 18, 2023 - Roles were reversed at last Wednesday's monthly meeting of the Timpson Area Genealogical and Heritage Society. Two long-time Timpson citizens were interviewed by students staffers of Gary High School's Loblolly magazine, while TAGHS members looked on. Advised by Gary High School Journalism teacher Nerissa Coligan, nine Loblolly staffers were present as J.T. Rhodes and Ronnie Wolfe, who have been involved in East Texas agriculture all of their lives, answered questions posed by the student journalists.
Loblolly staffer McKenzie Coleman provided an introduction to the program and some historical background on the origins of Loblolly, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. “ Loblolly was established in 1973 by Gary High School teacher Lincoln King after he had seen a copy of the oral history magazine Foxfire, published by high school students in Georgia. Mr. King said he thought that East Texas students were just as smart as those in Georgia, and if they could create a magazine of oral history, so could we. The Freshman Class took on the Loblolly project in 1973 and began investigating and preserving the rich cultural heritage of East Texas. Armed with cassette recorders and cameras, the students went out into the community and interviewed local citizens with stories to tell. They even developed their own black and white photographs in a darkroom at the school. Although the students were nervous and reluctant to interview local citizens, they soon found that the people they were interviewing were eager to share their stories and had much to teach modern youth,” Coleman said.
“The first printing of Loblolly was 500 copies, which sold out almost immediately, and a second printing had to be ordered. Over the first twenty-five years of its existence, Loblolly published fifty-six issues of the magazine and five books, including a cookbook,” continued Coleman. “Publication of Loblolly went on hiatus in 2003, but back issues were available through Panola College and, beginning in 2015, online through The Portal of Texas History. The Class of 2017 expressed an interest in bringing The Loblolly back to life their Senior year. Though there was no official class for creating the magazine, they formed a club and worked on their own with the support of Gary High School teacher Nerissa Coligan, a GHS graduate and former Loblolly staffer. That year's stories were published in a section of the school's online newspaper. Mr. King was retired by then but volunteered to help bring the publication back to life. Although the technology used to create the magazine has changed, students still must sit down face-to-face with the person being interviewed. Fifty years after it began, Loblolly has published sixty-seven magazines and six books, with another one on the way”.
Following Coleman's remarks, Loblolly staffers Sid Burgess and Avery Caldwell were joined in the front of the room by J.T. Rhodes and Ronnie Wolfe and the audience was able to watch an actual Loblolly interview take place. With the participants seated in a semi-circle, Caldwell began by confirming that Mr. Rhodes gave his consent for the recording and publication of his statements followed by asking him his full name and date and place of birth. She asked about his family and why his chose agriculture for a career. Questions about memories of his youth and what valuable lessons he had learned during his life followed. He recalled growing up on the land where he and his wife Jeannie currently reside and watching his father grow tomatoes, cotton, corn and food crops using mules and a plow. His parents' home had neither electricity nor indoor plumbing. Asked what advice he would give to the youth of today, Rhodes replied “Work hard and stay away from drugs”.
Mr. Wolfe's interview began the same way as Mr. Rhodes's and he was asked the same questions. He recalled growing up near Gary and attending Gary schools. His family life was much the same as that of Mr. Rhodes, growing up on a farm with few conveniences and lots of hard work. Unlike Mr. Rhodes, however, Mr. Wolfe did not pursue agriculture as a career. “In 1950 my mother and I were planting cotton and I asker her why were do doing it. She replied 'So we can eat, and if you don't get a college education you're going to do the same thing'. That's when I knew I was going to college.” Wolfe exclaimed. Wolfe said he became a public school teacher but retained his love of making things grow and still has a garden and some livestock. Asked what got him through hard times in his life. Wolfe replied without hesitation “My faith”. Both men recalled taking crops of tomatoes to the tomato sheds in Timpson or Gary and the heartbreak of seeing crops almost ready for harvest destroyed by hail. In a profound understatement Mr. Rhodes observed “Growing tomatoes was labor intensive”. Wolfe said that some of his chief pleasures in life have been playing the fiddle, hunting, and working on guns. Rhodes and Wolfe shared much more about their lives in East Texas and you can read about it in the upcoming issue of Loblolly.
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.
