July 29, 2019 - When I became Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Mauriceville, Texas in 1964, I learned early that the men loved to hunt—especially squirrels. Thamar Dickerson took me and his dog “Yeller” to scout out the best Mauriceville woods for squirrels.
July 22, 2019 - I got a letter from my dear High School friend, Jack Fontaine. When we graduated from High School in 1950, he enrolled in Texas A & M and became an Engineer. I enrolled at The Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and became a Preacher.
July 15, 2019 - As we were growing up in the 40s, just about every boy between six and 10 years of age owned a sling shot. Even if we’d had money, we’d still have to build our own since they weren’t sold in stores My brothers (Bill, John, Joe) and I usually made our stocks from the forked limbs of willow trees.
June 24, 2019 - I woke up at 2:00 this morning and recalled something that happened to me over 75 years ago… in Center, Texas in 1939. My earliest life memories began when I was three years old and I ate my first ice cream on June 19th of that year. My parents made home-made ice cream on that day every year to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Mother was 15 years old and Daddy was 20 when Daddy eloped with her, drove to Mansfield, La. and got married by lying about her age. And every year without fail on June 19th, they got us kids together to make ice cream.
June 17, 2019 - I was Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Shelbyville, Texas when Mother called me from Center saying that she had invited Joe and Mimi Boland to attend our church. “They live at the Old Center community a few miles from Joaquin,” she said.
June 10, 2019 - When I built my first Gun Ship on Highway 96 in Lumberton, Texas (1975), James Van Cleef was one of my first customers. He lived in Port Neches, Texas and was a butcher in a large grocery store there.
June 3, 2019 - In 1951 I hitch-hiked to Springfield, Missouri (with three dollars in my pocket) and enrolled in the newly-established Baptist Bible College. The school was kind enough to help a bunch of “pore” preachers get a start. Springfield had more colleges than any city of its size in the U.S.