By Dickie Dixon

For Posterity’s Eyes:  November birthdays:  16^th:  Valerie J. Stiles-Small 18^th:  Jane Swanzy, Mary (Neel) Cantrell 19^th:  Denisse Gonzalez, Sacosha Menefee 20^th:  Amy Ballard, Carol Sherer 21^st:  Nelda Poskey, Alyssa Coker, Dawantes Hernandez, Bethani Blake, Becky Lewis, Alisha Allen 23^rd:  Stephanie Brooks, Roni Hendry

Home At Last!  Two years after my wife and I got married, we had the most unusual Thanksgiving.  I was attending Dallas Theological Seminary pursuing my Th. M. in Old Testament Literature & Exegesis degree, working on the weekends moving offices for a moving company and my wife updated the mailing list at the Seminary daily. Fortunately, we lived on the same block on which the school stood in a cheap and quaint apartment.

Thanksgiving was approaching, so we asked a Seminary student named Bruce to fix Jana’s Opal Kadet, and I took our Chevelle to the Texaco service station for what we thought would be routine maintenance.  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving got there, and Bruce dropped the bomb that he couldn’t get it fixed.  That same day we found out that the mechanic at the service station dropped the wing nut from the breather down the carburetor, which broke a piston.

With those two bits of information, we had to decide if we were going home to Lufkin, or if we were going to stay put in Dallas.  The obvious first resort was to ride the bus home, except that then it went around the world to Henderson before Lufkin, a six hour trip.  We prevailed on our neighbor in the quadplex of apartments, Roger Raymer to take us down there.  I think we had to get up at the crack of dawn to get downtown to catch the bus about 6 a.m., I think.

We made it to Lufkin about 2 p.m. and did get to participate in Nanny’s homemade rolls, Thanksgiving dinner, and double crusted pineapple pie—all of which was a Thanksgiving tradition.  Since both of us had family from the Lufkin area (all four of our parents had grown up within fifteen miles of Lufkin), we wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.  We did not know at the time that Jana was pregnant with my oldest daughter Sasha, but probably by Christmas we did.  Of course we made it to my Mom’s and Dad’s house, and there participated in the leftover fare my Mom cooked (which was always excellent).  I think her Dad drove us back home on Sunday, as I recall, so we wouldn’t have to ride the bus.

Although we almost missed being home this particular Thanksgiving, there was one in which we actually didn’t get to come home.  This one we spent near Bunker Hill, West Virginia, with a couple who rescued us on the side of the road and let us spend the night with them the previous August.

We missed being home on that one, but for this one, when we stepped out of the car into the welcoming arms of Jana’s grandmother and grandfather and all the other family,  it was just nice to know we were home at last!

Save the date! The Angelina County Genealogical Society is honoring veterans who served at Pearl Harbor for its November 20, 2017 meeting.  Titter Hogan’s husband, Bobbi Allen’s stepfather, and Helen Kimmey Forrest’s brother will be honored in the presentation which begins at 4:00 p.m. in the Railroad Depot of Kurth Memorial Library on 702 South Raguet Street in Lufkin, Texas.  At 3:30 p.m. guests and members of the Society will enjoy refreshments and desserts together.  For more information, please call Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378, or email him at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com

Save the Date!  The Newton County Historical Commission is sponsoring the Newton County Genealogy Conference on Saturday, February 10, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.at the Iris and Anne Howard Civic Center on 213 East Court Street in Newton, Texas.  Cost for the conference with a box lunch is $12.

For book notices or reviews please send me a complimentary copy to Kissin’ Kuzzins  P. O. Box 151001 Lufkin TX 75915-1001

Send your queries to dickie.dixon@hotmail.com by mail to Kissin’ Kuzzins P. O. Box 151001 Lufkin TX 75915-1001 or by phone to (936) 240-8378