By Dickie Dixon

Belated birthdays February birthdays 12^th:  Dawn Glover, R. L. McGuire, Anna Diaz 13^th:  Steve Platt, Patrese (Clark) Ward, Betty Glaze, Vivian (Toole) Cates 14^th:  Dawn Burleigh, Bettell (Lewis) Benham, Betty Dufner,

For Posterity’s Eyes  15^th:  James Black, Pam Perry 16^th:  Karen (Tansil) Patrick, Matt Hermes, Will Stambaugh, Alyssa Allen, Claudia Bailey 17^th: Willie McQueen, Jr.18^th:  Jimmy Poskey 19^th:  Jerald (Buddy) Litton 20^th:  Rhonda Smith, Wanda Goolsbee, Avy Joe Havard 21:  Cindy Reese 22:  Loriann Rhodes, Misty (Tatum) Lowery

So Many Points of Contact  Recently, on January 12, 2018, I attended the funeral of Jean Hurst English, the mother of Kathy Berke of Austin and Kay Goodwin of Lufkin.  Kathy and I graduated together from Lufkin High School and had many of the same friends, and, as a matter of fact, I took one of the funeral service folders to a common friend that day after the funeral was over.

I did not know, however, until I arrived at the funeral that Jean was the daughter of Roy Hurst, a partner in Pluss-Tex Poultry, that preceded Pilgrim’s Pride. Jean’s father was the brother of Lee Hurst, who owned a Phillips 66 service station where Sherwin-Williams is now.  Three points of contact obtain there.  First, on October 15, 1990 I took charge as the Lead Chaplain/Counselor of Pilgrim’s Cares for Marketplace Ministries in Lufkin/Nacogdoches at the very chicken plant her father had owned.  Second, my Mom and Dad had owned the land where Lee Hurst’s service station was before and after Timberland Drive was built.  They pastured their cows where Timberland Drive is today.  Third, as a boy you could not help but notice the chicken truck trailers with wooden cages on them parked behind his station.  When it rained they reeked with the grain left over on them.  I presume they were there for him to service them in some way.  Many times I climbed up on his station to watch the movie across Timberland at the Panther Drive-In.

The funniest point of contact centered around a hole he was having dug for a gas tank. Every day my best friend Richard Baker and I would choose a playmate from the Wright sisters, Shorty jean and Charley Jean,  who lived between us in my parents’ rent house.  On this particular day, Shorty Jean was my choice, and she witnessed when I jumped off in the hole for the tank without ever giving a thought as to how I was going to get out. The longer I stayed in that hole, the deeper it became.  Finally, she went to my house and fetched my mother who fetched Mr. Hurst.  Evidently, it wasn’t that deep, because he reached his hand down in to it and pulled me up.  It didn’t matter how deep it really was; it felt like it was twenty feet deep.  Obviously, I was deeply obligated to Shorty Jean for fetching my mother.

At the funeral, I was also amazed to know I knew some of Kathy’s and Kay’s aunts, and all these years I didn’t know they were her aunts.

Every day, we all discover what a small world it is, and we find too it is even smaller than we thought.  Nevertheless, at this funeral I didn’t expect there to be so many points of contact.

Save the Date!  Odessa Sanders Terry will discuss “Growing up in Lufkin,” when she speaks to the Angelina County Genealogical Society at 4:00 p.m.on Monday, February 19, 2018 in the Community Meeting Room of Kurth Memorial Library on 706 South Raguet Street in Lufkin, Texas (75904).  Odessa moved to Lufkin from the Weeping Mary community near Weches when she was one.  At 6:00 p.m. Karen Kurth Hall will discuss “Using Pedigree Charts,” when she speaks to the Angelina County Genealogical Society at 6:00 p.m. at Keltys United Methodist Church in Keltys, Texas.  For more information, call Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378, or e-mail him at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com

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

Send your queries to Kissin’ Kuzzins P. O. Box 15-1001 Lufkin TX 75901 by email to dickie.dixon@hotmail.com or by phone to (936) 240-8378