By Dickie Dixon

For Posterity’s Eyes April birthdays: 26^th:  Steve Fuller, Charlotte Morris, Chad Becker  27^th:  Dixie Nerren-Haskins, Jimmy Amerine, Donna Parks, Roy Dusan, Alexis Grigsby  28^th:  Shawn Michael Butler, Lynn Hopper 29^th:  Renee (Goodman) Parker, Adarene Grimes 30^th:  Lindsey Hendricks, Alric Harris May birthdays:  1^st:  Lyle Ashworth, Deana Ashworth 2^nd:  Anna Christine Neel, Sarah Calhoun Stevens, Tiffani Gray 3^rd:  Litem Anzy, Meagan Emerson

Save the Date (1) A panel discussion from among the 1963 Lufkin High School State Baseball Championship team possibly with others will discuss their 1963 season, when they speak to the Angelina County Genealogical Society at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2018 in the Community Meeting Room of Kurth Memorial Library on 702 South Raguet Streetin Lufkin, Texas (75904).  Refreshments and desserts will begin at 3:30.  For more information, call Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378, or e-mail him at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com

(2) Bob Flournoy will discuss “The Sawmill Community of Manning,” when he speaks to the Angelina County Genealogical Society at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2018 in the Fellowship Hall of Keltys United Methodist Church on 1867 Old Mill Road in Keltys, Texas (now a part of Lufkin [75904]) For more information, please contact Rev. Cindy Doran at (936) 852-4123 or Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378, or email Cindy atkeltysumc@hotmail.com or Dickie at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com

(3) A request from the author:  On Saturday, April 21, 2018 I spoke on “Where the Houses Went” at the Camden Sawmill Reunion in Camden, Texas at Pine Grove Baptist Church. If you or your family rented one of the sawmill houses or know someone who did, or you or your family bought one of the sawmill houses or know someone who did, please contact me at (936) 240-8378 or dickie.dixon@hotmail.com  I understand some of the houses may have been torn down.

Collecting My Baseball Cards As a boy my father and his brothers were very interested in sports.  When we went to Blanche and Bony Dixon’s house on Sunday (which was almost every Sunday), my uncles and male cousins segregated themselves in to what my mother called “the bull pen,” i.e., the room where the television was in my grandparents’ bedroom.  During baseball season, there was always a game on the screen.  At our house, my Dad watched one every time he could, and, as he went to sleep, he listened to the Colt 45s and later the Astros games.  In our den, my perch to watch the games was sitting on the arm of his recliner with my head resting on his shoulder.

Little wonder then that I should become an avid baseball card collector.  My point of purchase place was one block away at A. O. Dias Grocery, a forerunner of a convenience store owned by Alvis and Gertrude Dias; Gertrude’s brother, “Preacher” Largent, worked for them there.  My collection grew each year without too much of my own investment:  my Mother would send me down there for milk or bread, and sometimes “unmentionables.” When I got the change, she let me buy a couple of packages of baseball cards;  this began probably when I was five or six.  A package of cards was only a nickel; for that price, I received five Topps cards and one rectangular piece of pink bubble gum.

The 1960 season was especially memorable because I bought two packs of cards and was really surprised what I found in them.  Before I tell you, you will have to understand that the company took extra precautions to mix the cards up so no one got too many of the same one.  With these two packs, though, something went wrong with the machine:  In the two packs with ten cards, seven of them were Willie Mays cards.  What a treasure it was to get so many of his cards.  I still have my cards:  about 3-4,000 of them, I think,  and, as you can tell, I still treasure the times I was collecting my baseball cards.

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

 

Edited as the Save the Date (1) had the incorrect information for the May 21 meeting. Originally it contained the information for the June meeting.