By Dickie Dixon

For Posterity’s Eyes: 21^st:  Elton Foster  22^nd:  Lori (Stoever) Horne, Loretta Mark, Kylee Ann Haak 23^rd:  Laura (Dixon) Cavin 24^th:  Lydia Spellings  26^th:  , Carmen Rodgers, Angel Wynn, Stephanie Ducote 27^th:  Cheryl Webb, Marie Hollis 28^th:  Kathleen (Modisette) Antley 29^th:  Dena Rainwater, Steve Collins, Tommy Minshew 30^th:  Josh Foyil

Save the Date! (1)Deep East Texas Archeological Society meeting  Vernon Parish Genealogical Society President Stanley Fletcher will discuss “Ferry Tells,” when he speaks to the Deep East Texas Archeological Society at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 2, 2018 at the Iris and Anne Howard Civic Center on 213 East Court in Newton, Texas (75966).  Stanley will talk about all twenty-seven ferries on the Sabine River.  DETAS member Martha Palmer will be asked to add her thoughts.  For more information, please contact Pam Wright at (409) 379-2109, Klaus Gehr at (337) 320-3829, or Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378.  The public is invited to attend.

(2)Jasper County Genealogy Conference  The Jasper County Historical Commission is pleased to announce the inaugural Jasper County Genealogy Conference on July 19-20, 2018.  From 1-4 p,m. the Conference will help those attending the Conference with their genealogy at the Jasper County Historical Commission Library in the old jail.  The next day, on Friday, July 20^th, area speakers will discuss various topics at hourly intervals.  For more information, please contact the Jasper County Historical Commission or Dickie Dixon. The public can e-mail Pam at pamwright46@yahoo.com Klaus atklaus@onlinearmory.com or Dickie at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com

A belated Father’s Day honoring  I didn’t always appreciate my father like I should have.  Not only was he my boss at home, I also worked for him from the time I was ten.  After we opened his furniture store, I asked him if I could dust the furniture for a dollar a day.  At fourteen I started working as a deliveryman and stocker for him because he wouldn’t buy me a Wollensak battery-operated cassette recorder.  At fifteen—after I obtained my driver’s license–I drove the delivery truck on deliveries, when I wasn’t playing sports.  I did this until I was twenty, after school and on Saturdays during high school and my first two years in college.  Later, I was a retail furniture salesman on the floor, and still later I managed a furniture store for him for almost four years in Diboll.

My Dad was a disciplined, get-it-done kind of person who did not erect walls between him and others.  He was so disciplined, you might say he was almost a rut person, meaning he did the same things the same way every day.  He got up at ten minutes till seven, ate breakfast with coffee in a china cup shortly thereafter, drove to work the same way every day, made coffee at the store at the same time, read the paper at the same time, put the money in the drawer at the same time.  He didn’t make that oppressive for others; that was just how he and my Mom did it.  You see, he was a farm boy who had come to town, and that’s what farm boys did.  They took care of business—when it needed to be done.

He never got over the fact he was a farm boy come to town.  It defined him, and it humbled him.  Though he was a successful salesman, he was not what he would call a “windjammer,” someone who talked too much.  Nor did he talk about himself much.  I was his favorite quite simply, though I loathe the idea of favoritism in families.  Among his many characteristics, he could not praise others.  I suspect his father didn’t praise him.  Though he could not give me a direct compliment, I would hear about them through others.

One day I woke up and realized I had a privilege many kids didn’t have:  I worked with my Dad, i.e., I saw him at work.  And, he was the same way at work as he was at home.  There are many other things I could say about my Dad, but for now, this will have to do, for this belated Father’s Day honoring.

For book reviews/notices please send 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 15-1001 Lufkin TX 75915-1001 or by phone to (936) 240-8378