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Posted 12.22.09 at 12:30 PMRecent Gifts
The Ties That Bind: A Georgetown, Texas Memoir by Louise Walsh of Montgomery, Texas. She acknowledges our assistance in researching Morris Fleming in the lat 1940s. The book is essentially about Morris’ “arduous love affair” with Early Price of Georgetown. According to Louise, the Flemings lived in Paris from 1910-1969 when Morris died. He was Vice President and Trust Officer of First National Bank, and she was active in DAR and First Methodist Church. They sent all three of their daughters to Paris Junior College before they went on to universities in Texas. One of them, Louise Snow, was an English teacher at Paris High School.
Another wonderful gift received after homecoming 2009, through Derald Bulls, is the 1957-58 Paris Junior College scrapbook of Betty June Shew, now Mrs. Troy Owens, of Lamar County. This album is filled with the type of PJC memorabilia which students typically toss away in time or is destroyed over the years, but which is extremely valuable to college historians.
Of interest to me, in particular, is the student directory listing every student by name, address, and phone number. She kept a student “petition,” signed by 82
Students (I counted) although Ralph Webb had slipped his signature into it: “We, the undersigned, do hereby request that JEROME DE ORE shave off the unsightly hair that covers the larger part of an otherwise attractive face,” dated Feb. 7, 1958.
Also, pictures and stories about “Western Day,” Feb. 27, 1958, and a story in the Bat highlighting Fulton Stevens and Betty Shew for their election as “Dude Darlins’” According to the Bat, festivities were held in the auditorium with the “XERF radio station in Del Rio, Texas.” The station “took the audience by remote control to the PJC campus, the only college in the south with used henhouses for dormitories.” How far the entertainment preferences of our students have come in this day of texting and vampires!
State Aid
Posted 12.15.09 at 11:56 AMTitle: State Aid
How times have changed. In 1941-42, Paris Junior College received a total of $22,358.30, or $49.21 per student from “state aid,” as a result of the bill introduced by Sen. A. M. Aikin, Jr., who was an ex-student of PJC. In the 47th Legislature, this would give $50 per capita for full-time students as of Nov. 1, 1941, enrolled in junior colleges. It was anticipated that during 1942-43, enrollments would be declining.
This was the second year that PJC would receive aid under the bill passed by the 47th Legislature and signed by Gov. W. Lee O’Daniel.
Legion of Honor
Posted 08.10.09 at 11:08 AMThere have been many “perks” in my job as the PJC archivist over the years, mainly involving people I have met, many of them veterans, but last week I had the great privilege of interviewing Terrell Boyd concerning the June 2009 trip that he, his wife, Dorothy, and their sons and daughters-in-law, Gary Boyd, Craig and Maudie Boyd, and Alan and Sherrie Boyd, made to Colllville-sur-mer at the special invitation of the French government for Terrell to accept the Legion of Honor for his service to France during World War II. In short, Terrell landed at Normandy on Utah Beach and survived to return home, wed Dorothy in 1950, and raise three fine sons. Terrell has also been blessed with the means to return to Normandy several times in his 87 years, drawn back always to the cemetery where many of his friends lie buried, a scene familiar to many of us from “Saving Private Ryan.,” which Terrell says he has yet to watch after hearing his sons describe it. (It took me several attempts to watch it through to the end.)
One of the many celebrities that he met at the ceremony in France was Tom Hanks, and he has many pictures to prove that he sat and conversed with Tom Hanks several times. There they are, and Mr. Hanks appears to be hanging on Terrell’s every word.
Many of Terrell’s vivid memories of “how it was” bring tears to my eyes, but he has his emotions firmly under control. In doing my “homework” before this interview, I learned that one of the invited survivors actually died the night before he was to receive his medal. Critically ill, he had made the trip, nonetheless, and “did his duty,” as he saw it. To hear Terrell tell about it all, you’ll have to come to the archives and see the tape, which is having its edit right now. I can tell you, though, that Billy Brown, who did the taping, hung on his every word, as did I, and a couple of hours had passed before we even knew it.
It was extremely moving to me when Terrell brought out the Legion of Honor, which is a fairly small medal (what had I expected?), but oh, my, what it symbolizes! I’ve heard from visitors to Normandy, besides the Boyds, tell about how the villagers and citizens of the small towns come out and welcome them. They may have forgotten in the cities, but the “country people” haven’t forgotten the Nazis.
I think about our own young folks, too. I’ve read that they don’t “connect” as well to the World War Two era as us old folks do. I wonder if they believe that Terrell Boyd saw parachutists hanging shot dead tangled in tree limbs on his torturous journey inland. I really wonder sometimes, but I pray that they do believe it all happened the way that he and other veterans say that it did. Could it happen again? It happened once worldwide.
Of course, Terrell taught for 27 years in what became the Texas Institute of Jewelry Technology, training many disabled veterans in his demanding craft. He was cited for this work by the President’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped in 1961 and inducted into the PJC Hall of Honor in 1996, but for me, his greatest achievement in life was to climb that beachhead at Normandy. I don’t have many heroes in this life, but Terrell Boyd stands at the top of my list.
Red River Valley VEterans Memorial
Posted 07.31.09 at 11:03 AMThe future Red River Valley Veterans Memorial at Love Civic Center in Paris, Texas, is for veterans who lost their lives in wartime and who were from the Red River Valley area, including the Texas counties of Lamar, Delta, Red River, and Fannin and the Oklahoma counties of McCurtain and Choctaw. The memorial area will also honor veterans who were fortunate enough to come back home and those who are currently serving the United States in our Armed Forces.
Donors of $1,000 or more will be listed on the granite wall at the entrance to the memorial, and 1’ x 2’ granite pavers will be sold for $300 each and will be engraved with the name of the veteran, the branch of service, and the conflict in which he or she served or the year, if served during peace time. Eligible veterans include those who have served honorably, or those currently serving,, in the U.S. Armed Forces or its Allies from the Texas Revolutionary War to the present time.
The organizers of this worthy project say the memorial is to remind future generations that the freedom we enjoy was not free. It was purchased, in wartime, by great sacrifice and agony on the part of lost or injured veterans and their grieving families back home, and in peace time by veterans who put their lives and careers “on hold to serve their country.
For further information, or to see a colorful brochure of the future memorial, see Doug Weiberg (903-784-4563) who conceived of this wonderful idea. Others speaking for the memorial include Chet Hilyer (903-785-3622), Shannon Barrentine (903-784-6964), Don Wall (903-784-3161), and Don McCaskill (903-
982-6171).
Friends of the Sam Bell Maxey Historic Site
Posted 07.30.09 at 1:54 PMAn interesting and beneficial organization in Paris, Texas, is the Friends of the Sam Bell Maxey Historic Site, now the property of the Texas Historical Commission, and I am currently serving the first of a two-year term as president of the Friends. The House is currently undergoing an extensive restoration process, having deteriorated to a degree during the lengthy hiatus between ownership by Texas Parks & Wildlife and the new owners, hereinafter known as the THC. The Friends have soldiered on during this difficult transition period, but are happy to see the lawns manicured once again under the able work of George Harder and see the architects at work accessing the damage to the house which must be addressed and repaired before painting.
Our Friends board consists of the following: Daisy Harvill, President; Jeanette Bender, Phyllis Bryan, Secretary; Carl Covert; Judy Gibbons, Treasurer; Martha Stephens; Betty Ann Entzminger; Brady Fisher;
Judy Martin; Armand Frank; Caroleen Thornton; George Kimbrough; Laura Carrington, Vice President; Arvin Starrett; Devon Mason; and honorary members, Dr. and Mrs. William deG. Hayden.
Members of the Friends receive a free tour of the Maxey House during the year of active membership and a 10% discount of book store purchases. The book store is to be located in the offices which are now housed in the former book store that was once operated by the Friends, but is now operated by THC. An individual membership is $10; a family membership is $25; an organization or small business is $50; and a corporate membership is $100. Members also get an informative newsletter, “Generally Speaking,” published twice a year. The fall issue will feature an article on women of the Maxey family, written by Amanda Reed, who has done extensive research in Aikin Archives, as well as the Maxey House records.
Memberships may be mailed to Daisy Harvill at 2255 E. Cherry St. #12, Paris TX 75460, or Judy Gibbons, 595 Laurel Lane, Paris TX 75460. Money raised by the Friends is used exclusively to assist the governing entity of the Maxey House (now the THC) with expenses. Projects pending include a donation to the Red River Valley Veterans Memorial in honor of U. S. Senator Sam Bell Maxey, who served in the War with Mexico; a contribution toward the possible acquisition of adjacent land for a driveway and parking space; and a future film production of the house to be used in numerous ways to promote the site.
The public is invited to an event sponsored by the Friends in the Parlor at the House on August 20 at 6 p.m. Patsy Davis (Mrs. Norman Davis) will show a DVD tour through the Lamar County Historical Museum. Light refreshments will be served afterward, and Friends memberships will be available to all who are interested. All Friends and prospective Friends are invited to come and bring a friend.
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