Greenville High School

Saturday Kiddie Show at The Texan

2012-03-08T17:25:41-04:00

Saturday Kiddie Show at the Texan

I remember attending the Saturday Kiddie Shows at the Texan Theater in Greenville as early as the 5th grade (about 1950). It was the place to be and be seen on Saturday. My first contact with kids from the other schools in Greenville (other than at church) came in the cool, dark movie house that smelled of last night's popcorn and assorted spilled candies that had been crushed underfoot on the sticky floor. After paying the admission fee of nine cents we would pass through the doors to be met by a ticket taker whose work was usually being supervised by the movie house owner, Abe Moore. Mr. Moore usually gave us boys a stern look that seemed to say without words, "Shut up. Sit down, and keep your feet off the seats!"

The price of admission was many times obtained by our collecting and selling soft drink bottles for their return deposit fee of 2 cents each. Five bottles would get you a dime which got you in with a penny leftover for the gum ball machine. Finding seven bottles was the “Mother Lode” as that provided for a ticket and bag of popcorn.

As you entered the dimly lit theater about 9:30 AM, you had to let your eyes adjust to see where your "clan" was sitting that day. Travis, Houston, Lamar and Austin elementary kids would have the room segregated into four enclaves and you sure didn't want to cross any of the invisible lines that staked out the communal claims. Within those territories we divided into bands by gender with only a few of the "old" 6th or 7th graders being brave enough to pair off and hold hands with a member of the opposite sex.

The show would begin with a live, remote radio broadcast with Jimmy Jones of KGVL announcing fame who brought eager contestants from the audience to recite prearranged and rehearsed straight lines to set up his witty come backs and corny punch lines. Then he would have the contestants try and repeat tongue twisters like "She sells sea shells by the sea shore." Winners received a 6 pack of Dr. Pepper and the right to defend them from the rest of the audience for the duration of the movie marathon which was about to begin.

The first film entertainment of the day was 3 or 4 cartoons which were met by loud cheers or jeers from the audience depending on the cartoon's popularity. Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck seemed to get the most cheers with Tom and Jerry running a close second. Popeye the Sailor and Woody Woodpecker were fairly popular, but jeers normally peaked when Little Lulu or one of the "sing along with the bouncing ball" cartoons came on the screen. There was a fringe element in the crowd that craved Mighty Mouse, but they rarely got to enjoy his exploits.

After the cartoons, the next episode of the weekly action serial, which had left the hero or heroine in some life or death situation the previous Saturday. began. There were Flash Gordon, Rocket Man, Green Hornet, and Capt. Midnight serials that all had two things in common: they were low budget and badly written. Rocket Man was the one that received my row's award for the worst special effects every time he took off and lamely flew with his cape and the smoke from his rocket backpack reacting as though he was in a mild summer breeze instead of screaming over the California highways at supersonic speed. Most of the villains were Nazis or Japanese spies left over from WWII and they all drove '38 Buick's. The last scene each week seemed to involve trains roaring toward washed out or blasted trestles, or pilot less airplanes screaming out of control toward the ground with the hero tied up in a locked compartment within said train or plane. You just had to come back next week to find out what happened.

Next, the Kiddie Show movie began and it could be a western or a comedy like Abbott and Costello, or Ma & Pa Kettle. Again, the beginning of the main feature would be met by cheers or boos punctuated by the throwing of empty popcorn sacks or drink cups at the screen. During the winter season the silhouette of some poor guy's toboggan cap could be seen against the screen as one of his "friends" sailed it toward the front of the theater.

The "Kiddie Show" feature behind us, we now waited for the regular movie feature to begin about 1 PM. Things got quieter now as we knew adults who might report our behavior to our parents had infiltrated our sanctuary. The regular “first run” movie was preceded by another cartoon and the latest edition of the Fox Movietone News which was narrated by Lowell Thomas. In those days the news usually included footage from the war front in Korea showing soldiers and Marines marching wearily through bombed out cities in South Korea or B-29’s dropping showers of bombs on Pyongyang in North Korea. All news on the Movietone News was at least 2 weeks old by the time we saw it, but it did visualize what we had already read in the Greenville and Dallas papers. There was usually a Movietone feature on some of new and/or unusual invention like an airplane that could be flown to work and then folded into a large suitcase, or a car that could be driven to the lake and then into the lake becoming a boat. We usually emerged into the bright sunlight after the regular feature about 2:30 PM, with blinking, red eyes and a head ache from missing our lunch, but we knew it was worth it to have all that stuff to talk about on Monday at school.

(This article originally appeared in the GHS Class of 1958 Reunion Memory Book in Oct. 2008.)

Remembering Store Brands We Knew

2012-01-26T21:45:33-04:00

RE: Reserved for the posting of classmates' 50th Wedding Anniversary Photos

2011-10-18T10:57:55-04:00

Anniversary Corner

2011-10-18T10:48:43-04:00

This forum invites all classmates to post photos related to their 50th Anniversary celebration.

Post as many pictures as you like. The celebration itself, associatged vacation trips, formal portraits . . . all are welcome. A brief caption would be appreciated, as well.

If you havent yet reached your 50th, but would like to post pictures of some other significant milestone, please do so.

Email your photos to me, Mickey, at mwcawthon@verizon.net , and I'll see that they get posted.

Thanks much

Things To Do On A Slow Summer Day

2011-10-04T08:40:39-04:00

Entertaining Things to Do in 1950 Greenville

(If you are 10 years old.)

By Denny Darby

1. Save your allowance or chore money and then buy a horny toad from Rosenberg or Greenville Feed Stores. Build “desert homes” for them with some sand and dirt in a cardboard box. Watch them eat ants and try to get them to have battles with your friend’s horny toads (which never happened).

2. Build a bow and arrow using branches from a neighbor’s privet hedge, and then peddle down to the Sabine River, Johnson Creek, or Horse Creek to hunt frogs.

3. Round up at least two other boys or girls, a bat, and a baseball to play Blue Jay or Flies and Skinners on any available vacant lot or school yard.

4. Attend a double feature western movie at the Rialto, and then peddle out to the slaughter house and watch the large muscular man with a sledge hammer kill cows with one blow to the head.

5. Right after a big rain in late spring or summer, buy a nickel’s worth of dry salt bacon from your neighborhood butcher and ask him for about six feet of free wrapping twine. Tie the string around a small piece of the bacon and place it in any of the crawdad holes that appeared along drainage ditches and ponds around town after a soaking rain. Take your “catch” home to your Mother and beg her to put crawdad tails on that night’s dinner menu.

6. Obtain small, empty, cardboard boxes from Rorex, A&P or Safeway Grocery and with a friend climb the outside rain gutters to the second or third story of the Masonic Hall to remove pigeon squabs of a certain age from nests located on the window ledges. We would then raise the young pigeons in backyard cages. We taught them tricks and had them perform in a “circus”.

7. Peddle to the Carnegie Library early on a summer morning and look for a “Dave Dawson” adventure series book that you had not already read. Most of the time the search was fruitless, but you never knew what you might find.

8. Attend Greenville Majors baseball games as a member of the “Knot Hole Gang”. Our seats were located down the first base line in stands segregated from the rest of the fans. Most of our game time was taken up with chases for foul balls and trips to the concession stand for drinks and popcorn. The Majors’ management hired a man by the name of Hilly Brown to collect all foul balls, so just catching or running down a foul ball did not ensure you got to keep it. Hilly Brown was both feared and loathed by the Knot Hole Gang.

9. Take all the bread out of your Mom’s Mrs. Baird or Wonder Bread sack, go up to Jr. High School, put it under your butt, and slide down the hot fire escape slide so fast you scared the bejabbers out of yourself.

10. Spend long hours shooting cicadas from tree trunks and lubber grasshoppers from tall Johnson grass stems with your Red Ryder BB gun.

11. Search for sleeping bats hanging from beneath shady branches of trees. Dare your buddy to catch one with his bare hands. Be blissfully ignorant of the fact that you could get rabies that way.

12. Walk right into Greenville Poultry plant on east Washington St. as if you owned the place, go back to the pens where the live chickens, ducks, and turkeys were kept, and pick up feathers to make an Indian headdress. On the way out, stop and watch the man in the black rubber apron de-feather the slain birds on the big rotating drum with the rubber spikes.

13. Go down to A&P and get a free wooden fruit or vegetable box, take it home and make wooden toys with your Sears Craftsman electric jigsaw. Find your dad’s leftover paint cans and make them pretty.

14. On late Saturday evenings, just before the city street sweepers cleaned up, go down to Market Square, find a discarded watermelon rind, and turn it meat-side down. Then ride over it real fast with the front wheel of your Schwinn bike and slam on the brakes so you skidded into a 180 and fell off and tore a hole in your jeans.

15. Find five discarded pop bottles and redeem them for two cents each. Take your dime down to Market Square and look for the horse-drawn snow cone wagon parked across from Ray’s Hot Link Stand. Deliberate forever before ordering half-red/half-orange.

16. Buy a farmer’s straw hat from Roy Jaco Drygoods. Spend every penny you could get your hands on in the gumball machine to get little plastic toy figure prizes. Tie the figures through the ventilation holes in the crown of the hat so they would swing and rattle when you wore it. Make fun of the dorks who wore sailor caps purchased from the Army Navy Supply Store.

17. On Sunday afternoons, go down to Sabine Valley Ice Cream in ‘The Flats’ and buy a triple decker black walnut ice cream cone.

18. Peddle your bike up north of #5 Reservoir and look for Indian arrowheads right after the farmers have plowed for spring planting over the sites of the Caddo Indian burial mounds.

19. Go barefooted all summer. By the end of June the soles of your feet became so tough that you could walk on hot asphalt streets (if you walked fast), and putting on shoes for church on Sunday became painful. The primary hazard of going barefoot was walking under the grandstands at Majors’ baseball games and stepping on discarded cigarettes.

20. Go visit your aunt who lived in the country and help your mom pick out chicken mash sacks from which she would make back-to-school shirts for you to wear. Try to avoid the ones with flowers. Beg Mom to not make the collar so big. Envy the guys whose rich parents got them store-bought $5 McGregor shirts from Young's Mens Store across from the Texan Theater.

21. Go down to Bell's Tire Shop on east Washington and get remnants of genuine rubber inner tubes in order to make sling shots (that's not what we called them). Load them up with chinaberrys and have a running fight through the neighborhood.

22. Sneak into Wacasey's wrecking yard and play in the junk cars. Fords were Japanese Zeros and Chevrolets were P-40 Flying Tigers. The Lincoln with the 12-cylinder in-line engine was the only B-17 in the lot.

23. Go to Winton's Shoe Repair Store and trade comic books two-for one. Then ask to go into the back room where bulk magazines were stored in cardboard boxes. Look for years old copies of Air Progress and Yank magazines. Then go next door to the Army Navy Surplus Store and buy a genuine canteen and mess kit to take on your next Boy Scout overnight camping trip.

24. On the first day of school belatedly find out what would be the fashion trend of the new year, only to realize that you hadn't gotten the word. (Remember blue suede shoes, poodle skirts, black & pink anything, black chinos with the buckle-strap in the back, & Converse's Chuck Taylors?)

25. Go to Palmer's Drug Store and purchase a dime's worth of cinnamon oil. Take it home and fill the bottle with toothpicks. Let them set overnight, then chew one during class until teacher made you spit it out.

Sandra Daniels Jaco

2011-10-03T15:53:48-04:00

Mrs Sandra Daniel Jaco passed away Sunday, Sept. 18th, 2011, at the age of 71.

Mrs. Jaco was born in 1940 in Corpus Christi. During the subsequent war years, the family lived in Toledo, Ohio (for her father’s assignment by the War Department), and after the war, the family returned to Texas and lived in Midland.

In 1951 the family moved to Greenville where her father joined his family’s business, Daniel Oil Company.

After graduating from Greenville High School in 1958, Mrs. Jaco attended the University of Texas for two years and graduated from East Texas State University in 1975.

In 1984, Mrs. Jaco was married to Charles Jaco in Greenville, and the couple spent many wonderful years together with a relationship full of love and laughter with family and friends and with the spiritual fulfillment of the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Throughout her years in the Greenville area, Mrs. Jaco was involved on many fronts. In business, Mrs. Jaco worked for 25 years with Daniel Oil Company, and after retirement, for two years with the Greenville Board of Development and for seven years with the City of Farmersville.

In the community, Mrs. Jaco was involved with a variety of civic endeavors including the Greenville Revitalization Organization (now Main Street), Follies, the library replacement effort, and the Greenville Entertainment & Symphony Series.

Surviving Mrs. Jaco are her husband, Charles Jaco (Greenville); her son, Rick Billingsley (Arlington) and wife Laura and their children, Megan and Chance; her son, David Billingsley (Corpus Christi) and wife Loli and their children, Davy and Sandra Maria; her daughter, Candice Brown (McKinney) and husband Pat and their children, Patrick, Jonathan, Jessica, Brittany and Christopher; her daughter, Alison Barry (Greenville, S.C.) and husband Randy and their children, Chris and Jenna and Jenna’s daughter, Gracie; and her daughter, Joey Blakely (Frisco) and her children, Martina, Brannen and Claira. Mrs. Jaco is also survived by her mother, Mrs. L.H. “Bill” Daniel (Greenville) and her brother, Hayden Daniel (Chicago) and wife Barbara.

On Oct. 23 a memorial will be at 2 p.m. in the clubhouse at the Club Lake with services by Mrs. Jaco’s special friends from her spiritual support group in McKinney.

Send memorials to a charity of choice or to the Greenville Public Library.

Harry Truman Visits Greenville 9/27/1948

2011-08-01T17:05:52-04:00

MEMORY: HARRY TRUMAN VISITS GREEENVILLE SEPTEMBER 27,1948

Returning home from 3rd grade classes one afternoon in 1948, I was surprised to see my Grandpa White sitting at the kitchen table. Since he lived in Marshall, TX, I asked why he was there on a Monday and not the usual Saturday or Sunday. He told me a great man was coming to Greenville on a train to make a speech. Grandpa said it was President Harry Truman who was campaigning against Thomas Dewey for election to his first full term as President. Truman had been Franklin D. Roosevelt's Vice-President, and had become the President when FDR died in 1945. Grandpa said I should go with him to hear the speech, as this was "history in the making".

I was very relieved to hear this explanation for his visit as I had expected bad news when I saw Grandpa there when I walked in. The only time I recalled seeing him on a week day was about six months prior when he and Grandma had showed up to care for me when my baby sister was born. I didn't want any more surprises like that.

Mom prepared an early supper for us and we set out on foot for the Katy depot about 5 o'clock. We walked since Grandpa said that finding a parking spot would be difficult. He was right as there was a huge crowd gathering on both sides of the tracks north of Lee Street. While we stood and waited Grandpa told me that men like FDR, Harry Truman, and Will Rogers had helped the country out of some terrible times back in the 30's, and that we should never let the rich guys get control in Washington again. Grandpa never called himself a "yellow dog Democrat", but I know some relatives that did so.

About 6:15 the train pulled slowly into the station from the south and stopped with the back of the last car located about half-way between Lee and Henry Street. The crowd surged in to get the good spots right behind the platform of the last car. Grandpa and I ended up standing about 100 feet from the platform and off to the left toward the location of the Pickens' Dodge & Plymouth dealership. President Truman then stepped out on the platform to loud applause and shouts to began his speech ( copied and attached below).

I became a Harry Truman admirer that day and I still am.

[Reference a Google search: this was President Truman's 10th speech that day. He had left San Antonio early and made his first stop in San Marcos at 6:40 am. After Greenville, his next stop and speech was in Bells, TX (in Grayson County).]

Denny Darby

Subject: Harry Truman Visits Greenville on Monday, 09/27/1948

Speech made from platform on train parked,at MKT station on west Lee St.

Stop 10.] GREENVILLE, TEXAS (6:20 p.m.)

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Speaker:

I say that advisedly for Sam Rayburn's going to be the next Speaker of the House.

You know, this is the first town in Texas I ever saw--when I was 9 years old. I had an uncle who lived down here at Lone Oak, and my father and mother and my sister and brother and myself came down to pay him a visit; and the train made the first stop in daylight at Greenville, Tex., and that's the first town in Texas I ever saw. And I'm so glad I got a chance to stop here tonight. And Sam Rayburn tells me that this really is the heart of Texas--because this city happens to be in Sam Rayburn's district.

My uncle told me, when we arrived here, that if I'd stick to Texas when it was dry, Texas would stick to me when it was wet. He also told me that if I went out after a rain I would pick up my tracks and take them with me. I found that to be absolutely true.

You here are vitally interested in the issues in this campaign. You're in one of the richest farming communities in the whole United States. Your whole economy depends on the prosperity of the farmer.

In 1932, if I remember correctly, cotton was selling for about a nickel a pound. You know what it's selling for now.

At that time large numbers of people were walking the streets trying to find jobs, and they couldn't find them.

A policy was started when we elected, in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt to be President of the United States. And he inaugurated a farm policy which has put the farmer on his feet.

The farmer now is more prosperous than he's ever been in the history of the country. And I fear very much that in 1946 the farmer performed just like a lot of other people when they get fat and lazy. He failed to vote in 1946--and look what happened to him. He got that "do-nothing" Republican 80th Congress. And they began immediately to cut the ground from under him. And I want to say to you: If they had had complete control of the Government and you hadn't had somebody in the White House who was looking after your interests, no telling what would have happened to you.

Now, you've got a chance to overcome that situation. If you'll use your own judgment as it should be used and work in your own interests, as you usually do--you won't have any trouble at all deciding how you ought to vote on election day.

Just so you won't forget it, I'm going to remind you to go to the polls on election day and vote for yourselves. That means-of course, Sam Rayburn's as good as elected--but that means that you're going to vote the Democratic ticket straight on election day, from President to constable. And that means you're going to vote for yourselves and your own interests, and that means also that you'll make it very much easier on your President, because he won't be troubled with the housing shortage--I'll still be in the White House.

RE: Miss Leatherwood

2011-05-04T15:44:08-04:00

I loved Ms Leatherwood. That's the class where I fell in love....for a few minutes!

Linda Sheely (Allen)

2011-02-25T11:28:54-04:00

GREENVILLE — Linda R. Allen, 70, of Caddo Mills passed away Feb. 21, 2011, at Greenville Health and Rehabilitation. A memorial service is at 10 a.m. today in the Coker-Mathews Funeral Home chapel with Dr. John T. Tate officiating.

Born July 27, 1940, in Crossett, Ark., Linda was the daughter of B.J. and Christian Adelle (Geddie) Reed. She was a nurse and was a member of Central Christian Church.

Survivors include son David Michael Allen and his father, W.D. Allen; a brother, Mike Reed; and granddaughter Christi Allen.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 560089, Dallas, 75356.

Online condolences may be made at www.cokermathews.com

Curtis Marlar

2011-01-20T12:49:10-04:00

GREENVILLE — Curtis Wayne Marlar, 70, of Greenville passed away Jan. 17, 2011, at Hunt Regional Medical Center. Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday in the Coker-Mathews Funeral Home chapel with Rev. Royce Litchfield officiating. Interment will follow at Tidwell Cemetery. Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Born Jan. 31, 1940, in Greenville, he was the son of William Bryan and Violet Irene Davie Marlar. On June 10, 1988, he married Sue Baker in Rockwall. He was employed at Napa Auto Parts.

His survivors include his wife of Greenville; a daughter, Kimberly Kay Stephens and husband Keith of Rowlett; stepdaughters Donna Hughes and Kim McKenzie of Greenville; stepson Russell Perkins of Cash; brothers W.D. Marlar of Garland and Douglas Marlar of Greenville; a sister, Gladys Arnwine of Greenville; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Wayland and Forrest Marlar and sister Cecil Langley.

Pallbearers will be Ralph Dunton, Jeff Arnwine, Bill Duran, Darin Marlar, Larry Marlar and Jimmy Rushing

Varied Part-time Jobs-Wrestling/Mrs. Bairds/Ice/Rat Cheese

2010-09-20T15:03:01-04:00

Part time Jobs in Greenville - Denny Darby

I think that working at a part time job when I was growing up in the 50’s was easier in a small town, because your family knew just about every employer; either through church, social clubs, lodges or shared school days. Here are some jobs that I had that I can recall:

1. Selling popcorn and peanuts in the stands during the Saturday night wrestling matches at Majors Field.

(The wrestlers were guys we had seen on the Monday night televised shows from the Sportatorium in Dallas. Duke Keomuka was always the villain with his “sleeper hold.”, “superkick” and "salt rubbed in the eyes" move. I was told to take some popcorn and hot dogs out to the dressing room after the matches one night and was surprised to see Duke and the guy he had just put “to sleep” in the ring enjoying a couple of bottles of Schlitz Beer together.)

2. Sweeping out the Mrs. Baird’s Bread warehouse on Tuesday nights, and riding (as a helper) on one of the bread trucks on Saturdays making deliveries to grocery stores, hospitals and service stations.

(The Saturday runs began at 2:30 AM during “cotton picking” season, and ended about 18 hours later that night. We helpers got a free lunch at some café and all the “day old” cupcakes we could eat, plus $5 for the day’s work. While making a delivery at the State Hospital in Terrell one dark morning at about 5 AM, the driver sent me to get a box of bread from the truck. I reached up on the top shelf to get a box, and in the dark I felt someone’s shoe. One of the inmates was trying to escape and I was holding his foot. I fell out of the truck and ran inside to tell the guard who quickly ushered the escapee back to his room. )

3. Sacking, stocking and delivering groceries for Rorex Grocery at Johnson & Jordan St.

(We sackers would beg to deliver the daily groceries to the Hunt County jail on the top floor of the courthouse. We wanted to see who was locked up. Deliveries of telephone orders were also made on a bicycle to customers’ homes. Many people, who were not at home, left their doors unlocked and we would take the groceries to the kitchen table and put any perishables in the refrigerator. It was amazing to me how many people in “dry” Greenville had beer in the refrigerator. Most families charged their daily purchases and the man of the house would come by on Saturday when he got his pay check to “settle accounts” at the office in the rear of the store. My Saturday hours were 8 AM to 9 PM and I got $5 for the day. ½ of this went for shotgun shells and ½ went to my savings account. Life was simple at age 13. )

4. Pumping gas and selling groceries for my Uncle at his business on Stonewall St.

(In the summer the busy time was early (about 6 AM to 7 AM) when folks working in the cotton fields came by to buy ice to go in their drinking water buckets and containers. The 100# blocks of ice came with indentions on them that indicated where you had to cut with a saw or ice pick to get the smaller 12 ½, 25 and 50 pound blocks of ice. After the customers got ice they usually ordered sliced cold cuts and cheese to carry with them for their lunch. Gasoline was about 19.9 cents a gallon then (circa 1954); premium oil like Amalie was 35 cents a qt. and re-conditioned oil like Texas Star was 15 cents a qt. Some customers still cooked with kerosene stoves and had kerosene lamps to light their houses. Kerosene retailed for 5 cents a gallon which we pumped into a container or jar brought by the buyer. )

5. Sacking, stocking and checking-out groceries at Tom Thumb on Stonewall St.

(I worked after school and Saturdays. Wednesday was my favorite day as the truck from Dallas would come with that week’s supply of new merchandise in boxes which had to be opened , stamped with prices, and stacked on the shelves. While this was going on the butcher would be making “block” chili in the meat market which smelled so good cooking it would drive you crazy. When we finished the "stocking" about 7 PM, we then sat down to a feast of chili, rat cheese and crackers on the butcher’s block in the meat market. You are correct-it was not heart healthy, but delicious.

Western Union

2010-09-20T12:25:07-04:00

My first job that actally earned any money was with Western Union. Since they were an interstate company and subject to Child Labor Laws, they could not employ anyone under the age of sixteen.

Upon reaching that glorious age, I became the Saturday morning, part time messenger boy. The regular messenger was a grown man named John Walker (more stories about him, later) who had worked for Western Union for years.

I worked five hours for the uheard of sum of $1.00 per hour. They took about 30 cents out for my taxes and social security (bout what I get now). That left me about $4.75 to last until the next Saturday. Actually, that was not too hard - you could get a 'coke' for as little as a nickel at Dairy Land and a ten cent drink was all you would ever need.

Since the Greenville office was a small office, they were not authorized to deliver telegrams in automobiles. So, I rode my bicycle everywhere while on the job. Occasionally, when a telegram came in for someone way out on Wesley street, the manager would lend me his car to make the delivery. We had to punch a time clock when we left the office and when we returned to account for the delivery time.

The most particular customers of Western Union were the cotton buyers. Two companies were located right across the street from the WU office and their messages had to be delivered almost immediately. They were international telegrams and they were in code (as the rate for the telegram was by the word). I always imagined that some kind of conspiracy was being passed in these coded messages.

Perhaps the most humorous thing that happened frequently was delivering money orders on the north side of Greenville in the black community. I would have a money order for someone, go to the address and ask for the person (they had to sign for money). Inevitably, they were 'not there'. I would then say "I have a money order for XXX" and the person would inevitably reply "let me go look 'round back" at which time someone would show up to claim the telegram. Many times it was the same person I had been talking to all along.

The job was a real learning experience in dealing with the public. It lasted until I went off to college, fall of 1958.

Winton's Shoe Repair or The Last Walk of Cowboy Bob

2010-09-20T11:44:26-04:00

Winton’s Shoe Shop and Comic Book Exchange was located on the north side of East Lee Street between Leon’s Barber Shop and the Army Navy Surplus Store, and just one door down from Jack Howard’s Pawn Shop. In the early fifties, I served as Mr. Winton’s No. 1 boy in charge of all unskilled labor.

On Saturday mornings, I strapped on my full-length apron and opened the shop by spreading oil-impregnated sawdust on the concrete floor and sweeping the shop clean of yesterday’s debris. Then, I sorted the comic book stacks, relegating the more tattered and torn volumes to the stand-by space under the counter and, in cold weather, stoked the coal-burning stove that stood in the exact center of the establishment. Now, I was ready for the real business of the shop – shoe repairs!

While Mr. Winton did all the skilled labor involved with the installation of soles, heels, and other repairs, I was in charge of the final finishing work which was done on the grinding/polishing-wheel line. Consisting of a series of various sized and textured belt-driven finishing wheels, the line was where we did the rough and smooth finishing before the dyeing and polishing process.

However, the cash-cow of the business was ‘clicks.’ Clicks were the steel heel and toe taps that purportedly saved shoe leather but were actually a fashion statement of a certain element of Mr. Winton’s clientele. On Saturday’s around Market Square, the sound of hundreds of click-wearing feet made one think of a massive cricket invasion.

In my down time, I was allowed to sit and read from the stock of hundreds of comic books that were traded on a two-for-one basis or sold for five cents to cash customers. However, my particular favorite reading material was the Air Power magazines left over from the war years. Life at Winton’s was good … until the day that Cowboy Bob came in for some new walking heels.

Bob was a cowboy’s cowboy. If he had taken a Hollywood screen test, Randolph Scott would be an unknown today, and we would all be singing ‘Whatever Happened to Cowboy Bob?’ Six-foot-six, broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, and ruggedly handsome, Bob was always totally attired in Western gear, right down to his hand-tooled Tony Llama cowhide boots.

Boot heels were not pre-fabricated. They were laboriously built up layer-by-layer by the hands of a leatherworking expert. When he had finished, Mr. Winton turned Bob’s hand-made boots over to me, his No. 1 boy, to do the routine finishing and polishing work.

In those days, my image of a cowboy boot heel was not unlike that of a woman’s high-heel shoe – broad at the top, tapering down to a pointy bottom about the size of a half-dollar. Being that these were Bob’s boots, I worked zealously to do my very best work, and then lovingly placed them on the pick-up shelf and retired for some much deserved comic-book reading time.

The first indication that not all was well was the anguished howl from Bob who had arrived to pick up his beloved boots. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more distraught pair of men – Bob in near-tears, and Mr. Winton trying to explain what had happened.

Long story short, Mr. Winton started from scratch and rebuilt Bob’s heels, and I became permanent persona non grata among all real Market Square cowboys.

Charles Young

2010-08-11T13:11:31-04:00

GREENVILLE — Charles Prather Young, 69, of Greenville passed away peacefully at his home on July 14, 2010, following a courageous battle with cancer.

Memorial services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Coker-Mathews Funeral Home chapel with Rev. Kelly Carr officiating.

Charlie was born in Greenville on Aug. 25, 1940. He was the son of Jack Young and Frances Prather Young Laurie. He graduated from Greenville High School in May 1958. Later he attended college to obtain his Culinary Certification.

During his many years as a chef, he owned a deli in New York, was a chef in a 5-star hotel in New Orleans, La., served as food services director on the Mississippi Queen and Delta Queen cruise ships, worked for Global Marine on the Glomar Explorer as food services director and retired from Aramark Corporation as field supervisor, U. S. Offshore Division.

Charlie traveled across the globe to many exciting places, including Hong Kong, Argentina andChile in South America, Nigeria, Gabon, Angola and South Africa in the continent of Africa, Italy,France, Spain, England, Scotland, Holland and the Fiji Islands.

During his time on the Mississippi Queen, he traveled every navigable mile of the Mississippi andOhio rivers on a real working steamboat. Charlie often joked that all of his Mark Twain fantasies had been satisfied by his experiences aboard the Mississippi Queen!

His hobbies included cooking, building model airplanes, hunting and fishing, and collecting coins and bills from the different countries he visited. He had a good life and enjoyed his many adventures.

Charlie’s family would like to send their deepest appreciation to the Hunt Regional Medical Center, third floor nurses and staff for their excellent care and also to Vista Care Hospice.

His is survived by his daughter, Stacy Lynn Young; his mother, Frances Prather Laurie; sister and brother-in-law Susan and Dale Ripley; nephew Greg Ripley; and many cousins and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, Jack Young; grandparents, his MaMa and Daddy, A.M. and Pearl Prather.

Bill Coats

2010-05-25T09:27:50-04:00

WILLIAM MITTEN COATS, JR. 69, prominent attorney and civic activist, died on Sunday, May 23, 2010 at M.D. Anderson Hospital. He was born November 27, 1940 in Graham, Texas and moved with his family to Greenville where he grew up as the "big brother" of two younger siblings. Bill was part of the early years of Plan 2 at the University of Texas, where he was an honor student who completed his undergraduate and law degrees in just six years. In Houston, he became a founding partner in the Coats Rose Law Firm. He was a pioneer, and until just two weeks ago, a relentless leader in the field of construction law. But his real passion, besides his family and the law, was working to improve the city of Houston, a place he loved. His determination to help make the city the vibrant, beautiful and forward- thinking place he envisioned led him to be one of the founders of Citizens for Good Schools. He served as a long-time board member of Inprint Inc. and was instrumental in the formation of the Houston Community College Foundation. He was a tireless fighter against urban blight, and with Carroll Shaddock and the late Jim Rylander, he was the driving force behind Trees for Houston, which, since 1983, has planted countless trees along freeways, streets and avenues, bringing welcome shade and beauty to the city he loved. He helped found and worked for Friends of Hermann Park (now Herman Park Conservancy) as a lawyer, an advocate, and a board member--- with a determination to improve the park in the center of town, to make it beautiful and restful, a place of comfort and escape for all Houston's citizens and a symbol of community to those who might visit our city.This urge to help, to make things better, also made Bill a remarkable and beloved friend. He was a wonderful cook, and to the delight of the legions of his hungry friends, he fed them often. He and his wife Nancy were constantly opening their doors and gathering people at their table. Their Christmas parties were legendary, with Bill and Bettie Lair, their longtime housekeeper, cooking spicy gumbo, tender lamb chops and silky asparagus for the houseful of eager guests. His wonderful wit made traveling with him a particular treat. Each night he produced a handwritten "newspaper" which he then read to his fellow-travelers at breakfast the next morning. They were full of poems, puns, limericks and wry commentary, and were always laugh-out-loud funny.Just as he had been "big brother" to his siblings in Greenville, Bill became a kind of big brother to his friends. His sister recalls that it was Bill who taught her how to iron a shirt. In Houston he taught those who loved him many equally useful things. They learned by watching him how to be a doting father and stepfather, a constant, loving husband, a lover of learning, and a passionate citizen. Last week Bill told a friend that he was going to miss his life. But given all he's done and all he's given, it is surely safe to say that he won't miss his life half as much as everyone who loved him will miss him.Bill is survived by his wife, Nancy Manderson, children Ann and William Coats, stepchildren Emily and Edward Manderson, three beloved grandchildren, Jackson, Elsa and Lucy (who called him "Papa Bill,") his sister Frances Cerbins, and many nieces and nephews.A memorial service will be held at the Main Train Station in Hermann Park at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 26, 2010. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the Friends of Hermann Park.

In Memoriam: William M. Coats, Jr. -- 1940-2010

5/27/2010

The HCC Foundation extends its deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Mr. William (Bill) M. Coats, Jr. He passed away on Sunday, May 23.

Bill was a tireless advocate on behalf of Houston Community College and the mission of the HCC Foundation and lived out that belief through years of leadership. He was instrumental in the formation of the HCC Foundation, helping to draft the articles of incorporation as founding attorney. He served two terms as president of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. His tireless work, generosity, and kindness gave hundreds of people help when they needed it most and contributed to personal achievement in the face of seemingly impossible obstacles.

Under Bill’s leadership, the Opportunity 14 Scholarship was devised and came to fruition as a reality for Houston students — placing HCC and the Foundation in the community spotlight for its work to make Houston, and Houstonians, thrive.

“Bill was one of the nicest men I ever met, handling everything so smoothly in his quiet way. He was a great leader for HCC, and we will miss him very much,” says HCC Foundation Board President Ginger Renfroe Blanton.

In Houston, Bill became a founding partner in the Coats Rose Law Firm. His determination to help make the city the vibrant, beautiful, and forward-thinking place he envisioned led him to be one of the founders of Citizens for Good Schools. He was a long-time board member of Inprint Inc. He also was a tireless fighter against urban blight and a driving force behind Trees for Houston. In addition, he helped found and worked for Friends of Hermann Park (now Hermann Park Conservancy) as a lawyer, an advocate, and a board member.

To learn more about Bill’s remarkable legacy, readhttp://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=william-mitten-coats&pid=143102715

RE: Miss Leatherwood

2010-05-12T20:29:51-04:00

Mickey,

I remember there were numerous pigeons making deposits on the Confederate Soldier and the area around him. The wax paper could have been better used to protect your derriere from the change in the milieu created by the well fed birds.

My earliest memory of Greenvile JHS was the smell of the football equipment issued to us on the 7th grade football team. The uniforms, helmets, pads and shoes all appeared to be right out of the 40's, and smelled like that was the last time any of it had been laundered or cleaned. Everything was too large for us (obviously all the equipment was "hand me downs" from GHS), and we looked like the clown act from the circus with our way too large, turned up at the toes cleated shoes, and long out of date pointy, leather helmets. But since the dressing room and shower had the same stale, mildewy smell it all matched and seemed normal.

Denny

Inglish Cafe & Smalley's Cafe

2010-05-11T20:36:18-04:00

The Inglish Cafe was on the West end of Lee Street, about two or three businesses from Wright Street. It was a gathering place for us guys after we had taken our dates home and before we were ready to go home.

they had a jukebox with wallboxes in all the booths and you could play your music without having to leave the booth.

The main night time waitress was a lady known as "Pearl". We never knew her last name or if she even had one. She greeted everybody with a loud 'Hello' and 'Come on In'. I would regularly meet Denny Darby there, lots of times Paul Beane, and sometimes Mickey Cawthon. I'll have to tell you about the time that Mickey's dad came looking for him - but that is another story.

The food was good - you could have an open steak sandwich with fries and coffee for $1.05.

The place was the sort of place that the 'tough guys' hung out - guys like Marcel Burch and Maurice Lilly. When they were there, it didn't take long to clear your plate and make an exit.

It wasn't long that we transferred our night time business to Smalley's Cafe - our business usually consisted of 5 - 6 cups of coffee and maybe an occasional hamburger.

RE: The Iceman Cometh

2010-05-11T09:44:29-04:00

We had an ice man out on Walnut Street, also. His name was Mr. Stewart. I think he lived in the neighborhod - that was when you could keep livestock in your back yard.

He had the smartest horse - while Mr. Stewart was delivering the ice to one house, the horse would walk to the next stop and stay there until the ice was picked up and taken to the house and then would walk to the next place. Not every house used ice because some homes had already purchased electric refrigerators. The horse knew which houses to skip.

Mr. Stewart would nearly always chip off small pieces of ice for another neighborhood boy and myself. We thought that was the greatest thing ever.

RE: Miss Leatherwood

2010-05-11T09:38:29-04:00

His name was Darrel Mays and he was two years older than us. It would be hard to forget Sandra.

That probably was a drug store before it became the youth center. Just remember spending many a lunch hour over there. We would run to Palmer's Drug and get one of the sandwiches that had the bun warmed and split and then filled with some kind of barbecue concoction. Then rush back to the youth center. When the YMCA came to Greenville (late 50's) they took the building and the real fun stopped.

RE: Miss Leatherwood

2010-05-11T09:11:03-04:00

Rodney,

I was in Miss Gambril's 7th grade class over in the southwest corner of the basement, so I did not know Miss Leatherwood very well. She always seemed so calm and in control that I thought she must be a good teacher.

Can't place Squirelly Mays. Was he any kin of Spanky Mays? I do remember Sandra Harwell dancing at the youth center. I used to go there for the Saturday Night Dance each week and they were fun. Wasn't the Youth Center a drug store called The Lion's Den originally? I remember going there to get school supplies one year on the first day of school in elementary school when they gave you an ice cream soda if you bought your school supplies from them.

Denny