Center’s Garfield Richards was Gen. Pershing’s cook

Mattie’s Corner

• Center’s Garfield Richards was Gen. Pershing’s cook
• Center’s Garfield Richards was Gen. Pershing’s cook

Today is Monday April 29,2013. The birthdays for the week are: Apr. 29: Bonita Collard, Kandy Conner, John Paul Hughes and Willie Nelson, born 1933.

Apr. 30: Ava Nell Lane Christian (Mrs. Wayne), Danny Windham and Rusty Watlington. It was the birthday of Mae Ola McClelland Land.

May 1: Shirley Owens, Eugene Haley III, Donald Hale. It was the birthday of Maxine Stark and Kenneth Sholmire.

May 2: Bridget Snider. It was the birthdays of Nancy Curtis and Mollie Harrison.

May 3: Leroy Newman, Bob Wilkens, David Davis, William Morris. It was the birthday of Minnie Choran.

May 4: My niece Pat Payne Brittain, Joe Lewis Jones. It was the birthday of my mother-in-law Mrs. Mary Alma Boatwright Dellinger, and Chester Jackson.

May 5: Daisy Mae Jones.

May 6: Donny Hagler and Tina Bittick.

••••••• I want to buy a copy of a book on the murders of East Texas titled “Sheriff Spradley’s Murders Solved,” or something like that. He tells of the solving of the murder of the publisher of The Timpson Times, a Mr. Truitt. If you want to sell your copy, please write me at Box 744, Center, TX 75935.

••••••• Once upon a time I was told that when frying frog legs that they would jump when they hit the hot grease. I’ve never fried or eaten any, so I don’t know.

••••••• Mr. Pate who lived in Shelbyville and was a brother of Judge V.V. Pate often told us that his wife fried squash blossoms in the spring. She made a batter and fried them in hot oil.

Children made whistles out of the green stalk of the squash for their play house band.

••••••• The Center Rotary Club held its first “Fund for Funds” to raise money for scholarships at KDET studios and was sponsored by KDET and broadcast over Channel 2.

Carlos Fox, coordinator, for the event said he was pleased with the response that raised nearly $6,000. Fox said the larg- est pledge came from Dr. and Mrs. Steve Oates for $1,000, just minutes before the telethon ended.

••••••• Last week when I was writing about Bill, John and Lewis wanting to see the General George Patton whose unit was camped in the Roger’s back yard, I had intended telling about the only general I knew or heard about.

That was during WWI and General John Pershing’s name was on everybody’s minds. I was 6 or 7 and I can recall Gen. Pershing’s name.

To make it more interesting to us was that one of our Center soldiers, Garfield Richards was Gen. Pershing’s personal cook. Garfield rode in the auto with Gen. Pershing everywhere he went.

As long as Garfield lived here in Center, he was respected and liked by everyone. He learned to speak French like a native of France. Garfield worked some for Jack McLendon’s father in the Gulf Oil business. Jack said that Billy, his brother, had become interested in French after Garfield taught him some of the language.

Billy made a career of teaching French at Rice University and studied French in France.

Mildred Johnson, one of Garfield’s daughters, is an RN and was the school nurse at F.L. Moffett school for many years. A newspaper interview would reveal many interesting stories.

••••••• An easy way to find the remote control for our televisions should be invented and the sooner the better. I am forever losing mine and spend minutes searching for it.

Could we paint the remote with some fluorescent orange color?

If you have a suggestion on how not to lose the TV remote among the clutter surrounding you, please write and tell me.

••••••• I heard Mike Matthews advertising the Lufkin or Nacogdoches Rodeo. We knew him when he did some for the Shelby County rodeo. He always came by KDET and used my Party Line to tell about the rodeo. He has the right voice for it. I wish if any of you see him at the rodeo, ask if he knows what became of Rudy the clown, who was a regular performer here with his bucking yellow car. I rode with him in that jumping car in the parade.

••••••• Colleen Doggett, former reporter for the Light and Champion, told me that she is between paying jobs right now and very pleased with what she is doing, which is doing volunteer work as the chairman of the Publicity Committee for the Go Tell Crusade May 5-8 at the Roughrider stadium.

••••••• There is a job for everyone for the Crusade. Calling friends and neighbors and those you’ve never met can change a family’s life for the better. Patsy Parmer with all her health problems had a list to call. She called me at 9 o’clock one night. I appreciated her call and wondered how many others were up that night making calls for the Crusade.

••••••• Willie Nelson keeps calling me to see if I have gotten the Sirius radio installed yet so I can hear him on the Austin radio station.

I don’t know who to call. He called Monday to say that he was leaving for his home in Hawaii for a few days. He’s doing a benefit for the people of West who lost their homes and lives in the fertilizer explosion. I asked him if he would do a benefit for us for an animal shelter.

He said he would. Let’s think on this.

••••••• The answer to the question from last week of who was appointed County Attorney was Roswell Clark, Ann Harmon’s brother. He held the office from January until the end of August in 1951 because he was going into the Army in September. The Commissioners knew this but asked him to serve anyway for that short time.

••••••• I had another unexpected treat Tuesday when I went to pay Delores Haliburton, local beautician, for making a house call for a much-needed haircut. She said that she refused payment because of the joy she had received listening to the Party Line and reading my columns.

Delores is looking forward to giving a birthday party for a friend’s 4-year-old grandson.

The little boy is a big, big Willie Nelson fan and sings his songs all the time. If you are a shut in as I am, you might need her house-call service to cut your hair.

My next health treatment is to let Rose come cut my toenails.

••••••• I told Reba, my hired caretaker today, that the queens of foreign countries are not getting as much TLC attention and care as I am. Everybody, especially Dixie, Deborah, are making my last days ones of joy and expectation. I never know what they will bring in that door from flowers, candy, letters, boxes left on my door steps.

I’m in good hands with God, Jesus, Dixie, Deborah, my home health, my doctors, my close friends and not close friends, and Jerry Samford’s State Farm insurance.

••••••• Mattie