11.10-Small town life and trusting people.

11.10-

Life for a farm boy from North Texas

This set up a context for my life for the first 18 years of my life.

We listened to the radio from KFYN AM, 1490 in Bonham Texas.  They carried the local news at 5am and told us who all was in the hospital and who had died.  They reported on the local sports teams and played country and western music.  We also had KGVL in Greenville Texas which seemed a bit more focused on religion and politics, but also had country music in those days.  Texas radio, KRLD and WBAP were 50,000 watt broadcast giants in those days.  KRLD had a conservative radio program sponsored by H.L. Hunt company.  Through education, church and media we heard a message of how to live well and how to die well.

 In 1958 we got television for the first time.  Walter Cronkite was the national news voice I remember.  We had Dave Garroway and Barbara Walters on the Today Show early in the morning.  On channel five in Fort Worth we had Bobbie Wigant.  Weather men, Harold Taft, Dale Milford with sportscasters Vern Lunquist come to my mind.

Our family life, our school and sports life and weekend church meetings were the heart beat of my life for the first 18 years to the best of my memory.

In a small community like this everyone know everyone.  In the local town of Ladonia we had the Ritz Theater, Fry’s Dry Goods, Robert Moore Variety Store, Fry’s drug store, Thurman Young barber shop, Billy Hill grocery store (west end) Union Produce Grocery store (downtown)  and Ruth Turman grocery store, (east end).  Saturdays we had a drawing for a bunch of silver dollars that the merchants all contributed to in order to draw the country people into town.

We took weekly trips to the bigger cities and county seats, Bonham, Paris and Greenville.  There they had Belks Department store and Sears,  J. C. Pennys and White’s Auto or Western Auto and Kresses 5 and 10 which included the smell of hot, salted cashews.

Looking back it was a simple and a good life and place to grow up.  I am thankful for the choices my parents made for me.

Small town life means that there was a great deal of trust in the community.

Reminds me of Jesus parents trusting that Jesus was someplace that He was not.

Luke 2.

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”^{[f] 50} But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
⁵¹ Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.