In Loving Memory...

Jerry (Brooks) Massey, Goree Class of 1955
Jerry's parents owned and operated Brooks Laundry in Goree

This is Phyllis Massey, Jerry's daughter.

My mom passed away today in Houston. She was hospitalized last Thursday with a blood clot in her lung and fluid in and around her lungs. She had a stoke yesterday. She had been fighting liver cancer for over a year.

We will probably have a memorial in Wichita Falls some time next week.

Please pass this on to her Goree friends.

Thank you,

Phyllis Massey

What goes around, comes back around, eventually...

Well, this might have been one of the most nostalgic visits for me, since the Latham Kids came to town and went above the 'City Cafe' (City Hall) into the hallways and rooms where they once played as children.

The Coffman Kids once again treaded across the tiles of the bank/drugstore. Their parents were Walter (Cut) and Kate Coffman who had an insurance company. They lived in the upstairs and unbeknownst to them, they walked all over those newspapers nestled under the rugs and linoleum. So, for the first time they laid eyes on a secret of their home place as they gazed upon the tables.

I'm a little confused on the 'timing' of it all. Remember how we found Dr. Taylor's 1940's secret newspapers under the carpet upstairs? How and when did they get there? And then there is Mr. Rogers who ran the drugstore? Was that at the same time these folks lived there or after they moved? These Coffmans remember the white carved scrolls in the carpet that kept the neswspapers a hidden mystery. Sooo, I don't know the time frame as well as I'd like to know. And I forgot to ask.

They recall going to Mr. Nix and paying him nine cents for a movie in the theater next door. If they were return customers and had already seen that particular show, then it was on the house. Skating was another pastime fondly filed in their memories. After school, if you ventured into the drugstore you might trip over a pile of school books littering the floor tiles. It was 'the hang out' spot for kids.

Joel (Joey) Lynn Coffman was bestman in Doug Moore's wedding, or at least that's what I think I overheard him telling Kent while I eavesdropped from the other side of the room. It may have been the other way around, not sure. Gail, Joey's wife, has done extensive research on the family ancestry. She found them as far back as Switzerland.

Alpha Ann Coffman was among the bunch. (Hope I spelled that right) She pointed to a scar that began at her forhead and went down through and under her eye. She would've lost it, had her dad not done an amazing thing. They had a car accident in the snow out by the turn before Hefner. None of the cars would start and Cut, her dad, scooped her up and ran with her all the way back to town. Dr. Heard stitched her up and saved her eyesight.

They peered at the poster announcing the Western Swing Street Dance on the 10th of July, and that jogged their memory, too. If memory serves them right, there was a city ordinance forbidding dancing after Lois had one at her house. And they recall having one in the upstairs living quarters of the bank during their lifetime. So, Caroline you better dig deep in those city annals and see if we are lawbreakers. There is a bingo ordinance, so surely we can get us a street dance ordinance overturned. They may decide to reopen them 'ole jail cells.

So now, some of their stories are carved here on this blog and in my heart. The past and the present for a moment were stitched together in time. There are some fuzzy puzzle pieces still to be found, but there's always the future.

Guess Who...

...walked into the Goree Bank/Drug Store today? Keith Chamberlain...and this is what he said on facebook, of all places:

I asked Tammie for a withdrawal and then, a milk shake. The answer to both was a firm 'nope' and I was handed a red plastic cup of ice water. Can you believe that, a Bank with three safes and a Drug Store??? She did inform me that I could make a deposit. A short time ago, only fifty-five years, I drank one of the best ever milk shakes in that very room.

Now, if you do visit the Goree Bank/Drug Store, one thing you do get is excellent hospitality and interesting conversation. Nancy and I really enjoyed visiting with Tammie and the pretty young lady, Caroline Garcia, working with her today. Also they have done a fantastic job restoring the old building. You really need to see it to appreciate the work that has been done.

Now to let you in on something that I figured out after a tour around the building and seeing all the improvements and reconditioning. Money has to come from somewhere. If you are in Goree and need to make a withdrawal, go to the old Trainham Grocery building, now an ice plant, and look up Kent. I doubt you can get a loaf of bread, can of beans or package of potato chips, but Tammie has to be making 'withdrawals' somewhere, so ask Kent.

In Loving Memory...

Douglas Allen Moore of Munday, 77, went to be with his Lord and Savior on July 1, 2010, in Tyler, Texas.

He was born December 18, 1932, in Goree, Texas.

He served in the US Navy for 4 years.

He attended Abilene Christian College and Texas Tech.

He was employed with TI, F & M Systems, and Nelson International before retiring and moving to Munday to care for his parents.

He was the owner and operator of Memories of Munday Antique Store before retiring in 2008.

He was a member of the Munday Church of Christ.

He was preceded in death by parents Johnny & Jo Emma Moore, brother David Moore and sister Linda Moore Burris. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Bettye Blacklock Moore of Tyler, Texas; brother and sister-in-law Wendel and Glenda Moore, sister-in-law Sandra West of Lubbock, Texas; daughter and son-in-law Melinda and Erik Switzer of Arp, Texas; son Michael Moore of Munday, Texas; daughter-in-law Kathie Cummons, son and daughter-in-law Milton and Connie Moore of Arp, Texas; and daughter Melissa Eades of Knox City, Texas; special daughter Alexis Beyer, Arlington, Texas.

Grandchildren surviving him are Dustin Bates, Buffalo Gap, Texas; Matthew Shelton, Orange Park, Florida; Justin and Jeremy Switzer, Arp, Texas; Chelli Moore, Teague, Texas; Torie Moore, Bryan College Station, Texas; Douglas Moore, U.S. Navy - Japan; Erin Hale & Treavor Moore of Arp, Texas; Jenifer Moore of Troup, Texas; Skyler & Dawson Eades of Knox City, Texas.

Great-grandchildren, surviving him are Caden & Kylie Switzer, Arp, Texas; Jaden Moore, Teague, Texas; Grahm, Charles, Riley Grace & Max Hale of Arp, Texas.
Chosen children Duan Piland, Aaron Wallace and Kelley Wallace and numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hospice of East Texas, 4111 University Blvd., Tyler, Texas 75702.

Services will be Sunday, July 4, 2010, at 2 p.m. at the Munday Church of Christ with minister Adrin Fletcher and Eric Switzer.

Burial will be in Goree Cemetery in Goree, Texas under the direction of McCauly-Smith Funeral Home in Munday, Texas.

Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Saturday.

In Loving Memory...

Doug Moore passed away in Tyler, Texas, about mid morning yesterday, Thursday, July 1, 2010.

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2010/jul/03/douglas-allen-moore/

Visitation:
McCauley- Smith Funeral Home
Munday, Texas
5-7 PM Saturday, July 3, 2010

Funeral Services:
Church Of Christ
Munday, Texas
2:00 PM Sunday, July 4, 2010

The family is requesting memorials be made to:
Hospice Of East Texas
4111 University Blvd
Tyler TX 75701

Street Dance and Music Camp

Western Swing in Full Swing! Downtown Saturday Night, in Goree, July 10th!

Bring your lawn chair, your family, and your toe tapping shoes! That’s the invitation from the folks at Goree and the Knox County Visioning Team, as they host the return of Western Swing to Knox County, with an old fashioned, family friendly, downtown Saturday night party. It’s a concert, reunion, picnic and street dance all rolled into one! For those old enough to remember when families loaded up and went to town on Saturday night it’s a trip down memory lane, for families looking for good summer fun it’s a memory making opportunity and for those young enough to be looking for a good time Saturday night it’s by far the best date destination within a hundred miles.

Western Swing and Classic Country music will fill the air as “The Sidekicks” kick off 6 days of music in Goree, celebrating the return of a tradition and the rebirth of a community in Knox County. You are invited to set up your lawn chair or park the pickup and put the tailgate down. Bring your own picnic basket or purchase your refreshments through-out the evening from the Going for Greatness in Goree Group, adding good food and the chance to support a good cause to the recipe for fun. There’s no admission charge, just the old fashioned custom of passing the cream can to pay the band and help support the new Knox Prairie Events Center, housed in the old school at Goree. What a deal! But it’s just a taste of what’s to come!

“The Sidekicks” will fire up about 7:30 and will be kicking off the Knox Prairie Events Center’s first residential event, the Bobby Boatright Memorial Music Camp, which begins Sunday afternoon, the 11th, with musicians and students from across the country learning, and preserving, the unique style of Western Swing, the music born on the prairies and in the cotton fields that made bands like Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys famous and swept the country moving the sounds from outdoor dance platforms in tiny country towns, to the soon to be famous dance halls in places like Rhineland and on to ballrooms in Los Angeles and New York City. The sounds of fiddles and guitars will reverberate through the old school, and the community, as respected musicians and beginning students carry on the traditions, with folks invited every night to listen in at the jam sessions. Thursday noon there’s a free concert and graduation. Everyone’s invited to share a home-cooked hamburger and music under the old shade trees on the schoolhouse lawn.

Whether you come for the music, the dancing, the good food or the nostalgia, you can’t go wrong by going to Goree next Saturday night, July 10th! So go on out and see what’s going on in Goree.
Want to know more? Contact Kent or Tammie Trainham at 940- 422-5321 or Bobby or Ronnie Cude at 940-422-5115.

In Loving Memory~Doris Chamberlain

Doris (Moore, Routon) Chamberlain passed away during the night last night. Doris was Leander and Pearl Moore's first grandchild and, I think, should be 91 this year.

Services:
Goree, Texas
Friday, June 25, 2010
First Baptist Church
2:00 PM

Son: Jimmie and Linda Routon (Jimmie-Goree Class of 1957; Linda (Latham)-Goree Class of 1958)

Daughter: Jeanette (Routon) and Ronald Coody (Jeanette-Goree Class of 1959)