The Bonham Daily Favorite (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 77, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 19, 1961 Page: 1 of 8
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WEATHER
BONHAM AND VICINITY —
Partly cloudy through Sunday, not
quite so cool. Low near 37, high
near 55.
^ ^ ^onfyam ‘
Established 1892
69th Year
Leased Wire United Press International
BONHAM, TEXAS, SUNDAY, NOV. 19 1961
NEA Wirephotos
— NUMBER 77
O
IB)
IENlfl>®
by bob cantrell
An era of American history has
come to an end with the death of
Speaker of the House Sam Ray-
bun:.
Speaker Rayburn was a man
while walking with the greatest
names in national and world his-
tory, never for one moment forgot
the men, women and children of
his home town, county and district.
His greatest joy came when a
session of Congress ended and he
was able to come home, visit with
his friends and talk of the crops,
cattle and weather with them under
the shade of the trees at his home,
on the porch of the country general
store, along the fence row or at a
community homecoming.
Speaker Rayburn will be missed
as a national leader, a leader of
the Democratic party and in the
halls of Congress, but more than
that, he will be missed as a warm
personal friend by the thousands
who knew him as Sam or Mr. Sam.
His first question on returning
home was not concerning politics
—which he came home to forget —
but “How’s the crops?”
The nation and world has lost a
leader but we have lost a good
friend.
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The eyes and ears of the world
were turned toward Bonham Sat-
urday afternoon as final rites were
held for Speaker Rayburn.
This small north Texas farming
center was the central focus of all
news-gathering agencies, radio and
TV for the day.
Newspapers — large and small,
weekly and daily — were repre-
sented in the thousands who silent-
ly lined the streets, stood in sol-
emn lines at the cemetery or sat
with saddened eyes and faces dur-
ing the services in the First Baptist
church.
As thousands of his friends paid
■final tribute to Mr. Sam in Bon-
h?rn, the great, near-great and
/ust plain citizens throughout the
world joined in the final honors to
him.
It seemed as though nature had
joined the nation in mourning the
death of Speaker Sam Rayburn as
the skies were thickly overcast
with slate-colored clouds and the
wind was damp and raw.
Organ Music Heard
During Services
Mrs. J. C. Christian, Jr., was the
organist Saturday at the funeral
of House Speaker Sam Rayburn.
Mrs. Christian, the regular or-
ganist for the First Baptist Church
of Bonham played music
throughout the service, but there
was no singing.
This was the program in the or-
der in which it was played:
Chorale: “Hark, a Voice Sayeth,
all are Mortal” (Bach).
“When I am Lain in Earth”
(Henry Purcell).
“Andante” (Plainsong) (Robert
Groves).
Selections from “Twenty - four
Divertimenti for Organ” (J. J.
McGrath).
“Andante” Op. 7, No. 6 (with
longing) (Mendelssohn).
“Cast Thy Burden Upon the
Lord” (Mendelssohn).
Ilvmns:
“America the Beautiful;” “My
Country ’Tis of Thee;” “How
Firm a Foundation;” Jesus, Lov-
er of my Soul;” “Lead Kindly
PASTOR PAYS FINAL TRIBUTE — Elder H. G. Ball,
pastor of the Primitive Baptist church at Tioga, de-
livers the funeral eulogy for House Speaker Sam
mm
Rayburn at services in the First Baptist church Sat-
urday. afternoon. All seats in the building were
filled and thousands stood outside during the serv-
ices* [UPI Telephoto)
lilt
ishgi -wiL .
mm
■Si
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m
NATION'S LEADERS PAY FINAL TRIBUTE — President John F.
Kennedy (left), Vice President Lyndon Johnson and former Presi-
dents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman sit with saddened
faces Saturday as they hear Elder H. G. Ball deliver the funeral eu-
logy for House Speaker Sam Rayburn at the First Baptist churth.
Speaker Rayburn served as Speaker of the House during the terms
of former Presidents Truman and Eisenhower and President Kennedy.
Vice President Johnson is the speaker's political protege.
(UPI Telephoto)
Thousands Pay Last Tribute to Mr. Sam
Homage to Mr. Sam
Humble, Great
Pay Final Honor
Bonham’s population was tripled
Saturday afternoon as thousands of
Americans paid final tribute to
Speaker of the House Sam Ray-
burn.
Dignitaries rubbed shoulders with
businessman, farmer and house-
wife at the First Baptist church, at
Willow Wild cemetery and on the
streets along which the procession
moved to the cemetery.
President John F. Kennedy, Vice
President Lyndon B. Johnson, for-
mer Presidents Harry Truman and.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gov. Price
Daniel of Texas, Congressman John
McCormack of Massachusetts, the
man most likely to succeed Mr.
Rayburn as House Speaker; mem-
bers of the House and Senate,
Army, Navy, Air Force and Ma-
rine commanders, representatives
of the Rural Electrification Admin-
istration, the Farmers Home Ad-
ministration and other Federal
agencies were among the dignitar-
ies who came to Bonham to pay
their tribute to the Speaker.
Making up the great majority of
the thousands who thronged into
Bonham were men, women and
children from the 4th Congression-
al district who came to Bonham
to pay their last tribute to their
beloved Mr. Sam.
Beginning at 9 o’clock Friday
morning, thousands of young and
old moved slowly past Speaker
Rayburn’s casket in the Sam Ray-
burn Library for a last look at the
man whoTiad represented them in
Congress for almost half, a century.
At 9 o’clock Saturday with many
still waiting an opportunity to pay
their tribute to Speaker Rayburn,
the family ordered that the body
lie in state for another hour.
The influx of visitors to Bonham
for the service began Friday, con-
tinued through the night and reach-
ed a climax Saturday morning as
every parking space in the down-
town area was filled with out-of-
county cars and many from out of
Texas.
The First Baptist church was
filled to capacity for the services
and the grounds and streets were
filled with friends who stood si-
lently as they listened to the serv-
ices which were carried to them on
the church’s public address sytem.
A solid white pigeon rested on
the peak of the church for the
greater portion of the service, fly-
ing away once and then returning
to remain until the service had
been concluded and then flew
away.
The Department of Public Safe-
ty estimated that some 15,000 per-
sons attended the services here.
Some 1,000 persons were in the
church while another 5,000 stood
quietly outside during the service
which lasted some 30 minutes.
Many went directly to the ceme-
(See HUMBLE, Page 5)
Light” and
Shepherd.”
“The Lord is my
Weather Continues
Partly Cloudy
Partly cloudy skies and not
quite so cool temperatures are be-
ing forecast for the Bonham area
through Sunday.
A minimum reading in the upper
is forecast Sunday morning
with a maximum in the mid-50s be-
ing forecast Sunday afternoon.
Skies were cloudy in the Bonham
through Saturday and the tem-
perature held in the upper 60s.
NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS —
Partly cloudy through Sunday, not
quite so cool.
Bonham Sees Press and TY Working on
Major Scale During Last Three Days
DEVELOPS TRANSFORMER
SHARON, Pa. (UPI)—Westing-
house Electric Corp. announced
the development of a new distri-
bution transformer which the com-
pany claims can provide a poten-
tial savings to utilities of $20 mil-
lion annually. The new unit sub-
stantially reduces losses in trans-
former operation and provides
lower operating costs at any load,
the company said.
Probably never again in its fu-
ture will Bonham see the major
press service, radio and television
at work on the scale that it has
been here for the last three days.
The Daily Favorite acknowledges
with gratitude the United Press
International, the service for which
we subscribe for our daily news
and and picture coverage. Top
(JPI photographers and writers
have been assigned to the story
here, they have given us the best of
art, the best of news stories and
the best in all coverage of Bon-
ham’s greatest story.
We have been told that The Fa-
vorite’s coverage has been good
during the last three days. With-
out the UPI staff we could not
have done nearly so well. We hope
that our coverage has been in all
the dignity becoming the man
about whom we were writing and
'publishing pictures.
Other services have done out-
standing jobs. The Associated
Press, the three major TV and ra-
dio services, the “staffers” from
some of the nation’s biggest maga-
zines and newspapers have teamed
up to tell the world that Speaker
Sam Rayburn’s great career was
at an end.
Oftimes, we know that those out-
side of the profession cannot under-
stand the “get the sory” attitude
For ’Mr, Democrat1
Greats Put Aside
Political Rivalry
To Honor Mr. Sam
(EDITOR’S NOTE - This is the
United Press International story
concerning the funeral services for
Speaker Sam Rayburn which was
carried ion the wires of the press
agency throughout the world.)
Charted Own Destiny .
Rayburn Became An Institution
of men of the working press. But,
they were working on a story that
all the world was reading with
anxiety and sorrow. Mr. Rayburn
belonged to the world. The world
deserved the story.
They went with full speed, day
$nd night. Moments after anything
happened word of it was being de-
livered to the world. But as they
worked, they share the same feel-
ing as all of us — the sorrow that
a great man was gone. It was their
job to tell the story.
There possibly were more than
100 from the working press, tele-
vision and radio, in addition to
publishers and editors from news-
papers throughout Texas, here Sat-
urday.
They represented the UPI, -the
AP, The Dallas Times Herald, The
Dallas News, the Fort Worth Star-
Telegram, the Houston Post, Green-
ville Herald-Banner, Denison Her-
ald, Sherman Democrat, Life and
Time Magazines, WBAP-TV, ABC-
TV, CBS-TV and radio, Houston
Chronicle, KFJZ radio at Ft. Worth,
KXOL radio at Ft. Worth; KIOO
radio, Oklahoma City, New York
Times, Wichita Falls Record-News,
Corpus Christi KZTV-TV, the pres-
idential press corps and many oth-
ers.
They have been the eyes for the
world in Bonham the last few days.
By PHILIP !L. NEWMAN
United Press International
BONHAM, Tex. (UPI) — House
Speaker Sam Rayburn was buried
in a country cemetery Saturday
after a simple funeral attended by
the mightiest men in the nation
and his hometown friends and
neighbors.
President Kennedy, Vice Presi-
dent Lyndon B. Johnson, former
Presidents Eisenhower and Tru-
man and scores of senators and
representatives put aside political
rivalries to pay last respects to
“Mr. Democrat.”
The few remaining members of
the once-large Rayburn family
were joined at the rites by towns-
people who had known him all
their lives.
The funeral in the First Baptist
Church of Bonham in the rolling
plains of northeast Texas lasted
30 minutes. The heavy bronze cof-
fin, colored gunmetal gray and
trimmed with chrome, was car-
ried down a dirt road to Willow
Wild Cemetery under a gray and
dismal sky.
Large Crowd
A crowd estimated by the Texas
Department of Public Safety at
15,000 filled the streets around the
church to watch in silence as
“Mr. Sam” started his last trip
through the town he loved.
In the grassy 25-acre Willow
Wild Cemetery, the coffin was
slowly lowered into a grave dug
next to that of his sister Lucinda,
who was closest to him of all his
10 brothers and sisters. She died
of cancer in 1956-
A simple $140 headstone will
mark the grave of the man who
served longer as congressman
and as House speaker than any
other man in history. It will say.
“Sam Taliaferro Rayburn, Jan. 6,
18152—Nov. 16, 1961.”
Rayburn died of cancer in the
Risser Hospital at Bonham Thurs
day morning. He would have been
80 next January.
The body, dressed in a blu<
suit, white shirt and dark blue ti<
lay in state from Friday morning
until Saturday. So great was th<
crush of the hundreds of people
who wanted to pay their last re
spects that the doors of The Sam
Rayburn Library were left open
longer than planned so all could
get in.
.Taken to Church
The coffin was moved directly
from library to church. It was
closed and a spray of red roses
and fern placed on top of it.
President Kennedy, interrupting
a Western speaking tour, flew into
Perrin Air Force Base at nearby
Denison and rode a helicopter to
Bonham. He went directly to the
church.
Former President Truman had
arrived early and gone to see
Rayburn’s surviving brother and
two sisters at the colonial man
See GREATS, Page 5)
•WASHINGTON (URL)— .Sam
Rayburn ptobably came as close
as a man ever can to charting
his own destiny. In following the
chosen course, he became an
American institution.
Speaker Sam Rayburn: Never
in the history of the job has a
name more closely affixed itself
to, and identified itself with, the
title.
•In what Mr. Sam gave to the
job, and what it did for him in
return, was forged one of the
strongest political forces in the
land. But this power was tem-
pered always with fairness and
good judgment.
“The greatest ambition a man
can have,” he said once, “is to
be known as a just man.”
The fact that he was known as
such a man helped him realize
his childhood ambition to run the
House of Representatives — and
to do so more than twice as long
as any predecessor.
Along the way, Rayburn gained
another title: “Mr. Democrat.”
His devotion to his party was sec-
ond only to his dedication to of-
ficial duty.
naturally^ seem to know better | and won every election there-
than Republicans how to keep the
country runnin’ right.” But he
could also say: “I’ve never asked
anyone to cast a vote that would
destroy him politically.”
Fell In Love With Politics
Sam Rayburn was a Texas farm
lad when first he fell in love —
with politics.
That year he walked the few
miles to the town of Bonham to
hear the rolling oratory of Jo-
seph Weldon Bailey, the local dis-
trict’s congressman. It was then,
he was to say later, that he aimed
his sights at the speakership/
Education came first. His pa-
rents were poor, but Sam worked
his way through a small Texas
school, won a degree and became
a teacher.
He took the political dive when
he was 24, and promptly won a
seat in the Texas legislature. Five
years later, at 29, he became the
youngest speaker in the history of
that state’s house of representa-
tives. Meanwhile he had studied
law at the University of Texas.
At age 30 he was elected to
Congress, taking his seat when
He could say: “Democrats just Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated,
after.
He gained experience, and im-
pressed colleagues with his tal-
ents- When Speaker William E.
Bankhead of Alabama died in
1940, he was the obvious choice
as successor.
He was where he had wanted
to be. Now he set about doing
what he wanted to do with that
job. Except when the Republicans
gained brief control of the House,
this work went on until illness
struck him down during the ses-
sion just past.
On Jan. 3, 1947, he was forced
to hand the gavel to GOP Rep.
Joe Martin, an old friend. His
remark on the occasion:
“Today I have the high privi-
lege and the great pleasure—if it
had to come—of presenting to
you ..
Led To Illusion
Rayburn built the Speaker’s
post into what now is commonly
regarded as second in power only
to the presidency.
This led to the widespread il-
lusion that when Mr. Sam took
the floor on some issue, that
(See RAYBURN, Page 5)
"He has finished his course . . assuring words. "We do not say farewell, we only say goodnight."
*, KXOTrirjBttS
. The new grave is beside that of his beloved sister, Miss Lu, and He spoke them to President John F. Kennedy, Vice-President Lyn-
in the family plot with his mother and rather and other members of don B. Johnson. Former Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisen-
his family who have gone before. hower, more than 100 members of Congress and the United States
His pastor, Elder H. G. Ball, had spoken the comforting and re- Senate, and scores of other high officials representing almost every
department of the nation's gov-
ernment.
His impressive eulogy to Mr.
Sam came during funeral services
in the First Baptist church which
was filled to overflowing. The serv-
ices were “piped” outside by loud
speaker in order that, the thousands
who could not get in might hear.
Rites in Washington
The services were carried in full
by national television. In Chicago
the Chicago Symphonic orchestra
played special music before the
services, while the body was being
taken to the cemetery, and then
after the interment rites were com-
plete.
Simultaneously with the services
here, memorial rites were being
held in the Washington Cathedral,
where those hundreds of friends in
the nation’s capital who could not
come to Bonham could join in the
final tribute.
It must have been just as Vice-
President Johnson had said it
would be in Washington — “a lone-
some place without Mr. Sam.”
It was the same in Bonham.
The World Grieves
“We must realize that we are
grieving not only in our own hearts
—but the world, or most of it, is
grieving with us today,” Elder Ball
of the Tioga Primitive Baptist
church said as he opened the im-
pressive tribute to the man he re-
ferred to often as “our friend.”
“The poor, the lonely, the less
fortunate were objects of his com-
passion and his consideration.
“Such men are not born. They
are made.”
Elder Ball spoke of the ambition
that began in a cotton field of Fan-
nin county, of Mr. Sam’s, climb to
national prominence and the high
position he achieved.
“He had the feeling that in that
place he could be a servant to so
many people in the world.
“He made himself a good serv-
ant of all the men and women and
children who support the freedom
and liberties we seek.
He has fought a good fight for
the liberties and freedom of this
country.
“He has fought a good fight for
the people of this country and the
district he represents. He has kept
the faith with the democracy of our
country.
“He has finished his course.”
Kept Faith With God
Elder Ball said that Mr. Rayburn
“not only met local and national ob-
ligations in his position, but he has
kept faith with God.”
“As we come to this hour, the fu-
ture holds all that is bright and
eternal,” Elder Ball said. “It can
only be had when we enter through
the portals of death. He is now
where there will be no strife, no
threats of war or destruction, but
where there is nothing but peace.
“We are not saying farewell, we
only are saying goodnight.”
Immediately following the serv-
ices, the Presidential party left the
church, followed by members of
the family. Many hundreds of
others had gathered at the ceme-
tery for the brief commital rites
Chaplain Bernard Braskamp of
the United States House of
Representatives led the prayer
(See THOUSANDS, Page 5)
PRESIDENTS PAY FINAL TRIBUTE — President
John F. Kennedy (right) and former Presidents Har-
ry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower sit side by
side at interment services for Speaker of the House
Sam Rayburn at Willow Wild cemetery Saturday
afternoon in final tribute to the man who served
ias Speaker of the House of Representatives of the
National Congress during their terms. ,
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McAlister, Aubrey & Cantrell, Robert M. The Bonham Daily Favorite (Bonham, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 77, Ed. 1 Sunday, November 19, 1961, newspaper, November 19, 1961; Bonham, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth847909/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sam Rayburn House State Historical Site.