The Light and Champion (Center, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 13, 2019 Page: 5 of 16
sixteen pages : ill.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
News
Wednesday-Thursday, November 13 -14,20191 5A
The Light and Champion
Looking forward to connecting the next set of dots
PICTURE FROM OUR PAST
Ito
H
1
1
i
I
1
Toss some confetti in the air and let’s celebrate
u
Who doesn’t like a
www.lightandchampion.com
_
q,, ■ A
Cobwebs
in the
Attic
AgriLife
Extension
News
By
Feleshia
Thompson
Agent
It’s a
Story
Worth
Telling
By Leon
Aldridge
Community
Columnist
the
Al-
1
I
« I ■
Clmmuimi
>. 165360 -Est. 1877
1 -__
' -
I i j
f %
f j
"You can’t connect
the dots looking forward;
you can only connect
them looking backward."
—Steve Jobs, (1955 -
2011) Former CEO and
co-founder of Apple Inc.
By Terri
Lacher
Community
tij Columnist
Bookkeeping
Karol Gray
bookkeeping@lightandchampion.com
Advertising
Stephanie Elswick
Ginia Hooper
advertising© lightandchampion.com
News
Mike Elswick
news @ lightandchampion.com
Creative Services
Susan Watkins
creative @ lightandchampion .com
Press Manager
Darrell Martinez
possibly of lungs, announcing
I to the world his arriv-
al. He wasn’t thwarted
will likely need by being under-sized,
or by the fact he lost
his momma before he
was two years old. Ac-
cording to family lore,
and my own memo-
ries, my father was
well aware of the glass
empty/glass full the-
ory,
everything he
across as an
t
I
of the track for miles.
For me, it brought
back memories of my
grandfather who worked
for the railroad from the
age of 13 to his retire-
ment at age 66. Many
are my memories of eve-
nings sitting with him on
his front porch across
the street from tracks
that ran through Pitts-
burg, Texas. A check of
his pocket watch with
each passing train elic-
ited comments regarding
the "on-time" status just
as if he were still on the
job. Steam locomotives
still shared tracks with
the "new" diesel locomo-
tives in those memories
from the early-1950s.
It was in the 1960s—
'67 to be exact that I
spent the summer in
Southern California with
mom's younger brother
and his family while ac-
quiring skills with a paint
gun working in the auto-
motive body shop Uncle
Bill managed. My men-
tor, Ralph Kyger, was
nothing short of an artist
at applying paint to any-
thing from a VW to a Rolls
Royce and matching col-
ors simply by sight. He
also possessed a color-
ful personality, a mixture
of prankster and come-
dian one minute, and
a perfectionist the next
who didn't mince words
about the quality of work
he delivered and like-
wise expected from me.
"You would enjoy
meeting his son Leroy,"
my cousin Danny offered
at a reunion In July of
this year when conversa-
tions about that summer
in California more than
50 years ago turned to
Ralph. "Leroy races mo-
torcycles in the desert,"
said Danny, "He has a re-
stored Datsun pickup that
has won tons of awards,
and he's a big fan of the
old steam locomotives. I
think you two would en-
joy knowing each other."
Through modern mir-
acles of social media,
that meeting with the
Las Vegas, Nevada, resi-
dent was soon accom-
plished. Leroy admitted
to being a huge fan of
J *
✓
4
I
later had a traumatic
tangle with a mean
dog, my father made
a pirate patch out of
my bandaged head,
and we laughed as
he taught me how to
speak like a bucca-
neer, re-directing my
thoughts to treason on
the high seas instead
of a possible life-dis-
figuring scarred coun-
tenance. We celebrat-
ed many not-so-good
events in our lives by
attacking the negatives
head on, and picking
up our feet and mov-
ing forward, and if we
couldn’t think of a rea-
son to celebrate, we
celebrated the fact of
having that particular
thing behind us.
We are moving
into the holiday sea-
son like a downhill ski-
er on fresh snow over
ice, crazy all over the
place, and way faster
than we expected the
trip to take. The first
(and last) time I went
snow skiing, I antici-
pated great fun and
adventure. I could see
myself like an Olympic
skier, gracefully glid-
ing down the moun-
tain only to look back
from the lodge and
enjoy a cup of hot co-
San Augustine, Center, TX 75935.
• Email address: publisher@lightand-
champion.com
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
• In Shelby County; $36/year
•Six Months: $21
•Three Months: $14
• Out of County: $54/year
Staff Directory
Publisher
Mike Elswick
publisher® lightandchampion .com
Circulation
circulation @ lightandchampion.com
‘*S'"
thunder storms and
oceans of rain for forty
days and nights. But,
I’d like to think that
there was a little of
my Dad’s optimism in
him, and when Noah
saw the rainbow and
clear skies, he did a
"Walter-B" and danced
the happy dance on the
deck of the ark. Don’t
you know he must have
been eternally grateful
to see the stars shining
like jewels in the dark-
ened sky that night?
It's not always
easy for me to make
the proverbial lemon-
ade out of the lemons
life passes out once
in a while, or move
forward out of what
seems to be a quick-
sand pool of despair.
But, if I linger a little
longer in thought, my
father comes to mind,
and I can almost hear
his pirate yell of "Ar-
ghhhhh," and can see
him tossing a handful
of confetti in the air
to celebrate his victo-
ries instead of the set-
backs. And it makes
me smile.
You may reach Terri
Lacher at P O Box 28,
Center, Texas 75935 or
at btlacher@sbcglobal.
net
■ X.
Apple's mastermind
of the Mac was right on
both accounts. While his
point was looking for-
ward to plotting one's
future, I contend it's
fun looking back con-
necting the dots be-
tween events in our past.
It was especially fun
last Sunday as I watched
a 78-year-old steam lo-
comotive roll through
is high and moving the small East Texas berg
- - - - - of Hallsville headed for
its next stop in Marshall.
Steam spewing from
enormous pistons, the
iconic "chug-chug" pow-
er thrusts, the massive
locomotive's bell clang-
ing to accompany haunt-
—Contact Leon Al-
dridge at leonaldridge@
gmail.com. More Al-
dridge columns are found
at leonaldridge.com
the Big Boy locomotives
for 25-plus years, and a
supporter in the efforts
to restore Big Boy No.
4014 that passed through
East Texas Sunday.
According to Union
Pacific's website, 25 "Big
Boy" steam engines were
built for Union Pacific,
the first being delivered
in 1941. At 1.2 million
pounds and just 12-feet
shy of twice the length of
a modern-day locomo-
tive, they are the biggest
locomotives in the world.
Eight survive. Seven are
non-operational dis-
plays in various cities
around the country, and
No. 4014 is the world's
only operating example.
No. 4014 was retired
in December 1961 after
traveling 1,031,205 miles
during 20 years of ser-
vice. Union Pacific reac-
quired 4014 from a Cali-
fornia museum in 2013
and restored it in Chey-
enne, Wyoming, before
returning it to service in
May 2019. Its inaugural
tour was to Ogden, Utah,
for Union Pacific's 150th-
anniversary ceremony
where the Big Boy and
historic steam locomo-
as a way of coping
with stress. But using
these alternatives to
"emotional eating" can
contribute to a healthy
weight.
Lastly the NIH rec-
ommends ]
track of your laborato-
ry numbers that indi-
cate diabetes and heart
disease like Ale, Blood
Pressure, and Choles-
terol levels. The link
between diabetes and
heart disease can be
overwhelming, even
frightening. By tak-
ing these steps we can
control or j
prevent diabetes and
heart disease, though
we 1
help.
Jones sort of person.
We never knew where
Dad's next challenge
would lead us, and life
with him was anything
but boring. He took all
the negatives in life,
cogitated on them for a
while, and then made
something fun out of
the whole situation. If
I was to absorb any-
thing from his "Wal-
ter-B" philosophy, it
would be to live life,
loving the things that
you do, not doing the
things that you love.
And so he did.
My brother,
sister, and I grew up
celebrating little mile-
stones in life. When I
had the serious mea-
sles, our dad baked
a peanut butter cake
to celebrate a mas-
sive breakout of spots,
making fun out of what
I thought was a defi-
nite negative. When I
five "Living Legend" No.
844 met nose-to-nose,
recreating the iconic im-
age of the May 10, 1869
meeting when the last
spike was driven at Prom-
ontory Summit complet-
ing America's first trans-
continental railroad.
Completing my Sun-
day afternoon tour, I
hurried from Halls-
ville to Marshall before
No. 4014 got there to
capture images of the
historic locomotive's
chugging and steam-
ing arrival at the depot.
This final 2019 tour
for No. 4014 started in
September and will take
the historic locomotive
through 12 states before
returning to Wyoming.
My Sunday tour con-
nected this set of dots
looking back over mem-
ories of family, friends,
and trains through
most of my life. It also
left me looking forward
to the next set of dots.
ill
November is Na-
tional Diabetes
Month; and this year
the National Institutes
for Health (NIH) is
highlighting the link
between diabetes and
heart disease.
According the
NIH "When blood sug-
ar i
through blood vessels,
the vessels and nerves
that control the heart
can be damaged, caus-
ing heart disease".
"We think of
diabetes as having to
do with elevated blood ing horn blasts delighted
sugar levels and heart crowds lining both sides
disease with elevated
cholesterol levels; and
that is true, but the
combination of the two
diseases increases the
impact of both condi-
tions", said David Leal,
Program Specialist for
Texas A&M AgriLife
Extension’s Healthy
South Texas Initiative.
He continues, "We
feel as though they
are separate diseases,
but they very much go
hand in hand".
The NIH re-
ports that we are more
likely to develop heart
disease and have a
greater chance of heart
attack or stroke with
diabetes. People with
Diabetes are also more
likely to have certain
conditions like high
blood pressure or high
cholesterol that in-
crease the chances of
heart disease or stroke,
which is why smoking
and the use of tobacco
should be stopped.
We might
smoke as a way to re-
coa as we marveled at
what fun it was, mak-
ing plans to do it again
the next day. It didn’t
end quite like I antici-
pated. Three-quarters
of my trip down that
beautiful snowy moun-
tain was done wrapped
like a burrito on top of
a rescue sled, followed
by major knee surgery
the next week. Where
was my optimist father
when I needed him,
and where was my pi-
rate victory yell?
Life is kind
of like that. Things
go sort of smoothly
through the year with
a few hiccups here
and there, and for the
most part, we are able
to handle them, cel-
ebrating the fact that
it wasn’t as bad as it
could have been. But,
for some, the rest of
the year becomes a
journey through pain
and suffering and loss
while missing their
loved ones, or dealing
with serious illnesses
and disappointments.
It becomes almost im-
possible to be happy,
let alone throw confet-
ti in the air.
I’m sure that
Noah was getting kind
of worn out by the
dmartinez@ lightandchampion.com
CHAMPION PRINTING
• Web Press Printing
• Newspapers • Advertising
• Tabloid • Broadsheet
(936) 598-7229
205 Austin St.
Center, TX 75935
champ-print@lightandchampion.com
The Light and Champion is a registered Texas
trademark owned by Center Light and Cham-
pion Publishing, LLC. Member Texas Press As-
sociation, National Press Association. Printed
on recycled paper with soy-based ink.
Leal stresses
the importance of
keeping doctor’s ap-
pointments, he says
"We can’t wait until
our blood sugar and
cholesterol numbers
are out of control to ory. He approached
finally go to a doctor, everything he came
These are chronic dis- across as an adven-
that don’t away, ture, rather than a set-
back. In other words,
he had a party wher-
ever he landed. Living
with my father was like
living with an Indiana
Whe iCtglit
anh ’
USPS no.
Published Midweek on Wednesday-
Thursday by Center Light and
Champion, LLC.
• Telephone: (936) 598-3377
• Address: 137 San Augustine St.,
Center, TX 75935
• Second Class Postage paid at
Center, TX 75935.
• POSTMASTER: Send address chang-
es to The Light and Champion, 137
*1
■■■I .
Reble Benley “Reb” Martin is seen on a bicycle in front of his parents store with his father Murdock and mother Fannie in the background. 1910
lax and manage stress; Census listed Reble as an Express Company Messenger. He later owned a garage and was a wholesale gasoline distributor. He passed at a
therefore, the nih also Shreveport Hospital on September 4,1942 at the age of 52. Buried in Fairview Cemetery, Center, with parents and daughter Emily. From the Mattie
recommends finding Dellinger Collection. (Courtesy Shelby /The Light and Champion)
healthy ways of cop-
ing with stress like
walking, being in na-
ture, starting a creative
hobby, or listening to
music. Also, it is easy,
especially around the
holidays, to use food party, right? Well, with
the exception of the
Grinch and Ebeneezer
Scrooge, most of us
would rather find rea-
sons to celebrate each
day than to wallow in
■ — ~~~ gloom, despair, and
keeping "agony on me." Even
in the midst of the
deepest, darkest time,
there's always a reason
to look on the sunny
side of life, according
to my father.
Dad was
virtual optimist,
though he started out
quite small, he made
up for it with a full set
eases 1
but they can be con-
trolled and managed
with proper medical
care".
For financial as-
sistance with medica-
tions Contact the Texas
A&M Health Science
Center’s Medication
Assistance Program, at
1-866-524-1408.
For more infor-
mation on creating a
healthy lifestyle, con-
tact your Shelby Coun-
ty Family and Commu-
nity Health Extension
Agent at 266 Nacog-
doches St., Center, TX
75935 (936) 598-7744.
J|\ '
iwr
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Light and Champion (Center, Tex.), Vol. 142, No. 46, Ed. 1 Wednesday, November 13, 2019, newspaper, November 13, 2019; Center, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1278866/m1/5/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Fannie Brown Booth Memorial Library.