Marion – Cass – Bowie Counties

Round Up 2000 Dallas, TX

Submitted by Robin Richey Williams

AHS Alumni living in Dallas

What fun! The East Texas party was great! On the evening of April 27 at Casa Rosa Restaurant, Dallas, there was more good Mexican food and visiting than you can imagine.

The Welcoming Committee greeting arrivals was made up of Katie (Sullivan) and Charlie Miles, Mary Nell (Boone) and Pat Carlisle, Sandra Mays Guthrie, Franne (Bluestein) and Franklin Jackson, Janelle (Knowles) and Joj\hn Krumholz, Jane and Herb Kennon, Betty (Daughety) and Lee Radford, Pat (Mays) and Dick Folkherth and Laverne Lawrence Landrum.

It was especially good to see Jonette and Hardy Johnson, Elizabeth and Fred Chaney, Annette and Jim Wells and Juanice (Thomas) and Carl Blausen. Many gathered arounf\d the table where pictures, letters and memorabilia were on display. Enjoying visiting were Martha Davis, Dorothy and John Neese, Cloyd Young, Wayne Echols, Wynona Lawrence Breit, Ramelle Tomblin Andrews, Henri Jo Graham Happness, Martha Flo Harden Eubanks, Frances (Wilbanks) and Hub McConnell, Juliene and Harrel Neese, Rose and Jewel Daughety, Molly Bukair Franklin and Bebe Davis Tucker.

After Dinner and an opening prayer by Bob Williams, the Master of Ceremonies, Charley Davis thanked Jamie and Bob Warren for their help in sending our notices of the meeting. Charley welcomed all and introduced newcomers. He then introduced Bobby and Randy Hardy who gave the latest news of their Gone With the Wind Museum and also their Bed and Breaksfast, Scarlett O’Hardy’s in Jefferson.

Charley Davis announced that there would be MYSTERY GUESTS who would speak to the crowd. The first MYSTERY GUEST turned out to be Robin Richey Williams. Speaking on “Impressiona of Israel”, Robin emphasized the Sea of Galilee and the city of Jerusalem. She had wondered before a recent trip to Israel if today the Sea of Galilee might be busy with many people, motor boats, and jet skiis. However, she found it tranquil, sparsely populated and as lovely as it appears in pictures. In Jerusalem, of course revered by Christians as the place of Jesus crucifiction, burial, resurrection and ascension, it is easy to feel the tension among those different faiths all claiming Jerusalem as their sacred site: Jews, Muslims and Christians. Before visiting Jerusalem she did not know that the city was built on the top of Mount Moriah, where the Jewish patriarch Abraham took the boy Isaac as an intended sacrifice. A basic conflict underlying the tension today is that the Muslims also claim the city on top of Mount Moriah believeing that Abraham, who is said to be their patriarch, too, took the son of the Egyptian woman Hagar, not Isaac, as the intended sacrifice.

The next MYSTERY GUEST was “Grandpa”. Grandpa came all the way from Arkansas to speak. He was a very dressed up hillbilly from the Ozark Mountains. Grandpa had the group laughing with his down-to-earth sayings, for instance:

Master of Ceremonies: “Grandpa, I’ll bet you don’t know anything about ROE versus WADE, do you?”

Grandpa: “Why, I shore do know!”

Master of Ceremonies: “Now Grandpa, I know that you cannot explain ROE versus WADE.”

Grandpa: “Shore I kin explain it! That’s the two ways you can git acrost the Arkansas River. You kin either row OR you kin wade!”

(Some people noticed that Professor Paul Thomas of Hot Springs had been present at one of the tables before Grandpa spoke, but was back again shortly after Grandpa spoke.)

Charley Davis announced that letters regretting that they could not attend were received from Rod Whisenant, Montgomery, TX, James Skelton, el Paso, TX and Merry foster, Greenville, TX.

A big THANK YOU goes to the two who organized and planned all of this FUN: Martha and Charles Davis. Get the word around that everyone is invited to the EAST TEXAS PARTY in Dallas the last Thursday in April 2001, 7:00 P.M., Casa Rosa Restaurant on Lovers Lane. Notify Charles in Southlake, TX and don’t miss out on the best party of the year!

Charles E. Davis

1422 Brighton Court

Southlake, TX 76092