November 15, 2018 - In the early 1950s I was dating a young lady from the small town of Hemphill, Texas. Her father was the pastor of the local Baptist church. In those days pastors were paid very little in salary. However, there were other “perks” that automatically accompanied being a pastor.

One of these perks was offerings of food from the parishioners. Almost daily a member of the congregation would stop by his home and leave some food. On the surface this seems a very nice thing to do, and it was. However, some of the food often was unidentifiable.

October 26, 2018 - I never did like to live in college dormitories, so when I was attending Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, I lived in a boarding house near the campus. It was a large two-story frame house with eight rooms upstairs, and one large bathroom. Our meals were prepared and served to us in a large dining room down stairs. As a 19 year old freshman in 1955, this set-up was about as good as it could get.

October 2, 2018 - I suppose that anyone can get addicted to anything. People get addicted to alcohol, drugs, shopping, and all kinds of other things. My addiction happens to be to popcorn.

It started at an early age. My parents used to pop popcorn in a deep skillet with a lid. They usually put a bit of butter in with the oil and shake the skillet until the corn was all popped, except for a few “old maids”. I got addicted to that wonderfully tasting corn which has lasted a lifetime.

September 16, 2018 - Way back when I was in high school I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. My dad, Cecil, was good friends with James Doherty, the County Attorney in San Augustine at the time, and I had several conversations with him about law school. He encouraged me to go to law school but warned me about the tremendous amount of research and reading required of law students. So, I enrolled in Baylor University in 1956 as a “pre-law” student.