SCENE IN PASSING
MARIE WHITEHEAD
As you have read in this space many times, your thoughts and contributions are always appreciated. To hear from you is one of the joys that goes with getting mail. Thanks this week to a graduate of Rusk High, Class of '55, Ann McCarroll Irwin.

She writes, "John and I are proud of our son John's accomplishments. He was reared in the piney woods of Upshur County just as his dad and I were reared in the piney woods of Cherokee County.

John and I graduated from Rusk High School in 1954 and 1955 respectively. We will always love Rusk. We've probably been gone too long for many to remember us."

And regarding the passage of time she asks, "What happened to all the years? I've loved them all." We share her feelings.

About her son, she sends this news.

"John was recently named regional vice president of operations for the northeast region of North America for Frito-Lay. He began his career with the company 17 years ago in Rosenburg, Texas. He has progressed through various management levels in Texas, New York and Connecticut. Prior to the assignment he was site operations director at the Killingly, Conn. plant. His parents are John F. and Ann McCarroll Irwin of Gilmer. He is a graduate of Gilmer High School and The University of Texas at Austin. With his wife, Donna, he makes his home in Brooklyn, Conn. They have two daughters, Megan and Emma."

John Irwin

Wow. Eat more Fritoes with gratitude to a young man who has heritage with us. His dad grew up in Reklaw and his mom in Rusk, but both attended the same school.

Those of you who remember the McCarrolls may see a family resemblance of this young man to his grandparents. When we arrived to plant our feet in Rusk on June 1, 1950, dad Lewis R. McCarroll with a partner operated Lee-Mc- Carroll Chevrolet Co. in the now vacant building across the street from the Post Office. The partner was J. E. Lee. As time passed, the partnership ended and Mr. Lee moved on, solo. He built a structure for his new business, Lee Motor Co., at the Y intersection of U.S. Highway 69 and Main St. in Rusk, now the home of Gray's Auto Service established by owner Jody Gray's parents, James and Rebecca. In this era, Mr. Lee purchased land between Bagley Road and Hwy. 84 East where he built a lovely home. Subsequently, many homes have been added to the land identified as the Lee Addition. Back to his partner, Lewis. We need to pay tribute to his talented wife, Eloise, who was a valued teacher at Rusk High. Other siblings in the family with Ann included an older sister, Lella, a younger sister, Susan and a brother John. Susan returned to the area many years ago and resides with her spouse, Mike Birdwell at Cushing. She has been a teacher for RISD more than 20 years now.

Lella was among our early student interns working with radio station KTLU when we aired in 1956. She has remained in touch over the years from her home in Caldwell. Lewis had served the city of Rusk as mayor before we arrived.

This family was active in so many facets of community life. It was a privilege and honor to know them.

They were faithfuls at the First Presbyterian Church, too. Their home on Henderson Street still stands, across from the RISD Administration Building.

From the very long ago, another connection needs a mention. The location, across from the post office for the Lee-McCarroll car dealership, was once the home of an ancestor newspaper in the genealogy of the Cherokeean.

We have a picture of Walter Long standing by the sheet-fed press, popping them through one at a time. When the required number had been printed, they were turned over and fed into the press where a new set of pages became a "hot off the press" newspaper.

Sometimes I think I have lived beyond my time. I remember too much. But what a blessing. Yes, indeed.

With me, keep counting blessings. We all have them. Like dogs and fleas. We all have them. Keep scratching, keep remembering and above all, keep smiling.