RUSK LIBRARY STUDY CLUB
Club hears program from Oklahoman turned Texan
BY BETTY TOWNSEND

Betty Townsend, presenter for the Oct. 9 meeting of the Rusk Library Study Club, told her "This is My Life - Until Now" story at the First Presbyterian Church.

Mrs. Townsend told of her childhood on a farm west of Stillwater, Okla., where her parents and grandparents were early settlers of the area before Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

She told of beginning her education in a one-room school and the two mile walk in all kinds of weather, accompanied by a sister and two brothers.

When she was 10 the family relocated to the small town of Depew, on old Highway 66, where she spent her teen years and graduated from high school. Two years later she married Wayne, a classmate, after he returned from a stint in the Army.

The couple was parents of a boy and a girl when Wayne graduated from Oklahoma A&M, now OSU. Texas became home for the family in 1952 when Wayne was employed by Kirby Lumber Co. at Silsbee. A job change in 1954 brought them to Rusk, where Wayne worked with Southern Pine Lumber Co., later known as Temple Inland.

Mrs. Townsend told of the fulfilling life of a homemaker and mom.

She spoke of the joys of rearing a large family, seven in all and the work of cooking in quantity, cleaning, shopping, sewing for five little girls, the many trips to sports events and the endless laundry. All seven were in school for two years before the oldest graduated from high school.

In 1971, the opportunity presented itself for Mrs. Townsend to fulfill a lifelong dream.

She took the training to become a licensed vocational nurse and said, "It was a year well spent."

She worked in nursing for 25 years, during which all the children married. They have given her and Wayne 15 grandchildren and 14 greatgrandchildren.

She concluded by saying she has enjoyed a very happy and blessed life.

After a short business session and the reading of an inspirational poem by Boots Burfoot, the meeting adjourned.