If Yall don't mind I would like to spend a few minutes this week telling you about My weekend and my grandfather.

The Reverend E. F. Moore passed away in 1994 at the age of 78. His last few years were filled with confusion and fear because he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.

But when I see him in my minds eye I still see him the way he was when I was growing up smiling and laughing. He was the happiest Man I have ever known. Granpa was a big man, 6ft plus and built like a linebacker. He worked out at the Goodyear rubber factory in Grand Prairie Texas for over 20 years. I can still see him coming in the front door covered head to toe in black rubber and singing some gospel song. He would sit down in that big old Naguhyde Recliner and all three of us kids would crawl into his lap. Then he would sing to us or tell us a little rhyming story like

The man would laugh at our jokes and listen to us like we were the most important people he had ever met. That was when I was 5 or 6.

My next major memory of his was the only time I ever saw him cry. It was the summer of 68 or 69. My Uncle Jim was in Vietnam. He had sent back an audio letter from the front. About half way through the tape the Viet Cong had attacked his position and you could hear the sounds of the battle in the background. Granpa started crying, I asked him "Granpa what's wrong, Uncle Jim is ok he mailed the tape." He said "Buddy that's the sound of God's creatures dying. They don't look like us and we don't know them but they are the children of Adam just like us."

Then I remember about a year later maybe less my memory is hazy he called us all into the living room and said "Yall need to watch this. God in all his mercy as seen fit to let a man walk on the moon. We all sat around his living room watching that tiny black and white TV as Neal Armstrong made that historical step.

Then I turned 12 and decided I was too "Cool" to hang around with someone who worked in a Rubber factory. I didn't see him very much for the next several years.

My next major memory of him was the summer of 84. I came home on leave from the Air Force and went by to see him. By this time he was retired and had moved down to Grand Saline in East Texas. He was so thrilled to see me he insisted we go out to eat at his favorite restaurant in Canton. Casey's Catfish all you could eat fried catfish and shrimp on Hwy 64. He told me "Buddy this cost me $6 so you better eat enough shrimp to make it worth it. I'm gonna count them shrimp tails and we aint paying more than a quarter a tail." I knew he was kidding, sorta, but he did count the tails.

I didn't see him again till 1986. I was fresh out of the Air Force and had moved to East Texas. I took a couple of weeks off before I went to work and hung around with him. Now he was in his 70's by then but still went out everday and cut a chord of wood, farmed his little garden and went to Casey's every Saturday night. He had quit preaching by this time cause he said he just couldn't remember things anymore.

The first time I took my sweet blonde home to meet the family it was to a dinner at his house. Granpa and Granma were so worried about embarrassing me in front of her that they tried to eat BBQed chicken with a knife and fork. It was the funniest thang I had ever seen, Granpa, Granma, Momma and my sweet blonde fumbling with that chicken trying so hard not to look dumb. It was years before Darlene found out that they didn't always eat their chicken that way.

My last happy memory of him was in 1990 when the whole family took him to Casey's Catfish for dinner. I don't remember what the occasion was but I still can see him and Uncle Tutor at the end of the table cutting up and holding court.

Uncle Tutor (Granpa's Younger Brother) died a few weeks later, and the Alzheimer's started taking its toll. In 1994 Casey's Catfish sold out to new people and Granpa passed away. I haven't been to an all you could eat catfish place since then.

The reason all of this came to my mind was that I was down in Canton Texas this weekend. As we were driving through town we noticed that Casey's Catfish had opened up again. Naturally we went there for supper Saturday night. The original Casey was back as the owner and he remembered my Granpa and asked about him. If yall ever find yourself in Canton Texas on a Friday or Saturday night make it a point to go by Casey's. They are located on Highway 64 right beside the Highway Dpts Equipment barn. They are open from 5 to 9 on Friday and Saturday night, all the fried catfish, shrimp and chicken you can eat. Stop in and have a great supper and tell them Reverend E. F. Moore sent you.

In closing almost 30 years later I realize maybe I wasn't "Cool" enough to hang around with that particular rubber worker.

Adios and Keep Smiling