My STORY BEGAN MANY, MANY, YEARS AGO BACK IN THE LAST CENTURY.

I was born in Vidor, TX.
I was born in a Little
three room white wooden building, As a Hospital.
A Little town next to the Neches River
Directly Across from Beaumont, Texas.

But was raised in Jasper County
in a little town called Gist on Hwy 62
nearly on the newton county line.

I had an Aunt Tex that owned a store one one end of town.
The Smiths, Also Kin
Owned the Store on the other end of Town.
I call it a town,
It was about a Mile and a Half accross, Between stores.
There was a Baptist Church on one end,
And a Pentecostal on the Other end.
One other thing about it there was a mile of swamp in between.

There was Just Us, Aunt Callie Biscamp,
My Uncle Herbert,Now Uncle Herbert
Got Killed in an Accident When I was real Young.
I barely remember him.
One thing I do remember about him ,
is He played Santa Claus, He had a Suit
and he would dress up and Visit eveybody that had a Kid.
Ken folks anyway. The OTher Thing is,
Mom Always Called him Brother. I never ever really heard his Name,
It was always Brother.
We new when she was talking About Him,
Cause she would Say Brother This or Brother That, even untill today.

Also Uncle TD Smith, Uncle Ted or TD is what we called him
had one of Tose Long deep Golden Triangle Draws
That you never heard any where else.
Then My Grand Mother Sallie Smith that
owned the land on the Highway in between.
Granny Lived in a Little Trailer House,
But She did not like to Be there in a Storm
She still Had her House, We called it the Big House.
If there ever was a storm come
you would always find Granny in the Big House.
One Thing I remember about the Big House
is she had A big Row of Bannana Trees on One Side
and the Back alway across was nothing But The Biggest Fig Trees
yelp Fig Trees,
That is what they were,Tree's. Granny Had Nothing but Flowers all in her Yard.
No Grass. She had Asparagus Plants
that had grown into the Largest Ferns you had ever saw.
Funny thing is we never ever ate any if these Plants.
I never knew you could eat them things.
All we new was they were Just some neat Ferns.
One other thing about grannies place was it was back off in the woods.
Behind our Place.
Granny raised a few Chickens but she had a Bunch of Ginnies.
Boy could they ever make a rackit.
Granny Used them as Guard animals
they let her know when any one was around.
Granny was not that Brave, and she Had her a Pistol
I don't know what Kind it was,
But it had the Longest Barrel, like Wyatt Earps.
OK Back to The Gist Road way .Ha
Well This part any way.

There were many others that Lived around that area.
Mostly Ken Folks one way are another.
There were a few that moved in like the Brousards and the Minards.
But they lived off the Dirt road back out in the Woods.

Well There are so many stories I could tell.
Gist back then was like living
in a Time frame like the waltons TV Show.
Mom did all the sewing,
Making our Clothes out of the Pretty Printed Feed sacks.
Dad was given his orders of which sack Prints
to bring home so Shirts are Dresses could be completed.

We had all the Wild Plums, Muscadimes, Berries you would ever need.
My Granny Had some Giant Fig trees around her Place.
Everything was Giant ,we had so much rain then.
It did not take long for things to Grow
Down there.
Oh Yeah Grand Pa had a Bunch of Pear trees
Boy I loved eating those fresh Pears in the Hot
Summer,They were so sweet. There was an Old Platation Place
up at Bunker Hill that had a Grove of Apple tree's.
We would go up there to Pick apples.

All that said Just to let you Know
we never had to buy any store bought Jelly.
Store bought stuff even to this day
can not compare to Fresh Grown Fruits.
It sure want compete with fresh Picked
tomato's Green beans Corn or anything else.
Boy I can Just Taste those Fresh
Radishes and Mustard and collared Greens.

OK Back to Location.
Gist was also on the edge of what is called
The Golden Triangle.
All we had in that area then was
Dirt Roads and Farms, Dirt Roads and Oil,
Dirt Roads and Big Tree's, And a lot of Swamp.

But Most of all I was Blessed
to be raised in a God fearing Jesus Name,
washed in the blood,
Born again family. With Church Services that ran way into the Nights
Dinners on the Ground,
Camp meetings, and Even Brush orbers.
I am Blessed More than any one on this earth.
All I can say is Amen and Amen.