COUNTY LIFE
Restoring cemetery markers is more than just business for Pearson
By DANI BLACKBURN
[email protected]
Mark Pearson of Pearson’s Services has spent the last weeks improving headstones at the Nocona Cemetery in what he calls a labor of love.
Pearson was contacted by local citizen Robert Terry, who has worked the last 11 years to create a database for the Nocona Cemetery.
He also has spent countless hours searching for the names of unmarked graves and recently, new headstones were put in the place of those names he discovered. Identifying 144 headstones that were in the most need of cleaning and repair was the next step.
Terry had concerns the distance would be too far for Pearson, but he reached out in hopes of bringing the service to the community. The Hemphill native was willing to stop in Nocona and take a look on his way through to another job.
“As long as it is cost effective it isn’t’ a problem. I was actually going to Oklahoma to consult on another cemetery, so I stopped on my way through and he showed me the list for the project,” recalled Pearson.
After Pearson visited and agreed to do the job, Terry approached the Nocona City Council to ask for funding from the cemetery bequeath fund and it was approved.
“When Terry contacted me, I was winding down since I had done so many for the year. I had been gone all the time and wanted to rest and had even booked at rip to Washington to see monuments, but I feel fate brought me here if you will,” said Pearson.
After doing 10,000 graves this year, the Nocona project of 144 was on the smaller scale for the company, so Pearson got to work with only one employee, Allen Mills.
Read the full story in the weekend News.
When we were going through my grandmother’s house in Nocona after it sold, I found a few neat keepsakes, but the biggest treasure I thought I had found was her biscuit cutter. I was so excited to show my mother (her daughter) and just knew she would be happy it was found and would still be used after all this time.
My mother, however, had a different thought about my precious biscuit cutter. She said, “Suzanne, you know that biscuit cutter is just an old tomato paste can that has both ends cut out.”
I was still no less delighted with my cutter. I continue to use it today. My husband has bought me vintage, new and fancier cutters, but this cutter is something I go back to time and again.
My Memaw was recruited to be a lunch lady from 1952 to 1958 at Nocona Elementary, back when lunches were cooked, not “fixed.” Lenora Brown Burnett was an excellent cook and everyone knew it. She went on to work at the Nocona Major Clinic kitchen from 1958 to 1969.
You could only use shortcuts if you knew how to do it the long way. That is how I still approach cooking. You can only use a cake mix if you know how to make a cake with lots of ingredients, time and effort.
Read Suzanne’s Love & Luck column in the Thursday Bowie News on the On the Table page.
Top photo – Grandmother’s biscuit cutter and hand written recipes. (Photo by Suzanne Storey)
By BARBARA GREEN
[email protected]
It’s a bitter cold January week, so it must be time for the Montague County Youth Fair, which opens Wednesday running through Saturday.
More than 330 students from across the county will compete in everything from golf ball art work to top dairy goat in this annual event where there are 1,160 entries. Almost every contest saw an increase in entries from the prior year.
Scheduling was still in flux at presstime due to pending weather. Watch the fair’s Facebook page for any late changes.
The All Together Show was moved to 5 p.m. on Jan. 8 in the show barn. It had been set for Thursday.
There were no changes for leadership day on Wednesday at presstime.
Read the full story on the fair in the Thursday Bowie News.
By Norman Winter
This time of the year I always look forward to the announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year. Last year it was Peach Fuzz and the year before Viva Magenta.
I’ve always liked to try to join in and pick out flowers, you know to show that we are part of the team, a Pantone Partner if you will. Drum roll please, for 2025 the Pantone Color of Year is Mocha Mousse.
This ‘Garden Guy’ doesn’t do mousse. It’s not on my dessert menu and I don’t put it in or on my hair. There aren’t any brown flowers either, other than those that have passed on.
Before I could jump, Kate Spirgen Marketing Communications Specialist with Proven Winners got me off the proverbial ledge with a press release. That’s what communications gurus do, and as a garden guru I will hopefully get you back in the garden with Mocha Mousse, too.
Read the new Garden Guy column in your Thursday Bowie News.
-
NEWS2 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS1 year agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS1 year agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS2 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint