Y'all Come!

Mr. Brown

Running Wild in the Hill Country

Gladys, Dolly, Ina, Margaret Ann, Claudia, Ann

1933 Graduates

1933 Graduation Program

Class of '33 Graduation Program

The #1 Song on Our Graduation Day

Dairy Queen

Dairy King

Class of '65 Kids

Bob Crider and Cathy Tacker.

Report Card

Report Card

Masonic Coin (1951)

Another Workbook Contents Page

From the Mexia Daily News:

The Texas Historical Commission (THC) recently named Dixie Hoover to the position of site manager of the Confederate Reunion Grounds State Historic Site. Confederate Reunion Grounds is one of 20 historic properties throughout the state operated by the THC.

Hoover comes to the THC from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, where she served as the history center supervisor. She also held various roles throughout Texas as an education programs and services director, consultant and archivist. She earned a bachelor’s degree from McMurry University in Abilene and a master’s degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Hoover is active in numerous non-profit organizations including Friends of Buffalo Gap Historic Village, Frontier Women Living History Association and Texas Association of Museums.

“Confederate Reunion Grounds is steeped in Civil War history and memories,” said Hoover. “I’m excited about facilitating its growth and bringing in more visitors to share the experience.

Confederate Reunion Grounds was donated to the state in 1983. The site commemorates a place where Civil War veterans gathered from 1889 to 1946 to perpetuate memories of fallen comrades, aid disabled survivors and widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and to preserve the fraternity that grew out of the war. Today, the site houses a 1893 dance pavilion, Civil War-era steel barreled cannon and recreational opportunities.

“This property is a valuable asset to the distinctive array of historic sites that the THC now oversees,” said Historic Sites Division Director

Donna Williams. “We are very pleased to have Dixie Hoover working with us as we continue to improve these sites and enhance their program visitor service.”

For more information regarding Confederate Reunion Grounds or the THC’s other historic properties, contact the Historic Sites Division at

512/463-6323 or visit www.thc.state.tx.us.

The Texas Historical Commission is the state agency for historic preservation. The agency administers a variety of programs to preserve the archeological, historical and cultural resources of Texas.

Johnny E. Franklin, 71, of Mount Calm, died at a Waco hospital on Friday, May 9, 2008. Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 14, 2008, at Mexia City Cemetery with Cameron Simmons officiating.

He was born September 16, 1936, in Paris, Texas, the son of Christine Lee Franklin and Fred Franklin. After attending elementary school at Forest Glade, he graduated from Mexia High School in 1955 and attended Texas A&M, where he was a member of the famed Aggie marching band. One of his most memorable experiences with the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band was the 1956 train trip to Los Angeles to participate in the A&M-UCLA football game.

He graduated from East Texas State University, now Texas A&M-Commerce, with a degree in business administration. While there he was a member of Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. He served in the United States Air Force, stationed in Phoenix, Arizona, and returned to Texas to take a position with the Mercantile National Bank at Dallas.

After several years in the banking business, he moved to Mount Calm where he engaged in the cattle business. Following his retirement, he enjoyed traveling, visiting all the continents and nearly every state.

He married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Ann Dillard, in Mexia in 1961. They became the parents of two daughters.

Johnny served on the Board of Directors of the First State Bank of Mount Calm, as well as on the board of Birome Water Supply Corporation for several terms, which included serving as president of that organization.

He was preceded in death by his father.

He is survived by his wife; two daughters, Kathleen Franklin of Mount Calm, and Elizabeth Simmons and her husband Cameron of League City; two grandsons, Jacob and Benjamin Simmons of League City; his mother, Christine Franklin of Mexia; and a brother-in-law, Hughes Dillard of Mexia.

Memorials may be made to the charity of one’s choice.

Please visit www.blair-stubbs.com to sign the guest book or to leave a memorial message.

Workbook Contents

Another Legend from Mexia

More about Don the Beachcomber can be found at the link, or you can also click here.

Don's Life Story: "It all began in 1907 on George Washington’s birthday – February 22nd – in the township of Mexia, Texas. His mother named him, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt.

At seven-years-old, Ernest began his wordly adventures in September of 1914 when he traveled by himself, on a bus, from Mexia to Mandeville, Louisiana to live for the first time on his grandfather’s plantation near Lake Pontchartrain across from New Orleans. Later in the same month he sailed with his grandfather on his grandfather’s yacht from the Port of New Orleans to Port Antonio, Jamaica in the West Indies. The exciting, exotic and romantic atmosphere of the Caribbean was to become quite familiar to the young boy, and Jamaica quickly became the scene of some of Ernest’s early days of schooling. The opportunity to visit and live with family and friends in this strange, and at the time, to Ernest, far away land, added flavor and inspiration to his developing mind. It was also when he first experienced fine Jamaican Rhum."

Hearts of Stone

Language Workbook

Red Book Cover Back

Red Book Cover

Carol Romain, Judy Rocco, Carol Ann Shamblin

From the Class of '65

Cathy Tacker, Marilyn Coffee, Nelda Baker, Carol Ann Shamblin, Patsy Baker, Marilyn Ivey, Camille Kerr, Mrs. Elizabeth Withrow, Ann Withrow, Judy Roco, Carol Romain.

Book Cover Back

Tidwell Home

Mexia Daily News - Tidwell Home in “Backyard Garden Stroll”: "This early 1900 home of George and Jackie Tidwell (500 S. Ross) is the second of five homes in the Mexia Garden Club's “Backyard Garden Stroll”. You will enjoy taking the meandering brick pathways to discover gardens with antique roses, bearded iris, daylilies, hydrangeas, a potting shed and herb garden."

Book Cover

Western Day

Money Bag

Tehuacana School

Westminster College Long Ago

In this one, the dome is where it belongs.