A life lived for others

Horace Frances devoted his life

Accomplishments of an Exceptional Man: Bozy Adams walked around the Earth

What does it take to walk around the world? All it took for Bozy Adams was the resolve to just do it! He made the decision fifteen and a half years ago one spring day as he completed his tenth lap around the Garrison High School track. When asked what led him to begin such a daunting task, he remarked, "Since I walk around that track every day anyway, I thought it would be fun to set some ridiculous goal like Walking Around The World." On Monday, February 25, 2013, Bozy completed the last lap of his 25,000-mile goal before a cheering crowd of friends and relatives. That long-ago spring day when he decided to "just do it" was 1997 which calculates to a total of fifteen and a half years and 100,000 laps. Bozy finished that last lap at age seventy-eight. Yes, Bozy Adams is an exceptional man. He has the resolve, endurance, energy, strength, perseverance and focus to Walk around the World on his high school track in his little East Texas town, Garrison, Texas. These same character traits and endurance qualities have influences every other aspect of his life including his career, his church attendance, his community work, and his relationships with family and friends. When asked to name one accomplishment that he was most proud of, he quickly answered that he was very proud of his volunteerism at Garrison Nursing Home for which he was awarded Volunteer of the Year. "I sing there with several different area church groups four times each week," he said, "and since I know most of the home's residents, it is a joy to see their faces light up when we visit with them and sing their favorite hymns." Volunteerism takes a big chunk of Bozy's time with sixteen visits per month to the Garrison Nurshing Home; his weekly church activities, which he never misses; his Lions Club activities for which he has received Life Membership and Citizen of the Year Awards; his 49-year membership on the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Authority; and his forty-year service as district director on the Soil and Water Conservation Board. Bozy's membership and dedication on the two previously mentioned boards resulted in the completion of beautiful Lake Naconiche and Park located between Garrison and Nacogdoches. In explanation as to why he is so involved in volunteer work, he explained that he likes people and enjoys the interaction and association in many areas of his East Texas life and culture. At age twenty-six Bozy was elected to the Board of Decons of Garrison First Baptist Church. He had always been faithful about Sunday school and church attendance and during his school years had amassed nine straight years without missing Sunday services. When members of his high school graduating class planned a Sunday morning departure for their senior class trip to Hot Springs Arkansas, Bozy announced that he wouldn't be able to go because he couldn't miss church. When he wouldn't waver his committment to church attendance, the class delayed their departure for Arkansas to Monday morning. Everyone including Bozy boarded the bus on Monday morning bound for Hot Springs. Bozy served his church in many ways and one such way was teacher of a young men's Sunday school class. With Bozy's backgrond in science education, the class spent a lot of time discussed the magnificence and beauty of God's world and the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ. After class one Sunday, a young man asked, "Mr. Adams you've told us all about Heaven and Jesus and God, but you never tell us anything about the Devil and exactly where he lives." Bozy thought for a few seconds and said, "Well, I really don't think about the Devil very much, but now that you mention it, I think I saw him somewhere around Timpson the other day." Bozy is the youngest son in a family of twelve siblings. He explained that perseverance and endurance may have been a necessary character trait for survival in a family the size of his. "We had a dairy and milked twice a day. It was my job to get up at 4:30 AM seven days a week to milk the cows, dress for school and not miss the bus. If I missed the bus then I had to ran two and a half miles to school where in addition to going to class I played football and ran track. Of course, I ran track at school and usually ran as many as forty-eight laps, possibly totaling twelve or more miles every day including summers. Running became second-nature to me since I was always in a hurry to get to school and then in a hurry to get back home to milk in the evening." "I think probably I developed a love for exercise and running as a result of that strict milking schedule I had to follow all those years. Exercise and running were things that I was pretty good at and became noted for in the small-town of Garrison. My friends once challenged me with a run from Timpson to Garrison. They drove me to Timpson and I ran the six and a half miles back to Garrison in forty-two minutes. Well, in a small town in the 1950's, that was an big event with many of the town's folk waiting there for me on my return. Another time I was challenged to run from Garrison to the Nacogdoches "Y," a distance of about fourteen miles. I met that challenge with good results and established myself as a serious, recreational runner which my classmates still remember to this today." After high school, Bozy remained at home with the chores of the farm and the demands of the dairy business. He arranged his schedule so that he could arise an hour earlier at 3:30 AM. He then had time to finish his chores and make it to Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches where he pursued a science degree with four majors: Earth Science, Botany, Zoology, and Vocational Agriculture. "I loved science and nature and some how managed to complete my academic studies with 236 college hours and then, what did I do? I stayed in Garrison and began a 26-year career running my own insurance and real estate business. At the end of that career, I spent several years teaching earth and life science to Garrison Junior High School students. After I left teaching I continued tending the farm that I had many years earlier bought from my dad. I am still in the cattle business and divide my time with the farm, volunteering and walking around the world." Bozy Adams has lived all of his seventy-eight years in Garrison, Texas, not more than five miles from the place of his birth. He married Mary Moore, a girl with Garrison roots, and together they produced daughter Amy who followed her legacy by attending Garrison Schools and then completing her education at Stephen F. Austin University. Both Mary and Amy chose teaching careers from which Mary is now a retired home ecomonics teacher and Amy is moving from a classroom teaching assignment to that of public school counselor. Bozy and Mary have been married Forty-six years and have found that those character traits of resolve, endurance, energy, strength, perseverance and focus have served them well. After making that final lap completing his 25,000-mile Walk Around The World, one of the reporters assigned to cover the event ask the question: Mr. Adams, now that you have accomplished your Walk Around The World, what are you going to do for an encore? Bozy never hesitated and with a look of stern determination and fierce focus he said, "I plan to break my fifteen year record by completing my second trip around the world in just twelve years."

..........by Emily Adams What does it take to walk around the world? All it took for Bozy Adams was the resolve to just do it! He made the decision fifteen and one half years ago one spring day as he completed his tenth lap around the Garrison High School track. When asked what led him to begin such a daunting task, he remarked, "Since I walk around that track every day anyway, I thought it would be fun to set some ridiculous goal like Walking Around The World." On Monday, February 25, 2013, Bozy completed the last lap of his 25,000 mile goal before a cheering crowd of friends and relatives. That long ago spring day that he decided to "just do it" was 1997 which calculates to a total of fifteen and one half years and 100,000 laps. Bozy spent fifteen and one half years on his around-the-world walk and finished his last lap at age seventy-eight. Yes, Bozy Adams is an exceptional man. He has the resolve, endurance, energy, strength, perseverance and focus to Walk around the World on his high school track in the little east Texas town, Garrison, Texas. These same character traits and endurance qualities have influences every other aspect of his life including his career, his church attendance, his community work , and his relationships with his family and friends. When asked to name one accomplishments that he was most proud of, he quickly answered that he was very proud of his volunteerism at Garrison Nursing Home for which he was awarded Volunteer of the Year. "I sing with several different area church groups four times each week," he said, "and since I know most of the home's residents, it is a joy to see their faces light up when we visit with them and sing their favorite hymns." Volunteerism takes a big chunk of Bozy's time with sixteen visits per month to the Garrison Nurshing Home; his weekly church activities, which he never misses; his Lions Club activities for which he has received a Life Membership and a Citizens of the Year Award; his 49-year membership on the Attoyac Bayou Watershed Authority and his 40-year service as district director on the Soil and Water Conservation Board. His membership and perseverance on the two previously mentioned boards precipitated the completion of beautiful Lake Naconiche and Park located between Garrison and Nacogdoches. In explanation about why he is so involved, he explained that he likes people and enjoys the interaction and association in many areas of his East Texas life and culture. At age twenty-six Bozy was elected to the Board of Decons of Garrison First Baptist Church. He had always been faithfut about Sunday school and church attendance, and during his school years had accumulated nine straight years without missing Sunday services. When members of his high school graduating class planned a Sunday morning departure for their senior trip to Hot Springs Arkansas, Bozy announced that he wouldn't be able to go because he couldn't miss church. He wouldn't waver from his committment to church attendance, so the class delayed to their departure for Arkansas to Monday morning. At one point in Bozy's church life he committed to teaching a young boy's Sunday school class. With Bozy's backgrond in science education, the class spent a lot of time discussed the magnificence and beauty of God's world and the grace and goodness of Jesus Christ. After class one Sunday, one student asked, "Mr. Adams you have told us all about heaven and Jesus and God, but you never tell us anything about the Devil and where he lives exactly." Bozy is the youngest son in a family of twelve siblings. He explained that perseverance and endurance may have been a necessary character trait for survive in a family the size of his. "We had a

From Sunday school series

This post is for my Sunday school lesson elaboration. As soon as I have time I will get back to this post. Thanks, Emily

Relationships: Bound by the past, the present, the future

I was so excited when I received an invitation to the wedding of one of my dearest friends. This wedding was special not only because Helen Morphis was a friend but also because she was 70-years old marrying for the first time. We all thought she was a confirmed old maid school teacher and now at 70 she was planning to change her life and marry, not just any man; she was marrying a preacher.
As soon as the wedding invitations were out, the gossip lines were open providing an opportunity for old friends to communicate again after several years of retirement. Of course, we were happy for her and excited that her wedding would give all of us an opportunity to see each other again and catch up on what was going on in everyone's lives.
The day of the event called for a 150-mile drive to Beaumont for me and a 150-mile return trip to Garrison several hours after dark. The logistics did not matter - come rain or shine, I planned to attend Helen's big event and spend time laughing and visiting with my friends. It would be just like old times!
At least 40 teacher friends were present. These were women with whom I had shared all sorts of experiences. We raised our families together and taught each other's kids. We sat in the teachers' lounge five days a week and talked about our successes, our failures, our dreams, our families and told each other our deepest, darkest secrets. We shared everything there was to share for approximately 30 years.
Well, it really was great to see everyone again. They all seemed to be doing well and most everyone looked about like they did when I last saw them.
After the initial "hello, what have you been doing, have you seen so and so lately and what is she doing now," we found that we really didn't have that much to share for some reason.
Our lives had changed. We didn't spend our time at school anymore so school wasn't the common denominator for our relationship. We were all from different backgrounds, different towns, different colleges, different family structures. Without school we were free to go our separate ways, and there was little left to hold us together.
After about an hour, I was ready to go home. I was ready to go back to Garrison, to my husband Stacy, my friends, my church and my life. What used to be is no more and can never be again. Those 30 years associated with school and teaching are now a part of my past. For all practical purposes the door on those 30 years is closed.
But with the closing of one door there is always an opportunity to open another. I have taken that opportunity and am as busy and involved with my life today as I was before. Yes, things are different. I miss my children who live miles away. I miss my deceased husband Roger who died at age 57. But I don't miss the relationship I had with my friends. I really don't, and I realized why at Helen's wedding when I discovered that those relationships are different now because the common denominator of career is gone.
Now my relationships here in Garrison, Texas are based on a common denominator as broad as all of eternity. As I remember all the way back to 1946 when I was 7 years old, many of the very same Garrison friends I have today attended First Methodist Church with me more than one half century ago.
Our relationship transcends common denominators like school, profession, students and teachers. Our relationship is anchored in the spirit of God's Church as we share our blessings here in Garrison, Texas, where we are bound by the past, the present and the future.

Stacy Adams Celebrates 75 Big Ones

Stacy Adams is a Garrison, Texas native as were his parents and grandparents dating back to the 1890's when his family settled in the Henning and Caledonia communities. Young Stacy Adams lived not more than a quarter-mile from his Adams grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins and about nine miles from the Caledonia community where his Skelton relatives on his mother's side lived.
Both sides of his family, Adams and Skeltons, produced 18 Uncles and Aunts and approximately 60 - 65 first cousins. More than one century later the Adams/Skelton relatives are disbursed all over the nation and certainly number well into the hundreds.
One of Stacy's earliest relationships, excluding that of his mother Mellie and father Jimmy, was the relationship he had with his only sibling, his sister Jewel Long. Jewel was fourteen years his senior and related more like a loving mother than a sister.
When asked about his sister Jewel, Stacy said, "We always got along and as far as I can remember, we never had an argument or even a cross word between us. She was gentle and loving and treated me much better than I deserved."

Stacy's East Texas heritage and all of those relatives undoubtedly molded his value system instilling a true love for his family and country life. The happy days of the mid-30's, 40's and 50's imprinted his character in such a way that he could never escape the idealistic essence of Garrison, Texas.
The amazing thing about Stacy's life-style today is that he
is still immersed in that perfect hometown essence, viewing present day events through experienced eyes that remember all of the details of the "wonder years" of days gone by.
According to Stacy, "If you have good memories of home as I have, you want to be there with your friends and family. Even the nostalgia associated with the hard times and sorrows of life makes home more meaningful. Growing up in the country is probably somewhat like growing up in Heaven. I remember it to be a kid's world with a whole town to explore and good friends to hang around with. It was then and still is today the best place to be."

But------that was THEN, 1932, and this is NOW, Seventy-five years later - 2007.
Of course the past is what makes all of us who we are today and that includes our guest of honor Stacy Adams who on March 28 will be 75 years old, that's three-quarters of a century, folks. The passage of time has NOT altered Stacy. The person I just described, the one who loves country life and loves his family, is the same Stacy Adams sitting here today.
Today's Stacy is, of course, my husband, Jim's father, Patsy's, Bud's, Annie's and John's beloved Unk. He is also a grandfather, an uncle, a great-uncle, a stepfather a step-grandfather and a step-great grandfather. He is all of the above as well as your good buddy and, as always, the perfect person to ride the country roads and hang out with.

Thank you for being here today to celebrate this
once-in-a-lifetime event: 75 Big Ones

Jeanette Kemp has the Last WORD

Our Aunt Jeanette had the last word on just about everything. Well maybe not everything in the whole world but everything that truly mattered. She was, in fact, the last word on everything that had anything to do with gardening and God's bounty. She was the undisputed expert on how to plant it, pick it, prepare it, can it, freeze it, season it, cook it, serve it and clean it up after everyone had their fill and left the table.

She was most certainly the last word on sharing the bounty of her garden. If you visited the Kemps, you left with a package of peas or a bag of tomatoes, and if you looked particularly needy, she would throw in an Angel Trumpet plant just for good measure. If you were not fortunate enough to visit her at home, she would hunt you down with a cake or pie -- just ask the ladies at the beauty shop, or the folks at the bank or news office or the bridge club.

In addition to being the last word on gardening, Our Aunt Jeanette also had the last word on family heritage. She may well hold the record on hosting large family reunions at her home with approximately 22 annual events chalked up to her credit, come rain or come shine. She and Delbert arranged their lives around planting, picking and family reunion planning. When you talked to Jeanette in the spring of the year, there was a special excitement in her voice because she was on deadline for another Pruett family reunion always scheduled for the second Saturday in April.

Jeanette was the youngest of ten children and she knew the benefit of a loving family relationship. Because she had a loving family as a child, she wanted that experience to be a part of the lives of her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Her love of family is exemplified in the effort she expended on the annual Pruett Reunion. Remember she didn't host just one or two events. She carried the family torch for twenty-two years. Thanks to Aunt Jeanette, that reunion has now taken on a life of its own with a whole new generation of Pruett descendents still coming together in the spring of the year to celebrate their love of family.

Jeanette truly loved the life she and her beloved Delbert created on their Cedar Bluff Road Farm. They worked together carving their home from raw land and loving every blessing of nature that God sent their way: the morning sun, the evening breezes, the spring rains, the March winds, and winter's cold. Every day was a gift and an opportunity to serve their purpose as stewards of God's beautiful, bountiful earth.

Aunt Jeanette, I still want my cleomy seeds you promised me the other day. I'll plant them and I'll think of you. We'll all attend the Pruett Reunion in the spring of the year knowing that you planted those family heritage seed for our benefit and the benefit of our children and our children's children.

Aunt Jeanette, the last word is yours. We know it to be just one, perfect word and that ONE word is LOVE.