I'd never seen anyone as fast

Gravelly news by Glenna Goodson

Two 90 year old women, Rose and Barb had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear Rose was dying, Barb visited her every day. One day Barb said "Rose, we both loved playing women's soft ball all our lives and we played all through high school. Please do me one favor--when you get to Heaven somehow you have to to let me know if there's soft ball in Heaven. Rose looked up at Barb and said "if it's at all possible, I'll do that for you." Rose passed on. At midnight a few nights later Barb was awakened from a sound sleep by a flashing light and a voice calling, "Barb, Barb." "Who is it". "Barb, it's me Rose."__"You're not Rose, she just died." "I'm telling you, it's Rose, "I'm in Heaven and I have some really good news anda little bad news."Tell me the good news first,""The good news is that there is soft ball in Heaven. Better yet, all of our buddies we played soft ball with, are here. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it'salways Spring time and we can play softball all we want, and we never get tired." "That's fantastic," said Barb. "It's beyond our wildest dreams !!So what's the bad news. "You're pitching Tuesday."


Sunday the 20th,I was to play the piano that night at my Rover Baptist Church so I went early and attended our Butterflies meeting. This is the ladies' organization in our church with Sarah Light as our leader. Our program was "A cup of Coffee". We had 4 different kinds of coffee--different sweetners and creamers. Then Sarah brought out that when we eagerly get ourselves a cup of coffee, we do not want cold coffee--nor do we want bitter, nor lukewarm coffee. So compare that to us as Christians. Are we Cold, Bitter, or Lukewarm Christians? It wasa good program.

Monday night, the 21st, I attended the Women of Faith meeting at the Promise Land Facility at Wing. Kathy Lott was in charge of the program and it was a lot of fun. For refreshments we had about 6 different kinds of pizza that the Lighthouse Pastor, Dan Osolin, prepared.It was very good pizza and we had a large salad and Cake for dessert.I urge you ladies of the Valley to mark on your calendar the 3rd Monday night of each month and come meet with us. I met Sherrilly Forrest that sometimes writes a Plainview column in the Record. I was impressed to learn that she had taught school in Ola for 39 years. Guess what? I won a door prize---a nice watch--I have won a door prize every time and kathy Lott asked if I had put my name in the box several times. !!

I'm glad Anna Jewell Fryar is writing her Briggsville news again. She has been ill and I am glad to see she is better.

I met the couple at Nola last week that are thinking of opening up the Nola store again. They are from Michigan. I wish them well. They are very friendly, kind speaking and very interesting to talk too.

Wednesday night I went to Onyx

Missionary Baptist Church's revival with Kathy and Lacey. I was doubly blessed. The evangelist was Travis Lane. That man really knows the Word of God. His messaage just blessed my heart. When I hear a sermon, I don't want it to jut appeal to my emotions, i want to LEARN and learn I did from Bro. Lane. Kim Yates shared with me that Bro. Lane in the 60's and early 70's,was pastor at Onyx and Valley Home. This dedicated pastor shared with me that he has recently resigned after pastoring a church in Umpire for 40 years. I said I was doubly blessed---the other blessing was the music of the Yates family. The 10 year old son of Tommy and Annette Yatres, Morgan, led the singing. That young man fascinated me. He knew the music of the songs so well that even in the difficult parts of the song--not a mistake didhe make. He probably thought I was wierd because I was watching him so intently, not believing he could sing his part without missing a beaat !! I asked his Dad how could a 10 year old know music that well. He said Morgan always listened to them sing when he was a baby on up and then hestartedsinging. Hesaid Morgan was very competitive and wanted to be the best in whatever he did. Well, Morgan, you're the best 10 year old singer I have ever heard. I think music should be happy and enthusiastic and not draggy and slow and boy when Lanny and his group start singing and playing, you are really praising the Lord. There were 18 young people that night at church which was another blessing.

I just can't sing the praises enough of Janet Smith of Plainview as a beautician. I went to get a color last week. Always that has been a chore--putting a special cap over your hair after the color is put on and you wait and wait and they check under that cap. Janet plops that color on your hair in a few seconds and says "go sit and let it process." In a very few minutes she washed my hair, put me under the dryer and then fixed it--and it was beautiful and the color was perfect. I told her I'd never seen anyone as fast as she was and she said she cut a guy's hair one day and he told her later, she was so fast that as he went back to his truck, he wondered, "did I really get a haircut?" and he looked in the mirror to make sure.

At the beauty shop I met a lady that told me she ;lived in Gravelly when she was in elementary school and that she went to Gravelly school. Shesaid Mrs. Ophelia Peters was her teacher and i told her I also went to Gravelly school and Mrs. Ophelia was also my teacher. Her name was Eloise Davis Welker, Then I remembered her. It was neat. She said Bruce Hunnicutt was her boy friend in 6th grade. She went to FV for 2 years and then moved to Plainview. Her family lived in the Pugh's yard at Rover for awhile. Eloise said, ":Because of Ruby Nell Pugh I am a Christian. "!! What a testimony as to Ruby Nell's Christian life.

Remember this---If you want something you have never had--you must do something you've never done.

blue green water as far as eye could see

Gravelly News by Glenna Goodson

Linda Burnett, 23 and a resident of San Diego was visiting her in-laws and while there went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries. Several people noted her sitting in her car with the windows rolled up and with her eyes closed with both hands behind the back of her head. A customer who had been at the store for awhile went over to the car. He noticed that Linda's eyes were open and she looked very strange. He askedher was she okay and Linda said she hadbeen shot in the back of her head and had been holding her brains in for over an hour. The man called the paramedics who broke into the car cause it was locked and Linda refused to move her hands from her head. What had happened was a Pillsblury biscuit canister had exploded from the heat, making a loud noise that sounded like a gunshot and the wad of dough hit her in the back of the head. When she reached back, she felt the dough and thought it was her brains. She tried to hold her brains in for over an hour until someone noticed and came to her aid. Linda is a blonde and a democrat, but I'm certain that doesnm't have anything to do with it.

The flooding was so awful and when I see where a major part of the flooding was at Gilkey Creek--I think that' sure is no creek--looks like a river to me. " I thought of the 4 major divisions of water, a creek, a river, an Ocean and t hen a Sea. Each one is supposed to have more water then the other. I was not a very good student of geography but I've seen the AtlanticOcean and then when I went to the Holy Land, we stayed in a hotel that was close enough to the Mediterranean Sea, we could walk and view its beauty..That was the most beautiful enpanse of water I'd ever seen. --blue green water as far as eye could see..Then we went to the Sea of Galilee and you could see from shore to shore. This small expanse of water was a Sea!! boggles my mind. So I think I will do some research on this. But I know one thing that all these creeks around here turned into rivers and it was scary just looking at that water.

During our '49 class reunion, Maggie Sullivan read a who's who that was in our little school paper back then. Calton Highfill was t he flirtiest, Vernon McClelland was t he wittiest, Billy Euel Highfill was the cutest boy, Dortha Copeland was the cutest girl, Ann Beth Swaim was the best girl athlete, DennusCastleberry was t he best boy athlete, Glenna JeanOglesbee was the most likely to succeed girl and Junior Mobley was the boy most likely to succeed. There were others but I have forgotten. It'sso fun to go back andsee what we thought back then.

Billy Jack and Margaret Bogle have just returned from a trip to San Diego . I told Billy Jack when I visited there many years ago I thought I had died and gone t o Heaven, it was so beautiful. Every where you looked there were either flowers or blooming bushes. He agreed that it wasa beautiful city. Their hotel was in walking distance ofthe
Maritime Museum where the WW 2 aircraft carrier, the Midway, was anchored and used for a museum. One Pirate ship was on display. They visited the GasLight district, Old Town and Lajaya For several years, Margaret was a dietician ar Ar. Children's Hospital and then UAMS. For the past 10 years she has worked for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture doing a nutrition research project in the Mississippi river delta. 32 counties in Ar.,
Miss, and La, are involved. Her office is in Little Rock but a lot of travelling is involved. . Gee maybe sometime when she is travelling she can leave Billy Jack home and take me--it sounds so very interesting.

The Junior Rhoades funeral was last Friday. Another person gone, that I have known all my life. My sympathy to the family.

I'm sure many of yu readers remember Jesse Reed fro m the Aly/Chula area Jesse was a hell fire- damnation Baptist preacher. His revivals brought in many, many people. Jesse departed from this life many years ago but his widow is stil living in Little Rock. Billy Jack found that she lived only a short distance from him. He dropped by to see Mrs. Reed a few days agoShe was glad to see him andgave him a tour of thecabin where Jesse had been born. The old log cabin where Jesse and his10 brothers and sisters were all born had been moved from Aly some time ago and now sits on the same lot with Mrs. Reed's house. An antique iron bedstead was still there where all 11 Reed children were born. A side room had been built where the children all slept but this part was not moved. Mrs/ Reed gave Billy Jack a copy of a book Jesse had written Jesse had used the cabin as his office in his latter years andhisdesk where he had sat while he wrote hisbook, wasstill there. Mrs.Reed is still very alert at 90 yearsofage--livesalone and still drivesher car. I had toldBilly Jack that I thought Jesse wasMelba Reed'sUncle but Melba said they were not even related. Jesse was a very good friend of her Dad andUncle..It was amusing to me when Billy Jack wrote that he went to one of Jesse's revivals at Bluffton when he was a kid. He said after the sermon, he was scared that the devil was going to get him and throw him into the fire !!

I have not gone to the First Place meeting in about 4 weeks. First we did not meet during Easter--then I was sick and was afraid to drive over the Mtn. then there was the flooding. so I have not lost any more weight and when Julie puts in our '49 graduate picture, you will see I am the only fat person of our class--how awful!!!But I am going to get started back when I come backfrom OKC. I plan to go to OKC and spend most of the month of
May. May is our birthday month --my daughter, two grandchildren and myself have birthdays so it will be fun to celebrate with them. I am sorry I will miss the FV graduation since my grand-nephew, Cameron Swaim graduates but I am missing my little great grandchildren so badly I really want to see them. Part of the time Iwill spend at the Lake with Fred and Russell. Russ caught several fish last week and Fred said they had fish suppers for a couple of days.

Do you enjoy Legends? I really do and Billy Jack shared one with me I thought was interesting. It seems there is a Crownover grave locaated between Bluffton and the Aly, Chula area. The legend is that the man namedCrownover stole a big, gray horse from Perry County.A posse was gathered and they were soon on his trail. Theycaught up with the thief near Bluffton ,where he was killed as he slept and buried on the spot. Billy Jack'sson, Mike, came up with the Legend. Billy Jack said Mike probably heard it from his grandpa, John Lowe.

Remember to Live Well--Laugh Often--and Love with all your heart.

crash his hands into the cake

Gravelly News by Glenna Goodson

Hospital regulations requires wheel chairs for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found an elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet who insisted he did not need my help to leave the hospital. After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator. On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him. "I don't know, ' he said, "She's still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown."

I have been e-mailing Roy ost, as I toldyou in last week's column. He told me something I sure did not know--that Shelton Dishongh was their basketball coach for one year--1957 at FV. I did not know Mr. Shelton was ever at FV. I knew he was at Little Texas and Gravelly. went to FV and got a '57 annual and there he was. Mr. Shelton andhis3 boys lived with Mrs. Lou, his mother who lived in the Mulbverry Lane, for awhile. I remember the 3 boys coming over to our house and we'd play on the front porch.

Igot a ohone call from Orange, Texas last week. Maggie Nell Cooper McClell and called me. She was a '50 graduate of FV. We had talked almost an hour and Vernon, her husband, came in and Maggie Nell says, "I am talking to Glenna Jean"andhe said "OGLESBEE" and got on the other phone. We talked another 30 minutes. Vernon and I were talking about the trip we high school kids took in '49 to Petit Jean. We were in Roger Cox's old truck with sideboards. We leaned against the side boards and they came off, dumping all of us in the street at Plainview. Vernon was talking about how we were hustled into the drug store. They had a. Dr. there to look us over and he told Vernon to help him. Vernon was supposed to pour alcohol on cotton balls and rub our scratches. Well, Andrew Raper really had his belly scratched up and Vernon just poured the alcohol in his hands and smaked it onto Andrew's belly ! He said Andrew screamed and almost tore up the drug store getting out. I have a picture of Vernon that day at Petit Jean along with Mr. Whorton, who was our Math teacher. In some of my pictures for that day, there is one of Charles Daniel with a white bandage around his wrist. There are pictures of Robert Gwen Buford and Melba Lemons--such wonderful people that have left this life and I so miss them.

I was at FV Thursday and Bruce Lee was using a computer across from the library to bring up the weather forecast and the water levels. Bruce Lee tooks at Mr. Abrams and says, "I know what we need to do, we need to offer a sacrifice to get the water down." I tell him I know exactly what we can use as a sacrifice--his bull. !! Boy, I got a LOOK and he said "Ms. Glenna, that bull is worth more then you will ever see."

Kelly, of the Plainview Drug Store went to the Sav-a-sum to get them some supplies and food one dayl ast week.. Well, it was one of those days where it was raining so hard and the rivers were getting over Hwy. 28. But as Kelly was getting the supplies, she was praying and she thanked the Lord for the rain, telling Him she knew He allowed the rain for a reason But as she got back to the drug store and started to get out of the car, her arms loaded with supplies, all of a sudden the rain just gushed down on her. Kelly says, "Lord, this is not funny !"

Friday, the 11th, our FV graduation class of 49 met at the Sullivan's at Russellville. Those attending were Calton and Lu Highfill from Texas, Claude and Pat Williams of Little Rock, Brehman and Marie Herrin of Tulsa, Melba Reed of Story and Me from Gravelly. and of course Tom andMaggie Sullivan. Some of us had brought high school pictures and Maggie read our Will andProphecy from that graduation class. She also had a Who's Who and it was so fun. Maggie prepared declicious food and her dining room table was so beautiful. I met Melba at Rover and rode with her to Russellville. We really enjoyed telling our tales of long ago--it really took us back to the "good-ole days."

The former, Billie Juanita Stephens, that lives in Ala. sent me two books of poems she has had published. She also sent me a song she had written for her son and the music director of her church had helped her publish the song. The poems are so beautiful and inspirational. I cried as I read many of them. She really has a gift of writing that truly blesses those of us that read her poems. The song is wonderful and so professional. Who would have ever thought a shy, little girl from FV would ever have shown such talent ?

My sister, Kathy had a birthday Saturday and her little great-grandson, Wyatt, celebrated his first birthday, Sunday at Kathy's and Lacey's home. Kathy fixed food and had relatives and friends to celebrate with Wyatt. They placed him in a high chair and gave him a small replica of his big cake. He put his hands in the cake and at first just tried to get the gooey stuff off his hand. . Then he put a hand in his mouth and that's all it took when hesaw it tasted good. It was fun to watch that handsome little boy just smile and crash his hands into the cake.

Remember you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It maybe the last time you see them.

"Road Out"

Gravelly News by Glenna Goodson

Bubba walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said "shingles" so she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat. Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out andasked Bubba what he had. . Bubba said "shingles" so she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examination room. A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had and Bubba said shingles" so the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram and told Bubba to take off his clothes and wait for the Doctor.. An hoour later the doctor came and found Bubba sitting patiently, in the nude, andasked Bubba what he had--Bubba said "shingles". The Dr. said"Where, and Bubba says "Outside on my truck, "where do you want me to unload them?"


I met my friend, Melba Reed, at Rover and rode with her to Betty Sue George's funeral which was last Thursday at Danville Methodist Church. I got to ride in
Melba's new Mercury with sun roof and all. A funeral always has an element of great sadness but if a funeral can be inspirational, that funeral was. The music was beautiful and the ladies that read a tribute to Betty showed to some extent, what a magnificent lady Betty Sue George was. Her pastor did a wonderful job and spoke such comforting words from the Word of God. God bless and comfort her family.

I called my cousin, Dortha Putman, last week. She has recently had a cataract removed and unfortunately, so far, it has been as mine was. Her vision is no better. I am disappointed that the surgery did not work for Dortha or me. Maybe it is genetic--do you think?

The last album Johnny Cash recorded just before his death, is so sad but I am glad I found it at Lifeway. Until the last few weeks of his life he worked on his last album. I heartily recommend you purchase this album of beautiful sacred songs.

A lady came into the Workman store last week looking for information on the Owens and Parker families. Her mother is an Owens and lives at Waldron. The lady that was looking for the information is from Broken Arrow, Ok. She mentioned the Kilgore family from Aly as being part of the family and I told her I knew them and had graduated from high school with Bruce Lynn, who was this lady's cousin.Robin Workman found the history of Scott County Book and the lady found several pictures of her relatives. She found a picture of Nola School and the students and teachers. She said"My mother went to that school." I told her I also went to Nola school and what years did her mother go. When she answered 1939, told her I went there in '38 and' 39 so I'm sure I knew her mother when we were 6 and 7 years old.

Last Friday, I really needed to go to Plainview. I got just below Rover and there was a road sign that said, ":Road Out."Well, I couldsee a long ways andno water any whereso I thought the highway dept. just didn't take their sign down after t he flood andI kept going. Icamet o another sign of RoadOut and there was water now. truck was coming and I watrched him go through the water andI thought, "it is not deep, Ican go through" so I did. A highway truck was there and a guy reminded me I had gone past two signs that said "Road Out"--he said heshould give me a ticket but he'd let me turn around and go back home, which I did . And here it is, the next Monday and the road is still out and I cannot get to Plainview. People try to tell me how I can go to Danville and then back to Plainview, but knowing how I get lost, I would probably wind up in Little Rock, so I guess I will not go to Plainview.

Johnny Turner is having a hard time . The main problem last week was his blood thinner. When he finally went to L.R. which probably saved his life, his blood measured 8 and it's not supposed to be over 3. So Dr. Abel took him off the blood thinner for a few days. He's feeling better but went through several days of feeling just really bad. I want Johnny well again.

I e-mailed Roy Cost in Conway last week. We were hoping Roy could come to the next FV school reunion, since it is his 50th year after his graduation. Because Roy has severe Vertigo, he says he cannot come and sing or play, or even speak. Roy had to quit touring in 1999 because of his vertigo. But he still writes songs and is very popular on some FM stations in Ar and does really well on the charts in Europe. He is #57 on the Major Indepoendent Artists of the World Chart., which is poublished out of Holland. They do a top 200 and that is over 2,000 artists, such as Johnny Cash, Coway Twitty, etc. Roy does his recordings in his home in Conway. He says that he writes several songs in a month and then takes a rest. An artist in Sweden has recorded Roy's song, "It's My Memory Thinking." Well, we have 3 great musical artists from Arkansas---Johnny Cash, Glenn Campbell and Roy Cost.

I have a new e-mail buddy --Bethany Light, a young person in my Rover Baptist Church. Bethany sends me neat things which Ireally appreciate--none of the Obama trash or Oprah--oh ,please, I am so tired of that stuff---and NO Obama nor Oprah are the anti-christ, which I can prove by the Word of God. It would be nice if everybody had a checking device on their computer, as several people do, that checks out articles as to whether they are true or not So please if you have been sending me Obama stuff, please do not do that anymore.

Think on this---Don't worry about who doesn't like you , who has more, or who's doing what. Instead let';s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.