When he prepared to go to the Senate in Austin, he asked permission of my grandmother in Bullard to take her son, Ellwood, to Austin as his page. The session and the people had a profound impact. After the legislative session ended, my father remained in Austin, having gained a life-long fascination with history and political science. He was quite proud to show us the photo of his group of pages from that session.
By the age of 15, he was writing for a newspaper in Austin. He had his own apartment, and was self-supporting in the Depression years which saw so many out of work. After WWII's service in the U.S. Navy, his fascination with history took him for two degrees from Sam Houston, and into the doctoral program at the University of Texas.
As an honor student there, he was quick to give credit for his introduction to the greater world outside of his very small home-town, and to the world of learning, to that experience serving as page to Tom Pollard. The man was a public servant with a very long reach, and it is good to see him honored.
All of us stand at the very "present" end of a line of influences and impressions left by people who have cared about us. And the history which we write is absolutely just as important as the history we have received.
May you write well today!
No comments:
Post a Comment