A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
and loving favour rather than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1 KJV)
My inspiration for this article came from a visit I made earlier today to Union County High School. There I began talking with office staff about mistakes that are made with respect to people’s names.
An article of mail had arrived for band instructor Hunter Collins. The package was not addressed to “Hunter”, but to “Hunger”.

One of the few records we had when I was growing up was titled A Night at the Grand Old Opry. The liner on back of the cover of the Harmony label album reads in part:
The Grand Old Opry is probably the most popular showcase for country music. Originated in 1925 by radio station WSM in Nashville, Tennessee, the Opry still packs people into Ryman Auditorium by the thousands every Saturday
night . . .
You’ll hear Billy Walker’s great . . . “Funny How Time Slips Away” . . .

I am most always a traditionalist. Once a movie or song has been successfully filmed or recorded, I find the quality of re-makes to be great disappointments. There are for me two exceptions, one a movie, the other a song.

Welcome to another new year, Dear Reader!
One of the things that helped me most during the past year was the philosophy of our current Director of the Union County Schools, Mr. Greg Clay. He has impressed upon the Central Office staff that obstacles are opportunities.
Perhaps if I’d had his vision my life might have taken a different path during the year just past.

How strange it seemed when during the Christmas break of 2023 that I should suddenly have so vividly remembered something that has never left my mind.
As I do practically every day, my eyes wandered to the picture of the old house where I spent most of my growing up years. It was the original home of the Burl Warwick family, located on Old Luttrell Road, near the intersection with Highway 61. My family rented the house from Jack Warwick, and we moved there just as I entered first grade.

As I write, the song “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” is on my mind. In reality, other than decorations and the endless Hallmark movies, and the absence of leaves on the trees, it wouldn’t look like Christmas at all. There is no snow, though the temperature is dropping below freezing, and a brisk wind is blowing, making the air feel colder due to the wind chill factor. A more appropriate song might be “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”.

Is somebody trying to tell me something?
I have finally reached that point in my career when people have begun to ask me, without my broaching the subject, when I plan to retire.
Perhaps worse, I have been getting multiple calls daily on my cell phone to discuss the burial insurance options that the state of Tennessee can provide for me.

Last week, Dear Reader, I promised to tell you about part two of the Mincey/Martin time-share vacation (ad)venture.
I related last week that it was in 1996 that my friend Mark Martin and I each got the same enticing letter in the mail. The only difference was the name on the header. Mine proclaimed in bold letters, “RONNIE MINCEY! PACK YOUR BAGS!”

It was the summer of 1996. My friend Mark Martin and I each got the same enticing letter in the mail. The only difference was the name on the header. Mine proclaimed in bold letters, “RONNIE MINCEY! PACK YOUR BAGS!”

When I was a child, my dad worked for a while for the school system in maintenance. I remember he bought a cabinet model stereo and a wringer washing machine from Shoffner’s Furniture and Appliance. He had Irby Monroe make a stand for the small stereo to sit on so that I couldn’t reach inside and mess with the mechanics while those 33 1/3 RPM records were played. The joke was on Dad—I stood in a chair and watched the records spin on the turntable. I loved to listen to that stereo.

Sandra Kay (White) Nunley attended the University of Tennessee from 1966 to 1972. She graduated in June 1972 with a B. S. She received her professional certification in September 1972. She returned to UT in the summer of 1974 through 1975 for additional coursework, receiving credit for 45 hours.
From 1974 through 1981 Sandra worked for the Douglas-Cherokee and Mountain Valley EOA Headstart programs in Sevier, Claiborne, Campbell and Union counties.

I came today in my archives across a pamphlet of great historical interest to me. Mr. Clifford Stiner, prominent Union County resident, was the author. The pamphlet reveals Mr. Stiner’s occupations/hobbies/interests as historian, pilot, politician, newspaper editor, and author.

I planned to spend fall break with my relatives in Cincinnati. I decided to leave Sunday afternoon after church and return home on Wednesday evening so I could be back in town to teach my Thursday evening community college class.

My Aunt Fleetie Thomas introduced me to Mark Twain.
This is one of the flukes in my reading experience, as my aunt was neither highly educated or literary. I was staying with her for a few days during a summer when I was in the upper elementary grades. Either she bought me the volume that contained two of Twain’s most popular books (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), or I bought it myself. I do remember it came from a rummage sale. I loved that book.

Over the past several months I have had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a fine gentleman, Mr. Ted Green. He came to the Union County Board of Education offices to find information on Plainview School. He and I have examined the registers from teachers who taught at that school from 1932 until the school’s closing in 1970.
I am including below the body of an email Mr. Green sent to me regarding a planned gathering for anyone connected with Plainview School. This email is intact (with minor editing) as sent to me.

On most Saturdays I am not obligated to do anything other than mow my yard or “piddle” around the house. One such Saturday I was hauling my trash to throw away. There was a lot of stuff that could only be placed in a “big” dumpster.
It just so happened on that particular day there were two men, each with a truck, also depositing into the “big” dumpsters. It seemed both had already thrown their trash away, but they were in the lot, talking at great length to each other, just exactly in position to block my access to get rid of my own junk.

I remember when I was a kid in the 1970s and 1980s there was a Mazola Corn Oil commercial. I searched Google to see if I could find that old commercial.
I was, of course, successful, and I learned some things that I had forgotten, and other things that I did not know.

I usually don’t brag on my own work, but this article surely must be a good one. At least it was that good. How do I know? My computer “ate” it just as I was copying it to a jump drive. Let’s see if I can re-create it and make it even better.
I was going into the men’s bathroom at work a few weeks ago when a sign to the left caught my eye: Meals And Memories Are Made Here

A few days ago I was having lunch with a wonderful lady that I have known since she was a child. At one time in my youth and her childhood I served as her Vacation Bible School teacher.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about our lunch. The two of us have been friends practically all our lives. We had dined there before with other people, always without fanfare. On this particular day, all proceeded as would be expected. The waiter took our orders.

There was an episode of the legendary television western Bonanza titled “He Was Only Seven”. The episode featured famous actor Roscoe Lee Browne, who portrayed a grandfather whose grandson (who was only seven) died from a gunshot he received during a bank robbery. The episode was written by Michael Landon (Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0529575/fullcredits?ref_=ttfc_ql_1 Retrieved August 7, 2023).