CAIN

Diane Michele Thomas!

Diane is a beautiful young Christian lady. She is active in the youth group at church, and is also a member of the church orchestra. She has attended several Christian leadership conferences and enjoys working with children. She has taught VBS for the past two years, helps in the nursery when possible and helped teach children’s choir one year. She has also helped with block parties (street evangelism) that our church has sponsored and helped with mission trip and other mission projects.

This is the beginning of Diane’s senior year at Vidor High School. She is currently number 9 out of 350 students is her class. She has been very active at school as a member of First Priority (Christian School Group), National Honor Society (NHS), Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), Future Teachers of America (FTA), Big Bucs Against Drinking and Drugs (BBADD), Golf Team and Band and has held offices in BBADD, FTA and Band. Diane is a gifted musician, playing the flute and piccolo, and became section leader as a tenth grader. She made All-Region Band all five years she auditioned, and was selected for Texas Baptist All State Band the only time she auditioned. This past year she participated in the State Sole/Ensemble Contest in Austin and has been in the top band every year.

Diane will be attending Lamar this year in conjunction with her regular classes to get a jump on college. Because of her class load, she has chosen not to participate in band this year, but will continue to participate in orchestra at church and give lessons to younger students. Diane plans to attend Texas A&M University next year and get a BBA in Business Administration before attending Pharmacy school at University of Houston. She looks forward to finding the young man God has chosen for her and beginning her own family someday.

Diane has been such a joy. God has blessed us immensely with Diane and Keith. It has been an honor to be their parents and friends. Monte and I can’t imagine life without them. Thank you for sharing them with us.

Judy is the granddaughter of Etta Cain Edgmon. She recently provided the update for us: Linda: I will write a little background on myself, etc. I have an office in my home, plus we live on 700 acres of a working cattle ranch, and it doesn't leave me with a lot of time. (I know I am not alone in this time thing!). My days would be better if they were 40 hours long instead of 24.

I am married to Jay Easley since 6-7-75. This is a second marriage for both of us. I have one daughter by my first husband. Her name is Donna and she is 35 and married with two children. Cameron age 12 and Rebecca age 8. My husband had three children by his first wife, but they were grown when we married. My birthday is 2-7-45. Donna and family live in Victoria and she in going to college to be an RN.

As I stated we live on our ranch and have cows and horses, etc. My department is caring for the horses. We have 5 right now, and there is always one or more injured that I am doctoring. We take our horses on trail rides and every August go up to New Mexico for a couple of weeks with friends and camp out and ride in the mountains. We only pleasure ride and occasionally work cattle with the horses.

My husband had a roofing company for 45 years that he sold along with a large apartment complex. We moved our office from Victoria to our home last December as we don't have so much to manage anymore. I keep all the books.

I have lots of memories of my Grandmother and Granddad as we always spent a month or more each summer at their farm. We grew up in New Mexico and as soon as school was out, our Mother (Marie Cunningham) packed us up and off we drove to Kilgore, TX. The trip would take 8 or more hours and it was always extremely hot weather. Of course, in those days there was no air conditioning in the cars and we drove with all the windows down. Mother packed sandwiches so we didn't stop to eat. We usually stopped somewhere along the way at a cookie shop and got a bag of cookies and sometimes we would stop at a watermelon stand where they had picnic tables and eat a watermelon. When we got to Dallas TX, my Mother would always make us lay down in the floorboard and be quiet as she was nervous about driving through downtown Dallas and all the traffic. I am sure three hot, tired and fussy kids did not help! After we got through Dallas, we would be thirsty and would stop in Terrell TX for water. The water was mostly undrinkable as it tasted like mud. We were told by the people in Terrell that it was the time of year when the Lake turned over.

We called our Grandmother and Granddad "Mom" and "Dad". This was Etta and Henry Edgmon. Mom and Dad were always glad to see us, but showed little emotion and were very quiet people.

While we stayed at Mom and Dad's my Mother would make us go outside right after breakfast and we could only come back in for water. At lunch, if we had a cooked lunch we came in and ate, but if it was sandwiches we were given a sandwich to eat outside. The sandwiches were usually bologna, and we had Kool Aid to drink. (We did not drink Kool Aid at home and thought this was strange.) We stayed outside all day until supper when we came in and took a bath in an old washtub in the middle of the kitchen. We were usually covered with seed ticks and picked ticks every night. We did not have ticks in New Mexico and looked forward to going home to get away from them. Mom and Dad lived on a small farm and we would go into the piney woods and play. There was a small creek that ran through the farm and we would catch crawfish and tadpoles in the water. We were city kids and everything about exploring the woods was wonderful and exciting to us. Dad had a horse that was out in the pasture. I do not know if Dad rode the horse or used him to plow with, but I know I wanted to ride that horse more than anything. When I was about 12, I went into the pasture and walked up to the horse. He was gentle and so I decided I was going to ride him. Of course, I had absolutely no idea how to ride a horse or the consequences of what I was about to do. I managed to get on the horse, (no bridle or saddle and I was in shorts and barefoot) but he walked under a tree and the limbs were so low, that I either had to get off or get raked off. I got off and the horse managed to stand on the top of both of my bare feet. When I was finally able to rescue my feet they were blue from bruises. I knew my Mother would whip me good if she knew what I did, so I never told her, and she never saw the bruised feet. I learned a good lesson about horses that day, but never lost my desire to ride a horse. I never got to ride a horse until I married Jay when I was 30 yrs old., and now I ride several times a week.

You may print any part of this you would like. I just kind of got started and went on and on. Remembering the past is a good way to hold on to loved ones who have passed away, thank you for letting me share with you.

Donald Hilburn: My mother is Jessie Gertrude Cain Hilburn, the penultimate and last surviving child born to Alan and Mary Lou Belle Cain. She was born 2 May 1910, at Patterson Bluff, near Scranton AR. My father was Franklin Meredith Hilburn, the only son and oldest child of Franklin Pierce and Annie Grace Hilburn. Meredith was born 6 Sep 1913 and crossed over 19 Oct 1996.

Jessie, her mother and two sisters Ada and Bessie “migrated” from the Arkansas farm to northwest Louisiana to be near family who had settled and worked in the oil patch around Oil City, Haynesville and Cotton Valley. It was while living and working at Cotton Valley that Jessie first met my Dad. Meredith liked what he saw and invited Jessie out for a coke at the local café, and the rest is history as they say! They were wonderful human beings and parents, teaching good values including good work ethics and integrity. And maybe most importantly they taught us love and respect, and absolutely demanded that we get our education so that we would not have to “struggle” in the world. Before my sisters beat their chest about our parents, I want you to read what some relatives had to say.

Melba Ward Dupree: In my earliest memories, “Big Jess” is there. She is my mother’s sister. She was almost 8 years old when she lost her dad. This left Grandma with three young daughters to raise. Having an independent spirit, Grandma tried to make it on her own with the girls. But when things didn’t work out, they would spend time living in our home or other family members, “Big Jess” seemed to spend more time with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Olon than she did with us. This is the first time I ever voiced my feelings, but I resented this somewhat. I was always very happy when she came to be with us for a while.

She is eleven years older than I am. We share the same birthday month – May, and this was always very special to me. As for her name, “Big Jess”, I am not sure where it originated; but I suspect I may have had something to do with it. Maybe not. It just fit her anyway and that is who she was until I grew older. Now she is Jess. I never called her, “Aunt”. Perhaps this was because she seemed more like an older sister.

Jess was the first member of our family to graduate from high school. We all knew she was so smart. My dad was a strong believer in education. He was so pleased with her graduating that he bought her an Elgin watch, spent $40.00 for it, which was a lot of money at that time. I don’t know how old I was – probably at least seven or eight years old – but I know I was old enough to do better. I got started crying at her graduation exercise and Mom finally had to take me outside. We stood by our car and she really fussed at me. I caused her to miss the program, also. I don’t know why I felt so sad.

Following her graduation, someone in the family paid her tuition to go to business school. I can not recall too many details, but I do remember the adults discussing her progress. If I remember correctly, she was the top student in her class and she did extremely well with her short hand. I definitely recall how “smart” I thought she was and I felt very proud of her.

I recall a time when Jess made a pretty dress for a little girl living in our community who did not have a mother. It was a light orchid fabric with yellow smocking. Oh, how nice! Again, a little tinge of jealousy hit me. (My feelings were never expressed openly.) Oh, well, just letting you know that Jess was very dear to me and I suppose I wanted her just for myself – and to share her with no one.

My mom never made any kind of pies – she was a wonderful cake maker, but I wanted pies. Jess shared her recipe with me – for the pie and the pie crust. I don’t suppose a Christmas or a Thanksgiving has gone by since then that we are without this pie. We have truly enjoyed it, I give several pies away at Christmas time each year and have received many compliments on “Jess’s pie”. I always offer them the recipe. Ten or fifteen years ago Ann Landers printed a recipe at Thanksgiving time which she called “Kentucky Pecan Pie”. It was identical to the recipe Jess had given me. I thought, “This is Louisiana Pecan Pie”.

Enter Meredith. I believe Jess was working at the Ben Franklin Store in Cotton Valley when a very special person came into her life. His name was Meredith Hilburn. He had a watch repair shop near the store where she worked. I had known the Hilburn family ever since I started to school because the children all attended school with me. Mildred and Meredith were older than I and Frances was younger so I never knew any of them personally. I also knew they were a fine family who lived on a farm a short distance from town. I never realized that some day I would be a part of their family. At one time Meredith was my brother Junior’s, scoutmaster.

I’m sure my opinions do not count for much; but, to me, Meredith was always the very epitome of honesty and integrity. He had an infectious laugh. He was so easy going. He was a wonderful addition to our family. Since I had never addressed Jess as “Aunt”, I also never called him “Uncle”.

Meredith and Jess made a wonderful team. They worked together to provide a good home for their children. There was always fresh meat, fresh vegetables, fresh milk and butter and good breads. Meredith enjoyed milking his cows and Jess took care of the milk and good ole homemade butter. They worked together in their garden and their freezers were always packed full of wonderful food. Jess is an excellent cook. I never ate better baked hen than I did at her house and her good corn bread made from corn meal that was ground at the grist meal from corn they had raised. And that delicious home churned butter - Mm-mm!

They received everyone who visited them with open arms. Our son-in-law, Charles Fowler, visited their home with our daughter, Margaret Ruth, perhaps ten years ago. He had only been in our family a short time. He later told me, ”You know, everything on that table came from their farm”. He found it amazing that there were still people who provided for their families in such a way.

They very often took in sick family members and cared for them until they were able to go home and care for themselves.

Jess is very artistic. I don’t think there is any kind of needlework she doesn’t do. She made tatting for all of our daughter, Rebecca’s, baby dresses. It was beautiful. She china paints and her work is perfect. She has made some of the most beautiful bedspreads and afghans I have ever seen.

Meredith was also very artistic. I didn’t know of his work until after his death. I have seen some of his drawings and they really are good.

They have raised their three children, Janice, Donnie and Linda, to be fine upright people. When you are with this family, you feel a lot of love and respect. This is a credit to Mom and Dad. I love all of them very much.

Margaret Ward: As a child I remember Grandma and Beek living with us when we lived at the railroad crossing in Cotton Valley. I know that Ada and Jessie lived with us at times during my growing up years, but mostly I remember Jessie lived with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Olon at Haynesville. I also remember we called Jessie, "Big Jess” until I was grown when we changed it to Jess, so that is what I will use since we still call her Jess.

One thing I remember about Jess and the other members of our family is how much I loved all of them – still do. No matter how many lived with us we just made room for them and what happy times we had together!

I didn’t know Meredith very well until after he and Jess got married. The first memories I have of him was that he had his own shop repairing watches. When we went from school to Joe Stye’s for lunch, we always passed his watch repair shop. In my mind I can still see him working on watches as we passed his shop each day.

After Jess and Meredith got married and lived in town, we visited with them a lot. The doctor put her to bed when she was expecting Janice. I stayed with them for a few months to do the cooking and cleaning. They must have suffered a lot when they had to eat my cooking. I’m not a cook and guess I never was or will be! One Sunday Beek and Dallas came over to eat with us. Beek and I were in the kitchen cooking roast, mashed potatoes and gravy. Meredith came in and saw me draining the potatoes and said, “You’re pouring all the vitamins down the drain”. I was so upset and after he left out I was really complaining to Beek about it. She didn’t say much then, but for years, we had a good laugh about me “pouring the vitamins down the drain”.

When they moved to San Antonio he went to work at Kelly Air Force Base. I went to live with them for a while and took the civil service examination. I waited and waited for about 3 months to hear from them. I finally decided to visit Beek and Dallas in Beaumont for a week. While I was there Beek and Sister (Melba) talked me into putting my application in at the telephone company where Sister was working. They called me to come to work the next week. I went (and worked there for 42 years). About 2 weeks later, Jess called and said I had passed the civil service exam. I had really wanted to work at Kelly Air Force Base and live in San Antonio. Now I realize I had made the right choice because Jess and Meredith moved back to Cotton Valley after the war.

While they were in San Antonio, Sister and I always took our vacation together and visited them. We had lots of good times with them out there, shopping, sight-seeing and having our pictures made. After they moved back to Cotton Valley, we still took vacations and visited them there. Beek and Dallas had moved back there also and we spent time with both families.

I guess one thing that stands out in my mind were the large gardens with all kinds of vegetables they grew. Every time we went Jess could get in the kitchen and have one of the best meals cooked in no time. They also had their cows and the best milk, butter and corn bread.

Meredith was so kind and easy going and always acted happy to see us when we visited. He and Jess always made us feel so welcome when we went -even if it was in the middle of the night! I’ll never forget how Jess helped us with Mom (May Ward). There were times when sometimes we did not know which way to turn, but Jess was always there to help us.

I remember one time when mom was at Jess and Meredith’s (it seemed that she was always there) – one morning early, Meredith said, “what old cow is that bawling?” It was only mom snoring in another room! We had lots of laughs about that!

We don’t get to visit Jess (Meredith passed away in 1996) now as much as I would like to but I still have such good memories of being with Jess and Meredith. I thank them for all of their kindness, good food and just putting up with me.

Jon Barker: I remember what a kind and giving person Aunt Jess was and is. We were at “the Lake" one summer when almost everyone came down with a bad stomach bug. It was a two bucket disease as Pop used to say. I recall how Aunt nursed us back to health without any fear that she might get the bug. What a lady!

Cherrise Ward Thomas: Most of my memories of Aunt Jess and Uncle Meredith are from when I was small. When we would make trips to visit, Uncle Meredith was usually still at the store working when we got there. One of the things I remember enjoying was getting to go to the store to see him. I was always fascinated with the store and how he fixed watches. I can also remember walking out in the pastures in amazement. One of my favorite times was when a new pond was being dug and Theresa happened to be visiting too. The two of us spent the whole day sliding down the sandy mounds into where the pond would soon be. I have no idea if my mother ever got those clothes clean. There was always a big family breakfast mornings and lots of family time in the evenings. They are memories of a time past that the next generation will never know.

Sissy (Jackie Williamson): I remember the time that Jess, Mom and Linda and I, were at Tioga for Camp Meeting. Jess was sleeping on the bed in front of the air conditioner, Linda was sleeping on the sofa, and I was sleeping in the bed across the room. I woke up and looked at Linda and she was asleep. I looked over at Jess and she had her hands raised, quietly praising the .Lord. Every now and then she would lift the edge of the sheet and wipe the tears from her eyes and go on, praising and worshipping the Lord. This was such a sweet picture to me, and just a picture of Jess! I love her very much.

Linda Hilburn: Mom and Dad were very hard working people. They taught us the moral and work ethics. Dad ran the Dime Store, repaired watches and ran the farm. Mom ran the household and the garden. Dad milked the cow twice a day, every day, ran the store from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., 6 days a week. He helped Mom with the garden. Dad taught Sunday school for years in his church where he was also a lay speaker, the treasurer and served on committees which required him to attend special meetings. . Dad read his Bible daily. He loved to help people. Many times people from the community would come in the store to ask Dad questions about their situation. He would gladly take time to advise them as best he knew how. He was well respected by all races. He worked for the good of the community, state and nation. He upheld his duty as a citizen concerned for freedom. He let his government representatives know how he stood on issues many times and wrote articles to the Shreveport Times expressing his opinions. Dad was a positive thinker; he looked for the best to come out of any situation. He thought before he spoke. He was totally devoted to Mom and us. Many, many times, although Dad had worked so hard, he took time to massage Mom’s feet to try to help her feel better, and to do the same for me and others visiting in our home, He would take time out to advise us about upsetting situations that life would throw at us. Many times Dad would go pull someone out of the clay road to Dorcheat Bayou after a rain even though he had worked so hard. I also vividly remember him going many nights in the woods behind the house to kill the varmints that our dog Butch, had treed, sometimes even twice during the same night. I went with him on several occasions. If he could “shine” the varmint’s eyes, he usually would get him.

Some people, who were not around Dad much, thought that he was not friendly and not fun to be with, because he took a long time to answer a question. You could ask the question and answer it before he would answer, many times! Dad would get so tickled sometimes, he would laugh so hard he would cry, and by this time, all of us would be rolling!

Mom taught us to love God with all of our hearts and to obey Him. She wanted to be a nurse but wound up being something so much better, a wonderful wife and mother who had time to teach and guide her children. If she had worked full time as a nurse she would not have had the time to devote to her children that she needed. She loved helping the missionaries. She taught Sunday school

Mom and Dad taught us to pay what we owed, even down to the penny. Mom is a very talented seamstress and made all of our clothes, which included her clothes, Janice and mine, and also shirts for Daddy and Donny from time to time. Once she made Daddy a plaid sports jacket but never again. One was enough! Dad loved for her to make his shirts because he said they were more comfortable than the bought ones. Mom is a wonderful cook! She cooked everything from scratch when we were growing up. She also helped Dad in the store at different times. She was a sharp clerk and did the book work. Mom taught each one of us kids to do housework and although we did not like it at the time, we are surely glad now that she did. We also helped in the garden. Donny was always ready to “burn the pea patch down” but in later years, he has even had a garden himself!

We did not have much money but we were rich in the things that money cannot buy – love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, long-suffering, temperance, happiness. We did not know that we were “poor”. We were rich in home grown vegetables, home raised meat and eggs, custom-made clothes, wonderful dishes and delicacies. We thought everyone was reared this way but sad to say so many people were not and especially not in these present times. We were reared in a God-fearing home, with righteousness lived before us. Mom and Dad wanted us to have the best of what was important in life. They wanted us to love and obey God and they wanted us to do well in life. They did without and even mortgaged their property to send us to college. I am so blessed to have Mom still with me. Even though Dad is gone, his life still teaches me. I am so thankful that I was so blessed of the Lord to have the home life that I did.

Janice Hilburn Patterson: My Mom is a lady, Mother, seamstress, money manager, cook, and china painter. When we were growing up, she made all our dresses and Donald and Dad’s sport shirts. Always she skimped on things for herself, to spend for what we needed. Mom pinched pennies more than anyone else I know. She fought with the bank over 50-cents or less on more than one occasion and won! When I was growing up I never realized how bad off some folks had it. In my sheltered life I thought other people lived like we did and had good family like we did. It was later before I realized how good we had it, having the Mom and Dad we had and learning the principles we did.

My Dad considered himself to be a gentleman farmer. He was also a watchmaker, variety store proprietor, and a helper of people. As long back as I can remember, he raised two gardens every year, milked cows, sold butter and eggs, and the best tomatoes in the world.

He was quiet but could laugh until he cried when he thought something was funny. He was a thinker and mediator. He rarely had to apologize because he did not speak in haste. He was not college trained, but saw to it that us kids were. He had an excellent self-taught vocabulary. He read his Bible daily and lived by the golden rule.

Theresa Peoples: I have a lifetime of memories, wonderful and endearing memories. How will I pick which memory to share with ya'll that will make you laugh, cry or shake your head in amazement and wonder. Sometimes, I wonder how I survived and I know Mom wonders how she survived "me".

One memory that floats close to the top is: Uncle Carl was doing some house repairs for Mom & Daddy Pop. I was so fascinated by that little jar of putty and that little spatula thingy. I wanted to do what Uncle Carl was doing but MOM wouldn't let me "bother" him. I wasn't going to "bother" him, I just wanted to "help" him. WHY IS IT THAT WE WOMEN ALWAYS WANT TO "HELP"? I guess it’s innate! I was also amazed that Uncle Carl was only using a single color putty. I thought that more color was needed. So, I got my Crayola's and boy oh boy did I have fun adding color to Uncle Carl's puttied nail holes until Mom came along and noticed. Out came that "fly swat" and mind you it was one of those old 'timey ones-metal mesh, not plastic. I now tease Mom that she crushed my artistic bent that was just budding at that time. I could have been a well known artist and made lots of money which I'd shared with MOM.

Marandia and Samantha wanted to add one big thing that they remembered- Major’s (1st yellow lab) big tail whipping them every time they saw him. (This was several years ago when Tabatha, Marandia and Samantha were up for a visit. They loved Major.)

This poem was written for Meredith and Jessie’s fiftieth anniversary.