Coach Pete Banks
On April 29, 2019, Coach Pete Banks will celebrate his 90th birthday. Please join us in establishing an endowed scholarship at McGill-Toolen honoring our devoted friend and mentor. A brief biography: Coach Gerald Knox “Pete” Banks served McGill-Toolen Catholic High School for 37 years, beginning in 1957 when he was hired to teach three science classes, be head coach for both cross country and track, and assistant coach for football. ...
The Blimp
Just a block east of the square, on Commerce Street in Lewisburg, Tennessee, stands a rather rundown, nondescript building that houses the Good Samaritans and the Masonic Lodge. Looking at the drab old place, a newcomer could not possibly imagine its former splendor. Yet I assure you, most splendid it was. This was the Easy Pay Tire Store, commercial empire of Mr. Robert Wallace Ritter, Sr., assisted ably by my Aunt Kathryn Scott...
The Edmond Jones Family
On the northeast edge of Haynes Cemetery resides a rock-bordered family plot. Contained within are the headstones of Edmond Jones, his wife Louisa Durinda Flanagan, their son John T., his wife Martha, and their children Ludie, Wallace, and Sam. Also, there is the grave of Edmond’s brother Allen. The Jones family came to Maury County in 1828 and settled on 445 acres just around the corner from Haynes on what is now the Smyrna Church...
The Boy Who Loved School
Up on Silver Creek, the blackberry bushes grew taller on the east side of the hill. The dew came off them sooner and the berries enjoyed the sunlight for a longer time. The remains of an old orchard, planted by the first white settlers, shielded the fruit from the bluebirds. “My mother would help my sister Kathryn and I pick a vessel full of berries, then she would start home to start a batch of jelly on the wood stove.”...
Decoration Day
Decoration Day at my family cemetery, Haynes, has taken place on Mother’s Day weekend for as long as anyone can remember – which includes the recollection of my 94 year-old dad. As a boy, he chopped brush and pushed a reel mower to prepare the grounds. Haynes is located in the Scribner Mill community of Maury County, Tennessee. My dad grew up on a farm across from Haynes which, by the 1930s, was a resting place for several of his kin...
The Ways of Country Justice
My grandfather Bob White worked a farm at Scribner Mill, technically owned by his brother Willis, a Columbia policeman. Bob and Willis had a gentleman’s agreement about splitting the profits and Bob’s growing ownership in the farm. This was during a time when a handshake meant something. By the way, lawmen in the White family probably dates back to Willis’s father and my great-grandfather James Lewis White who had...