Red River County, Texas

Sherry and I were in Red River County last weekend for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Clarksville High School class of 1961. I was a member of the class from fifth grade through 11th. We visited with old friends Kelly and Janice, who picked us up at Love Field in Dallas and carried us around Red River County all weekend.

Cotton farming dominated the economy in this area when I was young. When we were back for the 30th anniversary in 1991, cotton farming seemed to have almost disappeared. But we did see some cotton fields this time around Deport. The cotton gin in Deport appeared to still be in use.

This is just inside Lamar County, Red River County's neighbor to the west.
(Click on photo to see an enlarged, much better, copy.)

Here is a module of cotton, waiting to be processed by the gin. (See question 4 at http://www.cotton.org/edu/faq/ )



We visited the site of McKenzie College near Kelly's childhood home. I had never heard of McKenzie College, but Kelly knew about it. It was once the largest institution of higher learning in Texas. There is no trace of the college now. Just this historical marker:


We visited the Bluff Cemetery, where my maternal grandparents are buried. I had not been to the cemetery since moving to New Mexico in 1960.



There was a church here when I was a child, but it is gone now. So far as I know there was never a town. Just a little country church surrounded by farms. I was pleased to find the cemetery well tended. I need to find a way to contribute to its upkeep.

Sunday morning we stopped to buy gasoline in Bogata (pronounced "buh GO duh".) I got out of the car to the sound of live music from the Full Circle Cowboy Church.

You can't see them in the picture, but there were about a dozen people at Sunday services under the roof on the left side of the building.