People Who Influenced My Life

The Fisher and Hammock Families

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By John McElligott

There were several families in Terminal, Texas that influenced my brother, Tom and me. This is the one that influenced me the most.

The Fisher Family

(John, Joe, Tom, Jim, Jerry, Gene, Mike, Pat, Frank, and Susie)

 We all grew up within walking distance of my family’s one story barracks (see pictures) and then later, our two story barrack which housed the Terminal Texas Post office. 

My house, and the sidewalk where I became a 3 year old nudist. The water tower which we climbed many times and sat on the cat walk at the top.

Since we went to St Ann’s with most of the kids in the Fisher family, we spent a lot of time with them. Tom, my older brother and John Fisher were in the same grade and together they graduated from 8th grade at St. Ann’s. John and my brother Tom went to MHS together until graduation in 1958. John received a scholarship for Texas A&M, and later Joe, Tom and a few other Fisher kids followed him to Texas A&M. Let’s put it this way, the Fisher family became one of the first families (to my knowledge), to populate Texas A&M . 
Now lunch at the Fisher house, with all the kids, was my favorite part of the day. The mother, Alice Fisher, would lay out lunch meat and bread with mustard and jalapeno peppers (with the dragon on the jar). I never missed a day eating lunch, and enjoyed woofing down those peppers that would smoke your poop shoot for days. This is why I have never had hemorrhoids! Thanks, Alice Fisher!

Clyde Fisher would eat peppers by the jar. He was a different and yet amazing father. Mr Fisher was an electrician by trade and the first person I ever met who was in a Union. He got the union to sponsor our Boy Scout Troop.

Speaking of Boy Scouts, I was one merit badge away from making Eagle Scout. (You will see the reason later in the book and it had to do with a trip I took at the age of 13.) Since we had the best scout troop ever, we entered all kinds of competitions like starting a fire to tying knots.  Roy Vaughn, MHS 63, was also a member of the troop, and coincidentally, my first trauma case on my way to becoming a medical professional. Mr. Fisher made the camping trips something special and really made you want to be an outdoors person. I can say the trips actually made being in the military much easier for me, in comparison to those who came from families that did not have the Fishers (and the other scouts) that taught us how to suck it up.

Now my second trauma case with the scout troop was me! We were out camping in the dead of winter in the middle of West Texas and I stabbed a can of beans with my pocket knife. The blade folded up and cut my finger half off at the joint of my little finger on my right hand. Scout Master Clyde Fisher washed out my wound with a canteen of water, and put my finger in a cloth glove. The glove soaked up the blood and the winter cold froze the finger. I left the glove on night and day. Upon arriving home three days later, my mother soaked the glove off my finger and, to my surprise, my finger was in one piece! To this day, that finger functions normally. While in the military, serving with the Marines, I used the same technique on many occasions. I tell people that growing up in Terminal and being a boy scout with Clyde Fisher made the boot camp in the military seem like nothing!

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My Dad

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Written by Linda Mills Wofford

I would have to search far and wide to find a person who influenced my life more than my dad! His story is so interesting and compelling and one that proves he was definitely a part of “the Greatest Generation.”

Harold Boswell Mills, aka “Bobby”, was born on Nov. 13, 1917 in Baird, Texas. He grew up in Big Spring, Texas, and it was there he learned the true meaning of hard work, respect, compassion, loyalty and love of people and animals. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention his mental and physical toughness – after all, he did play football for Big Spring High School. After college, he married his high school sweetheart, my mom, Francies Lewis Rogers. Sadly, my mom passed away at the young age of 48. They had a rich and wonderful life together raising their three daughters – Sue, Bobbie Nell and myself.

My dad lost his father,  Howard Edward “Red” Mills, when he was a young boy of only five. His father was a firefighter for the railroad and perished in a train accident in Sweetwater, Texas. Being an only child, he immediately became the man of the family and lovingly took care of his mother, Mary Alice Mims,  until the day she died.

Because of his love of animals, he headed off to Texas A & M University, where he became a member of the Aggie Corps of Cadets. He was the epitome of a true and loyal Aggie. He even insisted that my sisters and I learn the Aggie Fight Song.

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A Day At The Beach Times 35

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By Bobby Wiskera

There is a place and a time.  There is a mythical place in the Scottish Highlands, Brigadoon, that appears, out of the mist only once every 100 years.  And a magical place called Shangri La, where one never grows old and each day is as beautiful as the last.   And Neil Young sings of “Sugar Mountain”. “Where you can’t be twenty and you’re leaving there too soon.”

And there is a magical place, an island, on the eastern seashore where myth and legend and mystery abound.

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People that Influenced My Life

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Written by Bill Wood

Many people in Midland influenced my life.

To begin with, my parents, Buddy and Margaret Wood were the most dedicated, selfless parents I have known. My sisters Pat and Ann and I were so lucky to have been loved, cared for, and raised by them. Many of our Midland friends had my mother for English at San Jacinto Junior High. President George Bush told me at the White House that my mother was a big influence on him. Of course, that made me very proud. Buddy and Margaret attended all of the activities, and I mean ALL of them. My father Buddy Wood came to every one of my practices in high school football, basketball and baseball. Of course both of them were at all the games, no matter where they were. In college, my Dad would often drive many hours to be near enough to a place that would pickup the game broadcasts on his car radio.They befriended all of my friends and were often substitute parents for several. I’m sure the examples they set influenced other parents and kids as well. 
     Doc Dodson, our beloved high school trainer, influenced my life with his ever positive attitude. I don’t think he really ever learned to say “no.”

I love that. Mr. Mashburn was a serious school principal who taught me and many others the value of planning and preparation. He respected others and he was highly respected.

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