Service To Country A Family Tradition

My family has been celebrating this year's Memorial Day Weekend by spending a few days at Surfside Beach with our cousin Billy Jenn and his family and friends as we all helped Billy party on his 50th birthday. Billy actually turned 50 in April but the celebration was delayed until this weekend so that his daughter Julie could be present. Julie Jenn, the valedictorian of her Columbia High School graduating class, recently completed her spring semester at Texas A&M University. So with Julie home from college and Billy and Judy's younger daughter Bethany free from her classes at CHS for the holiday weekend, it was time to PARTY!!!!!!

But while those gathering at Surfside honored Billy Jenn as he reached a major milestone in his life, it is another Billy Jenn who deserves recognition and great thanks from all of us this Memorial Day Weekend. Lt. William C. Jenn, an Army Air Corps pilot, was killed in action in Europe on June 25, 1944. The Billy Jenn for whom the current Columbia-Brazoria school board trustee was named, was only 25 years old when he perished in a plane crash during World War II. A graduate of San Jacinto High School and Texas A&M University, Lt. William C. Jenn, my father Rex Gupton's first cousin, left behind his wife, Bernice Jenn, and a baby son. He had received his wings at Ellington Field and had served five months as an American pilot in England prior to his tragic death.

Memorial Day was established in 1865 to commemorate U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. Each year American flags are placed on the graves of, not only those brave soldiers who lost their lives in the line of battle, but also are placed in all cemeteries across the nation to recognize the resting places of those who served their country with honor and dignity, as many members of my immediate family have done over the years. I am extremely proud of my own father for having served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. I have included several photos with this Memorial Day story of my Dad and other family members and close friends who deserve the gratitude of each of us for their personal sacrifice.

When my father was elderly and in the grips of Alzheimer's disease, I took him to see the movie "Saving Private Ryan" starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Tom Sizemore. The Steven Spielberg film was a World War II epic about an attempt by a group of American soldiers headed by multiple Academy Award winner Tom Hanks to find the Private Ryan of the film's title (Matt Damon) in the European battlefront and return him safely to American soil. Military leaders had discovered that three of the Damon character's brothers had all been killed in action and efforts were immediately begun to retrieve Private Ryan before he met the same fate as his brothers.

My father was also one of four brothers from the same family to volunteer for service following the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. The four sons of Samuel Morris Gupton and his wife Mattie Eula Gupton -- Thurman Morris Gupton, Rex Gupton, Marvin Aubrey Gupton and Samuel Dock Gupton -- made their family proud by their service in the various branches of the military during World War II. Luckily for the Guptons of West Columbia, all four brothers survived during the war and returned home to raise their families. My Uncle Thurman, the eldest in his family (born November 11, 1911), was a captain in the U.S. Navy from 1941-46 in both the Pacific and European theaters. He is pictured seated at a table with other Naval officers (Thurman is wearing the white uniform in the center of the picture), in a family portrait with his wife Gladys and daughters Dolores (standing between her parents) and baby girl Peggy Lou during the war years, as well as in an individual portrait. My father Rex Gupton (born May 18, 1921) is pictured with a fellow Naval seaman in one photo, loading a large bullet shirtless on one of the Navy ships he was assigned to during the war, and in his individual portrait. His younger brother Hank (Marvin Aubrey Gupton, born December 24, 1922) is pictured both alone in his Army Air Corps photo and in a group shot in front of one of the planes he flew on (Uncle Hank is kneeling, second from right). S.D., the youngest member of my father's family (born May 23, 1925), was a merchant marine serving in the 354th Infantry between 1943 and 1944.

Their cousin Max Hagan, the son of Eula Gupton's sister Minnie and her husband Pete Hagan, also was in the Navy during World War II. Max currently lives in Lake Jackson with his wife Betty. Edgar T. (E.T.) Jenn Jr., the older brother of the Lt. William C. Jenn who was killed in action during World War II and the father of Tommy and Billy Jenn who currently own and operate Jenn's Furniture in West Columbia, was also a pilot who was stationed in San Marcos, Texas, when he learned of his brother's death in 1944. E.T. Jenn, born in 1916, was a major in the U.S. Army Air Corps who piloted B-17's and B-29's. The Jenn brothers who were pilots during World War II were the sons of my grandfather Samuel Morris "Buff" Gupton's sister Willie who married Edgar Thomas Jenn Sr.

Another family member who served during World War II was Dolores Gupton's husband, Johnny Rader. John F. Rader III was a Phm2/C with the U.S. Naval Reserve in the 1940's. Johnny was a second lieutenant with the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Dolores's first husband, Lloyd Brandt, was in the U.S. Navy prior to marrying Thurman and Gladys's eldest daughter. Lloyd was the father of my cousins Ace and Cindy Brandt.

My mother's brother, Howard Robert Giesler, also served during the Korean War. Uncle Hob was a combat medic with the Army from 1951 through 1952 during the war in Korea. He was honored with a combat medic's badge while in the Army. He is pictured standing in his Army uniform while home on leave at his East Columbia home, a photo I am sure my mother took of her younger brother. Howard Giesler still lives in East Columbia today.

Danny Louis Broadway, who was born February 1, 1950, and died November 22, 1976, was the son of Yvonne and Jack Broadway. He served bravely in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam conflict. Danny Louis was a true hero and always will be in my eyes. He was away fighting an unpopular war in a foreign land while I was attending high school in West Columbia. He was the nephew of my mother, Verna Giesler Gupton, and her brother Hob. Yvonne Broadway was their older sister. Yvonne and Jack's eldest son, Randy Broadway, was in the U.S. Army during the era of the Vietnam War. Hank Gupton, my first cousin who is the son of Marvin Aubrey and Terry Gupton, was in the Air Force during the 1960s.

My cousin Peggy Lou Gupton's husband Kenneth R. Boone was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Ken Boone, a West Columbia football star as a running back on the Roughnecks team that advanced deep in the playoffs in 1958, was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1966 through 1970. The former college football player at Tulsa and TCU and current coach and athletic director at the local West Brazos Junior High School, served in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.

While Peggy Lou's daughter Kim and her husband Tim Clinch were helping Billy Jenn celebrate his 50th birthday this weekend at Surfside, Peggy Lou and Ken Boone were in Galveston with members of their West Columbia High School graduating class of 1959 celebrating their 50-year class reunion.

My wife Peggy's older brother Ronald Douglas Hall, also a West Columbia High School graduate from the mid-1960s, served during the Vietnam War also. Ronnie Hall was in the U.S. Air Force and served proudly in Vietnam. He is pictured in his Air Force uniform.

Omer Lloyd Hall, the father of Ronnie and Peggy Hall, was in the Army Air Corps, having served as a gunner in fighter planes during World War II. It was an honor to marry into a family with such an excellent track record of service to their country in times of war. I always enjoyed listening to my father and his brother Hank, as well as Peggy's father and her brother Ronnie talk of their experiences from many years ago when each of them was merely a pawn on the chess board of their respective era's wars. None of them ever wanted to speak about the horrors of war that each of them more than likely witnessed first hand. My father spoke more to his children about the brotherhood he and his felllow sailors experienced while at sea. Daddy's memories about World War II, or at least those he chose to share with us, usually involved fun times and exploits he was involved in with his friends in the Navy.

The funniest story he would tell about himself when he was in the Navy involved him picking a fight with the wrong guy. Daddy said that he challenged some sailor to a boxing match on board their battleship, unaware that the guy had been a Golden Gloves champion prior to joining the Navy. Rex said that old boy "whooped his ass" from the beginning of the bout to its end, which could not have come quickly enough for my father. He often encouraged my brother Cody and I to join the Navy when we finished high school, saying it would be an opportunity to see the world like he did during the war with Japan and make us better men. Neither of us followed his advice. That was probably a mistake but, as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty!

My brother-in-law and my mother's brother have both only begun talking to me in recent years about their experiences in Vietnam and Korea respectively. When I was younger, both took the tact that my father had, opting to talk more about the nonviolent experiences each had lived through while in the Air Force and Army in their two different wars. Uncle Hob has told me more of the horrible things he witnessed and experienced as a medic during the Korean War the last few times we have had conversations. He confided in me that today, at the age of 81, he still has trouble keeping extremely violent and gory memories out of his thoughts and dreams. The nightmares my uncle must continue to live with today shed a totally different light on what war is all about. Just like the extremely realistic bloodshed, death and mayhem viewers of "Saving Private Ryan" witnessed when watching that movie from a few years back, the fathers of my wife and I and all three brothers of my Dad took those nightmares they each had experienced in time of war to their graves. My father passed away in January, 2001, at the age of 79. He was the last of his family to die, following in order his sister Ruby Nell in 1977, his brother S.D. in 1995, brother Thurman in 1996 and brother Hank in 1997. My father-in-law Omer Hall was born in 1921 and died in 1994. Omer is pictured in uniform with his arm around his wife Dorothy, and in a group shot taken in front of the fighter plane he flew on during World War II. He is pictured at right, kneeling with a bomber jacket on.

My grandfather's younger brother, Phillip Leslie Gupton, who was born in 1897 and died in 1977 at the age of 80, served during World War I in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1918 to 1919. Uncle Phil, who along with his wife Margaret lived next door to my family throughout my youth, was among the last remaining World War I veterans living in West Columbia. Among the others were Delbert Grandstaff, the husband of my second grade teacher Olive Grandstaff but more well known as Bing Crosby's father-in-law (The Grandstaff's daughter Katherine married the famous crooner in the late 1950s), and Dewey Baugh, who used to sell cars in West Columbia and was also the husband of a former second grade teacher at West Columbia Elementary, Ruth Baugh.

Uncle Phil's youngest son, John Walter Gupton, served in the medical corps for the U.S. Navy during World War II. My Dad's cousin J.W. Gupton, born in 1926 and passing away in 2006 at the age of 80 (the same age his father died), earned his veterinarian's degree from Texas A&M University and was a longtime vet in the Richmond-Rosenberg area of southeast Texas.

Members of my family did not sit idle during the 19th century either. Thanks to research done years ago by my uncle, Judge Thurman Gupton, and James Stephen Gupton, I learned that several relatives participated in the war between the states. Henrich Jansen, born in 1819 in Denmark, settled in West Columbia, Texas, in 1849. Henry Jansen fought in the John B. Hood Brigade for the Confederacy in the "Battle of the Wilderness." He was called from the ranks to mend and rebuild the many gun stocks broken in the "hand-to-hand" fighting between the soldiers of the South and the North. After the Civil War he returned to his home and spent the remainder of his life in West Columbia. He passed away on Dec. 1, 1900. His daughter Dorothy (born in 1864 and died in 1927) married Samuel Doctor Gupton, who was the father of my grandfather, Samuel Morris Gupton.

Other distant family members who fought for the South during the Civil War were Robert Gupton, born in 1840 in Franklin County, North Carolina, who died during the Civil War, and Jesse Gupton, also born in 1843 in Franklin County, North Carolina, who froze to death in Fort Delaware federal prison where he was being held prisoner. He was 20 years old when he died on October 13, 1863. Research of my family's roots reveals that my Gupton ancestors came to Texas from North Carolina.

Nonfamily members I have included in this Memorial Day feature are Robert Earl Jackson of Brazoria, the son of my good friend Charlie Jackson, who is currently serving our country as a U.S. Marine, and Cherelle Garner of New Mexico, presently in Afghanistan as a member of the Army. Cherelle is my son Bret Gupton's close friend and fellow Texas Aggies Corps of Cadets member who has graduated from Texas A&M and is now fulfilling her obligation with the U.S. Army. Robert Jackson was an outstanding football and basketball player for the Columbia Roughnecks who remains close to my family today.

Those reading this blog, I ask your prayers for Cherelle and Robert as they continue to serve our country today. They put their lives on the line to keep our country free and deserve our respect and support, as do the following West Columbia area soldiers who are presently in Iraq or Afghanistan: Captain Mark Reid (a fellow 2000 graduate of CHS with my son Brian) and his cousin Captain John Reid, Phillip Fortenberry and Matthew Harris of the Army; Airmen Chris Romero and Christa Romero of the Air Force; and Seth Michael Phillips of the Marines. Other current Marines from the West Columbia area are my son Blake's good friends and classmates Kevin Hartney and Justin Keith, and Jason LaPointe of the Army. My coworker Lee Wikoff and his wife Kerri's son Kiley is currently in the U.S. Navy, serving overseas in Japan.

There is no better time than today, Memorial Day, to reflect with pride over the service to our country these family members and dear friends have given. Each of them are my heroes, those like my father and father-in-law who have passed on as well as the young men and women who continue to put their lives on the line daily for our continued freedom. And, most of all, members of my family should take a moment to recall Lt. William C. Jenn, my father's first cousin, who made the ultimate sacrifice by giving his life in the call of duty during World War II. Few of us alive today had the opportunity to know the Billy Jenn our cousin and good friend who remains a business owner, community leader and excellent husband, father, son and brother was named after when he was born on April 14, 1959. That is our loss, and sadly the same kind of loss that so many families across America must deal with because of a dreadful thing called war.

Pray for our troops and keep each of them in your thoughts as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as around the globe, continue. Visit the graves of our fallen soldiers on Monday out of respect for their service to our great country. It is the least we dan do.

High School Friend Putting On A Good Show

Those living in the West Columbia area don't have to go far to find some top-notch musical entertainment while feasting on some superb eats at the same time. My old buddy Scott Leopold recently added a musical attraction to his Friday night menu at Scott's Barbecue in downtown W.C.

Bill Middleton, a classmate of mine and my brother Cody's from our high school days in West Columbia, will be performing at Scott's Barbecue this Friday night, May 22nd, from 7 to 9 p.m. I have caught his act twice in the past couple months and have been thoroughly entertained. Ol' Billy Bob can flat out play the hell out of an electric guitar. And when it comes to singing, the owner of Bill's Guitar Shop in Brazoria definitely has a special way with a song.

Country tops the repertoire of Bill and his four-piece band, "Billy Bob and The String Slingers," but diners at Scott's Barbecue on the Friday nights when Bill and his boys are in the house will be surprised to hear how this local quartet can deliver a rock or blues tune as well. My favorite from the two Friday nights I have been present at Scott's has been "The Thrill Is Gone." Billy Bob says he has to stand to give this B.B. King classic his best effort, adding that the creator of the song and he share the same initials. B.B. King's guitar Lucille could not deliver the song any better than the man who used to play minor league baseball with me in West Columbia back in the mid-1960s.

Bill delivered an impressive version of my favorite song the first time I saw him perform at Scott's but he hasn't done the song in recent concerts that I have attended. "Good Time Charley's Got The Blues" was Danny O'Keefe's lone top-10 hit in the early 1970s, but I have followed O'Keefe's career in the decades since I first heard "Good Time Charley" on the radio and am fascinated by O'Keefe's music. My wife Peggy and I were thrilled when Danny O'Keefe gave a concert in Houston in late 2007 and we were finally able to see the man in person who we had been enthralled with for over 30 years. Danny O'Keefe would have been proud of the way Billy Bob Middleton and his band delivered "Good Time Charley's Got The Blues" at Scott's Barbecue in April, 2009.

I lost a bet with my wife at the Danny O'Keefe concert in Houston when I told her that Danny would change the words of "Good Time Charley" to reflect his current age. In the hit song, which has also been recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley, B.J. Thomas, Leon Russell, and many others over the years, there is a line that goes, "You're not a kid at thirty-three." Danny O'Keefe was about 63 when we heard him deliver the line in Houston in 2007 exactly as it was sung in the 1972 song that was played so often on the radio. But Billy Bob came through in his version of the song at Scott's when he changed the lyric to "You're not a kid at fifty-three," while chuckling about his present age with those in his band and dining on the great food in the West Columbia restaurant.

I invited my brother Cody to join my wife and I and our two youngest sons, Bret and Blake, to listen to Billy Bob and The String Slingers at Scott's Barbecue the last time the band was on the bill. Cody told us prior to arriving at Scott's how he and Billy Bob performed for their classmates at West Columbia Elementary School when Cody was in the fourth grade and Billy Bob in the third grade. It surprised us when Billy Bob pointed Cody out to the audience and told that exact same story. But even more surprising to me was when Billy Bob asked Cody what songs they sang back when they were on the elementary school stage . . . and Cody told him. Cody said that he sang "Your Cheating Heart" by Hank Williams and that Billy Bob did the "Drinkin' Wine (Spodie Odie)" song. The String Slingers followed that little trip down memory lane with Bill Middleton singing "Your Cheating Heart."

Bill began playing guitar at the age of seven, according to his bio on the Bill's Guitar Shop website. He claims to have "worked his way to the top of the bottom" in the music business following his 1973 graduation from Columbia High School, moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and taking a shot at the big time. The accomplished guitarist and vocalist made many friends in the country music business while in Nashville, and played guitar on "The Grand Ole Opry" from 1986 to 1999. Bill is pictured above with his friend, country music star Trace Adkins who showed up for the grand opening of Bill's Guitar Shop and signed autographs for local music fans. The other photo was taken by yours truly at Bill's most recent performance at Scott's Barbecue.

Bill Middleton has two CD's available for purchase at his shows. I am a proud owner of both of them and listen to them often. His song "The Crossroad" was played at the funeral of my dear friend and childhood classmate Steve Denson at The Assembly of God church in Brazoria several years ago. Billy Bob spoke at the funeral about how close he and Steve had been throughout their lives and how deeply effected he had been by Steve's death. At the time of the funeral I wondered why Billy Bob didn't perform "The Crossroad" himself, then quickly understood when I witnessed from the audience how emotional Bill got attempting to tell those in attendance just how much Steve had meant to him. There was not a dry eye in the church after watching the video tribute to my fallen friend and listening to Bill Middleton speak about Steve Denson.

"The Door" is another highlight of Bill's show at Scott's. It is a song that Bill penned himself and is also included on his CD of the same name. The blend of varieties of music Billy Bob and The String Slingers include in their show will please just about anyone stopping in at Scott's Barbecue on Friday night for some first rate barbecue ribs or fried shrimp or catfish.

Bill's Guitar Shop's website boasts that Bill and his group can be found on weekends "anywhere people enjoy great guitar playing and singing with that Country/Blues flavor." Well said! Take the time, if you are in or near West Columbia this Friday night, to partake in good food and top notch musical entertainment. Keep up the good work, Scott and Billy Bob!

Remembering My Father On His Birthday

My father would be celebrating his 88th birthday today (May 18, 2009) if he were still alive. Rex Gupton passed from this life on January 27, 2001, four months shy of his 80th birthday. The pain of losing Daddy has subsided a bit over the past eight years, but will never, ever totally go away. I think of my father often, look and act more and more like him with each passing year, and find myself taking on a bit of that Rex Gupton cynical outlook of so many aspects of life. That last trait is one of Daddy's characteristics (more from his later years than when he was a younger man) that I never thought I would inherit, but obviously have.

I guess you were right, Daddy, about a lot of things you and I used to butt heads over. Not all of them, Pops, but a few topics you were so hard-headed about when getting on to me and Cody and Kelli when all of your children were younger. I really miss those conversations we used to have. I greatly appreciated the love and moral support you threw in my direction, usually when I needed it most. I thank you for taking such good care of our mother and my siblings and me. You were the best father a kid could possibly have.

Since you left us eight years ago, I have had so many people come to me in my everyday life and tell me how important you were to them. Relatives and friends of yours have reminded me on occasion what a fun individual you were to be around, how funny you were, how caring and supportive you could be to them, and yes, how much they miss you too!

The majority of your generation is gone now. Phyllis Gupton Weems is one of your few cousins still alive today to remind me what a great guy you were. She grew up with you, as your first cousin and next door neighbor. I treasure the time Phyllis and I spend together, and she and her husband Jack talk about you and my mother from times long ago, many years before I was born. I am down to one uncle (Howard Giesler, my mother's brother) and one aunt (Bette Gupton, S.D.'s widow) surviving from my parents' brothers and sisters and spouses.

Daddy used to tell me, "I used to go to the family reunions to see all of the old folks. Now I am the old folks." We laughed about that years ago, when family reunions still happened every now and then. Today large-scale family reunions are basically a thing of the past. Now it is up to my own generation of Guptons to plan a reunion and do what is necessary to gather all of our family members together in one place so that we can enjoy each other's company for a day or so. I hope that one day soon we do all get together for a special occasion other than a funeral, which sad to say, is where I see most of my cousins. Daddy loved his family, both sides of it. The Meadows side and the Gupton side. I have made an effort in recent history to try to learn more about my family's history. I am hopeful that other members of my extended family, especially my siblings and cousins, will follow suit and do a little research into their family's roots.

Daddy told me that he was born (on May 18, 1921) at home in West Columbia. All of his siblings were also born at home, according to my father who informed me that midwives would come to the home and assist mothers with their deliveries when their children were born in West Columbia in a time before there were hospitals in the area. My father was the fourth child born to Eula and Buff Gupton. His birth followed that of a brother who died shortly after being born. Not counting that child who died, Rex Gupton ended up being the middle child of five in the Samuel Morris Gupton family. Thurman Morris Gupton, born November 11, 1911, was the first child born to the family, followed by his sister, Ruby Nell, then my father Rex (who was not given a middle name), Marvin Aubrey and Samuel Dock, the youngest of the family's children. Marvin Aubrey Gupton, born on Christmas Eve in 1922, was called "Hank" and Samuel Dock Gupton, born May 23, 1925, was called S.D. or "Bones" by his close friends.

Uncle Hank told me once that Dean Laughlin gave him his nickname "Hank" and also was the first to call my father "Dog." I don't know if that is true or not but I do know that both labels stuck on the Gupton brothers. Because Hank and Dog were the nicknames they took to their graves.

Among the stories Daddy loved to tell us kids about his own childhood were leaving his baby brother S.D. behind in a neighbor's watermelon patch when the owner of the watermelons saw the Gupton brothers stealing melons and fired his rifle or shotgun up in the air to scare them off. Daddy said that he and Hank took off like a rocket when the rifle blast scared them. S.D., who was according to my father "just a little boy," just squatted in the watermelon patch and bawled his eyes out. I assume Hank and Rex eventually went back and picked up their baby brother. Another popular childhood story my father told us frequently was when his mother wanted to punish Hank (who my grandmother always referred to as Aubrey) for something he had done but was unable to catch him. Eula gave my father the job of capturing his younger brother so that she could "take a switch" to his behind. Daddy said that Hank was faster than him and he could never catch him, so he waited for an opportune time. Daddy said that he was able to push Hank into his mother's closet and Daddy held the door shut while yelling for his mother to come quick because he had finally captured the elusive younger brother. As the story goes, when Eula opened the door to deliver the punishment to Hank he darted between her legs and scampered out the door, leaving Eula sprawling on the floor and Rex unable to hang on to Hank.

I used to love when the Gupton brothers (Thurman, S.D., Hank and my father) and their sister Ruby would get together during my lifetime and swap old stories of their mutual upbringings in their parents' West Columbia home. I wish I had owned a videocamera back in those days to capture those moments for posterity. It would truly be amazing for my sister and brother and I, as well as all of our cousins, to be able to sit down today and watch those home movies that do not exist. All I have today are my Aunt Ruby's silent color home movies that she and her husband, Kirby Fontenot, filmed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ruby and Kirby were my godparents when I was a child, and I inherited their home movies when the two of them passed away. I have put those old movies on videotapes and keep them locked away so that nothing happens to them.

My father loved sports as a teenager and was always active year round when he was a kid. Following his graduation from West Columbia High School, where he was voted "Most Popular" senior boy by his graduating class, Rex Gupton played college football at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas. He was a guard in the offensive line during his college football career. Following his service to his country during World War II, Daddy returned to playing college football when he was 27 years old. He closed out his gridiron days on the college level when he played guard for Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

Daddy never earned a bachelors degree, although he attended three different colleges. His mother used to tell us that, following the conclusion of the fall football season, she would start looking down the road from her home and it wouldn't be long before she would see my father walking with his possessions. Eula joked that Daddy just went to college to play football and would hitchhike back to West Columbia when his team had played their final game.

My father told me that he was living in California when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He was living with his Aunt Minnie and Uncle Pete Hagan on the west coast at the time, working with his cousin Max Hagan. Daddy said they were in a movie theater when the projectionist stopped the movie and someone walked in front of the audience and told them that the United States was at war. He told me often that he hitchhiked home from California so that he could volunteer for the war effort along with the rest of his brothers. Oddly enough, after Daddy joined the Navy they sent him to San Diego, California, for his basic training. Pictured above are photos of my father Rex with his three brothers later in his life, with his wife Verna, shots from his Navy days, one with his grandson and namesake (my brother Cody's son with his wife Andrea, Rex Layne Gupton) taken at the nursing home where Daddy spent his final days, and a photo with me taken in his living room.

Rex worked for Marathon Oil Company (formerly the Ohio Oil Company) for more than 35 years and owned Gupton Feed and Ranch Supply in West Columbia with my mother for more than 26 years. We were never wealthy or well off by any sense of the word, but my siblings and I rarely went without anything we wanted or needed. Both of our parents were very loving towards their kids and definitely "spoiled" us more than they should have. We had wonderful grandparents and aunts and uncles who all contributed to giving each of us a surplus of fond memories of growing up Gupton in West Columbia, Texas.

What more could a kid ask for? I do feel blessed for all of those great memories. Today, at 52, I reflect on a life that owes a great debt to my parents for the foundation that they helped establish for me and my brother Cody and sister Kelli. And I should, and hopefully will, take the time and make the effort to express to each of my cousins how truly important they were to me when I was a child and teenager and young adult. Today, in midlife, so many of my loved ones who were there for me when I needed them when I was much younger have passed away. But each of them, from my two grandmothers (Eula Gupton and Pauline Giesler) to every aunt and uncle and cousin that I have lost, meant the world to me. At the top of that list of people I am most grateful to who are no longer around to thank in person, stand my mother and father.

Happy Birthday Daddy! I still love you with all my heart and miss you so very, very much. You were the greatest!