LOOKING BACK

100 YEARS AGO…Fred Palmer closed a deal whereby he becomes owner of the J.A. Thomas garage, known formerly as the Star Garage, housed in the Strelsky building on upper Cameron Street. The garage would thereafter be known as “Palmer’s Service Station,” and O.K. Phillips Jr. would be in charge.

“I desire to extend my thanks to the voters of this precinct for electing me cotton weigher, and to say that I learned this business under my father, the late Nat J. Alford, than whom no better cotton man ever lived, as most of you well know. I will endeavor to so conduct my cotton weighing as to give satisfaction and a square deal to everyone. I thank you for your expression of confidence in me at the polls. Respectfully, Zeke Alford.”

(This was an ad in the paper.) “New Restaurant and Cold Drink Parlor. I have opened a new restaurantand cold drink parlor in the Chas. E. Scheihing old grocery building on Main Street, and cordially solicit a shire of your patronage. It will be my endeavor to make you feel at home in my place. You will always find everting neat and clean, with a good cook in the kitchen and polite attendants at table. My prices will also be found very reasonable. Full line of all kinds of cold bottle soft drinks. Come and see me. AugustMrosko.”

40 YEARS AGO…Cecil Owens received a 13-gallon pin and Fred Morris a 10-gallon pin as the Red Cross Bloodmobile made its midsummer visit to the Rockdale KC Hall.

“Mary, Mary” a threeact comedy by Jean Kerr, was selected as the next dinner theater presentation by the Rockdale Community Action Players Inc. and auditions were scheduled for Aug. 11, 12, and 18 accordingto Stephanie Reeves, RPC president.

20 YEARS AGO…It was “moving day” and then “get settled day” as Citizens National Bank moved from the corner of Cameron Avenue and Wilcox to new downtown headquarters in the former NBC Bank.

A 22-year-old resident of Mexico was rescued from a precarious position on a Union-Pacific freight train west of Rockdale. Deputy Sheriff Greg Kouba said Jose Palomo has hanging by his broken right leg which was caught between two doors of an auto-hauling car about 10 feet off the ground. Palomo was hospitalized in Temple.

Headliner Mark Lee showed his versatility at the Milano Opry, with a string of musical numbers that included tips of the cowboy hat to country greats Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard. Minnie Pearl impersonator Maxine Elliot performed along with songsters Britzand Jones.

10 YEARS AGO…Milam County logged a rare aviation fatality when a 50-year-old Georgia man died in a paraglider crash near Cameron. A Department of Public Safety helicopter crew spotted the wreckage of Don Bayliss’s craft on County Road 202, near Texas 36-US 190.

Don Thoede, who directed the Rockdale High School Big Blue Band to five straight Sweepstakes Awards, received the highest honor bestowed upon Texas secondary school directors. Late last month, Thoede was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame.

The Texas summer of 2012 finally felt like exactly that—a Texas summer. Rockdale recorded five consecutive highs of 100 or greater during the week, with the mercury climbing to consecutive highs of 103 on the last day of July and first day of August.