Tom Bell

Dearwood Tom Bell

Dearwood was my paternal great grandfather's middle name. He was a University of Kentucky and Tulane University educated country M. D. who practiced his voodoo in the deep woods of Hardin and Tyler Counties in Southeast Texas during the Jurassic Era. This region is approximately 50 miles north of Beaumont and 80 miles northeast of Houston. It's a memoir of a seventh generation native son of Texas, born and reared in Beaumont. It offers a "look back" at my hometown during my formative years from the mid-1950's through the late 1960's. It documents the incredible number of changes experienced from that period until the present day. For example, the numerous restaurants that were a stable at that time have all disappeared, and this is most likely the same in any hometown. It contains a good bit of family history, beginning with my great grandparents. Also described in detail is the state of the world during my time on the University of Texas - Austin campus during the late 1960's. It recounts the good times enjoyed on our family rice farm, The Texas Rice Land Company, near Beaumont, and the joy of a serious road trip taken by my parents, brother and me from Beaumont to Seattle in the summer of 1962 to attend the World's Fair. Also featured is an account of the time spent on the Bolivar Peninsula, a thin ribbon of land just east of Galveston. From the trials of life before the advent of fresh water at my paternal Great grandmother's, Lola Chaison, massive beach house to the terrible devastation of Hurricane Ike in September, 2008, a storm that destroyed her beloved cabin. This book was written as a form of therapy during my recovery from my wife Judy's sudden death in May, 2008, and it will hopefully be a history lesson for our three children affording them insights into their family that would otherwise be lost forever. It is my wish that you enjoy the read, and that it will stimulate fond memories of your life.