In 1967 I was twelve years old sitting in a classroom at George Washington Carver Elementary School in Jasper County, Texas. We heard the sirens and within a few minutes our teacher, Mr. John Henry Mitchell, was beckoned to the door. We couldn’t hear what was being said, but Mr Mitchell’s facial expression told us it was something serious. He returned to the room and stood before the class and said “The church is on fire”. The room was still and quiet. We didn’t have to ask which church.
Dixie Missionary Baptist Church was a fixture in the community, the county, and the southeast Texas area. Almost all of the students and faculty of G. W. Carver were members there. My own family legacy began there. The church’s founder, Richard Seale, was my maternal third great grandfather. I was baptized there, attended church and Sunday school there, went to family funeral services there, and socialized and felt a family closeness there.
Sometimes people ask if you remember where you were when certain events occurred. I just say some memories never fade. This is one of them.
