DALLAS BURGESS

The following bio was taken from page 134 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Like the forty-niners of California, my family came to Rusk County following the gold rush – black gold rush. Although my father, Dallas Burgess, and mother, Frankye Samford Burgess, grew up in Shelby County, Texas, oil field work had taken them to Arkansas, back to Troup, Texas, (Smith County), and finally, in 1940, to Selman City, Rusk County. Dad, known in the East Texas oil field as "Red" Burgess, retired form Sun Oil Company in 1966. He and Mother reside in their retirement home near Henderson on the old Tyler Highway. They will celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary in 1982.

My earliest recollections of life in Rusk County were war associated – World War II. My brother, Charles, my sister, Lynell, and I all attended Gaston Schools. Everyone was involved in the war effort. Remember the scrap iron drives? We scoured the countryside – on foot because gasoline was rationed – to gather scrap iron for the war effort. Pennies were saved to buy savings stamps at school every Friday. At ten or twenty cents a week, it took a long time to fill a book to trade for a coveted savings bond!

At home, I was fascinated as a six-year-old by my father’s rolling his own cigarettes with a small hand machine, mother’s adding a touch of yellow food coloring to the white margarine that was substituted for scarce butter, and both parents’ counting ration stamps – ration stamps for food, clothing and gasoline.

Recreation during the war years was family oriented. We did "splurge" our meager gasoline ration to attend any savings bond – rallies (that featured "REAL" movie stars who came to Henderson). Once we drove all the way to Kilgore to view a captured two-man Japanese submarine. I was really impressed!

When my brother joined the Navy, Mother proudly displayed our service flag with one blue star in our front window. We gave thanks at the end of the war that the star was still blue, not gold, symbolizing the death in the war of a family member, as seen in so many windows.

Post-war years found Dad in business. He had repaired radios and small appliances as a hobby as long as I could remember, and had opened a repair shop and small appliance store next door to the old Selman City Post Office.

Because of that store, we owned one of the first television sets in the East Texas Oil field. I have vivid memories of twenty to twenty-five persons of all ages crammed into our small living room to watch one of the first telecasts of a football game. Our television set was a hugh console – with a screen about twelve inches across. Despite the efforts of various volunteers who took turns turning by hand the tall antenna mounted on the outside of the house, I’m afraid our view of the game was mostly television "snow".

That same electric shop helped finance college educations at North Texas State University for both my sister and me.

That sister, Lynell, who married her high school sweetheart, Jim Suggs, died suddenly in January 1982. My brother, Charles, has worked for Sun Oil Company since his graduation from the University of Texas, and resides with his family in Richardson, Texas. I married a career Air Force pilot, Al Potz-Nielson, and trekked the globe as an Air Force wife. Following my husband’s retirement, we returned to East Texas and have resided in Longview, Texas, for eight years.

Submitted by Shirley Burgess Potz-Nielsen