THERA DELL CANNON  KIRGAN

 The following bio was taken from page 269 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 Brimley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

 Born January 7, 1920 in Wichita Falls, I, Thera Dell, was almost eleven years old when my father, T. P. Cannon, announced that we were leaving our home to move to Henderson.  He had gone there to build the Beacon Oil and Refinery Company.  We moved the early part of 1931 and were part of the “oil boom” which brought “progress” to East Texas!!

 Some of my fondest memories are of my friends and the growing up days of junior high and senior high school and especially the years of leading the pep-squad and my association with the football team.

 Some of my teachers that had a great influence on my life were J. B. Adams, Guy Curtwright, and Mr. Earl Adams, who was the administrator and my friend.  Mr. Adams was never too busy to listen to my problems when I needed a listener.  Melba Hammack, my homeroom teacher and best counselor, just accepted and loved me as I was.  Myrtis Watkins, who did not teach me a great deal of history, impressed me by the vast amount of knowledge stored in her petite little blonde head, and I admired her immensely.  Graduation was in 1938, and for one year, I attended college in Denton at Texas Woman’s University.

 In June of 1939, I became the bride of Ramon R. Kirgan of Fairfield, Texas, and this city has been my home for over forty-two years.  To us was born only one son, Ramon Richard Kirgan, Jr., who grew up and prepared to teach and coach football.  After two years in the field of education, he entered the ministry and returned to seminary to prepare himself for a life in the service of our Lord.  At this writing, he is pastor for First Baptist Church at Lindale, Texas.  Richard married Miss Anne Atwill, and they have given us two lovely grandchildren, Melissa Anne, eighteen, and Ramon Richard III, soon to be fourteen. 

 After our son graduated from high school, I had a time of need, and became a nurse at our local hospital for eight and one-half years.  After this, in 1966, I opened a dress shop, called “The Door Knocker”, and have been in business on the west side of the courthouse square in Fairfield for sixteen years.

 There are so many I could name that have had an impact on my life, but one who stands out above all others is my mother, Ethel Wade Cannon, who left Henderson in the fall of 1939.  She moved to Fairfield two years before her death in January 1973, after living in Corsicana all those years after she left Henderson.

 For forty-two years, I have been active in the First Baptist Church of Fairfield, and in 1973, I found a new desire to study and teach young women the Bible.  Since then, my greatest joy has come from teaching younger women the importance of the home, loving their husbands, and being conformed to the image of Christ.  My husband and I are “one” in our service to God.

 Submitted by Thera Dell Kirgan