DR. ARTHUR J. DEASON

The following bio was taken from page 172 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

 Having been born practically “on the square” in downtown Henderson, I, Lottie Marie Deason, have had the pleasure of watching this quiet community grow into a thriving little city.

 My parents, Bonnie Welch and Arthur J. Deason, were born in Minden only a mile apart.  Her brunette beauty first attracted his attention at the Minden Baptist Church, where she was pianist, and later at Rock Hill Institute, where her father was a member of the board.

 Newspaper clippings describe Joseph Alexander Hamilton Welch as “A confederate soldier and patriarch of East Texas schools.”  My grandmother, Marie Fellcie Welch, was of French descent, having come here from Natchitoches, Louisiana.

 My paternal grandparents were Matilda Britt Deason, a vigorous Irish woman, and Daniel Pleasant Deason, called “doctor” in recognition of his talent for curing ailing animals.

Grandfather’s interest in animals must have rubbed off on my father, who left the family farm and enrolled at the Kansas City Veterinary College, where he graduated after returning to Rusk County to marry his childhood sweetheart and taking her back to Kansas City.

The twenties and thirties were wonderful days in the big yellow house on South Marshall, where activity revolved around family, friends, and fun.  We children played throughout the neighborhood and at night played outdoors under the streetlight until bedtime.  After Daddy was elected mayor and the streets were paved, we skated in the streets.

The oil boom and later, World War II brought many changes, of course.  The unmarried girls in town made a valuable contribution to the war effort in a painless and enjoyable manner.  The county librarian, Mary Louis Giraud, carried us to Tyler weekly to dance with the soldiers at Camp Fannin.

 Henderson had always had a great interest in baseball, so at the close of World War II a group of businessmen organized the Henderson Oilers of the East Texas League.  The baseball club brought Henderson many hours of enjoyable recreation and brought me a husband.

 Attracting much attention was the league’s leading pitcher, a left-hander named Elton (Slick) Davis, who won twenty-six games during the 1946 season.  His success took him to the Shreveport Sports; and later to Texarkana and Kilgore.  Our courtship revolved around baseball parks, and in 1947 we were married.  Soon thereafter Davis decided to join my father and brother in the A. J. Deason and Sons Hereford Ranch near Minden.

 A native of Cordova, Tennessee, David spent the war years with a quartermaster corps attached to Lovel General Hospital near Boston, Massachusetts.  He was a sergeant at the war’s end, serving as motor pool dispatcher. 

Our older son is Dr. Ray Davis, a Canton Texas, veterinarian, whose two daughters, Amanda Rae, age three, and Kristin Maris, age one, make our life “grand.”  Our younger son, Graham, is a Division Controller with the Southland Corporation in Dallas. 

Submitted by Lottie Maris Davis