CHESTER F. DURAN
The following bio was taken from page 187 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
Chester F. Duran (1902- ) is the fourth son of J. C. and Mirtie Duran. Cora Belle Duran (1910- ), his wife, is the fourth child of W. R. and Nellie Anderson Wylie of the Chapman Community.
Chester attended public school at Pine Hill and Henderson and college at Sam Houston University where he received his B.S. degree; Sul Ross University, and Stephen F. Austin University where he received his M.A. degree. Part of his college training was done during the spring and summer sessions.
The first teaching job for Chester was at Chapman in 1923. He stayed at his parents’ home and rode a horse to school until he took the mumps and relapsed twice. Then he boarded in the community. Before school started the next year, he had bought a car and again lived with his parents. Cora Belle was a high school student during the three years Chester was principal. After Chapman, Chester attended college a year and then went to Grandview as principal, to Laneville as superintendent, and then in 1929 to Pine Hill as principal, again living with his parents.
Meanwhile, Cora Belle had been attending public school at Chapman and Pine Hill and also Stephen F. Austin University. She started teaching in Pine Hill in 1929. After four years of teaching together, Chester and Cora Belle were married on May 24, 1933 – ten years after Cora Belle was first a student with Chester as her principal. They taught together another year. Then Cora Belle retired to raise a family. Chester continued in the teaching profession as Assistant Rusk County Superintendent, Churchill, Pine Hill and Henderson. He worked three years in a shipyard at Orange, Texas, as a Marine electrician, meantime teaching the mathematics of electricity, at night, six hours a week, under the supervision of The University of Texas. He came to Henderson High School in 1945 as mathematics and science teacher for one year, and then was High School Principal until he retired May 31, 1967. Later he served as Director of Windamere School, Longview, Texas, a private school for children with learning disabilities.
Chester joined the Masonic Lodge in 1924, and is still a member of this organization.
Cora Belle resumed teaching in Orange. After moving to Henderson from Orange, she attended secretarial school at night, worked in private industry for two years and for eighteen years was Educational Assistant to the Rusk County School Superintendent. She also retired in 1967.
Three children were born to Cora Belle and Chester: Jo Nan (July 12, 1934); a stillborn son (September 17, 1937), and Elizabeth (October 17, 1940).
Jo Nan attended public school in Pine Hill, Orange, and Henderson. She attended Stephen F. Austin University where she received her B.A. degree and later her M.Ed. degree. Joseph O. Johnson and Jo Nan received their Bachelor’s degrees at the same time and married soon after.
Jo Nan and Joe spent four years in Galveston, Joe attending The University of Texas Medical School and Jo Nan teaching in the Galveston Public Schools. They lived the next four years in Dallas where Joe completed his internship and residency at Parkland Hospital and Jo Nan taught at Lamplighter, a private school in North Dallas. For three years they lived in Long view, Texas, where Joe was in private practice and Jo Nan spent her time as mother and housewife. Then they went back to Dallas, where Joe was on the faculty of The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. Then he went to M. D. Anderson, Houston, Texas for special training. He spent two years in the U.S. Navy, stationed at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, where Joe was a doctor in the Academy Hospital and Jo Nan taught Special Education in the Public Schools.
Longview, Texas, became the Johnson’s next home. There Joe is in private practice and Jo Nan, though she spent several years teaching in the field of Special Education, now devotes only one or two hours per week, divided among three different Gregg County schools as a consultant and diagnostician. Jo Nan and Joe spent much time, effort, and money in helping to start and operate the Windamere School. They still lived in the Longview, Pine Tree School District.
Joe and Jo Nan had six children, the first of whom is Jennifer, born April 16, 1958. Jennifer finished Pine Tree High School, then attended Texas Women’s University where she received her B.A. and R.N. degrees. She spent her last two years in Dallas in the T.W.U. Southwest Medical and Parkland Hospital Co-operative Nurse Training Program. After graduation she worked for a year in the Parkland Hospital Maternity Ward. She is now working in Garland Memorial Maternity Ward, Garland, Texas. She married Richard (Rick) Camp III, who is employed by Texas Instruments. The couple have no children.
The second daughter of Joe and Jo Nan, Julia, September 15, 1959, graduated from Pine Tree High School. She is attending The University of Texas and will graduate in December with a degree in business administration and finance. The third daughter, Jana, November 10, 1963, is attending Pine Tree High School. Jay, December 4, 1970 – April 13, 1972 was an adopted son of Joe and Jo Nan. Jeff and Jill, June 16, 1974, are the adopted twins of Joe and Jo Nan.
Elizabeth, daughter of Chester and Cora Belle, graduated from Henderson High School and attended Stephen F. Austin University. While a college junior, she married Jerry Moore in Mama Ran’s home. This was the first and only marriage that was ever performed in the J. C. and Mirtie Duran home. Sometime after graduation (each having received B.S. degrees), Jerry went into the Army. Elizabeth began her teaching career in Pine Tree High School, where she taught all the classes in French and Spanish and a class or two of English.
A short time before Jerry was discharged from the Army, identical twins girls, Melanie and Margaret (February 7, 1964), were born to the Moores. After Jerry returned from the Army, he started working for the largest tax evaluation-engineering firm in Texas. After Elizabeth, Melanie and Margaret were released from the hospital, they lived with Chester and Cora Belle for a few months until Jerry was located in the Deer Park Office. Elizabeth began teaching in the Deer Park High School when her children were older and continued until the family moved to River Plantation Conroe, Texas. Jerry moved to the Houston office. He has remained in Houston and has worked out of Houston office there until the present time. For several years he has been head of the oil, gas and other minerals department of the Houston district, reaching from the Jasper and Polk County area through Houston and Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande.
Elizabeth had a very severe, almost fatal illness, in July 1971, when a full-developed baby boy, David Durant Moore, was born. He died July 12 and is buried in the Pine Grove Cemetery. Elizabeth was not able to teach for a few years, however, she later taught adults, on a part-time basis and then became a director. She is now teaching full time in the Conroe Public Schools.
Melanie and Margaret are high school seniors and are active in several organizations. They plan to go to college at Texas A&M University.
Submitted by Chester F. and Cora Belle Duran