GENTRY-REDDING

The following bio was taken from page 356 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Gloria Riley

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

We, Dick Redding and Nelda Gentry, were married in First Baptist Church of Henderson in 1959. We met at Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, where I received a Bachelor of Science degree. Dick was from Mexia and served in World War II. I was born in the Henderson Hospital (1937) three days before the London School explosion. I attended kindergarten in Galveston during the war, where my Dad, Jessie William Gentry, was working, then went back to Henderson where I finished school. My favorite subject in school and college was music and I still enjoy music. I have two sisters, Judy and Bobby Gail, and I sang at their double wedding in November 1966 at the First Baptist Church. Judy’s husband is Jack Davis of Cushing, and Bobby Gail’s husband is Buddy Lowe of Henderson. My first school was at Greggton, 1959-60; then I moved to Houston where I still teach. My husband is a technician at the Veteran’s Hospital. We have two daughters, Renee and Sharon, a son-in-law, Sammie Bittick, and one grandson, Joshua Bittick. My parents are Jessie William and Betrick Reese Gentry of Henderson. My grandparents are Lottie Grigg and Abraham Pinkney Reese, who moved to Rusk County in 1913, coming by wagon from Gilmer to Ebenezer where my grandfather taught school. My grandparents, Richard and Betty Gentry, lived in Van Alstyne, Texas. My great-grandparents were William Henry and Clarissa Reese of Big Sandy and Bert and Eliza Grigg of Grayson County, Texas. My roots are still in Rusk County, and I miss the pine trees, the leisurely life, the singing conventions, and the jam sessions with my sisters. At every opportunity or holiday we visit in the county with parents, relatives and friends. Written by Nelda Gentry Redding