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Enola Gay Mathews
When Spring arrives, all things are made new again. Just listen to the birds! Mornings, just before the sun comes up, it’s like a party going on already in the trees around town and through the neighborhoods. As school buses make their rounds, shops open up, and traffic gets started in Sulphur Springs, a certain excitement builds in those early moments for me. A beautiful change is coming, once again … a new day in a new season. I’m a morning person, so what could be better?
Personally, I’m thrilled that you're reading this new column in your local newspaper, which might be how we will become introduced to one another.
I’m pretty excited to be where I am in life and totally pleased with where I’ve been planted. After arriving here with my children in the mid '80s — knowing no one except Stella McIntire, who was a friend of my Mother’s back in Longview, I was ready at last to put down roots.
Once my children were school-aged, I went to work, and that’s when I sort of met the town. I’ve been warmly embraced by the community since I went on the air in 1989 on local AM radio. Incidentally, KSST opened 76 years ago in its original studio on the west side of the square (the stairway marked today with a bronze plaque).
I spent the next three decades on the early morning shift: arriving in darkness, reporting the weather, announcing the school lunch menus, bus delays, and lost dogs, and joining in the start of a new day for everyone listening. Truthfully, I sort of raised my children by phone during those years!
But through that medium, which was never like work, I got to become part of life in Hopkins County. I wasn’t 'from here’,' but I was graciously made to feel like a member of a greater family.
A few months ago, a new opportunity opened up for me within the family of the Sulphur Springs News-Telegram and its companion newspaper, Country World. Writing and podcasting have been learning curves for me! But, at a time in life when many people take the retirement route, I’m blessed to once again be positioned to serve as well as observe.
Spring will bring new heights to our horizon, and change and growth for Sulphur Springs and Hopkins County.
Here’s how we can stay in touch like good neighbors should: Get a subscription and read your newspaper.
Catch the twice-weekly podcast ‘Down Home Today’, as well as this new weekly column.
Contribute information and share news as well as joys you find along your path.
Email and postal mail, well, they’re as welcome as flowers in Spring!
Contact me at enola@ssnewstelegram.com, or mail to me at: Enola Gay Mathews, Sulphur Springs News-Telegram, 200 Main Street, Sulphur Springs, TX 75482.