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Enola Gay Mathews -
A. J. Brannon
A dear friend dropped by my yard sale last weekend. I wasn’t surprised, because that’s how Mr. A.J. Brannon and I became friends a few years ago. Now 99 years old, he uses a walker and has a caregiver driver. He’s retained his good spirits, fine sense of humor, and his singing voice. He sang a few lines of “Honey on the Rock’ as we chatted.
Aaron Jason Brannon was born at Enloe, Texas on April 8, 1925, to Homer Lee and Roberta BrooksBrannon.Heand his siblings, Roy and Dora Lee, attended the Enloe school, and later a high school in Dallas. During World War II, he spent three years overseas with the 93rd Seabees. Back home in Hopkins County in the early 1940s, he worked for electrician DeVoe Carter, then opened an appliance repair shop, CB Refrigeration, near the old hospital on North Davis Street. He and his wife Melba Fay Ford had two children, Charles and Mary Linda, and were married for 60 years.
During retirement, Mr. Brannon has enjoyed visiting yard sales, collecting fishing lures, and singing with his friends. When I asked what one thing he’d like people to know about him after almost 100 years of life, he thoughtfully replied, “I want people to know how great my Lord is, and that would be enough said.” One of his five grandchildren, Rusty Brannon, is a close companion to him these days.
April will be full of things to do. The fourth annual Jazz on the Square event will be held on Celebration Plaza on Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. Bring lawn chairs for the free concert.
The Spring Market on Main shopping event will be on Saturday, April 20, downtown in the 200 block of Main Street and 100 block of Gilmer Street from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
The third annual Earth Day event will begin on Celebration Plaza on Saturday morning, April 20. Free fun events for all ages will be offered.
A free classical concert by the Sulphur Springs Youth Orchestra will be staged on Sunday, April 21, at 4 p.m. in the First Baptist Church Chapel, 116 Oak Ave. The public is invited.
Sulphur Springs City-Wide Clean-up week is April 22 through 27, 2024. City residents can bring trash, brush, and large unwanted items free of charge between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the city collection site, ¼ mile east of Flowserve on E. Jefferson Street, on old US Hwy 67. Your driver’s license or water bill can be shown as proof of city residency.
The ribbon cutting of the new Sulphur Springs Senior Citizens Center is Wed. May 1 at 11 a.m. on Oak Ave. The public is invited.