Half a Mile Off the Highway - Revised

Half a Mile Off the Highway tells the story of the family in which I was brought up. It tells the story of my parents and of their parents and grandparents, and where they came from; some by way of the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky and Tennessee, and others from the Carolinas, joining the Westward Movement away from the devastation of the Civil War, first, into Northeast Texas, and finally to a point near Doans Crossing, where the Great Western Cattle Trail crosses Red River, to become participants in the pioneering way of life. The story tells of the early struggles of my parents, the beginnings of the family, overcoming hardships, successfully bringing up eight children in a country setting, and seeing them forming families and leading happy and successful lives of their own.

About the Author :
AUTOBIOGRAPHY I was born in the family home on an oil lease near Electra, Texas on August 24, 1923. As I grew up I attended Church and the public schools, all in the same little town (as did all my brothers and sisters), until my graduation from high school in 1942. The area was farming and cattle country, and people still lived who remembered the Civil War, including one very old ex-slave. Big oil came in about 1911 to add significantly to the prosperity of the community. Early settlers did wise planning for Electra, and the finest leadership in the churches and schools was the inspiration that more and more brought the educational goals of the young people beyond high school. Upon graduation, I had thoughts of going immediately to Baylor University to study for the Gospel ministry, but with a war on, and an older brother, a Baylor graduate, joining the Air Force, I soon found myself enlisting in the Navy. After some 14 months in North Africa, I was returned to the "States" for placement in the officer training program. With that program and the GI Bill, which I used following separation from service, I was able to complete both university and theological courses of study. I married Laura Nell Hausenfluke, whom I met at First Baptist Church, Georgetown, Texas, and with whom I shared life's responsibilities and an inner sense of God's call to His service. Together we raised two sons. While attending Southwestern Baptist theological seminary in Ft. Worth, I began what was later called a bi-vocational career: I worked in a defense plant, and during hours off led in the gathering of a congregation and in the organization of a new church, which I served as pastor for about two years. I, then, moved with my family to California to continue a similar work in the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Laura found the strength and stamina to provide the means for her own university education and teacher training and enjoyed a thirty-year career in that field. I went into teaching, as well, after over 15 years working in the aerospace industry. I never parted with my old textbooks from college and seminary days, for I believed that between the covers of those books was a vast store of lessons to be learned and thoughts to be shared. - Almon Teel