Joyce Gail McCarty Greenlee) (1959

Here is a little of my story. I wrote this when I retired from CNB, Henderson, TX in May, 2007, but it is still true and holding. The cheese is very good in Hamilton, Texas.

"Who Moved My Cheese?"
The book begins with Sniff, Scruffy, Hem and Haw in "Cheese Station C" but my struggle with moving cheese really began in December, 1960. Up until that time, I was just a normal, Texas girl whose parents provided whatever cheese I needed very nicely. But, in December, I married Frank, not knowing that I was really joining the United States Marine Corps. One good thing I learned over the next 8 years was that when the Marine Corps moves your cheese, you do not have to look for it. They give you very definite instructions (something called "orders") about where, when and how to find that cheese. From California, to Tennessee, to South Carolina, Hawaii, Viet Nam (well, Frank went there by himself) I just laid around in Hawaii on the beach - - with a 7 month old daughter and a 2 1/2 year old son in tow - then back to Texas, California and Texas again. That cheese was really moving around a lot then.

In 1969, we loaded up all our cheese in a Rambler station wagon and moved, lock, stock and UHaul trailer from Odessa,Texas to Wilmore, Kentucky and Asbury College. I actually had to go to WORK.

After a few years of college, work, college, work and missing Texas, we moved back to the really big town of Priddy, Texas in December of 1976. We happened upon our cheese again in Brownwood, January of 1977. Frank at Howard Payne University and me at First National Bank. The cheese was good and tasty and plentiful until a bank failure almost lost the cheese completely. Not minding looking for the cheese again, we moved to Dallas and some MAJOR moving around of that cheese for seven years or so.

Finally, Milton McGee and Kenneth Black took control of the cheese (they thought) and hid it in Henderson. Sure enough, on June 2, 1997, we located it at 201 W Main St. (commonly known as CNB) and HISD, Beckville ISD and Full Armor Christian Academy.

We found several different varieties of cheese being made in East Texas, but we adjusted and began to like it very well.

Now after ten years, our cheese is being moved again. This time, we are still in the maze looking for it, but we think we have located "Cheese Station N". Those two mice, Sniff and Scruffy, have nothing on us. We were not like Hem and Haw who were puzzled about where that cheese had gone.

We have found that life is a maze and the cheese does get moved. However, both Frank and I know the real Controller of the cheese. The best cheese is being laid up in a place where we will be sure to find it some day.

Matthew 6:19-21
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That scripture and another one of my favorites has made our search for "cheese" here much easier and more fun. Our intention now is to concentrate on the "other" times of our lives. Truly our lives have been blessed with all these times and we are looking forward to some of the times we will experience in the future.

The other scripture is:

Ecclesiastes 3:1-12
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.

I have passed some of my cheese to you. DON'T LOSE IT!

I enjoyed all the years I spent in Odessa schools. Austin Elementary, Crockett Jr. Hi and OHS. I attended San Jacinto after it opened during 3rd grade. My brother, Earl, and I both went there. We started that year at Austin. One day, the bus took us to San Jacinto and the driver told us that this was our new school. My brother and I refused to go to school there that day. My sister, who was in 8th grade, had to get off the bus and walk us back to our house way out on North Golder. I suppose that our mother may have known that we were changing schools, but she did not tell us about it. We didn't have a telephone hence JoAnn walking us home. The only time I ever got into trouble at school was at San Jacinto. There was a boy in my class (3rd grade) who picked on my brother (1st grade) and I picked a fight with him on the school ground and the teacher didn't like that. After that day, he and my brother were the best of friends and I was the one who got punished for the fight. Don't remember what the punishment was.