Goodbye Dad, Say hi to Mom For me.

Glynn K. Maxwell June 21, 1943- February 15, 2021

Once upon a time there was a dog named Peewee. And Peewee had some dog friends and they were Blackie, Brownie, Spot and sometimes Rex……

Thus began many a bed time story from my dad.  As many of you know, our dad was a storyteller.  Spend any time with him, or in his office, and the majority of the time you would would come away with a story about something. A lot of the time, you would get a quick lesson about the Civil War, the cold war, World War 2, or even a story or two about Grant Parish. So, in the spirit of my dad, I’m going to tell you a story. 

Glynn Keith Maxwell was born on June 21, 1943 at the crossroads of Hwy 123 and Hwy 8. At some point, Papaw Bill and Mamaw Chloe moved dad and his brothers,Larry and Billy to Dry Prong where his adventures with Peewee, a chihuahua mix,  were born. He attended school in Dry Prong, and as he liked to say, he gave his teachers some grief. I have a feeling he got in trouble for too much talking.  As a teacher myself, that does not surprise me one bit. Dad played basketball for Dry Prong High School, and loved to regale us with the tales of playing on the court at the Dry Prong  gym.  He loved to tell the stories of how the Dry Prong Wildcats were the best in the state and how they would run opponents ragged because the Dry Prong court was longer than regulation high school courts at that time. 

After graduation, Dad would go on to attend Northwestern State University and then enlisted in the US Air Force where over his four years, his time would include a very close encounter with JFK and Jackie  at Carswell AFB about an hour or so before JFK was assassinated. When I asked him what stuck out to him the most, he said, JFK had on the most beautiful pin striped suit and a country boy, I thought it was the most beautiful suit that I  had seen.”  After a posting in Pakistan at a base ‘that was there, but wasnt’, Dad returned home and would eventually marry the girl next door, our mom, Robbie Creed and have four children. 

During the 80s, dad served as Mayor of Dry Prong for two terms, with one of the highlights being the invitation to the White House to meet then President Reagan and VP Bush after he and the entire town council switched to the Repulican Party. Something that got Dry Prong quite a bit of press at the time.  It was also during this time that he co-founded KVDP,  Dry Prong’s radio station. 

Dad’s storytelling and writing abilities would serve him well throughout the years. It made people feel at ease no matter if they were in his office at Southern Funding, or if he was interviewing them for the Dry Prong Village Voice or the Colfax Chronicle. He loved to write about the Civil War, as many of you know. He wrote and spoke extensively about the Civil War as it related to Central Louisiana.

 He could talk your ear off about the Red River Campaign, and as kids, we can attest to reading pretty much every single historical marker that we came across. I attribute my knowledge of seemingly useless information from some of our ‘rides’ that are a family tradition. Sometimes those “Maxwell shortcuts” would lead to an adventure that we would tell stories about years later. 

I am sure that all of you have stories to tell about my dad, and I’m sure that we have heard stories (all good, don’t worry!) about ya’ll. We would love for  you to tell us those stories. 

In the spirit of dad, I will ask you to do something.  Tell your stories to your kids and grandkids and your great grand kids. Ask your relatives to tell stories. My students love when I tell them stories of how I grew up in  Louisiana.When our loved ones are gone, these stories become treasured memories.

As for Dad,  I’m sure he’s  up there talking Mom’s ear off and telling stories to Uncle Bob, Uncle Larry and Pawpaw Bill and Mamaw Chloe.  

Can you do me a favor?  If you see a little redheaded Clark that looks like me, running around up there, can you tell them a Peewee story for me?  Love you.