Sam Rayburn -- a great leader -- a kind man.

Are you a history buff?  You'll like this story.In 1961, right after we lost our home to hurricane Carla on the Gulf coast of Texas, my dad was in a dilemma.  We had just lost our home and had no flood insurance (no such thing existed back then).  We lost everything we owned, and we didn't own much.  Dad had worked hard for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Galveston, TX., which was not 20 miles from La Marque, Texas where we lived.  We didn't have a lot of money, and saving money was not possible in the job that dad had, as a photographer for the Corps.

After we lost our home, Dad didn't know what we would do.  We didn't have the money to start all over.  In a desperate move, Dad decided to call in a favor.  Dad's Mom, Tennie Hortense Childers was, as a child, a sandbox playmate in Tennessee, of a boy named Sam Rayburn.  Sam grew up and settled in Bonham, Texas.  Tennie grew up and moved to Sherman, Texas, just west of Bonham.  The two of them stayed in touch over the years.  Sam went on to prominence, as the Speaker of the House in Washington, D.C., and was known as a man with more real power than the President of the United States, serving in that capacity for seventeen years!  Tennie went on to marry Eugene Shoemake.  My Dad was their son.  "Mr. Sam", as he was widely known, never knew my dad, but he knew and thought highly of Tennie (my grandmother).

In a desperate move, Dad called Washington, D.C., and left a message for Speaker Rayburn, telling the staff person he spoke with that Mr. Rayburn did not know him, but that he was the son of Tennie (Childers) Shoemake. Dad hung up and about ten minutes later, Speaker Rayburn called my dad. They spoke briefly (mostly about Tennie and the childhood the two of them had enjoyed), and then Speaker Rayburn asked my dad: 'What can I do for you, Jack?' Dad told Speaker Rayburn that, for years he had tried to be transferred from the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Galveston, TX., to a job with U.S. Treasury, in the Custom Division. Dad had always wanted to be a customs inspector, he explained. He was having trouble feeding his family while working for the Corps of Engineers, and had just lost his home and everything
in it.

Speaker Rayburn told dad that he could not promise him anything, but he said: 'Jack, give me a few minutes and I will make a couple of calls and I will call you back'. He hung up and Dad frankly never expected to hear from him again. Speaker Rayburn was an immensely powerful man with a lot of responsibilities.

Dad never heard from Speaker Sam Rayburn again, but, in about ten to fifteen minutes, Dad received a call from someone, (as I remember it), that he called 'the Director of the Port Authority in New York' telling Dad to report to Dallas the following Monday for his new job with U.S. Customs! Forget the mountains of paperwork! Speaker Sam Rayburn, with his far-reaching power, made it happen with a single phone call. We moved that very weekend from a hurricane-wrecked home in La Marque, Texas, to Dallas, and Dad began working in a job that made a lot more money, which changed his life and the lives of our entire family.

Speaker Sam Rayburn didn't have to help my Dad. My Dad could do nothing to enhance the life of Mr. Rayburn. Mr. Rayburn simply remembered an old friend, Tennie (Childers), and honored her by helping my Dad.

I have thought of Mr. Rayburn many times over the years. I wonder how many other lives he touched, as a kind and thoughtful man whose power in the greatest country in the world was unmatched for many years. How did he keep his integrity, and sense of duty and honor in a world where so many others are often corrupted and self-serving? I miss Sam Rayburn. Sam was a true heroe in our time. He provided a rudder for this vast ship of a country in which we live -- and he steered a straight course through often turbulent, dangerous waters.

"Mr. Sam" -- we miss you. We salute you for the life you lived and the country you served so well.


(Note: Take a moment and google Sam Rayburn. Read about what a REAL leader is all about. It will be worth your time).