What’s in a name?

By Stephen Jones
sjones@casscountynow.com

We all pass by or visit places named in the honor of prominent figures from the past. As time passes, their names become common place. And with each passing generation, their respective life’s works begin to fade into the background.
Below are the back stories of a few of the local landmarks and their namesakes.

Wright Patman Lake
On August 6, 1893, Wright Patman was born near Hughes Springs. He graduated from Hughes Springs High School in 1912 and received his law degree from Cumberland University in 1916.
In the midst of World War I, Patman enlisted in the United States Army, which lead to positions as a first lieutenant  and machine gun officer in the Texas Army National Guard.
Patman began his political career in the Texas House of Representatives in 1920, but he made his biggest contributions to the country during his 24 terms in the House of Representatives. In 1932, Patman sponsored a bill that would have immediately paid World War I veterans, who were ravaged by the Great Depression, a bonus that was supposed to be issued in 1945.
In 1936, Patman co-sponsored the Robinson-Patman Act, which aimed to protect small and independent retailers from losing business to much larger chain retailers by preventing these larger retailers from getting a lower price on goods than their independent counterparts.
In the early days of the Watergate Scandal, Patman led a committee dedicated to finding out the origin of the freshly printed hundred-dollar bills found on the men arrested in the DNC headquarters. 
After much pressure from the White House and Congressman Gerald R. Ford, the committee was shut down. 
Patman would later say, “I predict that the facts will come out, and when they do I am convinced they will reveal why the White House was so anxious to kill the committee’s investigation. The public will fully understand why this pres­sure was mounted.”
Patman’s political career ended in 1975, and he would pass away just a year later in Bethesda, Md. He is buried at Hillcrest Cemetery in Texarkana.

Mattie Lanier 
Richey Center
In the city of Atlanta, the Mattie Lanier Richey Center plays host to many events throughout the year.
Mattie’s family settled in Atlanta during the 1870s, after leaving the Mt. Zion community. Her father, W.D. “Pa Bill” Lanier, served as a representative in the Texas Legislature from 1915-1917, but Mattie had a mission of her own: she taught school in modern day Oklahoma.
While working as a bookkeeper in a Louisiana saw mill, she met her future husband, Thomas Robins (T.R.) Richey, a man with an industrious mind. He brought the Ford Motor Company to Atlanta and became president of Atlanta National Bank and the First National Bank of Atlanta.
Continuing the Richey legacy of serving the community, their third child, Mozelle (Mo) Richey Smith Wilkins, established both a gift shop/volunteer organization at Atlanta Memorial Hospital, now CHRISTUS  St. Michael-Atlanta.

McNoble Harper Park
Like the Mattie Lanier Richey Center, McNoble Harper Park is a popular venue for community gatherings as well as outdoor recreation. The park recently received upgrades from a grant.
McNoble Harper was a highly respected Atlanta educator and coach. He started his teaching career in various segregated schools in the East Texas area, such as McLeod (Rambo School), Pruitt and Marietta (Gethsemane School) and Atlanta (Booker T. Washington).
He spent most of his time coaching basketball and baseball, which eventually led to positions as the Pruitt athletic director and the Atlanta Negro Chamber of Commerce Baseball Club president, but his teaching capabilities did not end with sports.
While he was coaching at Pruitt, he was also the vocational agriculture instructor and represented Pruitt at the New Farmers of America National Conference. The NFA was mostly the African-American counterpart of the FFA and was merged with the FFA in 1965.
Harper also dabbled in politics when he represented Cass County at the Texas Democratic Convention in 1968, but his teaching career is where he truly made his mark. 
He spent the final part of his career with the Atlanta ISD.
J.K. Hileman 
Elementary School
In Queen City, you will find two schools named after distinguished educators. 
J.K. (Jake) Hileman was born on Jan. 11, 1910, in Cass County’s Turkey Creek community, located between Hughes Springs and Avinger. Graduating from the town’s rural school in 1928, he attended Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and later transfered to East Texas State Teacher’s College (now Texas A&M University-Commerce), where he would graduate in 1936, majoring in government.
Hileman was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 2, and a longtime educator. 
He started teaching in schools that have long since been incorporated into either the Queen City or Atlanta school systems, such as O’Farrell and Alamance.
After his time as a Texas representative, he served as Queen City ISD’s superintendent from September 1, 1943 to June 30, 1974. As superintendent, he gained much respect from not only his peers, but also from students he helped in his over thirty-year career. Hileman passed away at the age of 73, on August 18, 1983.

Morris Upchurch 
Middle School
Queen City’s middle school is named after Morris Upchurch. Upchurch was a longtime member of the Queen City ISD family, spending 33 years as a teacher and principal of both the elementary and middle schools. 
When rural schools were incorporated into Queen City’s district in 1948, he served on the first school board, post-incorporation. 
The highly experienced educator passed away April 25, 1997, at the age of 88.