Counting My Blessings: Memoir

By Elzie D. Odom

Elzie D. Odom was born in 1929 in the rural community of Shankleville in Southeast Texas. The community was founded and named for his Great, Great Grandfather, Jim Shankle. Jim had been a slave on a Mississippi plantation when he married Winnie who was also a slave and had three slave children. Shortly after they married, Winnie, and her children were sold to a Texas Slave-owner. Jim ran away from the Mississippi plantation and walked more than 400 miles to find his Winnie in Texas. They were re-united and raised Winnies three children and six of their own in what became Shankleville, Texas. Elzie was born and raised in that small all black community. In spite of his humble background, he has enjoyed a 65 year marriage to his lovely and loyal wife, two successful children, and six wonderful grandchildren. He was the first black elected official in Orange County, Texas in 1965 and the fifth black Postal Inspector in the nation in 1967. In 1990 he was the first black councilmember in Arlington, Texas and became the first black Mayor in 1997. He retired from Political life in 2003 and credits all of his achievements to BLESSINGS FROM GOD. He and his wife Ruby live in Arlington, Texas where they are still active in the city and Mt Olive Baptist Church, where they have served for over 32 years. TO GOD BE THE GLORY.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781468500806

Elzie D. Odom

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© 2011 Elzie D. Odom. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 11/21/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4685-0081-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4685-0080-6 (e)

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Counting My BlessingsMemoir

Chapter 1My Beginning - Shankleville

Chapter 2My Childhood - Shankleville

Chapter 3Marriage-Shankleville

Chapter FourLife In Orange Texas

Chapter FiveLife In Los Angeles, California

Chapter SixLife In San Antonio

Chapter SevenLife In Arlington, Texas

Chapter EightPolitical Life In Arlington, Tx

Acknowledgement

I praise God Almighty for His love and guidance even when I might not have said it or even recognized his direction. I thank my wife, my lifelong partner in marriage whom I met when she was 14, and she has been by my side praying for me, speaking life to me, encouraging me, sharing with me, & lifting me up all along the way. She was the first to urge me to write a book. I thank my children and grandchildren who also inspired me to write my life story. I thank Sonia Doby our friend and church member for her prayers and directing me through this process.

A special thanks to Pam Roach Public Relations

Elzie and Ruby.jpg

Elzie and Ruby Odom-2009

Counting My Blessings

Memoir

Elzie D. Odom

There are those of us who live busy lives, achieve success and a degree of happiness but do not really stop to realize the role God is playing in our accomplishment. We tend to take God for granted and even believe we are responsible for our gifts, talents, and blessings. I have had a life that I could not have imagined; and only God could have designed and navigated. So join me as I reflect on my life and how God, and only God, could have, and did control, lead and guide every aspect of it. I decided to write my memoir to give God some glory and encourage others as I witness to God’s blessings in my life.

I was born in 1929; one of the worst of times, in southeast Texas, one of the worst of places, but the last 82 years of my life have been nothing short of a miracle. There are many contributing factors but at the top of the list are the many, many BLESSINGS OF ALMIGHTY GOD. He gave me the wonderful wife who has been by my side for 65 years, and who gave me two God fearing children, followed by six wonderful grandchildren. These and many other blessings have prompted me to write my Memoir with the hope that someone will be inspired to depend on God, follow His teachings and enjoy the fruit of His blessings just as I have.

My Great, Great, Grandfather, Jim Shankle and his wife Winnie were born in slavery in 1811 and 1814 and were slaves on a Mississippi plantation. Winnie was very beautiful and was therefore used as a house slave, and by the time she was a teenager she already had two boys and a girl. Jim fell in love with Winnie and her children and after some time they were married. (Jumped the broom.) Shortly after they were married and probably because they were married, Winnie was sold at a slave auction, along with her children, but not Jim.

Jim longed for his wife and children but he knew the price of a run-a-way slave. He knew he would be shot on sight if he were caught. He lay awake at night for many nights before he decided that he would seek his WINNIE. He heard she was sold to a Texan and he knew Texas was to the west so he walked, under the cover of darkness, eating wild berries and anything he could find; he walked for at least 400 miles swam two rivers, and finally reached Texas. He was still in grave danger but he slipped from plantation to plantation asking if anyone had seen Winnie. He finally located the plantation where she lived and again, she was a house slave. Part of her duties was to go to the spring to get water for the kitchen. Jim hid near the spring and finally one day she came to get water and heard a rumbling in the bushes and out stepped the torn and tattered Jim. He continued to hide near the spring and Winnie slipped food to him. She finally approached her Master who sympathized with them and arranged to purchase Jim.

Jim and Winnie lived and worked together on this plantation in Newton County, Southeast Texas, near the Louisiana border. They raised Winnie’s three slave children and six of their own. One of those children was Harriet Shankle Odom, my Great, Great, Grandmother. Talk about a Love Story and a Blessing. No way could Jim have