Family Histories
Cochran County, Texas
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Helen Nixon
I was born November 16, 1923 near Powderly, Lamar County, Texas to Bun and Beulah Nixon. We moved to Scurry County when I was three, where I attended school at Dunn, Ira, and Bison. I finished
my last year in grade school and four years of high school at Whiteface where I graduated in 1941. Our graduation trip was to Washington D. C. while visiting ten states in between. Cullum Cooksey drove the bus; Helen
Cofman and Olman Sweatt were teacher sponsors. Other high school teachers were P. O. Smith, W. L. Mooney, and Coach George Detrixhe, and our grade school teacher was Weldon Snodgrass.
We went to district the three years I played basketball. We were the historic team that beat Morton for the first time and an additional three years in a row. Being district favorites in 1941, we lost our first game
which meant no state playoffs. Icy roads and basketball playoffs are inseparable in my memory. Sandstorms and track meets are also synonymous. For our junior-senior picnic in 1941, we went to a flat on the Duggan ranch for a
lovely day, unaware of a raging sandstorm above the flat.
I accepted the Lord at age eleven. I was baptized into the Bison Church in Scurry County; and first learned about missionaries there; inspiring my first feelings about becoming a missionary. But it was during my high
school years at Whiteface that a convicition of a call matured, and I made public my feelings that God was leading me to be a foreign missionary. I received a Bachelor's from Baylor in 1945; Master's from Golden Gate
Baptist Seminary in California in 1949, and a Doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth in 1967. I was appointed missionary for Southern Baptists in 1949 and took early retirement in 1981 after thrity-two years in Argentina.
Being in the first graduating class at Golden Gate, and the first foreign missonary to go out from that seminary, were major factors in my being chosen "Alumna of the Year" in 1983.
Between college and seminary, I taught Spanish at Forsan and worked as summer missionary in El Paso. These experiences, along with college Spanish turned my heart towards Spanish America.
After retirement, I completed four quarters in cabinetmaking at TSTI in Sweetwater, building some of my furniture besides reworking cabinets in my home and in a nearby church. Often quipping that my only Christlike trait
was that my father was a carpenter, I envived him and my brothers - all excellent carpenters. Now this field is open to women.
I taught Bible in lay institutes in Rosario, Mendoza, and San Juan, as well as promoting local church religious education on a local, area and national scale in Argentina, forming many rich friendships there where I long to visit some day.
I remember now, as a child, I would hide my ham and biscuits from "rich" children who took bologna and light bread sandwiches for lunch. Only after we began paying for farm products did we learn to appreciate producing at food at home.
My dad, James B. Nixon was elected to serve as Justice of the Peace in the May Primaries of 1954. Although he had not been "Sworn In" his predecessor, Mr. H. B. Robbins, died in his sleep before the year was out and Mr. Nixon was called in to pronounce him dead.
Soon after the Robbin's funeral, the County Court decided since Nixon was already elected the next term to go ahead and have him sworn in to finish out Robbins term. He served his first term and was elected twice more and served as
J. P. almost twelve years, until his death September 18, 1966. Dad had been semi-invalid more than a year and Mom, Mrs. Nixon, had been serving in his stead the majority of that time. At his death she was sworn to serve the remainder
of his term.
Though I now make my home in Snyder, I still look forward to visiting friends at Whiteface and Morton, as well as the Baptist Church in Whiteface.
Submitted by Helen Nixon
This family history came from Cochran County Legacy Vol. II Copyright Cochran County Historical Commission. Published with permission. The information contained on this page may not be reproduced or published elsewhere without the express written permission of the Cochran County Historical Commission
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