Bert Massey was a friend of mine. I have no idea when we met, but there are three mayors that mean something to me. One I didn’t know real well and that was Truman Harlow. One I knew well and that was Bert Massey. One I trust with just about anything and that’s Steven Haynes.

Massey, who died last week, was someone very, very special. I’m not sure that we were at social gatherings more than five or ten times in my lifetime. You know, the thing that I liked about Bert Massey more than anything is that he loved Brownwood and he would fight for it. It didn’t have anything to do with football or whether Little Bert played or not. He was a sports fan and he liked the same teams that I do and we had some healthy conversations about those.

Bert – I could tell you about all the things he did for me and I’d take up all my time here. I didn’t want to say that. I just want to say that Bert Massey was good for Brownwood. I would imagine he was good for the State of Texas and he was good enough for me. I loved him living in Brownwood. I got to teach his son in Sunday School and we had some good times in Sunday School. A story I may have told before, but I remember one time Little Bert showed up at Sunday School dressed to the hilt and you could tell he was excited about Sunday School. One Sunday morning he came in dressed to the “T” and about thirty or forty yards behind him was this old man with a cigar in his mouth, a hat, and a coat over his pajamas, still in his house shoes. Bert came in with Little Bert and he said, “I just want you to know that my wife and I were planning on sleeping in this morning and I don’t appreciate y’all being so good to my son to where he runs around on Sunday morning and tells me where we’re going.” He laughed and laughed and said, “Guess who the boss is! I may see you at Sunday School or church in a little while. Bert came in waking us up this morning saying, “Somebody is going to take me to Sunday School!” Sure enough they did.

I just want to acknowledge Big Bert as somebody very special and somebody I will miss very, very much.

Until next time, so long everybody.

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‘Out of the Box’ with Dallas Huston is published each Monday morning at BrownwoodNews.com. Dallas was the radio voice of the Brownwood Lions and Howard Payne Yellow Jackets for more than 55 years. He currently is Pastor of Center City Baptist Church and hosts a Men’s Bible Study in Brownwood on Monday evenings. Your comments are welcome at [email protected].