KILGOROUND

We have all heard the phrase "you can stop it on a dime" when referring to a new vehicle. In Kilgore, there is a man who has the reputation of "stopping it on a string."

His name is Joe "Doc" and his name has become synonymous with mobile home moving throughout East Texas and across the United States. You can stake off an area with twine and watch him set the axles of a mobile right on top of it. Then he will nonchalantly crawl out of the truck with a big grin across his face and ask, "Is this close enough?"

As accurate as he is with his work - he's spent 26 years practicing - for the most part, people in this area still tend to think of him as "the little brother" of Jimmy Jones

"I am the little brother," he proudly admits. "There is no getting around that," he said. Joe Doc was the youngest of five kids in the Jones family. And when it comes to talking business you talk with "one of the boys," but when you talk about family, he quickly refers you to his oldest sister, Jean. Seventeen years his senior Jean said, "He is the baby alright. Spoiled, ornery, aggravating and sweet and we wouldn't know what to do without him," she said. "Our parents, Dorwin and Alcora Jones, married in Arkansas in December, 1933. It was the depression and people worked where they could. Dad actually caught a freight train out of north Little Rock, Arkansas, kind of like hobos do, and rode it in to Kilgore. He had a brother and an uncle here and he knew he could get a job, too. After he worked a couple of weeks, he sent his brother back to Arkansas to bring mother to Kilgore. Dad was too new on the job and wouldn't take the chance of losing it if he went after her," said Jean. "Just outside of Marshall, mom could see the natural flares lighting up the sky. The closer they got to Kilgore the redder the sky became and she was scared of what they were driving into. "All of us kids were born in the old Kilgore Memorial Hospital at the end of Main Street, with the exception of Joe Doc. "For years we lived on Cemetery Street in an old oilfield shack. Then in 1959, mom and dad moved out on Goforth Road. My sister, Perk, and I had already married and moved away from home, but the three boys grew up in that home ... if you want to say they ever grew up," laughed Jean. "We are a fun-loving bunch." "It was my oldest brother, Jimmy who taught me and my younger brother John the mobile home business," said Joe Doc. "As a teenager Jimmy needed a job and read an ad in the Tyler paper where someone needed help moving mobiles. Eventually, he went into business for himself and helped us get our own trucks. We ventured off into the oilfield for a few years and they sold their trucks, but I kept mine in the background. I sure am glad I did, because in 1986 when the oilfield went belly-up, we went right back into moving the homes. Right now, Jimmy and John are back in the oilfield, each with a business of their own. But, for me, the trucks and my equipment is what I'm all about," said Joe Doc. In 1996, he incorporated as Mereco, Inc. He has moved mobiles homes from Florida to Los Angeles, California to Utah. He has also delivered homes for FEMA to the hurricane

victims. How many has he delivered over the years? "Thousands," he said. Not to be outdone when it comes to fun, this family also believes in putting on a show in the way of parades. They have won many awards and trophies with their decorated floats and trucks throughout the years, starting with parades at Caddo Lake. "Since 1934, our family has owned some property at Caddo," said Jean. "And it was natural for us to enter their parades. We sold that property about ten years ago, but we still enter the Kilgore and Liberty City parades every year." "One year, I actually pulled onehalf of a double wide mobile in a parade. We had it decorated for Christmas just like looking inside someone's home," laughed Joe Doc. "We even had someone sitting on the commode. We one a trophy on that one,"

he said. "And we have already received an invitation to participate in Kilgore's Christmas parade again this year. We'll be looking forward to seeing this family and their latest addition to their line of floats this year in Kilgore's Christmas parade. +++ HAPPY birthday today to Sue Barnett, Cheryl Eason, Pat Conner, George Ivan, Mark Bagwell, George M. Blair, Stephen Walker Knight, Natasha Browning, Austin Nix, Lynne Oberthier, Michael Rossum, Joe Ray Grant, Mark Fuqua, Joe Robberson, Katie Wilbourne, Melissa (Russell) Evans, Wes Downing, James Glenn Jacobs Jr., Hollie Bagwell, Erin Bagwell, Alexis Miller, Edward Pool CELEBRATING wedding anniversaries are Rev. and Mrs. T.A. Clayton, Paul and Irina Lohr