Saturday, November 28, 1998

People of all kinds gather for Thanksgiving dinner

By LORETTA FULTON

Senior Staff Writer

"You can't tell one person from another," Leonard Wheeler said, pushing a large garbage can around the room in search of empty plates left behind by full patrons.

And that was the beauty of it.

The Rev. Archie Echols, pastor of St. Paul United Methodist Church, mentioned it, too, in his prayer before the seventh annual community Thanksgiving dinner at the Abilene Civic Center on Thursday.

He thanked God for the "family" gathered that "extends across racial barriers, denominational, and even geographical lines."

And that was the beauty of it.

Several hundred people gathered at the Civic Center, either to partake of the traditional turkey and dressing dinner or to help.

As Wheeler said, you couldn't tell one person from another. Police Chief Melvin Martin, Taylor County commissioners Jack Turner, Neil Fry, and Stan Egger, Abilene school board member Susan King, Sheriff Jack Dieken, Jones County Judge Brad Rowland, and many others were all there helping.

Hardly anyone eating knew who they were. You couldn't tell one person from another, and you couldn't tell who was getting more out of it -- the people eating or the ones preparing, serving, and cleaning up.

Brett Black, a young airman stationed at Dyess just two weeks ago, is a long way from his Kansas City, Mo., home. Someone asked if he wanted to help with the Thanksgiving dinner.

"I said, 'sure,' " Black said.

Several people invited Black to join their family for dinner, but he opted for the larger "family" at the Civic Center, partly because he knew being with someone else's family might make him homesick.

"It would make me miss home worse," he said.

For Black and everyone else gathered for the biggest Thanksgiving dinner in town, loneliness was a forgotten word Thursday. The spirit of Thanksgiving permeated the Civic Center, with tables brightly decorated by children from Ortiz Elementary School, and music and gaiety provided by many.

Leonard Wheeler's engaging smile and Archie Echol's prayer said what it was all about, people of all backgrounds and stations in life gathered together as a family.

"I tell you what, I'll be back next year," Wheeler promised.