The Idle American: Life on Reed Road

Allen Saunders, an obscure Canadian cartoonist, is cited for an inscription in his 1956 “Mary Worth” comic strip. No doubt it had local impact, but much more the next year when repeated in the Reader’s Digest .

“Life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans” has been quoted often.

  Sometimes, though, it simply doesn’t apply. My friend, Ray Reed - reflective and appreciative of his 85 years - wouldn’t change much. Of course, he misses Barbara, his wife of 58 years, as well as a family pet, Pogo, who lived 35 years.

  A 58-year marriage is saluted, but what kind of pet lives so long? Surely Pogo would have been featured - perhaps in the 140-year-old Hood County News.  But it never occurred to Ray, his wife or their children, Janna and Wes, that not every family had a pet Macaw. It had the run (or the fly) of the house from shortly after hatching in Wharton, Texas, for 35 years.

  In 2020, Ray endured a double whammy, losing Barbara to kidney disease, and Pogo a few months later.

  A Yellow-collared Macaw, he was virtually a family member. His large cage took up most of his 8x10 foot room, and a smaller one was great for travel and hotel check-ins. “Any dogs or cats?” was a frequent question, but birds weren’t mentioned. (“I don’t think he ever made made any mistakes or even forfeited a feather,” Ray remembers, and Pogo, at about eight ounces, was mostly feathers.)

  Ray and Barbara  met at Howard Payne College (now HPU), where they graduated in 1963. Most of their teaching was at Wharton High School, where Ray coached football for 11 years. He later served two years as tax assessor/collector, then ended his career as Wharton Public Schools business manager. In 2008, they moved to the Reed Place, about four miles north of Granbury. Their home was on Reed Road, so named for his family, but mostly to help emergency personnel find addresses by names instead of numbers. It was the first of all Hood County roads re-named to eliminate confusing numbers.) His parents (sharecroppers for 10 years upon arrival from Decatur) later bought the small spread through which Reed Road runs.

  Now, back to the bird. Pogo enjoyed fruits and nuts, and mimicking humans; that’s what Macaws do. They are, after all, among the most intelligent of the 20 or so parrot species. He often perched on shoulders in the Reed home, but also found extended index fingers to be good places to pause.

  Pogo escaped just once through a door left open, and the family was jarred, of course. They tacked up signs and called friends all around. Five weeks later, he was recovered by folks about five miles away. After making sure it was the missing bird, they called the Reeds. Minutes later, Pogo fluttered to Ray’s shoulder and they went home. The family was whole again.

 So, Reed,  a respected citizen and proud graduate of both Granbury High School and HPU, continues his Christian pilgrimage, living out his commitments to God, family, grateful students and friends.

  He has lived an idyllic and successful life - reserved and modest - and worthy of respect.

  Ray and his brother, Danny, who lives nearby, are now the only Reeds on Reed Road.

  We talked during lunch recently about the quote referenced earlier. We discussed mutual blessings, agreeing that any plans we make are subject to change. “I used to always have a Plan A and B,” he joked, “So maybe I should consider C, D and E. I tell my church friends that we must ‘keep on keeping on.’”

  He considers tomorrows worth getting up for. Experiencing both gains and losses, Ray wishes everyone well. That’s what the 1874 gospel song, “Great Getting Up Mornin',” suggests in its lyrics, “Fare thee well, fare thee well.”

  What a day that will be when we have no more plans to make, sorrows to bear or birds to recover.

Dr. Newbury, longtime chancellor of Howard Payne University, lives in the Metroplex. Email: newbury@speakerdoc.com. Phone: 817-447-3872.

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