Three Rights Make a Left

Five Forney Mentors that deserve to be remembered.

Lori and I moved to Forney in the early 1980s. There were only a few places to get a meal: Dairy Queen, The City Café, and Bingo Truck Stop. The Trinity River served as a boundary between the small town of Forney and the big cites of Dallas and Mesquite. There were no street lights and very few four-way stop signs. I was young and anxious to be part of this wonderful little town. The great part was that there were a handful of men who were more than willing to make me feel welcome as I either sat (or stood) in their office and talked about every subject imaginable. Looking back, I think those visits were more of an apprenticeship in learning what it was like to be a part of Forney.

Red Whaley was one of the first people I became friends with. Red was one of the most renowned antique dealers in Texas. He built Forney into the Antique Capitol of Texas and was a real estate genius. But at heart he was and always would be a fireman. I loved to visit him at his antique store and listen to his stories. He had a lot of them.

Sometimes in traveling in places like New England and even Europe, we would visit antique shops and when the proprietor learned we were from Forney, very often they would ask: “Do you know Red Whaley?” Red was a good man that cast a very big shadow on our beloved town.

John Crenshaw was a real estate man and had an office on Bois D’ Arc just south of Broad Street. His door was always open and he loved to tell stories. He also had a lot of political opinions that I was more than eager to hear. John and Marie had a beautiful two-story colonial home that is on a hill on the north side of the service road of Highway 80. If you look at it now you will see a lot of dirt work going on the surrounding land where homes will soon be built.

Jess Akin was a successful real estate man in Forney. Who had an office downtown, but more often than not I would find him at the City Café drinking coffee. He always welcomed my coming in to sit and talk.

Weldon Adams owned the Western Auto Store where the Spellman Museum is now at the corner of Bois D’ Arc and Main Street in downtown Forney. I can never remember Weldon without a smile on his face that seemed to grow even broader when I came in the door. Outside of Forney the closest hardware store was Ace Hardware in Mes quite. If I needed something I would always go to Weldon first. He always said: “If you need something and don’t see it, I might just have it in back, or I can order it for you.” Whatever it was Weldon could probably pull it out of a box somewhere. Truth be told I loved going in for the conversation with him, his son Terry and Ray Gish more than buying hardware.

Mac McCuistion owned an insurance/used car dealership at Broad and Elm. I often came to Mac’s office and asked for advice, Mac was always jovial and anxious to visit with me and offer his opinion.

Don T. Cates was an attorney/mayor/justice of the peace. In the old days his law office was near where Latham Bakery is now. Then it moved to a little building next to The Forney Messenger then it moved again to the old Farmer’s Bank. Don was a good Christian man and was always willing to visit and offer advice. In later years when I was President of the Forney Economic Development Corporation, we bought land on FM 548 for the business park and named the main road after him.

All of these men had a huge impact on Forney and there are many others.

To those of you who might be new to Forney, I would suggest that you seek out the people like these five men and learn what it is like to be Forney. It isn’t just a place to come home for the evening and weekends. There is a tread of men and women that make our town what it is and no matter how big we grow, we cannot break free of the anchor that binds us to our past.