Our subscriptions for both the Messenger and the Monitor grew at a rate that I will only call surprising.  We outgrew our hole in the wall office, and John and Helen Adcock made us an offer for which I will forever be grateful and we toted our makeup boards, glue guns and archives to an office on Texas Street.   Donna Coan signed on as a willing and talented hand.

Tracy and Jeanette promoted Donna to “Sarge” and in her old wooden desk chair “Buckie”, she cranked out reams of copy and brought new life to the operation.  She also crooned operatic arias and sailor jargon when it was appropriate.  Those gals three will always exist in my recall as Charles’s Angels, with me being an admirer of all three head.

Not one of the trio wore a halo, but they had spark, enthusiasm and brought light to the World Headquarters of Chupp Publishing.  Ol’ Margaret still anted her skill and expertise to the operation as I wandered aimlessly and watched in awe as those ladies encouraged me to keep up my aimless wandering.

Charlie’s Angles was a smash hit on ABC network, and Charlie was only a voice on the phone who coordinated his Angels in private investigations.  Farrah Fawcett Majors was Jill Monroe, Jaclyn Smith was Kelly Garrett and Cheryl Ladd was Kris Munroe, and there was not a cull in the bunch.  The televised adventures of those three charmed TV viewers with style from 1976 until 1981.  The ramrod of the outfit, old Charlie, was apparently gifted at aimless wanderings like me, but I never saw him at La Don’s Cafe.

My bouquet of beauties, Donna, Jennifer, aka Jeanette, and Tracy were a raucous but efficient trio of news gatherers and organizers of both the Messenger and the Monitor.  I was old enough to be their father, and was, in fact, Dad-O to Tracy.  We had a good time for a lengthy run of around four years, and they put up with me throughout that span of time.

Donna and Tracy did the typing and paste up and Jennifer sold the ads to finance the application of ink to paper.  John and Laura Kestner handled the printing over in Dublin and I scattered the product around the area.  I’d do it again if my years would allow and I had that same crew.  We qualified for periodical postal rates, and the gals put them in the mail every Wednesday morning.  Every issue was another miracle.

We were a dues paying member of TPA and Ol’ Margaret earned statewide recognition for an ad she created in 1997, our first year of eligibility, and we won awards in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

We dipped into the talented population of De Leon for columnists every chance we got.  Bodie Weaver did our sports pages, Phil Tate gave his historical works, and Bill Livingston wrote a history of De Leon in the early years for our Yesteryear page each week for a couple of years, and sporadic writing was contributed by anybody who owned a typewriter, a pencil or crayon and some blank paper.

I did not miss a single week without an “I Got No Reason To Lie” column, nor did I miss a day at La Don’s.  I was totin’ my share of the load, as you can plainly see.

I’ll get back to you next week and put a merciful end to this adventure.

Let me hear from you.

My phone number is 254-893-5063.

My postal address is 333 W. Ayers, De Leon TX 76444.

You can e-mail me at Charles@CharlesChupp.com.

By Charles Chupp, Copyright ©2008 Charles Chupp