I’ve always felt bad for folks with birthdays at New Year’s, because often they don’t get their due celebration. Other major life events are probably somewhat neglected then too. Therefore today’s Musings focuses on folks for which December 31 or January 1 had lots of impact. Facts were drawn from “A History of Madison County, Texas”, the first edition.

An arctic storm that swept through the state bringing low temperatures and high winds also affected roughly two-thirds of the country’s population, according to the National Weather Service, bringing the coldest Christmas in decades to parts of the country.

A long-awaited state report concludes most pregnancy-related deaths in Texas in 2019 were preventable and disproportionately affected Black women. The report, issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Committee, indicated deaths were mainly attributable to hemorrhage, mental health conditions and blood clots.

My most recent Musings, entitled “When Socks Cost 10 Cents”, was a copy of one written in 1991 about Crouch’s, a longtime local dry goods store that is now too-long gone. I realized when I finished that it talked about the father, William Senior, and brothers Charles and William Junior, but there was little mention of the rest of the family. For at least seven decades, they were all a big part of life here, so I’m writing about them today. I have backtracked a bit, because I often learn that folks missed some columns, and I don’t want anyone to jump in here and not be able to follow.