Earl Callahan of Fannett died on Thursday, March 18, 2004. It would be hard to find a more decent, caring, warm hearted, and more generous human being than Earl, or one with more zest for life.
He was born in a little town called Ged, Louisiana, which was located near the oil field town of Hackberry, Louisiana. He was one of five children and one of those five was Ernest, Earl’s identical twin. Those children learned from an early age what it was to work hard, for his mother fed her little brood of five by cooking meals for oil field workers in a small café, which was built on stilts over the water. It never occurred to those children not to shoulder their share of responsibilities. To augment her income earned by cooking meals for hungry oil field workers, his mother prepared sandwiches to go and Earl and his brother, Ernest, walked to the rigs and sold them to the men in the oil fields. Later he began working in those oil fields too. He began working on the rigs while in his mid teens. He lied in order to get the job. His size did not hamper him for he did just about everything that the other workers did and sometimes better for he was dedicated to doing the very best job possible no matter what that task might be.
Some years later he moved to this area and worked on oil derricks here helping to coax that black gold to the surface. It was here that he met and married Peggy Wingate. They were married for sixty-five years and pulled together through thick and thin, and there were lean years along with the good.
Shortly after their marriage they began farming rice, an endeavor that he followed until his retirement a number of years ago. This was long before farming equipment was as sophisticated as it is today. It has been said that the gamblers are not in Las Vegas, the real gamblers are in the rice fields for a crop can look fine just prior to harvest and drenching rains or high winds can cause that heavy grain to fall and the hoped for harvest lies imbedded in the mud. Earl and Peggy experienced their share of those times, yet, they pulled together, worked a little harder and hoped for a better crop the next year.
Earl was without a doubt, one of the most outgoing human beings that ever lived. He never met a stranger and his and Peggy’s door was always open and the coffee pot was always hot. Everyone loved to go to Earl and Peggy’s for the coffee, the food, and the conversation were always just right. Then, there were those domino games that kept things hoppin’. Earl’s skill at dominos had been honed by years of experience and it was uncanny how he could predict each player’s hand.
Earl loved his family, he loved the people in his community and he never met a stranger. Everyone was his friend.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10:00 a.m. Monday, March 22, 2004 at St. Mary Catholic Church in Fannett followed by burial in Forest Lawn Cemetery under the direction of Broussard’s, 1605 N. Major Drive, Beaumont. A Rosary will be recited 7:00 p.m. Sunday evening, March 21, 2004 at the mortuary.
He is survived by his wife, Peggy Callahan; sons, Earl Wayne Callahan and his wife, Janette and John Jay Callahan and his wife, Mary; and his daughter, Sharon Harvey and her husband, Donnie all of Fannett; five grandchildren; twelve great grandchildren; sisters, Pearl Domingue of Morgan City, Louisiana, Katherine “Kaki” Kyle of Hackberry, Louisiana and Elaine Montague of Sour Lake; and a host of friends.
Memorial contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 3195 Calder, Suite 200, Beaumont, Texas 77702.
