Rabbit
If you didn’t know Raymond Farrer you
missed one of the smartest, most sincere, and funniest men
who ever lived. He was the county tax collector, an elected
job, and he was always elected. Being a tax collector is
not always the most popular job, but he was honest and
everyone trusted him completely. He was a rather quiet
person with a quick. dry sense of humor. To me, everything
he said was humorous.
He was small in stature and frail but always wore a smile
that seemed to say, “Hello,” even before a greeting was
exchanged.
One windy day as I crossed over highway 85 from Seawright’s
Drugstore to the Courthouse, I met him just standing on the
edge of the walkway on the Courthouse side facing
Seawright’s. The wind was blowing something fierce. I spoke
to him and asked how he was doing. He said, “ I’m fine, I’m
just thinking on how to get over to Seawright’s. I figure
that if I aim at K.W.’s that should take me right to the
front door.” K.W. McElwaney’s store was up the street on
the other side and since the wind was blowing from the
north he was giving himself some windage.
During this time men’s “sharkskin” pants were very popular.
They were silky and hard to keep on a hanger. They would
slide right off. He told me, “I got me some sharkskin
pants. Every night I hang them on a chair, but I have to go
to the lower end of the house the next morning to get
them.”
When he passed away, His wife Gertrude became the county’s
tax collector and held that job for many years. Before that
she had been a seventh grade school teacher. She was
teaching when I went through school, although she was never
my teacher. She was in her nineties when she passed away.
Boots Ashworth, the school system’s Visiting Teacher for
many, many years lived with Mrs. Farrer and watched out for
her in her later years.
Mrs. Farrer owned a piece of property on North Jeff Davis.
A subdivision is now being developed there called “Farrer
Woods”. The main road in the subdivision is called
“Rabbit’s Run.” Many knew Mr. Farrer as “Rabbit.”