Dr. E. A. Grist Historical Marker Unveiling (Raw footage)

you may now be seated thank you very much for being here today as we celebrate this historical Mark for Dr Ed Gris I'm Cindy BS and I'm the chair of the K County Commission I'd like to thank the first best Association for allowing us to have this celebration inside the first home it seems very fitting to honor him here I'd like to thank the American Legion Post 11 179 and the BFW post 11 7110 for posting the colors today and a special thanks to the G family members for leading us of the pledges and of course the invocation thank you so much Dr Ed was the original the original SP Meister which means the fund masterer of ver his his V Mar service his U practice here had a huge impact not just in new ronals but the county and the state he was the family man he was a community leader and all I can say is how for forunate we were to have him settled here when he got out of that Mar School in 1937 he contributed so much to this community to the state and such a benefit to so many the historical marker process um takes some time it's usually anywhere from we tell people to plan on about 18 months but it's really 2 years about 3 years ago Susie joess contacted me and they were interested in getting historical marker possibly for the veterinary uh building which is out of their property uh after I looked at it I I told Susie and Joe that I thought maybe a marker for Dr bris would be the better thing to do um the the uh building is still there but it has taken a toll the weather has taken a toll a few times being FL and so it made perfect sense U to honor Dr Ed so we were very excited so I'd like to thank Susie and Joe U for their efforts in preserving this wonderful history of Co County thank you very much the coell County Historical commission is appointed by the commissioner of the county and uh each year we work with marker sponsors that want to get a historical marker so we serve as the point of contact advise them how to do that a lot of times we help them write the narrative that's requiring for dep but many times um they they already have all the information and they're willing to write it I'd like to point out that Susie bris actually work herit and goes into the state to get them marer she did a tremendous job and U through that we all got to learn more about do and she just has a treasure Trove of photos newspaper articles diplomas of awards I mean it's it's really quite incredible I think you can have a small Museum Su um as I said we're appointed by the coal County um Commissioners Court and today I'd like to any of our historical commission members that are here I'd like stand the ra can see you we got quite a few here today the county is very supportive of uh preservation in the county and they're always supportive of anything that the home County Historical commission wants to do and so we're very pleased of course today to had judge crowy here with us he's going to say a few words um I only saw one of the Commissioners here Donna Eon haven't seen the others anyway we appreciate you being here and I'm going to turn this over to judge CR and City well I think this might be one of the largest crowds we've ever had for a historic marker dedication so thank you all for being here it's a great honor for me it's a great honor for me to be here not only representing commissioner store and oural County Historical commission and all of the work that they do but it's a great honor for me to be here representing wor bestest as well as you heard in the vation Dr Chris set a great example for all of us and you're really seeing that play out here today I think um when when we talked about the request to have this historical Mark medication right here in the wor Hall we thought there was no better place to have it uh when I'm talking about I'm talking about worest when he was presented to the board of directors the entire board looked around thinking what are else could you have it except right here at wor and then you also see that volunteer effort and and that example that was set by by Dr bris in serving our community you see that play out in our County Historical commission as well um you saw several members stand up earlier when City asked for introducing them we see them in commiss court every time we have something related to preserving the history of our County as well so thank you to them for all their work thank you Joe and Susie for all the work that you've done and allowing us to host this loer dedication here and thank you to the wor best association for turning out uh in in such great numbers to support s honoring Dr BR so thank you all thank you very much sh and now want to introduce Dr Bubba boy from Texas amm buba was a friend of Dr bris and worked with him on establishing the scholarship F Dr BR l so we we are just so thrilled to have him here today uh please give him a warm welcome [Applause] thank you for allowing to honor to come here it's a real honor for me to be here honor such a great a great celebration you family members out there have a lot you know that know I have no idea how he accomplished what he did I'm happy to be here I'm going the 35th year so this my last year too so anyway what an honor it is to be here the local I was trying to figure out to say about because send his company so well but one thing I thought was very very of what he's done the six4 basic orm is basic is Excellence number two is integrity leadership loyalty respect and self service and every one of these Dr W was 100% And and you know espe one here which says respectability you can't buy his well and he worked so hard I don't see how he did so I was so fortunate to I really came over and heard about it for years I got out of that school in 196 and I prac home there 25 years before I went out to upm and so uh they come me to Cal County local Association which he helps more their Association here that marriage they wanted to do something in his honor and they said how about set up a scholarship down scholarship I don't know if you know this but ow scholarship is a gift that just needs on GI and but the way it's set up the principal you use the interest and then pays out 4% but anything they make a blow that go back into the principal so the scholarship now was started with 25,000 and I'd like to uh thank Dr Mar is here she was the secretary and for years she sent in this money to for Dr scholarship to support this and she was a treas of the Lo Association uh Dr Mike let's see who else help that it was Dr Jer Bry Dr C uh and Dr White they played with very very for start the scholarship the scholarship now is worth is worth over $86,000 86 back that's what we wanted to say that how he worked one day he talked about all he was all this community and one thing the only thing that the only thing most important thing he is he said I wanted to go with kids that young people that be school and I wanted to from count so uh we've given out over the last 15 years 30 over $33,000 for students from when I went to see him he I couldn't believe how bad that arthritis was destroying his body I just I mean it was just terrible but I've been in kind of feeling sorry for him when I came out I was fire up raise a much more scholarship all about his brain it didn't affect his spirit and he let me know real quick you get out there he keep raing scholarship for come kids about so it was it was what a great man that's interaction I had so I can't believe in and Y know about what he accomplished here not only his State the State Association he was executive director and he finally got I think finally just was so get wor out and they soon as he went then they they hired then they started paying somebody long time CHR do it but also the L with the school and and then with the rabes outbreaks they have can you imagine here what what would this be like now if the water was contaminated in that officer I mean he was just a Bas things that he did to help this just disos my mind I'm so proud that he went to Texas A&M and graduated so anyway it's real hon for me to be here and and and tell you how much you appreciate what he did he he left a great legacy for all the young people every and we need right now I this world than life thank you very much God bless America he loves the state of Texas he loves you love this community this and this this city Peter [Applause] thank thank you now we're going to have Joe BR who's the son of he's going to share some memories this um so please welcome I thank you thank you drte he was a great friend Daddy and when Daddy was uh consumed with the RoR arthritis probably really pick his spirits of and uh we'll always remember we appreciate you for doing that thank you so my dad Dr Ed RIS was born in Austin Texas on July 27th 1915 this was before there were any dams on the colado river and he had Many Adventures including trapping raccoons and POS and catching snakes he'd skin the snakes and make hatbands out of them one of the items he collected was a very large hornets nest which he put in his room he didn't think it was active but became to life one day and filled the family home with angry Hornets he was an aid swimmer as well and became a SE Scout one of his summer jobs as a young man was maintaining a large private sulfur swimming pool it was located just south of the river now toown he and his older brother also Lo LS in the Travis Heights area dad also worked at the stti printing company where his father John H Hatton to work that was my grandfather Dan went to Austin High School when he was working on the sulfur pool he picked up an American a American statesman which had been delivered to the house he produced the paper and found an article about a man named Dr Mark Francis head of the school of adary medicine in Texas A&M this inspired daddy so much he made it his mission to attend Texas AVM and become a veterinarian Mr St help Dad financially so he could attend college he became a member of the core as a 98 lb weekly his words he eventually lever in swimming and water pole he loved everything about being an Aggie and he DED physically and academically he did have to take her at at chemistry once while in the scho of v in medicine he helped patch up a little dog that had been injured in college that mother but turned out to be the first a mascot re while attending college daddy would visit de Broncos to swim of the Rapids and Carnes and he learned the love Talent with the rivers and springs so when he graduated in 1937 he came to NE bronos practically right after the graduation just days and just a few weeks later he met Betty Willie the daughter of a local dentist Dr Carl willing and Emma R willing then he brought her sister Caroline's Fox Terrier to Daddy's office and the claim is it was loveed first son an outl their leeting and marrying the local girl was a sure far away to get accepted in the community too by the way when they met they were both engaged to other people Dan V career eventually took him home in the state of Texas as a child uh one of the things I'll always remember is U mom was the V Tech she was the receptionist she collected the money I think Daddy would have worked for free but you weren't going to get away with your it was it was pretty primitive by today's standards I mean Dy didn't use x-ray until late in the 1960s he could he had the ability to Dev had had a Tor ligament or spring or how to treat it he was an excellent detective you'd always figure out what the problem was and um not just throw medicine at it figure out the source of the problem correct the problem when they were us ether for um any sort of operation mom would have a Dixie cup which is a paper cup with some perforations around the body large piece of cotton inside and The Ether was liid so they would pour put the liquid into the uh cot put the cup over the snout of the animal and daddy would determine whether it was aized or not and went to start the procedure so uh I was involved in a lot of this stuff and kind of had my nose and everything and it was interesting to have the room sort of filled with ether uh so I question dad about a procedure that was kind of like Dad is that so um it was a ethereal I suppose is the best way to put it often times he would conduct what I would described as a cerian section uh for some reason the cat or dog would have trouble delivering the delivering its Offspring so he would do that procedure himself and uh upon uh doing the or in the midst of doing the procedure you would hand me the little kitten or puppy and you would have to peel the sack off blow in its face and gently Pat it to get it to start breathing and U these were just some of the things that I I found would be really remarkable how Dey could bring in this live animal put it to sleep cut it open bring out puppy Kitt I mean it's remarkable to see the the little pads on their feet and and their nose and and nothing nothing that been uh used this pars sping do their eyes weren't open yet and it was awesome to be a party now when I was in school I would rush over every day to see what was in the outdoor runs cuz he always had some different sort of animal out there one day I run out there and I say man this is stocky black dog so I go to the cage door and kind of went hey budy do so it stands up and starts walking towards me I'm dad dad so he comes running back out from the inside what matter up this dog is roing say that's a bear son sure enough had a white V on the on the front it was a Russian bear and the carnival was coming through town and these were the little guys that would ride the bikes and stuff like that for entertainment and they needed vaccination so he took care of the B is we also have a a Blue Parakeet appropriately named Bluebird it developed a really large juner on his chest so Daddy operated a blooper and uh took the tumor off bird lived for another that's 2 or 3 years pretty remarkable recovery basically when you were B in the 1950s 6070s it was all encompassing whatever somebody brought to you you worked on that animal you worked on large animals you worked on small animals he helped treat a python with a snake Farm but um in his immense intelligence he gave the medicine to the person and said yeah just apply it to the inside of his mouth he'll be okay there was a time when people wanted to have scums his friends so he would be out there tail up looking in rearing of the scum removing the set sack so people could have a pet scum and I remember of course witnessing that was spelling scum for like a week afterwards also uh the only way to check for whether an was rabit or had rabies was to remove its head and we would have to take the head to Austin to a government facility down somewhere in thec facility of where wal Street and Lamar kind of came together and it was my responsibility to hold a little box with the St K of the cat here in my lap on our trip up to M so another great experience I had m one time so we had the room very dark and I was in there supposed to be immobile ddy comes in and hands me this thing that I think like it's a hardboard EG or something also that's a that's a cow eye I thought you might want to play with it when cover okay Dad um I appreciate that anyway it was really NE to be a part of all of the recovery uh of animals um very rarely had to put an animal to sleep he took a lot of pride in keeping the animals alive and facing them when he was starting his career here before I was a about those animals been everything to the Ranchers farmers in our community it was not just a pet it wasn't a pet it was something that was integral to farm and Branch l so and then un L to win those guys over because they weren't easy to Wi over wi over um I don't know whether anybody we but Germans can be stubborn I didn't know that either but anyway so we had to Wi them over anyway so let's let's uh try to conclude is been fast forward to one of his side jobs so to speak was dad was the city meet inspector during the 50s and there were many local family Brer shops in town the hard of crafts Daddy had one um my oldest brother joined an army that was eventually stationed in Germany and Upon returning in 1960 he told Daddy about the small festivals that took place in rural communities all over Germany but this mared idea we of said many local sausage Bakers and beer distributors seemed like a recipe from a small German sty uh Festival it was really as simple as that Daddy CA became his sausage festival and eventually wor Fest he had hel course but it was his idea and energy that got the ball it took a while to get going the first couple of festivals had some weather challenges the first one scheduled for Land Park had to be relocated to the National Guard armor and uh like a lot of things in problems at that time little bit lethargic but suddenly I think it was Kims TV came in with the camera crew the lights went on and all these guys start they jumped up with their wies the music got a little peppier they were dancing around and I was really impressed I think it inspired me to get degree in TV Film Production he had doers as well so so he had this idea after the uh National Guard Army a couple of years later he moved the fal to a burned out dry good score Ivan and Fishers which is located on the across the street from Main Plaza all that was left in the building was a basement that was below the street level and turned out to be a great location after all often referred to as a Ros this is when the popularity grew tremendously it became a regional and Statewide phenomenal membership grew as well suddenly nobody felt silly dressing at the Leos they were proud of their Heritage I'd like to mention Hero's original memers Charlie Swan crew Joe F Joe Chapman Harley schz and Stanley M these guys all had talents Joe F Banker Harley schz and Charlie schamp restaurant so they it started off a pretty blue color organization because Dy needed electrician to needed plumbers he needed uh construction workers know Gordon zunker helped him with a lot of that stuff and um well it it was a real Community effort and I think the roseller was so important because it were still mostly local people but they really were proud of what they were able to play thought and they were very welcoming to the people who attended the festival and all of that Spirit really caught on and helped to develop this Festival that we see today before I leave I want to thank the wor best board of directors Sherman crowy is President this year I appreciate Sherman for this opportunity to repr down him Randy Ross made a generous donation of sausage on the STi for us Jimmy and be wed John on Wednesday helped us put up a temporary plaque um holder stand so we could show everyone the black do that Jen niolo Amy T Matt Harper theal County Historical commission and the state commission as well interesting story about that Danny's uh subject marker was approved on July 27 which was his birthday so I it wouldn't be possible without my wife sus she retire she retired from the state of Texas I know it was enjoyable for her to drive 50 fli miles every day to Austin but she put that aside and then we had Co take over and U she started going through boxes of pictures and memorabilia remarkably in surv three different floods in our house so she put it all together you can you can see the result of her hard work behind me um T me stuff on my thank Seas so I'll conclude that it's important to know that the success the ultimate success of today's wor bestest Festival was the result of the Charisma and fortitude of one man Dr Ed Chris my thank you thank you Joe I I have to admit when Susie gave me that Mark or narrative um a few years ago to look at some of the things it was hard for me to read Joe you brought all that back again for me today about the head of the animal whatever so a lot of that was pretty tough but anyway he was quite a remarkable man uh now we're going to unveil the marker and to do that we're going to have um R struck who's the grandson of Dr bris and Bradley stru who's the great grandson of Dr bris they're going to come up and unveil the marker [Applause] we're going to have uh Paul stru uh Colonel retired US Army who's the grandson of Dr bris is going to read the marker narrative Al bris dbm raised in Austin and having received a degree in veterinary medicine from Texas A&M college in 1937 Dr Edward Alfred bris served the community of new brel in Comal County in many ways throughout the mid 20th century bris was the first licensed Vetinarian in the county and could often be found onsite at farms checking on animals and educating Farmers on disease prevention and good nutrition he met Elizabeth an Willie in 1937 when she brought her sister's in a newly open practice at 637 West San Antonio Street after receiving a scholarship to study sanitation he began working from the Texas State Health Department Food and Drug division in 1943 he was elected Texas State V area in this position and as the city meet inspector he enforced s Jer practices on local slaughter houses which were often sources of sickness due to the lack of regulation in 1949 Dr bought 20.3 Acres at 727 North Lio Avenue and built the new the new Rin vetenary Hospital opening his practice in 1950 in the 1950s he battled rabies and anrex outbreaks in the county and continued to educate community members on the healthy practices after receiving a letter in which his son John described the German Village as was Sage beer and dancing Dr Christ had the idea to replicate this Festival in new BRS a prolific sausage making area wor Fest was a one day event in 1961 but has grown to a multiple Day event benefiting the local economy and numerous charities in the 1970s Dr Gris retired from the veterinary medicine and became the county sanitarian his last decades were built with Civic work and his legacy lives on not only in the community but throughout entire the state of Texas we're going to do a toast to Dr Ed so I hope you didn't drink all of your drinks that you brought in with me you saved a little bit I guess I'll and which you will all been waiting for and now we dream if you will sing with me I'm I'm me I SM Super scky scky S [Applause] scky thank you for coming we will have this on permanent display 72715 Oak Street um so come by and give it give it a look your I'd like to thank you all for attending if you will please remain standing for the retirement of the colors three colors all right than work this concludes our program thank you for coming I want to announce as well I've been told there's a lot of food please eat up have a great day