Little River News
May 25, 1939
T. T. C. Anderson, Great Educator, Killed by Train
Funeral Services to Be held at 2:30 Today at Ashdown
Ashdown, ARK., - The life of Little River county’s sole surviving Confederate veteran was snuffed out Wednesday morning when T. T. C. Anderson, beloved 94-year-old- Southwest Arkansas educator, stepped in front of a southbound Kansas City Southern passenger train in here and was killed instantly.
Mr. Anderson’s eyesight had been poor for several years. Wednesday he followed his regular routine in walking to the post office for his mail. Witnesses said he evidently failed to see the approaching train as he stepped on the crossing.
The pioneer celebrated his 94th birthday on May 10 with a reunion of his family
and his many friends and former pupils of this area. He was in good health, with
the exception of his eyesight. The accident Wednesday pulled the curtain down on an eventful life that included service in the Confederate army, imprisonment by Union forces, confinement to a hospital with others in such a way that he became one of the area’s best known and best loved citizens, well remembered by his host of students.
Mr. Anderson cast his lot with the Confederate army when he was 17 years old and served the duration of the war. Eleven months of the time was spent in a hospital as a prisoner, receiving treatment for wounds.
He was released on March 12, 1865, and walked to his home in Clarksville, arriving seven days after the peach of Appomattox and two days after President Lincoln was assassinated.
When he got home, he found there was a need of teachers. He took that profession, but only as a means toward his cherished end of becoming a physician. Historic Rondo in Miller county was his first assignment and there he began a teaching career that lasted 54 years.
On June of 1868, he was married to Miss Mary Ellen Hudgins. He then turned his entire attention toward school teaching. He was employed in Miller county four different times for a total of nine years, taught five years in Bowie county, Texas, one year in Red River county, Texas, three years in Sevier county, Arkansas, two years in Hempstead county, Arkansas, and 35 years in Little River county. During this time he taught consecutive months for 13 years. He first came to Richmond in Little River county in 1882. Shortly after the Little River county school system was developed. He served for about 10 years as school examiner of the county and ended his active career at Ashdown high school in 1934. He taught four generations of the same family of many South Arkansas residents and several thousand pupils received instruction under him. Many important persons are included in the list of those he taught, including Dr. Edward Mims, professor of history at Vanderbilt University, and Judge Will Kirby, former United States senator.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were the parents of 11 children, six of whom are surviving. These are four daughters, Mrs. C. P. Smith and Mrs. A. T. Hemphill, both of Ashdown; Mrs. Ha? Norwood of Mena, and Mrs. Wade Ball of Texarkana; two sons, T. D. Anderson of Texarkana and Dick Anderson of Beaumont, Texas. Other survivors include several nieces, nephews and grandchildren. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m., Thursday at the Ashdown Methodist church. The pastor, the Rev. W. R. Boyd, will officiate, assisted by the Rev. Ralph W. Davis of the Ashdown Baptist church, and the Rev. S. N. Brewer of Horatio, Ark. Burial will be in the Ashdown cemetery, with members of the Ashdown Masonic Lodge having charge of the services at the grave. Active pallbears will include. Homer Welch, Dr. P. H. Phillips, Horace Routen,
Arnold Edmondson, J. G. Sanderson, Jr., and Bob Pierce, Burton Walker and Albert Hinton. Honorary pallbearers will include former pupils and friends of Mr. Anderson. A tradition started soon after the organization of a United Confederate Veterans camp at Clarksville, Texas will call for burial with Mr. Anderson of a Confederate flag made by Mrs. Belle Gordon Morrison of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. When any Confederate veteran died near Clarksville, the flag was used to drape his coffin. On burial the flag was removed and preserved for other funerals. Professor Anderson was the last of the 500 veterans who joined the camp and as such, the flag will be buried with him.
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