In the past few years, our town has lost a number of great men and women who were instrumental in making Happy a wonderful place to live. These were men and women who helped shape our community. They were of a generation that is mostly gone now, and recently I have been wondering who will step up and take over the work that they were so willing to do. While time and space would not permit us to consider each one, I do want to briefly touch on two: Joe Bill Dempsey and Jackie Pyle.

Joe Bill was born and raised in Happy, but served all over this region in law enforcement. He did everything from serving in various police forces, to leading the police department at West Texas State University, as well as working as an investigator for child protective care. But his greatest job by far was his work with his home town. After retirement, Joe Bill worked as the Chief of Police for Happy, Texas on a volunteer basis. And though he refused to take pay for this job, I doubt if there has ever been a police chief anywhere who did more good for his community.

If Joe Bill slept, I have no idea when he did it. He was available for every call during the day and then patrolled the streets at night, often into the wee hours of the morning. He answered every call that he could and headed off a lot of situations before they became serious. I remember one gentleman showing up at the church building around 12:00 one night in a blinding rain storm looking for a ride. There was something that wasn't quite right about the man (for one thing, he showed up in the storm on a bike) so I called Joe Bill. He was just as courteous and disarming as ever, so when he asked the man if he would allow him to frisk him before riding in the police vehicle, the man agreed.

As it turned out, he had a knife with a blade that was at least 6" long. Joe Bill went ahead and gave the man a ride, just to a different location than he had hoped for. Joe Bill was never mean about it, but there was something about his 6"3" presence and deep base voice that just made a person want to comply. I remember Joe Bill telling me once that he had never written a ticket in Happy, though he must have stopped hundreds of people for different violations. He would just talk to them, friend to friend or parent to child depending on what the situation called for, and then suggested that he not have cause to pull them over again.

Our other "watchman" was named Jackie Pyle. He worked in one of Happy's gas stations for a number of years, and then eventually owned and operated it for years after the rest had closed. Jackie was a quiet man (he rarely strung more than four or five words together at a single time) but he took care of Happy in ways that most people were never aware of. During the day, Jackie's place served as much of a "triage" station as a filling station. In addition to pumping gas and fixing flats, Jackie would take care of those who didn't always have the money for what they needed. If they needed a bit of gas to get on their way, Jackie would provide it. If they needed more than a bit, he would call one of the local churches to see if they could help.

But if the person in need was "trouble", Jackie could take care of that too. If they just needed to head on down the road, Jackie could give them directions. If they were a real threat to the community, then Jackie would call law enforcement if that were the only option. At night Jackie would patrol the town in his pickup or golf cart looking for skunks, The four-legged kind he would shoot. The two-legged kind he would move on. Don't get me wrong, Jackie Pyle was never mean about it for I don't think Jackie had a mean bone in his body. He just wanted the folks (especially the kids) in Happy to be kept safe and he was quick to take care of any threats to their safety.

Jackie was also a generous man, but when he helped he didn't want anyone to know. I have no idea how any people Jackie "carried" during tough times. After he passed I heard story after story of someone he had helped in his own quiet way. He had helped countless teenage boys with a job through the years even if he didn't really need the help that much. He had helped people who were having a hard time with the rent. He even bought one little boy who was undergoing chemo treatments an I-Pad to help him have an easier go of it. I don't know if Jackie even knew what an I-Pad was for, but he had found out somehow that it might be just the thing for this boy who was up against such a struggle as he was going through.

Now Joe Bill and Jackie are gone. They passed way too young, but they had served the people they loved for a long, long time. When they left us they left a hole that really could never be filled by just one or two people. They were excellent "watchmen" but Happy still has some fine people taking up the slack in that area. It's just that these two men were much more that watchmen, they were also shepherds. Maybe not from the standpoint of leading, but surely from that of caring for people in the tender way that a shepherd would tend to his sheep. The reason, I suspect, is because Jackie and Joe Bill loved people. Because of that love. they watched over them in a way that a mere watchman could never do.

Happy is not the same since they have gone. Many, many wonderful people have done their utmost to help fill the void left by these two great men, but their efforts still fall a bit short. The fact is that such men (and women) are rare indeed. They leave such a hole behind that it takes a long time to fill it. And though they have been gone for a while now, I still find myself wondering more and more who will replace these watchmen?