Craig Franklin:

I was five months old when I experienced my first Thanksgiving. To be honest, I don’t remember anything about it. But there have been other “first” Thanksgivings that I do remember and the memories are very fond to me. From the time that I can remember as a young child, Thanksgiving always meant making the drive to Caldwell Parish where we would spend the day with my mom’s parents, Rev. Jim and Josie Richmond.

All of my mom’s siblings and their children would be there, although many lived in faraway places like Oklahoma. The day would always include enough food to feed an army with people spread out throughout my grandparents’ small house, from the kitchen through the living room onto the front porch.

Prior to lunch, the visiting and catching up would occur. We would find out what grade everyone is in, hobbies, sports, girlfriend/boyfriend statuses and marriage relationships. Then the huge lunch would be served followed by an afternoon of singing on the porch with several guitars, up-right bass, fiddle, mandolin and banjo plucking along.

One of my “first” Thanksgivings I remember is the year I had learned to play the guitar. Somewhere around 1985 I picked up a guitar and thanks to Jeff Gurie, learned how to play the instrument. I couldn’t have known but three chords by Thanksgiving that year, but oh how I remember the anticipation of joining my grandpa and uncles on that front porch with guitar in hand.

It was a special time for me and solidified my place with the Richmond men as I tried my best to keep up with the old gospel songs.

Another first Thanksgiving I remember is the year of my grandpa’s death. He died on May 14, 2010 at age 90 and that Thanksgiving was clearly marked by his absence.

The third “first” Thanksgiving I recall was eight years later, when my grandma passed away. To all of the family, grandma WAS Thanksgiving. She made the best cornbread dressing and by far the best banana pudding in Louisiana. She died on February 20, 2018 which left us all wondering what we were going to do later that year when Thanksgiving arrived.

We ultimately made the decision to move Thanksgiving to my house in Jena. The family drove in from all over and we did our best to recreate the memories that were etched into our souls from decades of holiday events spent at the grandparents’ home but as hard as we tried, it just wasn’t the same.

The following year, my mother’s siblings decided to just start their own Thanksgiving traditions with their individual families and the Richmond crew has not been together since.

There have been other “first” Thanksgivings throughout my life, like the first Thanksgiving with a child of my own, a Thanksgiving in October prior to one of my sons heading off to Marine basic training and even a Thanksgiving held far away from home as we decided to take a vacation during the week.

This Thanksgiving is also a first for me. It is the first Thanksgiving as the owner and editor of The Jena Times newspaper.

If there was ever one thing that my dad, Sammy Franklin, imparted to all of us kids, it was to remain grateful for all we have, especially on Thanksgiving.

He would never fail to include an editorial each Thanksgiving edition where he would publicly thank everyone in his life who were extra special. Please allow me to indulge upon this tradition.

Let me begin by thanking Jesus Christ. He is the only reason I’m alive today and I’ll never forget that day in 1994, when as a 25-year-old, I bowed my head in repentance and called upon Him to save me – change me. That day will forever be the moment my life was changed. Do I struggle and have I struggled? You better believe it, but I’m so thankful that his love, forgiveness and patience far exceeds any human attempts of the same attributes.

I’m also thankful for the wife God has placed in my life and for her continued encouragement, support and love. Again, like me, she is not perfect, but we strive every day to become more like Christ, so this Thanksgiving, I will thank God for Kimberly Franklin.

Of course, I can’t forget about my children. Words could never express my love for all six of my children. They include (in age order) Reagan, Tyler and his wife, Anna and daughter Haddie, Tanner, Trace, Tripp and our daughter, Kassie Grace, who would have been 16 years old this Thanksgiving.

Each of them makes me proud in unique ways and I’m so thankful for them all.

I’m also thankful for all of the subscribers and readers of this newspaper. These past eight months have witnessed many changes for this newspaper as we have updated everything from the office building to the layout design to hightech website systems. All of this is possible because of the trust readers place with this newspaper and for that, I’m extremely grateful.

Another group that needs to be recognized are the many advertisers that place ads in this paper each week and throughout the year. The support from our local advertisers is tremendous and I pause to say “thank you” to each and every one of them on this first Thanksgiving.

These two groups are instrumental in the success of a weekly newspaper. Advertisers make it possible to have the pages and space to run photos and stories and having such a large number of readers makes it possible for advertisers to see the tremendous benefit of running their ads. These two groups work in tandem and we are very grateful for them both.

I cannot forget to acknowledge the dedication the staff at this newspaper, both past and present, as exhibited throughout the years.

Last year, the death of Sammy Franklin left a tremendous void in all of our lives, including those who he considered family at this newspaper. Despite the hardship of his death, the staff last year, including Bonita Franklin, Ashley Keene, Libby Warwick, Sherry Steele, Kristie Taylor and Reggie Ingram, worked through tremendous hardships to make sure a newspaper was published each week to daddy’s standards.

Following Ashley’s health issues in November and the retiring of Sherry and Reggie, additional staff was hired, including Terry Townsend, Brenna Courtney and Deborah Mayo.

Today the staff includes Editor Craig Franklin, Business Manager Kimberly Franklin, Assistant Editor Reagan Franklin, Composition Manager Kristie Taylor, Advertising Manager Brandy Bassett, Distribution Manager Jamie Ogden and Student Worker Kaylie Spears. We are also thankful for Deborah Mayo, who each week provides the newspaper with special feature stories as a Contributing Writer.

This newspaper would not be possible without the hard work of each of these employees who make sure the highest quality print and digital news services is provided for LaSalle Parish. They really are a great staff who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

On this Thanksgiving, let us all take a moment from our busy schedules and stop to give thanks. The Lord has certainly blessed every person reading this and for all these blessings, we say: “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his lovingkindness (graciousness, mercy, compassion) endures forever.” Psalm 136:26