The Lord wished me to have a mantle from my own family line. He chose my Great Uncle Doc, this was a name I gave my great uncle while growing up. “Uncle Doc” because he was a doctor.

I was the last baby he delivered. I remember his great generosity to the Baptist Church, of which he was a member – and having Thanksgiving at his home that was a block away from the home I grew up in.

He and his wife, my great aunt, had no children but were exceedingly kind to all of the children in our family. I remember well that he gave a whole, large building to the First Baptist Church in my home town.

His doctor’s office was over a building right down town. This made it possible for people at work in the town to drop in for an appointment. Amazingly, he never charged for these appointments. A receptionist was near the entrance. If you wished to pay something for his medical services, you could give a little something to that receptionist. He had a generous heart towards all people.

He and my grandfather, his brother, were two of the quietest and kindest men I have ever known. Since he had no children, the Lord was kind enough to pass his mantle to me… for which I am truly grateful.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL GEORGE PERRY RAINS
(1872 – 1955)

This description is from the Historical Archives of Texas.

George Perry Rains, physician and soldier, son of Mercer and Nancy Texas Rains, was born in Marshall, Texas on September 18, 1872. He received his early education at Mrs. Maulding’s Private School and at Marvin Chapel. He subsequently attended the University of Texas, where he received his A.B. degree in 1891 and his M.D. in 1895. After an internship at John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, he studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and received a second M.D. degree in 1897. He returned to Marshall and served for a time as a surgeon at Texas and Pacific Hospital before entering private practice. On April 26, 1899, he married Norma Pitts. On December 31, 1890, Rains enlisted as a private in the Marshall Light Infantry. He served on the Mexican border in the years before World War I.

In 1917 before America entered the First World War, a secret communiqué from the German government to the Mexican government was intercepted and decoded, then read on the floor of the United States Congress. In it the German government pledged to the Mexican government to give them Texas if Mexico would invade Texas. After the decoded message was read on the floor of Congress, a vote was taken to go to war with Germany. General Rains was a commanding officer on the Texas/Mexican border. It was said that he rode a white horse while commanding the troops.

In that war, he was a colonel in the Third Texas Infantry, the commanding officer in the Thirty-sixth Military Police, and commanding officer in the Sixty-first Pioneer Infantry.

He was commanding officer at Camp Sheridan, Alabama from February to April 1919. He subsequently was in command of the 144th Infantry Regiment, the Seventy-second Infantry Brigade and the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division. On September 1, 1936 he retired from the National Guard with the rank of lieutenant general and was made honorary life president of the Thirty-sixth Division. He served as the chairman of the board of Marshall National Bank, vice president of Memorial Hospital Board, trustee of East Texas Baptist College and director of Marshall and Sabine Railroad. He was an honorary member of the Texas Medical Association, a member of the Military Surgeons Association, and a director of Kahn Memorial Hospital and the Harrison County Red Cross. In 1937 he was president of Harrison County Medical Society. He was a member of the Marshall City Commission and the Rotary Club. He was a deacon of the 1st Baptist Church of Marshall. He died in Marshall on September 19, 1955, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery. In 1970 the Texas Historical Commission placed a marker at his grave.

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September 2018 Personal Section