H.R. No. 2316
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Texas is home to numerous authors and poets who have
earned international acclaim for their work, but one of our state's
most unique and prolific authors, Missy Jones Thistlewood, remains
unknown to all but a few devotees of her unusual literary milieu;
and
WHEREAS, Melissa Elizabeth Jones was born in Lubbock in 1912,
and while growing up on her family's cotton farm, she could hardly
have guessed the unusual turns her life would take; she began dating
Arthur Thistlewood while the two were still in high school, and
despite admonitions from friends about the nature of her future
name, she married him soon after graduation; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Melissa Elizabeth Thistlewood then endured
much good-natured teasing from family and friends about her
difficult name, and this initiated her lifelong fascination with
tongue twisters; when the economic pressures of the Great
Depression made it difficult for her and Arthur to support their two
young children, Mrs. Missy Thistlewood put her hobby to good use,
and with money borrowed from her parents, she published her first
book of tongue twisters; and
WHEREAS, From such seemingly simple sentences as "Plain bun,
plum bun, bun without plum" to the more difficult "There was a
little witch which switched from Chichester to Ipswich" to the
fiendishly difficult "Miss Smith's fish-sauce shop seldom sells
shellfish," Mrs. Thistlewood's book included a vast collection of
alliterative literary twists and onomatopoeic monstrosities, and
it quickly became a tremendous success; and
WHEREAS, To this day, her favorite creation is the one that
was inspired by a variation of her own name; for the past 60 years,
generations of American children have struggled to recite:
"Theophilus Thadeus Thistledown, the successful thistle-sifter,
while sifting a sieve-full of unsifted thistles, thrust three
thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb; Now, if
Theophilus Thadeus Thistledown, the successful thistle-sifter,
thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb, See
that thou, while sifting a sieve-full of unsifted thistles, thrust
not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb"; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Melissa Elizabeth Thistlewood, if she were in
fact a real person, would undoubtedly join the Texas House of
Representatives in lauding the elocutionary expertise and
pronouncedly proficient pronunciation with which our reading
clerks have read this resolution and thousands of other legislative
documents in the course of the 79th Legislative Session, and it is
to be hoped they will accept this good-natured tribute as an
expression of deepest appreciation and esteem from the members of
this chamber; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas
Legislature hereby honor Elisa Klein and Brian Gehr for their
dedicated service as reading clerks and extend to them warmest best
wishes for continued success and happiness in all their future
endeavors; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for this dynamic duo as an expression of highest regard by
the Texas House of Representatives.
Edwards
Craddick Geren Menendez
Allen of Harris Giddings Merritt
Allen of Dallas Gonzales Miller
Alonzo Gonzalez Toureilles Moreno of Harris
Anchia Goodman Moreno of El Paso
Anderson Goolsby Morrison
Bailey Griggs Mowery
Baxter Grusendorf Naishtat
Berman Guillen Nixon
Blake Haggerty Noriega
Bohac Hamilton Oliveira
Bonnen Hamric Olivo
Branch Hardcastle Orr
Brown of Kaufman Harper-Brown Otto
Brown of Brazos Hartnett Paxton
Burnam Hegar Pena
Callegari Herrero Phillips
Campbell Hilderbran Pickett
Casteel Hill Pitts
Castro Hochberg Puente
Chavez Hodge Quintanilla
Chisum Homer Raymond
Coleman Hope Reyna
Cook of Navarro Hopson Riddle
Cook of Colorado Howard Ritter
Corte Hughes Rodriguez
Crabb Hunter Rose
Crownover Hupp Seaman
Davis of Harris Isett Smith of Tarrant
Davis of Dallas Jackson Smith of Harris
Dawson Jones of Lubbock Smithee
Delisi Jones of Dallas Solis
Denny Keel Solomons
Deshotel Keffer of Dallas Strama
Driver Keffer of Eastland Straus
Dukes King of Parker Swinford
Dunnam King of Zavala Talton
Dutton Kolkhorst Taylor
Edwards Krusee Thompson
Eiland Kuempel Truitt
Eissler Laney Turner
Elkins Laubenberg Uresti
Escobar Leibowitz Van Arsdale
Farabee Luna Veasey
Farrar Madden Villarreal
Flores Martinez Vo
Flynn Martinez Fischer West
Frost McCall Wong
Gallego McClendon Woolley
Gattis McReynolds Zedler
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 2316 was adopted by the House on May
30, 2005, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House