(Editor's note: Parts of this column appeared originally in the Feb. 8, 1998, edition of the Herald Democrat and has been edited for this publication.)

A "natural-born" salesman, he had by dint of hard work and perseverance worked his way up from being an eight-year-old boy selling newspaper from his small red wagon in Anton, Texas, to the position of number one salesman ("Big Chief") of a large men's clothing company, Curlee Clothing.

In 1970 he retired as a salesman at age 55 and was employed as a consultant. Then a proxy fight developed, and as a result he and two other men pooled their resources and bought the company.

Now to continue with excerpts from my interview with Big Mac in 1989:

RCV: Was it a hostile takeover?

CJMc: It was kind of a hostile takeover, yes. I had stock in the company and three of us got together and bought the company, Curlee Clothing Company. Things were getting rough in the clothing business by then; there was so much imported clothing coming in from Japan and all the different places.

That was one of the first things the foreign manufacturers took over in this country, was "soft goods." We set Japan up with the four finest mills in the world to make cloth, brand new ones that made woolen fabrics or silk and wood, or Dacron and wool. And cheaper labor. There was lots of piece goods coming from Japan, and still is. They make a lot of fine goods.

Before World War II, England made the finest piece goods in the world, and Italy was very good. We (in the U.S.) made a lot of goods and had a lot of plants here, but we lost plant after plant in just a few years' time. There's not but about three companies that make piece goods in this country today (1989).

A lot of companies here send goods over there; they make them and ship them back and resell them. Today you can go in any store and find retail goods made all over this world. Korea, India -- you name it. Some countries I never heard of before. It's a shame, but that's the way it is.

*

On Sept. 11, 1997, C.J. McManus (Big Mac) reached his 82nd birthday. About two dozen friends, mostly business and professional associates, gathered at Bill Russell's restaurant, "The Embers" in Denison, to pay their respects to C.J. and wish him well.

C.J.'s health had been declining rapidly and it was obvious he wasn't feeling well. He rose to the occasion, however, as he always did, and made a few remarks thanking everyone and expressing his appreciation for their friendship.

The remark I best remember was to this effect: "If the Good Lord lets me live till next January 30th, Pearl and I will celebrate our 65th wedding anniversary."

He made it. Just barely. C.J. had died Monday, Feb. 2, 1998, at 10:30 p.m. To say he was determined to hold on till after January 30th would be pure speculation.

In talking about his boyhood several years ago, he said, "I was big for my age." He was a big man in many aspects of his life: family, church, business, civic pride, community building, friendship.

No one within my recollection had a greater zest for living life to its fullest than C.J. McManus. He never met a stranger. He loved to meet people and make them his friends, and customers.

He was one of my first clients after I graduated from law school and opened a law office in 1948 in the old Security Building in Denison.

He was usher at my wedding in December 1941, at Calvary Baptist Church in Denison, where both of us were members.

In the summer of 1942, I was in the Army stationed in Houston and had an emergency appendectomy at the Ellington Field hospital near Houston. Tires and gasoline were rationed, and precious, but who do you think showed up bringing my wife Ona to visit me? C.J. McManus with his wife Pearl and his older son Paul. That was the kind of person Big Mac was. He knew how to be a friend.

I asked Paul McManus recently if he remembers that trip. He said, "Yes, I remember we either ran out of gas or had a flat tire."

When C.J. was hitching rides to Sherman to court Pearl Fleming, he would run to the interurban line in order to catch the last car for Denison, which left Sherman at 11 p.m. It was love at first sight with C.J. and Pearl. They married young, but their love and devotion was strong, constant and enduring for more than 65 years.

Big Mac left Feb. 2, 1998, at 10:30 p.m. to catch the last car. Who's to doubt that he made it safely home?

R.C. VAUGHAN of Sherman is a retired senior District Judge.