John Ferguson
JOHN FERGUSON
Courier-Gazette, March 6, 1988, by Janet Margul
For many people new to McKinney, John Ferguson is the first person they meet. As director of the McKinney office of the Texas Employment Commission, and as a visible part of the McKinney Chamber of Commerce, Ferguson personifies the friendly face and helpful personality that is McKinney....
ON THE ROAD TO McKINNEY
Ferguson was born in the summer of 1926 in Valley Creek north of Leonard in Fannin County. He lived in and around Leonard the first six years of his life and then the son of a tenant farmer started moving around.
“I counted I’d been in seven different schools by the time I was a junior in high school,” Ferguson said.
When he was in the second grade, he had a serious illness and missed so much school he wasn’t promoted....
“I turned 18 when I was a junior,” he said. “I was drafted Dec. 12, 1944, which interrupted my educational process and I never graduated from high school.”
Ferguson was part of the occupation forces in Japan when the war ended in August 1945. He says that experience was the most impressive of his military career....
In June 1946, Ferguson developed an acute case of rheumatic fever and spent the next nine months and 23 days in two hospitals in Japan. He was released from the Army with a medical discharge and went back home to his parents in Leonard....
As a result of the rheumatic fever, he was left with a residual heart condition. It also caused an arthritic condition which kept Ferguson confined to bed for much of the time....
[He] decided to try to attend a couple of classes at Paris Junior College...
“From the moment I started there in September 1949, the arthritic condition went into remission....
Ferguson graduated from what was then East Texas Teachers College in 1951, majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology and history.
“I also got a permanent teaching permit, which I’ve never used,” he said.
“The last year I met Bobbie Sue Crawford. She’s made all the difference in support. She’s backed me up for the last 35 years and given me three wonderful children.”
Ferguson’s first job was as an insurance claim adjuster...
“I had a chance to join Vogt Aircraft in Fort Worth, working in quality control engineering. I worked there for 6 ½ years. ...
He felt it was time for a change in direction and took a job as area manager of the McKinney Texas Employment Commission in 1969....
In 1986, the McKinney Chamber of Commerce chose Ferguson as the citizen of the year...
Courier-Gazette, March 6, 1988, by Janet Margul
For many people new to McKinney, John Ferguson is the first person they meet. As director of the McKinney office of the Texas Employment Commission, and as a visible part of the McKinney Chamber of Commerce, Ferguson personifies the friendly face and helpful personality that is McKinney....
ON THE ROAD TO McKINNEY
Ferguson was born in the summer of 1926 in Valley Creek north of Leonard in Fannin County. He lived in and around Leonard the first six years of his life and then the son of a tenant farmer started moving around.
“I counted I’d been in seven different schools by the time I was a junior in high school,” Ferguson said.
When he was in the second grade, he had a serious illness and missed so much school he wasn’t promoted....
“I turned 18 when I was a junior,” he said. “I was drafted Dec. 12, 1944, which interrupted my educational process and I never graduated from high school.”
Ferguson was part of the occupation forces in Japan when the war ended in August 1945. He says that experience was the most impressive of his military career....
In June 1946, Ferguson developed an acute case of rheumatic fever and spent the next nine months and 23 days in two hospitals in Japan. He was released from the Army with a medical discharge and went back home to his parents in Leonard....
As a result of the rheumatic fever, he was left with a residual heart condition. It also caused an arthritic condition which kept Ferguson confined to bed for much of the time....
[He] decided to try to attend a couple of classes at Paris Junior College...
“From the moment I started there in September 1949, the arthritic condition went into remission....
Ferguson graduated from what was then East Texas Teachers College in 1951, majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology and history.
“I also got a permanent teaching permit, which I’ve never used,” he said.
“The last year I met Bobbie Sue Crawford. She’s made all the difference in support. She’s backed me up for the last 35 years and given me three wonderful children.”
Ferguson’s first job was as an insurance claim adjuster...
“I had a chance to join Vogt Aircraft in Fort Worth, working in quality control engineering. I worked there for 6 ½ years. ...
He felt it was time for a change in direction and took a job as area manager of the McKinney Texas Employment Commission in 1969....
In 1986, the McKinney Chamber of Commerce chose Ferguson as the citizen of the year...
