The W. Y. Forrest Family

Facts provided by W. Dean Forrest

William Young Forrest was born at Old Larissa, October 8, 1877, the oldest of five children. His father died when he was a teenager; so he shouldered family responsibilities early.

He worked as a cowhand and farmer, served Nacogdoches and Cherokee counties as a deputy sheriff, and finally settled in Jacksonville about 1900. His wife of only one year, Annie Gillespie, died in 1903. He was serving as City Marshal in 1908, when he married Delia Dean, a Sherman native who was teaching here. They were the parents of four children, W. Dean, born in 1909, Roy Winifred and Mary (twins) in 1913, and Henry Lee in 1924.

Lee Forrest lost his life in March, 1944, in an aircraft crash, while serving as a pilot officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Mary Forrest McKinney died February 8, 1967. She is survived by a son and daughter, both married.

Roy Forrest, now of Houston, is associated with Brown & Root. His wife, the former Pauline Rounsaville, died in 1967. They had three children, all married.

Dean Forrest's first marriage to Beth Boles ended with her death in 1948, and in 1951, he married Cleo Williams of Dallas. They reside at 811 El Paso Street.

W. Y. Forrest worked for the First National Bank before becoming engaged in the automobile business in 1912. He became the Ford dealer in 1914. He was a member of First Presbyterian church, an organizer of the Chamber of Commerce and its president in 1934. A charter member of the Rotary Club, he served as its president in the 1920s. Mr. Forrest also was.an original shareholder in Jacksonville Building & Loan Association, and a long-time director. He was an original subscriber to Cherokee Hospital and a board member of Nan Travis Hospital. A city commissioner for twenty years, he also was a member of Selective Service Board No. 2 until it disbanded in 1947, and as an ardent supporter of good roads, served as a member of the East Texas Chamber of Commerce highway committee.

Mr. Forrest and Dr. J. M. Travis were honored with an appreciation dinner by Jacksonville citizens in 1947.

Mrs. Forrest resides at the family home, 631 Elm Street, having lived there since 1915. She is a life-long member of First Christian Church and active in all areas of church life. She has enthusiastically supported all school programs, was a member of the first P. T. A. and one of the first study club groups. School activities always found her present, and for almost twenty years, she accompanied the J.H.S. Band on all its trips.

Roy Forrest, who entered the U. S. Army Air Force in 1940 as a cadet, retired in 1945 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served with distinction as a heavy bomber squadron commander in World War II, and commanded a special weapons project, winning several decorations for outstanding performance.

Like his brother, Dean Forrest served in the E.T.O. as a non-commissioned officer with the U.S. Air Force for two years prior to his discharge in December, 1945.

Dean and Roy became associated with their father in the automobile business and renewed their civic activities. Following their father, both served as presidents of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club. They sold the Ford agency in 1964, Roy moving to Fort Worth and thence to Houston.

Dean and Cleo Forrest are members of Trinity Episcopal Church, where he has served on the church vestry several terms and as senior warden under three priests in charge. Mrs. Forrest is very active in women's work of the church and has served as Altar Guild director for years, having held every office in the women's organizations.

Dean, a director of Jacksonville Building & Loan, is on the loan and appraisal committee, and still is an automobile salesman.

W. Y. Forrest proudly wears the gold city marshal's badge presented by people of Jacksonville, 1908.

Mrs. Delia Dean Forrest

Original Forrest Motor Company building on S. Ragsdale Street, 1919.

W. Y. Forrest holds his one-year-old son, Dean, 1910.

Parade celebrating the first Tomato Festival in 1934 moves through the downtown section with W. Y. Forrest, parade marshal, leading the way.