Page 104 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2024 - Online Magazine

Quiz Quisenberry Passionate, Patriotic, and
“ ed, white, and blue is
my favorite color,” Quiz
RQuisenberry announces,
and the evidence exists, even on
the trees in his front yard. He
is passionately patriotic, and to
him, “Heroes are the soldiers
who didn’t come home.”
When Quiz was born, the Great
Depression was wreaking havoc
across the nation. His father
Charley was a cotton ginner who
farmed 60 acres near the little
Texas town of Lost Prairie in
Delta County. “We were poor,
but we never went hungry."
Every family they knew worked
hard and cared for each other.
In fact, it was his aunts who
attended his childbirth. The
doctor didn’t make it for 11 days. and they loved my dad and me.”
Around the beginning of World
War II, when Quiz was 7, the
family moved west to Lariat,
TX. Quiz’s two older brothers
were already off fighting in the
European theater.
104 Lubbock Senior Link
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Seriously
by Jane Bromley
“I remember the troop
trains passing through
town. If they were delayed
on the side tracks, my
mom (Eunice) would put
a flag out, and the people
in the community would
show up with sandwiches
and treats to hand up to
the soldiers.” Quiz remembers
his parents’ generosity. His
mother never turned a hungry
person away, and he often saw
his dad care for the overlooked
and unwanted. “Hoboes riding
the train knew they could get
something to eat and a place
to sleep in the space under our
house.
“Hereford had a POW camp.
Sometimes, I would go with
Daddy to pick up prisoners
to come work at the cotton
warehouse. At first, they would
send an armed guard, but when
they realized nobody wanted
to escape, they quit sending a
guard. My mom cooked for them,
After the family moved to
Lamesa, where Quiz graduated
from high school
in 1951, he went to
Hardin Simmons
University. He met
the love of his life,
head cheerleader and
HSU Homecoming
Queen, the beautiful
“Pal” Schwartz from
Meadow, TX. They
married April 10, 1955.
Quiz was in ROTC
and was called up
in January 1956. He
and Pal moved to Ft.
Benning, GA where
2nd Lt. Quisenberry began six
months of Basic Infantry Officers
Training in the Army’s 3rd
Infantry Division.
The training was intense. “I
remember telling the sergeant
I was trained in Finance, not in
Infantry. He said, ‘Get back in
line!’ and a lot more descriptive
words. They told us over and
over, ‘You have to kill or be
killed!’” Quiz learned a lot more
hard lessons in Basic. “I told my
sergeant I didn’t think I could kill
someone who wasn’t shooting
at me. The combat veteran with
scars on his face was so angry
he raked a table clean, stopped
to pick up the flags, and then
stormed out of the room. We
never saw him again, and I
realized how thoughtless my
remark had been. I don't have the
words to express my love and
appreciation for those soldiers
who have lost life or limb. When
I see those jets flying across the
football field, and one pulls up
and away…." His voice trails.
“War heroes have paid the price,
and words can't express my love
and gratitude.”