Samuel Victor Burks and Alice Elizabeth Barnett

Samuel Victor Burks was the fourth child of George Samuel Burks and Amanda Burt "Mattie" Wood. He was born 28 October 1890 in Choctaw County, Mississippi, and died 21 December 1979 in Sulphur, Louisiana. He is buried in Poteet, Atascosa County, Texas, where he was superintendant of schools for many years.

Samuel Victor Burks was called "Victor" by his mother, having been named for her sister, Victoria Wood. Perhaps Victoria was named for someone in the Wood family.

Samuel Victor "Bill" Burks 1890-1979

Billy's mother, Mattie, died of tuberculosis. She was probably sick a lot when he was very little. That may have been when he stayed with his mother's sister and her husband, Bell and Boyce Bruce. Bell asked, "What would you like to eat, Victor?" He did not want to be any trouble, and replied, "Just give me a piece of bread, Aunt Belle."

He may have had to spend a good deal of time with aunts when he was little. Perhaps he felt he was extra trouble to his extended family. As an adult, Bill Burks was always so afraid he would be some trouble, that it was hard to get him to be a guest.

Mattie died when Victor was three years old. His father remarried soon, and Victor's step-mother always called him Victor, too, although the rest of the family and everyone else who knew him came to call him "Billy".

The explanation was that an old man named Billy who lived near the Burks family took a special liking to the little boy and started calling Victor "little Billy". It stuck. As an adult, he was known as Bill Burks, and "Uncle Billy" or "Prof".

G. S. Burks raised cotton. It was a meager livlihood. Billy determined to get an education, as his older brothers did. He enrolled at Mississippi A&M in 1913, returned to Ackerman to teach school for two years, and then finished college.

When Bill Burks was teaching in Ackerman, he also coached football. At one time the teams were short of players and the coaches decided to play also. The opposing coach was a big man and Bill was not. During a play, the other coach stepped on Bill's shoulder, breaking his collar bone.

While he was teaching in Ackerman, he met Alice Barnett. Alice was the younger daughter of James Clark Barnett and Sarah Sanders Merritt.

A picture of the football team of Ackerman High School shows Bill, the coach, with his arm in a sling from the broken collar bone.

Alice Barnett was a recent graduate of Blue Mountain College in Tippah County, Mississippi. She was teaching French and Latin in Ackerman and coaching the girls' basketball team. She lived at Mrs. Moore's boarding house.

Alice Elizabeth Barnett Burks 1893-1989

Bill Burks was just about engaged to a young woman, whose name has been forgotten. Alice was engaged to marry Roy Whitesides. But Bill and Alice decided that they were meant for each other. Alice returned the diamond ring her suitor had given her. She and Bill were married in Ackerman by the Baptist preacher at the boarding house on 6 Dec 1917.

Samuel Victor Burks . . . Ackerman, Miss.

At Mississippi A&M, Bill Burks received a degree in business administration. As a senior he was Captain and Adjutant; president of the Masonic club; president of the business men's club; active in the Mississippi Sabres and Captains' Club. The yearbook had this to say about him:

In the vocabulary of Bill no such word as worry exists. Yet, withal, he is a man who realizes the purpose of life and whoever extends his energies towards its consummation. Bill's genius lies in his ability to make friends. Indeed, we would have to go far to find a better friend, because he realizes that friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives. He entered this college in 1913, withdrew the following year and spent two years teaching returning in 1916. He completed sufficient work to qualify as a Senior. He was commissioned Captain and Adjutant in his Senior year and performed well in that capacity. Due to unsettled national conditions, he volunteered for service, but was not accepted. While in this quandary, wanton Cupid took a hand, and he is now in a state of married blessedness. Since his marriage he has become agricultural demonstrator for Rankin County, Mississippi. Here's to you, Bill! May you live a thousand years, to sort'er keep things lively in this vale of human tears.

The writer of the yearbook sketch captured key attributes of Bill Burks' personality. He valued friendships and hard work.

Bill and Alice on a Sunday afternoon stroll near Ackerman

Bill went to work as a county agent in Rankin County, Mississippi. Bill and Alice's first child was born in 1919. Her name was Mary Alice.

Bill had been rejected for military service because of the condition of his lungs. Tuberculosis was common in that part of Mississippi. The doctors advised him to move to a drier climate. Bill and Alice set out towards Arizona. They stopped at a 'resort' in Kerrville, Texas. There they happened to find an old friend from Mississippi, Doctor Chester Shotts. Dr. Shotts was a member of the school board in Poteet, Texas. That board was searching for a new superintendant for their school. Dr. Shotts encouraged Bill to take the job, assuring him that Poteet was a dry enough climate for good health. Bill Burks took the job, remaining there until 1939. Bill's skills at 'handling' people were valuable in his work as school superintendant at Poteet.

In the fall of 1938, Bill Burks began teaching agricultural education at Texas A&I. The Poteet school board did not object, so he drove back and forth from Poteet to Kingsville to teach his classes at A&I, managing Poteet schools in the mean time. After one year, Poteet hired another superintendant, hand picked by Bill Burks. Martin Stroble was Burks' successor.

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