A lot of things have changed during Charlie Hill's life. In 1914, Ravenna was a thriving farm community with a dozen businesses and about 400-500 residents. The Denison, Bonham and New Orleans Railroad carried travelers and produce along tracks laid out through the fertile North Texas farmland.
Today the population of Ravenna is somewhere around 230 and very few signs remain of the railroad tracks. But throughout those years two things never changed; it required hard work to carve out a successful farm and good friends just get better with age.
Ask anyone about Charlie Hill and the first response is identical; no one ever appreciated the value of a day's work any more that the Fannin County native that grew up around the farming communities of Ravenna and Mulberry. Core values such as working hard to provide for your family and appreciating friends you meet along life's path attracted about 60 people to Mr. Hill's front yard Sunday to celebrate his 93rd birthday.
And no one seemed to be having a better time than the guest of honor.
At 93, Charlie Hill does a lot more than just take care of himself. He still enjoys taking care of his garden as well as a cow-calf operation Perhaps there aren't horses, mules and hogs around like in the days when Mr Hill and his close friends Joe Choice and Jim Dehorney were starting out, but life on the Hill farm near Red River goes on much as it has for almost a century.
"He just worked," Jesse Hill says when asked what his dad did for fun. "Work, work, work...that's the way he brought us up."
Fourth of July was just like Labor Day was just like any other day for the Hill family. If it wasn't Sunday, they were working.
"His tractor was his pride and joy," says the youngest son, Micky Hill.
But Sunday the family and friends of Charlie Hill were his pride and joy as his normally quiet front yard filled for a celebration that has become an annual tradition.
