One doesn’t have to go to DFW Airport to see scenes of reunion. The foresight (and hard work) of a handful of Mineola leaders has made Mineola a witness to many such reunions of family members and friends embracing after a long absence. 

The international arrival terminal at DFW has nothing over the passenger siding at the Mineola Train Station. On the week before Thanksgiving, it was a busy place.

On Tuesday of that week, Diana Korinek was at the station waiting to pick up her cousin Terry Wisslead. Korinek had driven from Coffee City and was a not infrequent visitor to the station, where she spent time catching up with station manager Martha Moreland. 

Wisslead was on a trip from Illinois, with Mineola being her last stop on a family visitation tour. Korinek, who married into East Texas, grew up in New Hampshire, so coming to pick up visiting relatives was a well-practiced event. 

Their reunion after Wisslead disembarked was heartening to see – when people are so happy that their greeting is the only thing that matters, while a crowd of folks surrounds them. 

Also on the platform that morning were Mary and Ron McGlamery waiting to pick up their grandson, Mack Chavez. The couple had driven from Winnsboro, while Chavez had taken the overnight train to Mineola from Joliet, Ill. 

Chavez is a banker in Joliet and also works as a dietician. He was one of several family members coming to Winnsboro for an early Thanksgiving celebration. The McGlamerys expected about 15 folks around their table.  

As is evident in their photo, it was a joyous reunion. 

Among the departing passengers that morning was Johnny Bynum. He was en route back to UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to rejoin his wife at the side of his daughter, Audria. He admitted that he was on a “test of faith.” 

Audria, who recently was seriously injured in an automobile accident, was undergoing continued treatments to mitigate the seizures she has suffered since the accident. The former drum major of the 2024 state champion Mineola High School marching band, Audria was fighting a battle to determine the cause and resolve the seizures. 

After being at the hospital for some time, Johnny Bynum took the train back to Mineola on Monday to check on the house, the pets and the mail. With a 24-hour turnaround he was boarding the Amtrak to return to his wife and daughter. 

“You have heard of the body of Christ on earth,” he offered, “well, the support we have received from our Smith Chapel family is a living example of that.” Bynum explained that there was nothing which their extended chapel family have not done for them.  

He also spoke of Audria’s time with the Sound of the Swarm and commented that they are forever grateful for that experience. “It was a beautiful time,” he said. 

Bynum carried himself with an obvious inner strength. The Mineola community will certainly be offering prayers for Audria’s full recovery.

Frankston residents Jenny and Jerry Beard were on hand to pick up friends who were concluding a long train trip to the Pacific Northwest. The Beards, themselves, have logged significant travel adventures together.

“We love to take the Amtrak,” Jerry offered, before rattling off a number of points across the nation that he and Jenny had travelled via rail. He cited two of his favorite things, trains and newspapers, stating, “I take three newspapers every day, the Palestine Herald, the Daily Morning News, and the New York Times, and I read each one.” 

Pick up complete, the Beards headed back to Anderson County. 

On Wednesday morning, Jonathan Garner, from Jamestown, was bound for Dallas Station. Garner runs a country dance studio and regularly makes the trip via train into the studio in Garland. 

“I use the train because it is cheaper than driving,” he stated. Some quick mental math proved this to be true. Interestingly his clientele is generally young adults.

“Most of our instruction is for folks between 18 and 38,” he related. 

Garner wasn’t the only one traveling that morning on business. Christina Graham was also bound for Dallas. 

Graham is the director of operations for East Gates International, a Bible distribution non-profit network which delivers Bibles throughout China. Lily Leese of Mineola, a close friend whom Graham was visiting, had driven her to the station. Graham was departing for Dallas to give a presentation on the status of East Gates internationally-renown efforts to bring the Word to China.

Christina Graham is the wife of Ned Graham, youngest son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, and has been an integral part of East Gates since 1998. “We are all on the road to eternity,” she stated, as she explained the unique and challenging environment faced in dealing with China. 

“Despite the difficulties,” she added, “we must remember that the people are very thirsty for the word of God.”   

As Billy Graham often said, “There is no greater tool for evangelism than the Bible.” Christina Graham recounted anecdotes of just how thankful individuals in China are to receive the gift of a Bible. She described the Bible as a “instruction book for life.”

Through the efforts of East Gates, to date, over three million Bibles have been distributed in China. In the world of evangelization, Mineola had a celebrity pass through the station that morning.

The interviews at Mineola Station concluded with a discussion with a potential traveler who was investigating some group travel within Texas. It seems that many people, for a variety of reasons, are finding Mineola Station a convenient and accommodating point of departure for business excursions as well as personal voyaging, both near and far.