Riley and I made the Houston Chronicle

Last week, I was reading a weekly column in the Sunday Houston Chronicle and saw that a reader was asking a question that needed an answer.

"Was Riley Fuzzell Road in Spring named after a real person?"

The columnist gave a wacky reply, but didn't answer the question. Well I wanted to know about Riley Fuzzell, so I went hunting. I found him easily, as a child and an adult with his own family. He was a farmer and a fine citizen of Spring, Texas. I gathered all the information I had collected in 20 minutes and sent it to the columnist, hoping he would pass it on to the curious reader.

I heard nothing and forgot about it.

Fast forward to today, when I'm eating leftover pizza for lunch and catching up on my Sunday newspaper reading. I scanned the weekly column and noticed that something looked familiar. It was my email printed out for all to see.

Actually, it was part of my email and it was chopped off at a strange place. Why the staff included the part about the attachment is beyond me.

The portion that got cut off talked about Fuzzell's World War I draft card and how it was signed by another big name in Spring (Budde, if you're wondering). Not fascinating news for a humor column, but very interesting if you're into local history, which is why I shared it with the reader. I just didn't realize it would be shared with everyone else. Had I known, I probably would have written it differently.

So I had a good laugh today at my 15 seconds of newsprint fame, and how old Riley was overshadowed by the story on bad supermarket products.

If I had the time, I'd love to give Riley Fuzzell the genealogy star treatment as well and research him properly. Next time I'm in Spring, I just may pay his road a visit.