Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the classic tale “The Yearling,” will be honored with a commemorative postage stamp on Thursday.

In addition to the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel set in rural Florida in the late 1800s, the late author is known for the 1942 memoir “Cross Creek” about her own life in that region’s backwoods.

The commemorative stamp will be issued at ceremonies Thursday at her restored home in the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historical State Park in Florida, 20 miles southeast of Gainesville.

The main speaker will be J. T. “Jake” Glisson, who grew up as a neighbor of Rawlings. He moved to the next house when he was a baby.

As he grew up, he regularly accompanied her on local trips “because I could get an Oldsmobile unstuck from the sand,” he explained in a telephone interview.

Glisson, who describes himself as “not academically inclined,” recalled Rawlings coming to his aid to help him get into the Army Air Corps at the end of World War II.

After several tries to enter the service, he was finally accepted by the Air Corps on condition he graduate from high school, he said.

Unfortunately, his grades in algebra and English were low.

So Glisson proposed a deal to a teacher, if he could get the famous writer to come to the school and speak, would she give him passing grades?

She agreed and Glisson recalled rushing to Rawlings house, then losing his nerve to ask her.

When she asked what the problem was, he said, “I blurted it out and she started laughing.”

Thinking she was turning him down, he started to leave, but then she simply asked “when?”

Unwilling to take a chance on waiting, he said the next afternoon.

When she arrived at the school, the principal _ a large, no-nonsense man _ greeted her happily and took her hand. But when he moved to release the handshake, Rawlings held on.

She wanted to be sure he understood the deal.

“What deal?” the principal asked.

She replied, “J.T. is going to pass algebra and whatever subjects he’s got a problem with.”

The principal paused, then allowed that is wasn’t his idea of education, but he agreed.

Rawlings then headed into the auditorium and entertained the whole school including teachers and school board members, answering any questions they asked.

And, yes, Glisson got in the Air Corps.

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On the Net:

U.S. Postal Service: http://www.usps.com

Rawlings State Park: http://host69.hrwebservices.net/marjori/