Liberty County civic leader, champion jelly cook dies

C.T. "Rusty" Hight, known for his wide-ranging talents in roles ranging from a Liberty County jurist to a master gardener, died Wednesday. He was 65.

Hight learned he had a "small speck of cancer" five weeks before it took over his body, said his sister, Nelda Zbranek.

But she and others who knew him will never forget how he prayed for "God to help him do the right thing" each time he put on his black robe to serve as the 75th state district judge from 2002 to 2010.

And he didn't mind trading that robe for an apron. He loved to cook up a pot of his award-winning jelly made with the tart juice from marble-sized mayhaws, a native fruit found in East Texas swamps.

He would spend hours collecting just the right mayhaws to simmer over the stove in a rustic cabin in his backyard in Dayton.

Over the last two decades, his jelly was often pronounced the blue ribbon winner at the annual Mayhaw Festival in Daisetta.

His gardening skills were also apparent in the bountiful supply of vegetables he grew in his backyard, some so large that they looked like they could set a world record.

He also served many years as a Dayton school trustee.

One of his proudest moments came when he was able to hand a diploma to his daughter, Laura, who was still recovering after emerging from a 4-month coma.

She had been badly injured in a car accident that claimed the life of a school friend two years earlier. Medical personnel had not expected her to live.

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Liberty County civic leader, champion jelly cook dies