Grandma Farr

Grandma Farr was one of the most incredible woman I have ever known. She had endured many tough times in her life and those tough times only made her stronger and more capable. I could not have asked for a better mother-in-law. She was the rare type of person that no matter what Loveta and I faced, when Grandma Farr showed up, you knew everything was going to be alright. No matter what the problem was, Grandma Farr was always there for her kids. So Loveta had been married for a year or two, I can’t remember exactly, and I got sick one day and came down with a bad case of diarrhea. Now this wasn’t your average case of diarrhea, it lasted for a whole week. I was beginning to get worried. Loveta and her mom always had a very close relationship, and Loveta confided in her mom about everything. The next I knew, I looked out the window, and I saw Grandma Farr getting out of the car carrying a sack. It was a bottle of parapectilen. (I don’t know whether this the correct spelling, but that’s close enough.) I had never heard of parapectilen before or since. But I can testify to fact that it works. They quit making it several years ago because it contained opium. I took one dose of it and it stopped the diarrhea immediately. I went back to work that same day. The only problem was, a week later I had still not had a bowel movement. By this time I was wishing for the diarrhea back. To make a long story short, this is the only time in my life I ever had to use an enema, to get my system to working again. If you don’t know what an enema is, consider yourself very fortunate. So, once again Grandma Farr had saved the day. I lost count of the many times Grandma Farr saved the day. She loved her family deeply. She was one of the most unselfish people I have ever known. She was truly a servant to her family, to her fellow man, and to the Lord. She was a good woman. Oh, how I wish I could look out the window and see Grandma Farr getting out of her car, to save the day, just one more time.

Grandpa Trigg

Grandpa Trigg was my great grandfather. He was my dad's, mother's father. Now, Grandpa Trigg was a very adventuresome individual from what I was told. Although he was born and raised in Tennessee, he always longed to move to Texas. So, when he was a middle aged man he made the move to Texas. He liked Texas so well that he encouraged my grandfather and grandmother, Pap & Mam Pierce, to move to Texas also. It is my understanding that they all landed in Big Springs in 1912. My father was 4 years old at the time. For awhile they all worked for the railroad, loading and unloading boxcars. But, Grandpa Trigg became restless and someone talked him into moving to east Texas to a small community East of Georgetown, called Jonah.

Now Grandpa Trigg was a very talented man. He was a master carpenter, a blacksmith, and a Church of Christ preacher. For that day and time, he was a pretty well educated man. He had completed high school and had attended a college in Tennessee. I don't know how far he went in college, no one seemed to know for sure. But, he was better educated than most men were at that time. When they got to Jonah Pap & Mam and the Pierce family worked on numerous farms in the area as sharecroppers. The house they lived in was still standing and in good shape when I took my dad to a class reunion 30 years ago. Grandpa Trigg didn't waste any time after he arrived in Jonah. He proceeded to build a blacksmith shop. After he completed the blacksmiths shop, he proceeded to build a small church building which was also still standing and in good shape 30 years ago when my father & I attended his class reunion.

Now, I was told that Grandpa Trigg, after years of working as a blacksmith, was a man of incredible physical strength. My dad said Grandpa Trigg loved to display feats of strength such as straightening house shoes and bending 60 penny nails with his bare hands. Grandpa Trigg also loved to invent things. He was always working on some mew invention and his most succussful invention was the self tying haybaler. But, he never got a patent on it and someone stole his invention and made a fortune off of it. He was a master carpenter and he taught my dad all about the basics of carpentry, such as how to use a framing square and mark off a rafter. I think how Grandpa Triggs knowledge and skill has been passed from generation to generation.

Grandpa Trigg was also a very dedicated and talented Church of Christ preacher. He didn't have a church when he got to Jonah so he built one with his own two hands. How many preachers today would have the ability and the dedication to build their own church? My Dad said that Grandpa Trigg, like most men of that time, used tobacco.

Not only did he smoke a pipe, he also dipped and chewed, often all three at the same time. My Dad said he remembered Grandpa Trigg, dipping and chewing tobacco while he preached the sermon on Sunday morning, every now and then he would stop his sermon momentarily and walk to the side door of the church building and spit! I imagine this might have been common practice at that time, but try this now and see what happens!

In the mean time Dad's oldest brother, Nick, who was making a lot of money in the printing business, bought a little farm close to Menard. Grandpa Trigg got restless again and decided to move to Midland and open a grocery store. Grandpa Pierce and family moved to Menard. I don't know how long Grandpa Trigg had lived in Midland but it was my understanding that he had not been there very long when he died suddenly. Grandpa Trigg was in the living room while Grandma Trigg was in the kitchen fixing supper when she heard something hit the floor in the living room. When she went to see what fell, she found Grandpa Trigg slumped in his chair and his pipe had fallen out of his mouth and hit the floor. I do not know exactly how old he was when he died, but I believe he was in his mid to late sixties. His body was transported back to Jonah, Texas for burial. Grandma Trigg came to Menard to live with Pap & Mam . Daddy said she was never the same after Grandpa Trigg died. Grandma Trigg did not live long and was soon buried beside her husband in Jonah.

I do not know why, but I always had a bit of fascination about Grandpa Trigg. I never got to meet him, but I know from the only picture I have of him that I inherited his nose. I know he was an extremely talented person and an exceptionally well educated person for that period of time. Even though he did not live a real long life he seemed to live life to the fullest.

I have always thought if I had a time machine and could go back in time, I would like to go back and visit Grandpa Trigg and see what he was really like.

The Mail Order Brides

Since this story is about my Uncle Dude, I think it is only fair to tell a little something about his life.

Uncle Dude was born Duvernia Keele in Belton, Texas in about 1896. He did not have a middle name so he had to make the best of the name his parents had unfortunately given him. He was my grandmother’s younger brother and the middle child of seven kids. He had the mumps when he was a child and they left him unable to have children. He was, without a doubt, my favorite uncle when I was growing up. He loved kids and was always handing me money to buy a coke or a candy bar. It was never much, maybe a dime or quarter, but back then you could buy a coke and candy bar for a dime. Uncle Dude was not rich but he always had a pocket full of money. He smoked these little roll-your-own cigarettes, and I can see him now sprinkling a little Prince Albert tobacco in the paper, rolling it and then licking it to get it to hold. I can still remember his scent, a combination of Prince Albert and tobacco smoke. Uncle Dude was always a neat and clean guy. He was always laughing and joking all of the kids. I never saw him in a bad mood. But the thing I remember most about him is that he always had time for me. So, I spent a lot of time with Uncle Dude when I was a kid.

Uncle Dude was married twice during his life, both mail order brides, and he was on his way to marry his third mail order bride when he had a wreck that ultimately ended his life. His first mail order bride was Minnie. I guess Uncle Dude was having a difficult time finding a wife so he decided to join what they called then ‘the lonely hearts club.” Now, this was in the 1920s. There was no such thing as the internet, and telephones were rare. So the only way two people, looking for love and companionship, could get to know each other was by writing letters to each other. So Uncle Dude and Minnie wrote letters to each other and exchanged pictures, at least that was the way it was supposed to work.

They agreed through mail that uncle Dude would travel to where Minnie lived, and they would tie the knot. Uncle Dude was very excited because the picture Minnie sent of herself was that of a very attractive young woman. When Uncle Dude arrived at Minnie’s, however, an old lady answered the door. Uncle Dude thought it was Minnie’s mother or grandmother. At first she said Minnie was her friend and that she was not there at that moments and that she would be there later. She finally confessed, though, that she indeed was Minnie. She said she sent a picture of someone else because she knew if she sent a picture of herself that he wouldn’t come. So, for unknown reasons, Uncle Dude married her. When he brought her to meet his family, they could not believe their eyes. They said that she looked like she could be his grandmother. They said she had skin that looked like rawhide, and the texture of her skin was like sandpaper. Minnie apparently did not possess feminine qualities. My grandmother got Uncle Dude off to one side and said, “Dude, what have you done?” He explained to my grandmother that he felt so sorry for her and felt like he could not go back on his word, since he had promised to marry her.

Minnie and Uncle Dude were married for several years. I’m not sure how many years they were married, but I do know that Minnie made a very good wife, and Uncle Dude’s family became very fond of Minnie. I don’t think she was that much older than Uncle Dude. She just looked a lot older. She lived to be almost a 100 years old and remained in touch with Dude’s family even after Uncle Duded died.

His second mail order bride was Aunt Nancy. She was an attractive and classy lady, and I have very fond memories of the time I spent with Uncle Dude and Aunt Nancy. Aunt Nancy had two grown children and several grandkids from her first marriage. I never did know what happened to her first husband. Uncle Dude and Aunt Nancy were probably married for twenty years, or so, and she started to lose her mind. Uncle Dude was always a little selfish and spoiled, so he decided it was time to move on. I won’t blame Uncle Dude totally for the demise of their marriage because Aunt Nancy had a terrible temper.

So, Uncle Dude moved back to Menard. It wasn’t no time until he became restless. He informed us that he had joined the “Lonely Hearts Club” and was writing a lady in Tennessee. In spite of our efforts to stop him, he loaded his 1960 Chevy with all of his belongings and several thousand dollars and headed to Tennessee to marry that woman. Uncle Dude was not your typical older driver. He typically drove eighty miles per hour wherever he went. He made it as far as Memphis, Tennessee before he got lost and made a U-turn in front of an eighteen-wheeler. The wreck totaled his car and scatters his life savings all over the road. By the time he came to, all of his money was gone. They thought he was going to be alright, but he died in his sleep a couple of days later. He never reached his mail order bride. They shipped him back to Texas, and we had to pay for his funeral. Uncle Dude was the first death in the family of someone who had helped raise me, and I still remember the hurt I felt. He died trying to fulfill his dream of finding that perfect mail order bride.

My First Post

I am not a computer guy.


So when my family asked me to start a blog I seriously thought they were joking. I soon realized they were not joking. I thought of every excuse in the world why I couldn't start a blog but I underestimated the persistence of my darling wife and kids. So here I am making my entry into the computer world. I decided it would be best to start out telling a little something about myself. I am fifty seven years old. I was born and raised in a small Texas town in the very middle of the state. I have lived around this small town all of my life. I work less than two blocks from where I was born, and I will be buried less than two miles from my place of birth. So I guess it would be fair to say I am a "homebody" sort of guy. My mother was 40 years old and my dad was 44 years old when I was born. So I grew up around a bunch of older folks. All of the folks who raised me and my brother had lived through the great depression. I grew up hearing stories about the hardships they had endured. I was a quiet kid, so mostly I just listened and memorized the stories they told me. My family was a very artsy family. Everybody was either an artist or played some kind of musical instrument or both. I guess it would be fair to say that my family was a bit crazy and eccentric. They supplied me with an endless supply of stories. Some of the stories were sad and some were funny. For some reason I always listened intently, trying to remember every little detail. Although, they are all dead now, I try to keep their memory alive through the many stories they told me.


I have worked at a nursing home for the past 21 years. I have met many interesting people during that time. Older folks have lived a lot of life, so they have a lot to talk about. So, I have many funny and interesting stories that I have acquired over the years. Many of these stories involve my own experiences involving some very unflattering remarks that were made about me by some the residents.


Recently, our son and daughter were here visiting and we decided we would go through my mothers belongings. My mother has been gone for ten years and we have been intending to go through her stuff and divide her belongings between our daughter and son. There was absolutely nothing of any monetary value, but a treasure chest of memories. I found myself thoroughly enjoying going through the stuff and it brought back the memories of the stories they had told me. So, I begin to tell these different stories to my wife and kids. To my surprise they seemed to be enjoying my story telling. My wife suddenly said, " we have got to preserve these stories for the future generations of this family. We are going to start you a blog". So, here I am.


But, before I start my stories let me explain a little bit about the title of this blog. My wife of 28 years has always had a gift for mangling the English language. Now I don't mean this to be a cut down, she is one of the smartest people I have ever known, but she has a gift of saying something when she means something totally different. For example, she was rushing around trying to get one the kids ready to go to their piano lesson and she hollered upstairs to let the other one know where she would be. She hollered, "I am taking JC fishing." The kids immediately started laughing. But, they thought nothing of it, because it was just mom. So one night a couple of years ago our daughter was here visiting and we were sitting around the supper table eating and I guess
I was complaining about something and my wife all of a sudden told me to "quit being a "grumbly dub dub". Now, I don't know where she came up with that saying and I am not quite sure what it means, but, I am positive it was not a compliment. So, now everytime I start complaining, the kids will say, "Dad quit being a "grumbly dub dub". So the title "Grumblings by John".