Pap Pierce's Brothers Visit

Pap and Ma’am Pierce moved to Texas from Tennessee in Nineteen twelve.  Pap and Ma’am did not visit Tennessee again until the early fifties.  Uncle Ches bought a new Cadillac in nineteen fifty.  He decided this would be a good time to take Pap and Ma’am back to Tennessee to visit their folks.  Pap had several brothers and sisters.  Ma’am was an only child.  Up until this time, it had been thirty something years since Pap had seen any of his family.  Daddy said Pap’s brother’s came to Texas once when daddy was a kid.  He said they were living in Jonah, Texas at the time.  He said Pap’s brothers were all big heavyset, jolly men.  When they were together they were always cracking jokes.  They laughed all the time and they kept every one around them laughing.  While they were down visiting, they decided they would all go to town.  Pap owned a Model-T Ford.  So, they all piled in the Model-T.   They were all so fat the car squatted down so badly that the fenders were resting on top of the wheels.  Needless to say, the Model-T didn’t go any place.  Daddy said that they could not stop laughing.  The sight of them trying get the car to move was absolutely hilarious, and Pap and his brothers were laughing harder than any one. 

Violet Howell Pierce

Violet Pierce was my dad’s first wife.  They married when they were very young.  It was almost like an arranged marriage.  Uncle Crigley thought the Howell’s had a lot of money because they had quite a bit of farm land around Tennyson, Texas.  He told daddy that he wanted him to meet Violet.  He said, if daddy could marry into the Howell family, he would have it made.  Daddy said he found out that the Howells were not near as well off as Crigley thought they were.  So, daddy met Violet and after a short courtship, they were married.  Daddy said they never even kissed before they got married.  Daddy said they really didn’t know each other very well until after they had been married for awhile.  Violet was a very good wife.  She was a hard worker.  She was a good cook and a good seamstress.  So, she made most of their clothes.  They had five children together, four boys and one girl.  The girl died when she was three weeks old after taking the measles.  Daddy never got over her death.  She was the only daughter he would ever have.  Bobbie Joe was the oldest and he was born in nineteen twenty eight, Chesley Dale was born in nineteen thirty, Leonard was born in nineteen thirty two, Mary Ruth was born in nineteen thirty four, and the Norman was born in nineteen thirty six.  Although daddy had a difficult time talking about this time in his life, there were times when he would open up about this difficult time in his life.  I was aware from a very young age that daddy’s first wife committed suicide.  But, this was something we didn’t discuss very often.  But, later on as daddy got older and I got older, I began to ask more questions about Violet’s death.  Apparently, Violet’s father thought daddy and Violet had enough children.  It was during the Great Depression, and times were tough.  Violet got pregnant again and her father talked them into having an abortion.  As I said, times were tough and they had to depend a lot on Violet’s father for financial help.  So, they gave in to his request.  I can’t say for sure because daddy never told me but I am inclined to believe the babies they aborted were twin girl’s.  I  came to this conclusion because of something my mother said one time.  Anyway daddy said Violet could never forgive herself for having a abortion.  This literally drove her crazy.  She became suicidal.  She had threatened to shoot herself.  Daddy said he owned a twelve gauge shotgun, and Violet had made threats about using this gun to kill her self.  Daddy dismantled the gun and hid the parts all over the house.  He was working down in the field and he heard the sound of a shotgun being fired.  He said he knew immediately that Violet had shot herself.  He ran to the house where he found her dying with the shotgun by her side.  She was still alive when he gathered her in his arms.  She told him, “I wish I hadn’t of done it.”  She died in his arms.  She had found all of the parts to the shotgun, put it back together and shot her self.  What a sad story.  I can only imagine how daddy felt.  Daddy said he did not realize that the Howell family had some mental problems running in their family.  He found out after he married Violet that she had a sister in the insane asylum in Abilene when they got married.  Daddy said they went to visit her one time.  This sister later committed suicide by stuffing rags in her mouth and nose.  I don’t think daddy ever got over Violet’s death.  I believe he grieved for her until the day he died.  When he would talk about these difficult times, he would say “Son, you don’t know what you can stand until you have to stand it.”  I have thought about what he said many times in the past sixty years.  What a good man he was. 

 

Grandma Pierce and The Great Depression

Mother told me many stories about the Great Depression.  Mother’s dad died at sixty one years of age of pneumonia.  This was right at the beginning of the Great Depression.  They were living in San Angelo, Texas at the time of their father’s death.  They did not own a house, so, they were living in a rented house.  In that day and time when some one died, the funeral home would come to your house to prepare the body for burial.  After the body was prepared, it was displayed in some part of your house, usually the living room.  Mother said no one slept any the night their dad’s body was on display in their living room.  She said for one thing they just couldn’t believe he was dead, it had all happened so quickly.  I remember Aunt Doe saying she heard the birds singing outside, and she said to herself how can the birds be singing, because daddy’s dead.  She said she soon learned that life didn’t stop for any one.  But, for the moment she couldn’t imagine life without dad. 

But, life did go on. 

They soon found themselves broke, without any means of making a living.  They were stuck in a big town with no ability to raise their on food.  Mother said they would set around for days without any food.  Finally their mother dressed up in her best clothes and went to the local grocery store and she went to crying and told the owner of the store that her family was home starving.   The guy told her he would sell her some groceries on the credit.  Mother said that they were so happy when their mother walked the house with a bag of groceries, they didn’t know what to do.  Before they got these groceries, the only thing they had to eat was some careless weeds they got out of the alley.  They would boil these careless weeds and eat them without any seasoning.

They were soon unable to pay their rent, and they were threatening to have them evicted from their home.  Someone told there was a lot of cotton to pick down in the coastal area of Texas.  So, Uncle Willie, mother’s older brother, had someway managed to trade for an old model A Ford.  So, they loaded up all of their belongings and took off to the coast.  They did odd jobs along the way to help pay for the gas.  If you have ever read the book, “The Grapes of Wrath,” Grandma Pierce actually lived it.  When they finally got to the coastal area, they didn’t find any cotton to pick.  They decided to return to San Angelo.  Uncle Zane and Aunt Mary were living in Water Valley, Texas, and they told mother and them that they knew some one who had a pecan crop that needed to be harvested.  They gladly accepted the job.  Mother said this was like Heaven compared to what they had been through.  Having a pecan crop to pick, meant they all of a sudden had a place they could camp without some one running them off.  They could fish for protein, and they could pick lamb’s quarters greens for vegetables.  They could use what little money they made off picking the pecans, to buy bread, milk, and sugar.  Mother said they didn’t always have grease to fry the fish, so they would eat the fish boiled, without any seasoning.  She said it didn’t taste very good.  But, it nourished their bodies.  Mother loved to fish and she was apparently very lucky at it, so it was her main job to keep them supplied with fish to eat.  They lived around Water Valley for several years. 

They eventually moved to Menard to take care of Grandpa Keele.  They basically lived the rest of their lives in Menard.  As I think back on the hardships that they endured, it gives me an insight into why they were the way they were.  The hardships they endured profoundly affected the rest of their lives.  It makes me wonder sometime if their lives would have been different if they had not have had to endure the hardships inflicted on them by the Great Depression. 

I guess that is something we will never know. 

Pap and Mam Pierce

I don’t remember very much about Pap and Mam.  Mam died when I was a small baby.  She wanted to keep me over night, but mother was nervous about letting her.  A short time after her request to keep me over night, Mam had a massive stroke and died the next day.  I believe she was in her early seventy’s when she died.  Mother could never forgive herself for not letting Mam keep me overnight. 

When Mam first saw me after I was born, she said I was the prettiest baby that was ever born into the Pierce family.  She said I had her old bottle nose.  For that, I will always love her even though having a bottle shaped nose might not be a good thing.  I wish she had lived longer, so I could have gotten to know her.

 They were both born in Pulaski Tennessee.  Some of Pap’s siblings children and grandchildren still live and own farm land in and around Pulaski till this day.  They had seven children, five boys and two girls.  They were both left handed, Yet they only had one child that was left handed, and that was Aunt Martha.  She was the baby of the family. 

Mam had an exceptionally good education for that day and time.  Daddy said she finished high school and attended some college.  I don’t know whether she completed any kind of a degree.  Pap on the other hand, would have been lucky to have to have completed the fifth grade.  Mam was an only child, and her family thought she married beneath herself.  Mam kept a diary of their life together.  They had a hard life together.  They were always on the move.  They were never able to buy a home and settle down.  Mam seemed to be somewhat bitter about the hardships they had endured.  But, they were blessed in many ways.  They had seven children and never lost a one either in childhood or in their adult lives.  So, they were blessed with a large loving family that was with them until the day they died.

 

They were also blessed with a strong faith.  Going to church and trying to live a good Christian life was extremely important to them.  Pap was an elder in the Menard Church Of Christ, for many years.  Every now and then I run into someone who is old enough to remember Pap and Mam.  They never fail to tell me that they were two of the most wonderful Christian people they have ever known.  Apparently, they thought that being a Christian involved more than going to church a few times a week. 

Although they didn’t accumulate a lot of worldly possessions, and were never able to purchase a home in this life, I feel like God will reward them with an eternal mansion when they get to heaven.  Even though they have been dead for over fifty years, people still remember Pap and Mam for the good decent lives they lived while they were here.  I am reminded of a plaque that hangs by the chapel, at Menard Manor, where I work.  It says, “What we do for ourselves dies when we do, what we do for others lives forever.”

 I’m proud they were my grandparents.

Uncle Crigley Pierce

Uncle Crigley Pierce, and no I am not sure that is how it is spelled, was Pap Pierce’s youngest brother.  He is the reason Pap came to Texas from Tennessee.  Crigley came to Texas looking for a job.  He found work in Big Springs Texas.  So, Pap was having a hard time making a living.  Crigley told him to move to Texas and Pap moved to Texas in about nineteen twelve.  They both worked for the railroad for while.  Pap got a chance to move to Jonah Texas and work as share cropper.  Crigley eventually moved to Eola Texas close to San Angelo Texas.  So, I guess there were several years that they didn’t live close together. 

Daddy was very fond of Uncle Crigley.  He said he was one of the most likeable guys you would ever meet.  He had a wonderful personality.  He was always joking.  There was never a serious moment when you were around Uncle Crigley.  He never saw a stranger.  He would see some old dirty old man and he would ask daddy, “Frank, how would like to play him a game of dog?”  Now who would ever think to see the humor in the way dogs normally greet each other.  But Crigley saw humor in everything.  He borrowed money from every one he knew.  He used his gregarious personality to borrow money from every banker, every friend, every relative, and every church member he could find.  He owed money to virtually every one he knew.  He even talked daddy into letting him borrow money on his tractor and plow.  When he died, the bank confiscated daddy’s tractor and plow.  Crigley was an alcoholic.  This was during the prohibition, so the only thing Crigley could find to drink was vanilla extract.  Daddy said when you went in Crigleys outdoor toilet, it smelled just like vanilla pudding.  He was once asked what he would do if he inherited a million dollars, and he said, he would pay it on his debts as far as it went and the rest would have to do without.  I don’t know what year he died.  He wasn’t very old.  He was probably in his late forties or early fifties.  He committed suicide by drinking poison.  Daddy was the one that found him dead.  The empty bottle of poison was laying by his body and his lips had turned blue from the poison.  His wife and family would never accept the fact that he committed suicide.  Daddy said his wife went to grave believing he died of natural causes.  Daddy said he was the last person  you would expect to commit suicide.  Although daddy lost his tractor and plow because of Uncle Crigley, for some reason he never seemed to hold it against Crigley.  He always spoke fondly of Crigley.  

Grandma Lydia Garvin

My Grandmother, on my mother’s side of the family, had a powerful personality.  Although, she never had much money she had a way about her of conveying importance.  There fore, she could walk into a bank and borrow money on her strong personality and appearance, even though she did not have the ability to pay the loan back.  But grandma never worried about technical details like that, she honestly thought she would find some way to pay the money back. 

This particular story I am going to tell about is when she bought a vacuum cleaner, from a traveling salesman, on the credit.  Grandma suddenly realized she could not make the payments.  So, one day she looked out the window and there came the vacuum cleaner salesman down the sidewalk.  She suddenly remembered she had never paid a penny on the vacuum cleaner.  So, she quickly hid behind the piano and told Aunt Mamie to tell him she was not here.  It was a cold day and the man asked if he could come in and warm by the fire.  Aunt Mamie did not know what to tell him so she hollered “Oh Mama, he caught me in a lie.”  The stove was located at the end of the piano.  So, when you stood warming your hands, you could see behind the piano.  The man was warming his hands, and he looked and saw grandma behind the piano.  He said, “Oh, hello Mrs. Garvin, what are you doing behind the piano?”  She said, “Oh, I decided the back of the piano needed to be dusted.”  Grandma talked him into letting her keep the vacuum cleaner.  I doubt if she ever paid a penny on the vacuum cleaner. 

I have so many fond memories of my grandmother.  I don’t want to make it sound like she was some kind of a crook.  She was a deeply religious person.  She founded at least two churches in her lifetime.  She never intended to cheat anyone.  She actually thought that someway she would be able to pay for these things she would buy on the credit.  She went to church every Sunday and she read her bible regularly.  I remember the wonderful Sunday dinners she cooked.  Nobody could fry a chicken as good as her.  Nobody could make a vanilla crème pie as good as hers.  She made it totally from scratch, both the filling and crust.  She went through the great depression, and she cooked whatever she had.  She is the only person I have ever seen make a pinto bean pie.  It tasted just like a pecan crème pie.  She could make the best orange muffins you have ever eaten.  If you came in while she was cooking a meal, you might as well get ready for her to fix you a plate.  It did not matter whether you were hungry or not.  It did not matter how many times you told her you did not want a plate, you got a plate. 

Although she was a great cook, she loved the outdoors.  She would much rather being raking and burning leaves than doing housework.  When I was a teenager going to high school, I would come by to visit her and my aunts.  It would be after dark and grandma would still be out in the yard burning leaves.  If the weather was stormy, grandma would stand out in the dark watching the lightning and clouds to make sure a bad storm did not slip up on us.  She was in a bad tornado when she was a kid, so she had terrible fear of bad weather.  I think back on all the memories that grandma gave me.  I can still smell the leaves burning, and I can still see her standing for hours at a time, in the dark, watching the storms develop. 

Oh, what good memories those are.

Uncle Paul & Aunt Florence

Uncle Paul was my grandmother’s brother on my mother’s side of the family. 

Uncle Paul and Aunt Florence fussed and fought their entire   married life, and they were married for over fifty years.  They couldn’t live with each other and they could not live without each other.  When my mother, grandmother, and aunt Doe, moved to Menard from Water Valley, they lived across the street from Uncle Paul and Aunt Florence.  So,  they were witnesses to every argument Paul and Florence had, which was almost a daily event. 

So, Uncle Paul and Aunt Florence were having a big fuss one day.  Now, Paul was forever threatening to kill himself.  He had a gun in his hand and he told Florence he was going to go up on the hill and kill himself.  Florence kept trying to tell him something, and Paul thought she was trying to stop him from killing himself.  He told her, “Florence Keele, don’t try to talk me out of killing myself.  I’m really going to do it this time.”  She said, “Paul, I’m not trying to talk you out killing yourself, I’m trying to tell that you forgot the bullets.”  Needless to say Uncle Paul never killed himself, and he lived to be ninety six years old when he died. 

While Uncle Paul and Florence were in the same house, their house caught on fire one night.  Mother said, instead of Paul trying to put the fire out, he was busy trying to hide the fact that he had wired around the electrical meter so he wouldn’t have to pay for the electricity he was using.  I don’t know whether they found out what he had been doing, but the house burned to the ground.  This could probably be attributed to the fact that Uncle Paul had wired around all the safety equipment meant to keep your house from burning to ground.

Uncle Paul was a binge drinker and, he once got drunk and rode his horse down the main street in Menard thumbing his nose at every one he met.  Unfortunately, one of them was the county sheriff.  He promptly arrested Paul and took him to jail. 

The last story I want to tell about Uncle Paul and Aunt Florence, is about the time Paul ran for sheriff of Menard County.  Uncle Paul was drinking in a bar one day, and guys in there started telling Uncle Paul how popular he was and that he should run for sheriff.  Now Paul did not realize they were making fun of him.  So, he ran for sheriff.  He got two votes, and Aunt Florence said, “I wonder who those two people were that voted for you, because I know I sure did not vote for you.” 

Although, I was not close to Uncle Paul and Aunt Florence, they are still a part of my child hood memories.

Grandma Pierce

Mother only had about a fifth grade education, but she was an avid reader.  Therefore, there wasn’t any subject that she didn’t know something about and had an opinion about.  Although she didn’t have a formal education, because of her tendency to read any and everything she could get her hands on, this made up for her lack of education, to a certain degree.  She was a very intelligent person to talk to and certainly one of the most interesting characters you would ever meet.  She was a talented western artist.  She was a wonderful soprano singer in her younger days and sang at many funerals and gospel meetings.  What kept her from achieving a lot in her life was the lack of a good education.  She would never have admitted it, but she was very self conscious about her lack of a good education.  But, this was not her fault.  Her parents would take her to the cotton patch to pick cotton instead of putting her in school.  She also had a very shy streak.  She avoided any kind of a social interaction.  But, if you could ever get her into a social situation she had a wonderful personality and would talk the hind legs off a billygoat.  She was one of the most kind and gentle people I have ever known.  She would literally give you the shirt off her back.  If she was wearing a piece of jewelry and someone commented that they thought it was pretty.  She might just take the jewelry off and give it to them, or she might order them one just like it and send it to them.  She was always afraid she would hurt some ones feelings.  When Loveta and I would take the kids on our yearly mini-vacation, mother would insist on giving us some money to help out even though she lived on a four hundred and fifty dollar check a month.  She would insist we call collect every night while we were on our vacation just because she wanted to know that we were safe.  But, mother had her faults just like the rest of us.  She was hard to make mad, but if you did, you had better find you a hole to crawl in.  She had a horrible temper if she felt like some one had done her wrong.  She had a loud booming voice.  You could literally hear her for blocks away.  It was hard to face the neighbors the next day after one of her fits.  I have often wondered if she wasn’t bipolar.  Most of the time, mother was an absolute joy to be around.  She was a wonderful mother.  She took care of our ever need and we always knew that mother loved us and would always be there for us.  Grandma Pierce was truly one of the most interesting characters I have ever known.  She was always very quirky, so when she started getting older and senile, it was hard to tell senility or mother just being mother.  She virtually thought every one was in the secret service or working under cover.  I told her one day that the only person she didn’t think was a under cover agent was me.  She then looked at me very suspiciously and said “I don’t know.  But you might be one too.”  She went to her grave thinking my brother Bill was an under cover agent.  I wonder sometimes if she wasn’t right about some things now that I think back on some things she said.  Grandma Pierce left with many funny stories and I would like to tell just a few of them at this time.  The first one I want to tell about is  the time I went to check on mother and she was just furious about something.  I asked her what was wrong.  She went and got that days horoscope.  She told me to read her horoscope. I did.  She said, “Can you believe that?”  I said “Can I believe what?’  She said, “They are accusing me of being a lesbian.  They know me better than that.”  “I said how could they possibly know you.   She said, “They have their ways.”  I then proceeded to explain to her this horoscope had nothing to do with being a lesbian.  She was reading it wrong.  Mother was never one to admit she was wrong about anything.  She simply replied, “Oh.”  It was never mentioned again.  The next story I want to tell is about the home health house keeper.  Mother’s health began to fail.  She was getting older and she refused to take her medicine.  So, the doctor thought she needed some help at home.  The lady they sent out from home health’s name was Francis.  Now Francis started out being a lot of help, but that didn’t last very long.  She turned out to be  horrible.  But, mother was lonely and Francis would listen to mother talk instead of working.  But, mother grew to like her very much.  So, one day mother decided to give her a compliment.  “She told Francis that she was so nice that she almost had the personality of a white person.”  Francis got really mad.  Mother couldn’t understand why she got mad mother said, “I was just trying to give her a compliment.”  My last story is a relatively short story.  I never buy lottery tickets, but once in a while Loveta will buy a ticket or two if the pot gets pretty big.  So, the prize had gotten up to seventy five million and Loveta decided to buy a couple of tickets.  While she was buying the tickets, she suddenly decided she would buy mother one.  When she took the ticket to my mother, my mother said, “I don’t know whether to take this or not, I am afraid if I win the seventy five million, I’ll loose my Medicaid.”  Needless to say, we all cracked up. I will end this by just saying mother was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and person.  She has been dead for thirteen years now, but not a day goes by that I don’t think about her, miss her, and wish she was still here.         

Daddy (Franklin Dale Pierce)

This is a story about my dad.  First, I just want to say my dad was one of the finest, kindest, sweetest, and most patient men.  I couldn’t possibly have asked for a better dad.  My dad and I worked together for approximately seventeen years.  We never had a cross word between us.  We went through some tough times together.  We laughed together.  We mourned together at the passing of friends and family, including the passing of my oldest brother, who died at the young age of fifty.  I will never forget the morning we heard about my brother’s death.  We were already in the truck, about to leave for work.  I heard the phone ring and I started to ignore it. But, for some reason I decided to go back in the house and answer the phone.  It was Bobbie Joe’s wife, Jenine, telling me that she had just found Bobbie Joe dead lying on the bed.  So it was my task to go back to the pickup and tell daddy that his firstborn was dead.  I must admit I paused for a long time before I worked up the nerve go and tell daddy.  He was never the same man after this. So, daddy and I went through a lot together.  He was not only my dad, he was my best friend.  Through the years, daddy told me many stories.  Daddy’s life was filled with stories of hardship, pain, and suffering. This is a story of hardship.  This story is set in the mid to late thirty’s.  Daddy was married with four small children.  He lived on a farm, near Tennyson, Texas.  The land was owned by his father-in-law.  It was right in the middle of the great depression, and times were tough.  So, when Pap Pierce told daddy if he could make it to Menard, he knew someone who would give him two horses and a mule.  But, daddy didn’t own a truck or a trailer.  So, he caught a ride to Menard.  Now, it might seem strange that someone wanted to give away two horses and a mule, but, these were tough times.  People could barely feed themselves, much less feed their animals.  So, daddy made it to Menard.  He decided the only way he could get the animals to his farm, was to walk and lead them.  He started early one morning, and he got as far as the four mile barn.  One the horses got so hard to handle that he finally decided to turn it loose.  Anyway, he made it to Eden sometime in the early afternoon.  He stopped at a blacksmith’s shop to see if he could get some water for the animals.  The blacksmith was not friendly or helpful but he finally agreed to let them have some water for ten cents apiece.  They had to drink out of the water he used to cool the hot metal.  Daddy said it wasn’t really fit to drink.  He only had fifty cents to his name when he started.  So, now he only had thirty cents.  He was hungry, so he went into a store and bought a piece of summer sausage, a loaf of bread, and a onion.  So, daddy continued on his journey.  The next town would be Eola, Texas.  About half to Eola, a winter storm blew in and all of a sudden he was in the middle of a blizzard.  Complete with howling wind and blowing snow.  He thought about turning around, but he decided it would be just as easy to make it on to Eola.  He made it to Eola sometime during the night.  He decided he would go to old brother Gill’s house.  He knew brother Gill was a member of the Church Of Christ.  So, he knew that members of the church always take care of each other, and that he would be welcome there.  Daddy beat on the door until Brother Gill finally came to the door.  Daddy was unable to talk.  He said it was like his vocal chords were frozen.  Brother Gill brought him some quilts and laid him by the fire.  When he woke up he said it was about mid-morning.  Brother Gill fed him a big breakfast and he then continued on to Tennyson.  He said he would never forget the kindness Brother Gill showed him, because he literally saved daddy’s life that night.  I don’t think daddy ever told me what he did with the horse and mule.  But, I guess the thing I will remember about this story, was the sheer determination and courage, daddy showed when he faced life’s challenges. What a good man my dad was.  He has been dead for eighteen years and I still miss him.