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.

Kentucky Barn

Well, this is my latest painting. I decided I would enter a painting in the San Angelo Rodeo Arts and Crafts Show this year. This is my third time, in the last five years, that I have entered a painting in this show. I got honorable mention the first year I entered, which is basically fourth place. I have not placed since. Apparently they are not fond of pictures of old barns. So, I have decided that if I ever want to have a chance of placing, I am going to have to paint something other than a old barn. I think I have already chosen a subject for next year. I may even paint two paintings. Maybe this will up my odds. Even though I didn't place this year, I am glad I entered. I had fun painting this picture.

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.