My Scrapbook - Four Generations of the Richards Family

Great-grandparents Joshua Hooper Richards and Elizabeth Sarah Conway
Grandparents John Robert Richards and Willie Laura Homsley
Parents Leon Fremont Richards and Vernelle Gailey
Judith Gail Richards

Joshua Hooper Richards was born April 21, 1861 in Shelby County, Texas and died February 25, 1939 in Weatherford, Parker County, Texas. On November 29, 1883 in Shelby County, he married Mary Elizabeth Saphrona Arbella Saria Conway. Some called her Lizzie and some called her Saria and her headstone says Elizabeth. She was born March 29, 1866 in Texas and died on December 01, 1939 in Weatherford, Parker County, Texas. They are both buried in Zion Hill Cemetery in Parker County north of Weatherford.

My grandparents Bob and Willie are buried in Whitt Cemetery in Parker County. John Robert "Bob" was born July 17, 1890 in Timpson, Shelby County, Texas and died January 24, 1975 in Stephenville, Erath County, Texas. He suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Willie Laura Homsley was born June 21, 1894 in Klondike, Delta County, Texas and died November 02, 1966 in Stephenville. She died of complications from breast cancer. They were living near their sons, Johnny and Leon, in Lingleville at the time of their deaths. Bob and Willie were married on November 10, 1912 in Peaster, Parker County, Texas.

My father, Leon Fremont Richards, was born on August 26, 1916 in Peaster, Parker County, Texas near the small community of Whitt. He died on April 08, 1985 of lung cancer while in a hospital in Fort Worth. He was 68 years old. He is buried in East End Cemetery in Lingleville, Erath County, Texas. Daddy married Vernelle Gailey on February 26, 1941. They went across the state line and got married in Waurika, Oklahoma. My mother was born September 25, 1921 in Millsap, Parker County, Texas. She was a twin to Maedelle Gailey Carlyle. Mother died August 19, 1998 in the Harris Hospital of Fort Worth. She suffered from the rupture of an arterial veinous malformation (AVM) on the right side of the brain. She was taken back to Blackfoot, Bingham County, Idaho, to be buried beside my step-father, Edwin C. Rowbury, in the Riverside-Thomas Cemetery.

The last picture on my scrapbook page of four generations of the Richards family is of me. It was taken on the sidewalk in Fort Worth and I was holding the hand of my mother as we window-shopped during one of our many trips there from Mineral Wells where I was born.


Digital Scrapbooking template and embellishments from Sweet Shona kit by Ambowife Designs.

Mineral Wells A Story About Change

Jessie Teddlie

"Jessie volunteers to help community and county non-profits to obtain resources for programs to improve our city and county. She writes grants and foundation requests, plans fundraisers, works with city leaders and more to get assistance for youth, elderly, the homeless as well as leading the efforts for introducing and assisting potential local artists.

She is assisting in the renovation of 5 acres and three buildings with an outdoor amphitheater for use as a community used complex for events, an art center, a theater, and a museum. Her efforts have pulled together a partnership for change in Mineral Wells, Texas."

Jessie is a member of my high school graduating class of 1962 and works tirelessly on the renovation project of the Old High School building, the Little Rock Schoolhouse and the Lillian Peak Home Economics Building, and the amphitheater all located in the heart of Mineral Wells. The amphitheater was built in 1937 by the WPA (Work Projects Administration) which was the largest New Deal agency employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States. The WPA was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential order, and funded by Congress on April 8, 1935.

Jessie Teddlie, executive director of the 50 Year Club, the entity that owns the campus of historic buildings, says “Each of these have historical value and the entire complex is being submitted as a Texas/National Historic District.”

"If she can get enough money to complete these two efforts it will stimulate the city leaders and community members to believe that change can happen and jobs can be created through our own efforts and not that of outsiders."

The NAU is a small group of people, committed to the power of business as a force for change. They give 2% of sales to social/environmental organizations. You choose where it goes. Please go to the website link below and vote for Jessie!

http://www.nau.com/collective/grant-for-change/jessie-teddlie-585.html


Other Sources:
http://www.nau.com/partners-for-change/

The Collective | Stories About Movement | Nau.com

http://www.mineralwellsindex.com/local/local_story_114205252.html

50-Year Club.org

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Alabama Governor Bob Riley responds to Concerns

Several bloggers have posted about the destruction of an Indian Mound in Oxford, Alabama. See mine below at Indian Mound Destruction in Alabama. I took Ginger's suggestion and wrote to the City of Oxford and to Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama. I have not had a response from Oxford but I got a letter from the office of the Governor on Friday. It can be read below.

and

Sam's Club responds to Ginger. See her post at Deep Fried Kudzu.

July 13, 2009

Dear Mrs. Shubert,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your report of efforts to disturb or destroy an historic Native American Indian mound in Oxford, Alabama.

I have forwarded your comments to Mr. Frank White, Executive Director of the Alabama Historical Commission, for his review. I am confident that Mr. White and his staff will evaluate your concerns and take any appropriate or available action. Should you have additional comments or questions, please contact Mr. White at (334) 230-2642.

Again, I appreciate you sharing your concerns with me. If I can be of assistance to you in the future, please feel free to contact my office.

Sincerely,
Bob Riley
Governor (Alabama)

Indian Mound Destruction in Alabama

Terry Thornton, writer of Hill Country of Monroe County Mississippi, has just made me aware of the destruction of an Indian Mound in Alabama. It is a sad situation that should be protested by all. Ginger who writes Deep Fried Kudzu first wrote about this "wanton destruction of our heritage" that Terry shared on his blog.

Ginger has placed links on her blog for you to go to in order to make your voice heard. It may be too late, however, to save this particular Indian Mound. Her post today with photographs indicate work is going forward to remove this sacred ground. But we can still protest, contact the city of Oxford and the governor of Alabama, Bob Riley! Share Ginger's post with others on your blog, tweet it, post it on your other social networks. I love the state of Alabama, but someone there has just gone too far!

Read Ginger's post and find the links at http://www.deepfriedkudzu.com/2009/07/oxford-alabama-destroying-1500-year-old.html


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Crazy Sign over Bankhead Highway

Main Street Showing Crazy Sign

Mineral Wells, Texas
The most famous street marker in the south.
Showing the 80 foot neon sign of the world-famous Crazy Crystals.
Baker Hotel in background.

This most unique sign has been one of my most enduring childhood memories. I was born in 1943 and it was there at that time, I'm sure, because there are other postcards or photographs that have been dated 1940. I got married in 1964, moved to Tennessee with my husband of a year, visited my hometown several times during the 25 years I lived away from Texas, and sometime during that time the sign was removed. I was so sick when I discovered the sign gone. I suppose progress has a way of doing that to you!

There are many websites that tell the story of the healing mineral waters of my hometown of Mineral Wells and the many wells and spas that drew thousands of visitors seeking the rejuvenating powers of these waters. You will find the story of their discovery and the subsequent growth of the town very interesting. I have listed some of them below.

This particular postcard was given to me along with several others by a high school classmate after our 40th class reunion in 2002. I will share them with you as I find time. I hope you click on the front of the postcard so you can see the fine detail of the sign. It is a linen card and has never been mailed.

Actual Size:

5 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches

14 cm. x 9 cm.

Back of Card:

Plastichrome by Colourpicture Publishers, Inc., Boston 15, Mass., U.S.A. Dist. by Mineral Wells News Agency, Mineral Wells, Texas P13354

Sources:
Famous Mineral Water Company
Ghosts of the Crazy Water Hotel
Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce


Read the other entries for this festival at A Festival of Postcards (3rd Ed.) - Signs




Evelyn Yvonne Theriault is hosting this Festival of Postcards. She shares her Canadian Family’s Vintage Postcard Collection and encourages the use of postcards in the field of family history.

Two Stone Brothers

Edsel Luther Stone

February 7, 1917 - August 17, 1935
Age 16
Hastings, Oklahoma
Son of Annie Mae Groom and Henry Luther Stone
Brother of Raymond Reginald Stone, Wendall Leon Stone, and Celeste Audean Stone

The following was written by Edsel's aunt Rena, sister of his father, Henry Luther Stone.
Rena Stone Phillips born April 6, 1907 and died May 15, 2001

Two Stone Brothers

by Rena Stone Phillips

You have all read the story of many others, of how they lived and died; but here is the life of two brothers, and the tragedy of the older.

To compare them together, they were as two little flowers. They grew up together, both side by side. They started to school together, and were pals all along the way. Through their school days and work they were side by side until they had finished so well, the old Junior High. Then there came a change in their lives, Raymond clung to the study of books and of school while Edsel to that of hard work and outdoor life. Raymond learned easy in school, but Edsel loved music. Edsel was determined to learn music, and well he had learned. Like a bird he would sing and play on his old guitar. Still young Raymond would read his school books, the papers and magazines of the world. He liked to read stories and news of old days.

The two in size were as little twins. For sport they would box and wrestle together. Raymond was forever with his turkeys and chickens while Edsel was with his horses and dog. As they grew up more, they purchased a horse and some cows. The two were always partners in all their business affairs.

As time passed by and the two grew older, although they were still just youngsters, they, like all other boys, had a desire for a car. With the determination in their minds, they set out to accomplish their desire. Happy as birds the two were when their task they had won. But oh, how sad was the tragedy of the two brothers - like a flower chopped from the side of another, dear Edsel’s life was snatched from the side of his brother. The two were side by side in their car without any warning or fear, but true as the stars up above, dear Edsel was taken from us all.

Like that of Jimmie Rodgers, Edsel leaves his old guitar, his harp, and his dog. They, too, will mourn for his coming, just like his friends. He has gone on before and left this old world, but we will all remember his smile and jolly, good ways. He was kind to all things when others were not.

Young Raymond is left without Edsel to help. He will find all tasks much harder than before. Dear Edsel’s life is ended on earth. No one knows what he would have accomplished if only his life could have been spared.

Now, Raymond, we hope when your life is over, that it is not such a tragedy as that of your brother. And there is the little band of music that Edsel played with; it will never be complete for no other can take the place of our Edsel. His words of advice to his Daddy the day he was killed we shall never forget. So teasing was he to his Mother and the family, that seldom did he come in without a big joke. And so grateful and good was he to his grandmother, that never can we forget that smile that he wore. The baby, too, that Edsel loved so well keeps watching for him, but no more he comes. So well it would be, if Edsel only knew, like the God up in heaven of the old broken hearts.

the story of Edsel Luther Stone

Born 1917 - Died 1935

- Edsel was killed in a car wreck in 1935. Raymond was with him. He turned over a 1928 Ford Cabrolet sports model, hard top coupe. He had traded a cow for the car. They were going to a carnival west of Walters, and thought that they could not be out-run. J.C. Cunningham’s sisters and their boy friends were behind them. Edsel decided not to let them pass. They were going to pass anyway. They started around, met another car, so they cut in front of Edsel. The back of their car hit Edsel’s car and knocked it out of control. Edsel hit the back of the oncoming car and turned his car upside down in a bar-ditch.

There were just fifteen months' difference in the ages of Edsel and Raymond. They were always very close and did everything together. They were the best of friends as well as brothers.

Stone Family, Frederick, Oklahoma, Circa 1932

Woodson Albert Munroe Stone & Martha Isabelle Brooks Stone Family near Frederick, Oklahoma

From left: Unknown woman, unknown child, Annie Mae Groom Stone, 1898-1994, Cloe Conley Stone, Almer Munroe Stone, 1901-1982, three unknown children, Benjamin Reginald Groom, 1897- (brother of Annie Mae Groom Stone), Rena Stone Phillips, 1907-2001, Joe E. Phillips, -2000, Dorothy, Raymond Reginald Stone, 1919-2002 (standing back right),

Front middle, Henry Luther Stone, 1897-1960, and Edsel Luther Stone, 1917-1935 (front right).

Read more about Raymond and Edsel's lives at my post "As I Remember It" .

Photographs:

Stone, Edsel Luther, Digital Photograph, 2009. Privately held by Judith Richards Shubert, Fort Worth, TX. 2009. Original photo belonging to Linda Kay Stone Cox.

Stone Family, Frederick, Oklahoma. Digital Photograph, 2009. Privately held by Judith Richards Shubert, Fort Worth, TX, 2009. Original photo belonging to Linda Kay Stone Cox.