History Sheet Truman Bryan Quillin, Sr.

 

History Sheet

Truman Bryan Quillin, Sr. (childhood)

Source:  Interview with Truman Bryan, Sr.

Recorded by:  Nancy Long Quillin in 1990

 Truman Bryan was born at home in Seymour, Texas, on 18 June 1924.  Dr. Johnson was in attendance as well as several family members, possibly including Aunt Kathleen.  His older sister, Francelle, and his younger sister, Billie Merle were also born in this same house.  Truman remembers when Billie was born.  He and sister Francelle were outside riding tricycles.

 Truman started school a year early at the age of 5 because his Aunt Opal was a schoolteacher, and he would go with her each day to a small community, Levelview, near Seymour.  When he entered the first grade in the Seymour school at age 6, he was very ahead of the other students and was promoted a grade after the first year.

Truman attended the First Baptist Church of Seymour, Texas, and was baptized at the age of 10.  However, as a grown man, he realized that he was not converted and was baptized again in 1948 in Thalia, Texas.

 In 1935, when Truman was 11 years old, he returned home from school one day to find that his mother had moved away taking with her his sisters and all of the family possessions.  Truman moved with his father into Aunt Opal’s house (his father’s sister).  Living there also was Mildred, Aunt Kathleen’s daughter.  This was the house where B.J. and Polly, the grandparents, had lived when they were alive.  Later, Truman’s mother, Merphia, filed for and was granted a divorce in 1935.  When Truman’s father was injured on a construction site, Truman continued to live with Aunt Opal.

 With the country in the grips of the Depression, Truman would go with his dad in the summers wherever they could find work.  Many times this would be shocking oats.  They would work 12 hour days, with Paul earning $.75 cents a day and Truman working at his side, earning $.50 a day.  They found work in places like Pampa and Plainview.

 When Truman was entering the 8^th grade, he moved to Plainview to be with his dad and attended the Plainview school for what was to be his last year.  His Uncle Joe worked for the Railroad on the Ft. Worth-Denver line.  He lied about Truman’s age and got him a job on the bridge gang for the railroad.  Truman now earned $.35 cents an hour working an 8 hour day, only 5 days a week.  School became a thing of the past and working for survival was the only pastime Truman ever knew.  He remembers this being a very hard time, but he was never unhappy.

 Also living in Plainview at this time were Aunt Maggie and Uncle Joe. (Paul Bryan’s older sister and husband.)   They had a large clan and their last name was Moses.  Every Saturday night the whole clan, relatives and friends would gather for a hoe down.  Paul Bryan and Truman would join in for the fun.  Bob Wills, the one who became famous later, would play the fiddle; Uncle Joe would join him on another fiddle.  Others who could play would join in for an evening of song and entertainment.

 World War II broke out, and instead of being drafted into the Army, Truman joined the Navy when he was 17 years old.  He attended boot camp in San Diego, California.  At the end of boot camp, only 8 men out of 138 didn’t receive leave.  The rest, including Truman, were shipped to the South Pacific area on Noumea, New Caledonia, near the Loyalty and New Hebrides Islands. 

During the 36 day voyage there, Truman developed chronic sea sickness and began vomiting blood.  As soon as the ship reached its destination, the captain transferred Truman to a receiving station and he was assigned land duty.  He stayed at the receiving station for 6 weeks and was then stationed at Espirito Santo in the New Hebrides Islands.  He worked on a Naval Air Force base, and they put him in Bomber 3.  He serviced aircraft and worked under the chief electrician.

 Truman was sent back to the States on 1 Jan 1945.  Of course, this time they were wise and flew him to San Francisco.  He had a 36 day leave at the end of which he was to report to Philadelphia.  He returned to Seymour to visit family and also visited his mother in Vernon.  He boarded a train in Wichita Falls for Philadelphia.

 Upon arrival there, they sent him to an 8-week electrical school in Williamsburg, Virginia.  He clearly remembers a German prisoner of war camp there in Williamsburg.  He made passing grades at the school and became eligible to attend a full course for electricians in Washington D.C.  So they stationed him in Washington D.C. for 6 months.

 The war ended, but the morning after he arrived in Washington D.C., they froze electricians.  He had earned enough points to get out of the service, but this was not allowed since all electricians had been frozen.  He was unable to complete the course since he wouldn’t sign up for the regular Navy, so they transferred him to Newport, Rhode Island.  Here he was assigned a very unusual job for a trained electrician.  He was in charge of 500 mess cooks, 2 barracks of 250 men in each.  Truman stayed with this assignment until he got out of the service, which was for another year. (Sept. 1946)

 Truman then went to Vernon looking for a job and worked through Christmas at Western Auto as a salesclerk.  He had applied at West Texas Utilities in the hopes of working as an electrician, but when they hired him, they wanted him as a salesclerk.  During this time, Truman met Carolita Jones, a nurse at the Vernon Clinic Hospital.  They were married and with his job, they moved to Knox City, Texas.  There he supervised sales of several stores in the region.

 THIS HISTORY IS CONTINUED ON ANOTHER SHEET