Happy Birthday to the Man in My Life

 

This little guy was born on this day in 1954. I have lived with him for WAY over half of my life. He puts me first in every situation and takes care of me in every scenario. He is the most unselfish person I know and has always places others before himself.   I don't doubt why the kids in the neighborhood who were friends with his brothers would come knocking on the door to see if Derek could come out to play. And I know there is a reason why he was the first person his mother would contact when she needed something. He looks at things in black and white...not gray. He is intelligent, the smartest man I know. I love him and am proud to call him my own. 

Changes In My Lifetime - Central A/C & Heat

 Central A/C and Heat

Swamp/Evaporative Coolers

There was no such thing as central air condition. The little house on Texas Street where I was brought home after being born had clunky window swamp coolers. I remember how mother would place me on her bed in front of the water cooler at nap time. The sound would lull me to sleep blocking all other noise. For heat we had floor furnaces. As an infant, I fell onto one and burned my leg. For many years, I had a large scar all the way up my calf in the shape of the furnace grid.  Mimi and Pappy had a furnace grid in a small hallway in the center of the house, and we would straddle it to soak up the rising warm air. Central Air came into vogue and was placed in the ‘modern’ home that Mother and Daddy built on 4105 Bismarck Street in 1963.

Pin page

The picture below was taken in 1955 or 1956 in the backyard of our home on Texas Street in Vernon Texas. This is the swamp cooler Mother would lay me in front of for a nap each afternoon.

Changes in My Lifetime - Telephones

 

This was Daddy's first desk at the Vernon Daily Record in 1955. He became the Advertising Manager after being an add salesman. He gained the trust and respect from his two bosses, Mr. Nichols and Mr. Dixon.

TELEPHONES

We had rotary dial phones and we didn't have to dial the prefix. For example, I think our home phone number was 552-5143, but we only had to dial 2-5143. The outlying rural areas had party lines. I once had a boyfriend, Mark Ramsey, who lived in Oklaunion. When I was in Jr. High, it was popular for boyfriends to call their girlfriends and visit in the evenings. (I was always told that I was NOT to call a boy. They must call me. It was not proper in our home for girls to chase boys.) Since he was in a rural area, his phone was a party line, meaning that several households shared the same number. Obviously, when someone picked up the line and interrupted our visit, we had to yield to their need to make a call. Long distance calls were a big deal. We had to dial 0 and let the operator work the number until the party was reached. Since we paid by the minute, I was cautioned about the expense involved in calling long distance. We could call collect which meant that the person you were calling would be the one to foot the bill. So when Bill was stationed in Vietnam and called collect, I did not accept the call....and later so regretted it when I saw the disappointment that we were not able to visit with him. Being naive, I didn't think it was my place to accept that expense. I tried to follow the rule book.  For Christmas one year when I was a freshman, I asked for and received a Princess phone. The phone company came out and placed a line (not a private one) in my bedroom.

News Article Clipped by MEB Jones

 c. 1900-1910

My guess after going through all of his writings would be that these topics would be of concern to MEB Jones, and that he would have saved them to use in preparation for his sermons.

Lonely Soul - MEB Jones

 c. 1910

Acts 1 Witnessing - MEB Jones

 

End of War Article - MEB Jones

 

Same page below...but with the picture 

Red Book Sermon Notes - MEB Jones

 

Lady Book Notes - MEB Jones

 pages 8 - 12

Lady Book Favorite - MEB Jones

 I loved this page more than other. I felt that my great-great grandfather was speaking to me.

                                                                THE WISE OLD OWL

Lady Book Notes - MEB Jones

I didn't spend much time with these notes, but once again, I had to make copies because THEY ARE SO OLD! c. 1910

I titled them Lady Book because of the logo on the cover. 

List of People MEB Jones Mentions

 I decided to make a list of the people he had listed.  Many had addresses.  These people may or may not give us clues about M.E.B.

 W. H. Evans
Binger, Okla, Caddo County, RR No. 1
Lives 4 miles South of Binger on the Rock Island R.R.
Binger is a town in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 672 at the 2010 census. It is the headquarters of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, who were settled there in the 1870s.
 
W.E. Walden, Thackerville, Okla.
google search reveals that W.E. Walden was the father of Asa E. Walden,  went to Love County, Oklahoma close to Marietta (which would be near where M.E.B.'s son, Burwell lived)  from Collin County, Texas. in 1900. Asa served in the Legislature of Okla for six years, practiced law, District Judge, member of the Methodist Church of Marietta, friend of the common man, a copy of this resolution was sent to the Historical Society of the State of Oklahoma, a copy to the Historical Society of the State of Texas, and a copy to the family of Judge Walden.
Respectfully submitted,
B. W. Jones, J. W. Dixon, C.W.Cameron,J.S. Batson, C. C. Wilkins,O. E. English, W. J. Williams
THE BAR OF LOVE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA.(Committee)

MEB Jones Random Notes

 Random Notes Part 3

pages 4-5

 Page 4 (back) 

Difference between sin and crime.  God can not punish Sin in this life. Judgment falls upon all alike. These are not punishment. Sin cannot be judged at Death because there is no judge. Guide? and witness are both necessary to a fair trial. Cannot be at death because we are to live on.

 Page 5 (front)

Unbelief, the great obstruction to Christ's work. 2 All things in general are possible to God. But it is to him that believes as to particulars ??? I may not have correct translation

 Depravity not only weekness but inclined to evil  it is positive   Hence yea must be born again.

Page 5 (back)  what does it mean to be born again?
the whole stream of Humanity is corrupted by sin   Dr. Gambrell
Google Search http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/gambrell.j.b.by.truett.html
finds a James Bruton Gambrell on the Baptist History
By George W. Truett, D. D.
Biblical Recorder, 1932
"Life Stories of Great Baptists"
A few dates: Born, l841; Converted, 1856; American Civil War, l861-1865; Ordained, 1867; Editor Baptist Record, 1877; Work In Texas Begins, 1896; Editor Baptist Standard, 1910; President Southern Convention, 1917-l921; London Conference and European Tour, 1920; Died (May 29), 1921.

Coo Coo Ca Choo

                                       

Wild About Texas: Mourning Dove

There are things that stir your memory.  Sometimes it’s a song, a place, or a special recipe, but for some reason, you are transported back into your past evoking strong feelings. I’m very much a nature person, and yesterday my memory was stirred by a sound…the sound a dove makes. I would call Mother every Sunday and she would often have her house open or even talk on her remote phone from her porch. She lived on a street named Mourning Dove, and the Mulberry trees in her backyard were often filled with dove. They would coo and coo, and I could hear them when I visited with her both, both when I visited her home in Abilene or visiting with her on the phone.

I had sometimes mused that it sounded like the Beatles song “I Am the Walrus”…goo goo g’joob,  But it was way better known from the movie “The Graduate” and a song sung by Simon and Garfunkel’s,  “Mrs. Robinson”.

Only here recently have I said that it sounds like the dove are saying coo coo ca choo. So yesterday when I was on my own back porch, a dove began to coo. Derek was with me and heard me say, “I love you, dovie.” (because they were making me feel close to Mother).  And in a few minutes he said, “ I love you, too,” because to him, that is what he could hear them saying in return.

 Well, this morning, I looked up this string of nonsense words…and in the urban dictionary, the meaning is derived from “Finding Nemo” and I connected with the urban meaning given…

“Everything is all right. No worries.”

MEB Jones Random Notes

 Random Notes Part 2 

Pages 2-4

Page 2 (back) Alfilerea Ariz., good for grazing

When I googled Alfilerea, the best guess would be that he misspelled Alfilaria defined as a weed grown for forage in the dry regions of the southwestern U.S. —called also pin grass. This makes sense because among the papers is an Abstract of Title for land in Progress City in Brewster Co., Texas.  (See later notes about this title.) I believe the names he has listed with addresses on these sheets may be tied to the selling/buying of this property in Brewster County.

J.W. Aden? in Hot Springs, H.A. Robb in Quanah

Page 3 (front) A.C. Parker seems to be another shoe order

M.E.B. then writes a quote as he seems forever preparing sermons.  "Doing right will often get men into trouble. Doing wrong never fails to get people into trouble. The people who get into trouble doing right always get out. The others stay in."   George Truett

Page 4 (front)  seems very random

Tomotoes  No.?  Big Boston   1    California   2     Salamander    4

There is a grocery expense list  Coffee, Transfer maybe money in bank, bed, cream, coffee again, car fair      total is 230

Ensissinger? L. G.  Rotan, Tex.

Page 3 (back)  C.S. Trotter, Charlie Trotter March 28, 1902  F, Elsie Trotter Oct 11, 1903  F , Oral Trotter  M Aug 31 1907..... (were these people and dates connected to those he saved?)

 Three sources of Strength 1 prayer 2 Holy Spirit  3 Christ himself

MEB Jones and His Notepads

RANDOM NOTES part 1

 In the old trunk, there were several notepads where Martin Ervin Brooks Jones recorded information. It seems that he always had a pad with him. Inside these notepads, I found a variety of information. Without anyone to give me any knowledge of what he recorded, I began researching some of the names and infomation listed. 

I will start with a flip book that only had 5 sheets that were written on. I tore them out and disposed of the notepad. It's always SO hard to get rid of things from the last turn of the century. 

I labeled these as Random Notes. As to the date of these notes, my guess would be around 1910/1920

I also wrote a transcription, trying my best to get it correct. Handwriting is always a factor in transcription. 

Page 1 (front) appears to be a list of people that M.E.B. was ordering possibly shoes for. It appears that he list the style # of the shoe, color, how many pairs, and price.  People he was ordering for: A.C.Parker, M.H. Jones (men,women,children), J.W. Wood, Joe Skipworth (children), J.C. Taylor?, 

Page 1 (back) M.E.B. has two addresses, one for W.H.Evans. The other for W.E. Walden

 Page 2 (front) List of people continues, J.E. Marbut?, Geo.M. Callum, Marrow? Roebuck, F.R. Lefre?, Rev. P.W. Eldredge

Christmas 1955

This was the year before I was born. Daddy had purchased and learned how to use a good camera. It had a blue bulb flash on it with film that had to be developed.

Christmas for Bryan and Paula -Texas Street - Vernon, Texas

Christmas in Thalia, Texas with Mimi and Pappy

cousins Bill Lynch Jr., Carolyn Jones-Bryan Quillin reading a Christmas story

Thalia - Paula Quillin with Deborah Jones, Pam Jackson - they all got dolls

Christmas with Granny Hart (Truman's mother)

Marshall Street

Bryan Quillin, David Carver, Paula Quillin, Patricia Emmons, Beverly Carver

Summer Vacation 1955

 This vacation was taken the year before I was born. Mother and Daddy took Bryan and Paula on a trip to Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio.

 

Special Vacation Picture

Mother loved one of the pictures from their vacation in 1954 so much that she had Granny (Merphia Ewing Quillin) make an oil painting of the scene. We still have the painting and it is in our lake place at Possum Kingdom. It hung for most of my life in Mother and Daddy's den.

Summer Fun 1954

It’s fun to see how a young couple who struggled to make ends meet reach a place in their early married life to now own a new home and a new car. Daddy had worked his way into a good paying job and had gained the respect of two influential men in the newspaper business. Now that Mother and Daddy were beginning to reap the benefits of their hard work, they began to take a yearly vacation.

In 1954, two years before I was born, their family vacation was a trip across the Continental Divide through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. They made stops at The Petrified Forest, The Painted Desert, The Grand Canyon, skirting Monument Valley (cross Indian territory, most likely Navaho or Apache). Of course, the trip would not be complete unless they found a small fishing village in the mountains of Colorado so Daddy could fish before returning to the grind of everyday living. Their fishing spot that year was most likely between Lake City and Creed Colorado where they crossed Slumguillion Pass at 11, 361 feet in the San Juan Mountains. Bryan would have been nearly 7 and Paula would have been nearly 4. Their car was a new 1952 Chevy. (That was a BIG deal for them.)

Early morning start. Hardly daybreak and sleepy head kids.