The Odel Myers mystery

Back in April I posted a small story about V-Mail, the miniaturized copies of letters reconstituted from the significantly less-bulky microfilm that was sent back and forth between the troops and friends and relatives back home during WW2. That post was more about process than content, but in a conversation with my sister, I discovered a small, overlooked mystery in the content.

The first paragraph of the V-Mail that I featured in that blog starts off, "My I do get around, don't I? Who knows, it may be Germany next. Just hope I don't see Odel under unexpected circumstances unless it is here in England."

The name "Odel" seemed familiar to me, so I went back to the scrapbook where I found the original V-Mail and looked at a 2nd V-mail letter that was preserved there, and sure enough, it is from Odell Myers, another Tyler acquaintance of my aunt, the keeper of the scrapbook.

Ken Rasco, author of the 1^st V-Mail, and Odell Myers were classmates at John Tyler High school, where my aunt was a math teacher until early in the 1940's, when she took a position at TCU. She must have made quite an impression on her students if they were corresponding with her after leaving school.

Odell's V-Mail letter was written in November 1942, and according to newspaper clippings I found in the album, was captured and imprisoned by the Germans when his plane was shot down, just one month after he wrote my aunt! 

 

So the meaning of Ken's statement, “Just hope I don't see Odel under unexpected circumstances unless it is here in England." is "I don't want to meet up with Odel in a POW camp!" The story ends happily, though. 

Monday Meanderings - 6.27.2016

There are a couple of phrases that come to mind regarding our TV watching these past two weeks. One is, "When it rains, it pours" and the other is "Feast or Famine." There very definitely has been a feast poured out between the Copa America and the EUEFA soccer tournaments, the NCAA Baseball College World Series, and there was some sort of basketball playoff in there somewhere. We are buying Visine in the gallon size.

 

I think the tomato crop is a total loss this year. To date we have harvested a mere handful of cherry tomatoes. The birds, squirrels and raccoons have done much better. However, the jalapeno harvest has been plentiful and abundant. For some reason the critters avoid them. I have discovered that right off the bush the jalapenos are quite mild and bland. However, if you pick them and let them sit on the cabinet a few days they become much more interesting.

Evidently Amazon is taking advantage of some of the drivers that were left high and dry when Uber and Lyft abandoned Austin; I was watching for the UPS truck the other day, expecting an order to be delivered  when an ordinary auto stopped out front and a kid got out with my package. Huh.

I have written before about the mystery beeps that go on in a normal household - usually in the middle of the night; smoke detectors, CO2 detectors, wireless phones, etc. Now we can add Barb's cell phone. At random times, her phone will beep softly 3 times. No message, no email, no nothing. It's a mystery.

With the 4th of July on the horizon, firework stands are popping up all over the place. With all the rain, there are no burn bans and the vendors are expecting a big season. Of course, it's still illegal to sell (or use) them in within the city limits. 

 

I am reminded that it was also illegal to sell fireworks within the city limits of Breckenridge when I was growing up. However, everybody knew that if you went to see a certain gentleman who lived on the outskirts of town, you could select what you wanted from a well-stocked larder. He would put them all in a bag, then everyone would take a short walk down a path behind his house until you reached a point that was a few feet outside the city limits. It was there that you handed him the money and he handed you the bag of fireworks.

I think that's called the "letter of the law."

Fort Wolters in my mind

It has always fascinated me how the mind works. How random references or images connect in various ways to pull together memories long buried in the cerebellum. At least, that's how it works in my mind.

I was reading one of my favorite authors the other evening and the story line placed the fictional characters at non-fictional Fort Wolters, in Mineral Wells, about 50 miles from my childhood home. Originally named Camp Wolters, this facility at one time was the largest infantry training center in the US military. During WWII, more than 200,000 infantrymen passed through the camp. Six months after the end of the war the camp was deactivated.

Camp Wolters main gate - 1945

I remember that Highway 180 - the route from my home town of Breckenridge to often-visited Fort Worth - ran beside a section of the abandoned tank and armored vehicle obstacle course; dirt tracks with steep concrete ramps and traps, a part of what the facility called the China-Burma Road. The facility briefly became an air base, then in 1956, Camp Wolters reverted back to the Army to house the United States Army Primary Helicopter School. In 1963 it was designated a "permanent" military base and renamed Fort Wolters.

 At its peak during the Vietnam war more than 1,200 helicopters were in use by more than 40,000 pilot trainees at the camp. The Army leased an additional 722,000 acres, extending from Jacksboro to Stephenville north and south; Weatherford to Breckenridge east to west. Staging fields were located throughout this vast area to represent a scaled-down version of their real-life counterparts in Vietnam. State highway signs pointed to places like Da Nang, Hue, My Tho, and Phu Loi.

One night I was coming back from a business trip to Dallas and the sky was filled, literally, with the lights of helicopters on night maneuvers. It was a staggering sight, and I pulled the car over to the side of the road, along with others, and stood and watched helicopters pass overhead for nearly half an hour. But there is a personal tie to Fort Wolters as well.

By 1972, my father was approaching retirement and the telephone company began preparing for the transition. Prior to this time, Pops was the "Wire Chief," the senior man in the physical plant. His replacement was already on board and to make the transition smooth, the company assigned my father as a “Switchman” to Fort Wolters for the remaining months of his employment.

The need for communications infrastructure was overwhelming, and Southwestern Bell (at that time) was scouring its ranks for skilled technicians to meet the demand. They were paying bonuses and travel allotments, and my father was almost embarrassed to mention that he was earning a bit more than $100 a day for driving to Mineral Wells every day. To put that in perspective, in 1940, my father's take home pay was $2,041. A year.

The base was deactivated (again) in 1973. The site is now used as an industrial park, housing among other things, a branch of Weatherford College, a Texas Army National Guard training center, and a summer camp for the Civil Air Patrol. If you happen to pass by on Highway 180, take a look and let me know if you can still see part of the China-Burma Road.

Monday Meanderings - 6.20.2016

I'm not much for chatting with my seatmate during airplane trips, but last week on the Fresno to Salt Lake City leg of my journey I struck up a conversation with an interesting fellow and we chatted the entire trip. He was a retired Delta Airlines employee, now living in a small community outside Ogden, Utah. In the summer he manages a water supply company that provides irrigation services to a number of farms and ranches, and by winter he manages a cross country ski area.

He said that he was employed just enough to be a productive citizen and retired enough to be happy. Evidently he made that Fresno-Salt Lake trip often. Along our route, he pointed out various landmarks and areas of interest, and knew the exact route the pilot was going to take on his approach.

One of the landmarks we passed over was the Kennecott Copper Mine - an open mine so large it can be seen from outer space. He talked about the mine and pointed out where earth-slides had occurred over the years, and he added that it was not well known, but that a considerable amount of gold was extracted from the copper tailings by a company owned by the Royal Family and that upwards of a million dollars worth of gold left the country every few days as cargo on Delta flights, headed to Great Britain.

He knew about the shipments because he was responsible for them back when he still worked for Delta. I commented that there must have been a lot of security involved, and he said, "Less than you might expect." He said that often it traveled in checked baggage in ratty old suitcases. $1,000,000 in gold typically weighed less than 50 pounds, and couriers from the mining operation would bring in a bag of gold and he would simply go out on the runway and load it directly in the plane. When it got to London, his counterpart would intercept the bag and hand it over to representatives on that end.

Huh.

Stories from the Tree - A remarkable chronicle of Ina Bramblett's life

Among the items in my genealogy closet is a scrapbook that belonged to my Aunt Ina - my mother's little sister - the youngest girl in Lee and Maggie Brambletts' family of 4 boys and 4 girls.

It is a remarkable collection of the memorabilia of much of my aunt's life. Received as a gift (from my mother) on the occasion of her high school graduation in the spring of 1928, Ina proceeded to fill the early album pages with items typical of a "Friendship Album," notes from teachers and friends, photos of and clippings about the 60 members of the Cleburne High School graduating Class of 1928, lists of teachers, and a page listing all her graduation gifts.

The stalk of bananas from my father evidently is part of a running joke; 

there are other banana references in the album as well.

After a few pages, the entries begin to focus on TCU, where Ina enrolled in the Fall of 1928. She was the only one of her siblings to attend college. In fact, as far as I can determine, only two others in the family completed high school. In that era, folks grew up early, married early and began making a living early.

She enrolled as a math major, and a large number of the pages chronicle her life at TCU. Schoolwork (and grades), and news of clubs and extracurricular activities, and photos of classmates adorn this section. She received awards and scholarships and dutifully recorded those facts. She began a long-term friendship with her major professor, C. E. Sherer, and became part of his family in the process; she took several trips with his wife, Mirth.

Ina graduated from TCU May 30, 1932, Summa Cum Laude. By this time, she was adding additional pages to the scrapbook to hold all of the memories and photos. She (and parents Lee and Maggie) moved to Tyler where she accepted a position as a math teacher at John H Tyler high school, teaching there for the next 10 years - except for a sabbatical to receive her MA degree from the University of Texas in 1936-1937.

The John H Tyler era was a time of page-filling. She was obviously well-liked by her students - page after page of the book contains poems, cartoons, Valentine Cards, photos and notes from students. There are several clippings about a time when she had throat surgery and  couldn't talk, so she had to communicate with her classes by writing on the blackboard; unfortunately, she fell during her first week back in the classroom and and broke her elbow, complicating the process. That was the school year that the JTHS yearbook was dedicated to her.

"To Miss Ina Bramblett, our beloved friend and guide, 

whose wisdom and devotion to duty have ever urged us onward, 

this volume is affectionately dedicated."

She retained her friendship with Dr Sherer during this period - in fact they collaborated on a math book together.

Evidently they did complete the project. A Google search turned up this reference:

So it was almost inevitable that Dr Sherer lured her back to TCU in the fall of 1942 and Ina took a position teaching trigonometry at her Alma Mater. Photos of friends and co-workers abound in this section, along with news items about this activity or that lecture. A humorous item related to her work was picked up by the newspapers and reprinted in papers all across the country.

There's no question that this was complicated stuff. Here's a card that was tucked into the book, and I can't even begin to tell you what it's about.

These were the War Years, and many, many pages are given over to snapshots of former students and clippings about their training, and deployment, and capture, and safe return, and news of some who didn't return. This is the location in the scrapbook of the V-Mail letters that I mentioned in an earlier post.

Throughout the years, starting when she was a student at TCU and continuing on through the remaining pages are sections of wedding announcements, and sections of birth announcements. Each one is carefully preserved, and one has to wonder about her state of mind as she put them into the story.

Ina never married, and though there are hints that there were "gentlemen callers" from time-to-time, there is no indication in these pages of why she chose to remain single. It might have been clear at the time, but that information is forever lost, and I can only create scenarios in my mind - of young men who didn't return from the war, or romance gone bad or, most likely, aging parents. She continued to care for Lee and Maggie in her home until their deaths.

There are more pages. She returned to UT in 1966 to begin work on a PhD - in fact she was on campus when Charles Whitman began shooting from the Tower - but in the end she never wrote her dissertation "because it was too hard to find a suitable topic" in her chosen field. She remained at TCU until her retirement in 1974.

The last entry in the scrapbook, now numbering 124 memory-filled pages, was in 1948 - 20 years after she pasted in the very first item.

But what of the remaining 49 years of her life? After 20 years of faithful scrap-booking, did she just grow tired of carefully recording her life? Or decide there was nothing more of interest to add? Doubtful, because she traveled extensively on behalf of several professional organizations she belonged to, and I know she went on a number of trips abroad and visited distant places. Or perhaps another scrapbook or two chronicle the period from 1948 to 1997, the date of her death. If so, they are likely lost. A pity. I know they would be equally interesting.

Monday Meanderings - 6.13.2016

Barb teaches ESL classes to a group of refugee women and we often talk about the vagaries of the English language and how difficult it is for a person from another culture to learn. A prime example that floated by on the Internet is an amazing 2 letter English word that can be a noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition! And that word is...

UP.

This small word has more meanings in English than any other two-letter word; it is listed in the dictionary as an [adv.], [prep.], [adj.], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP?  Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We call UP our friends, brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen.  We lock UP the house and fix UP the old car. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP.  When the sun comes out, we say it is clearing UP.  When it rains,  the earth soaks it UP.  When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

At other times, this little word has real special meaning.   People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing:  A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.  We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look UP the word UP in the dictionary.   In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. It’s UP to you.

A joke may crack us UP; or we may err and screw things UP. If we are alert, we are UP on things; if we are are slow, we may not be keeping UP.

One could go on and on, but to keep this on the UP and UP, I'll wrap it UP, for now...

Stories from the Tree - The family Spy

On the same ship that transported my 5th great grandfather, William Blanton Boyd, the original  immigrant in my Boyd family linage, was another 5th great grandfather, James Robert McClurkin, his wife and ten children, establishing another important family name in the tree. These families came to America on the good ship "Lord Dunluce," sailing from Larne, County Antrim, Ireland to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving in December, 1772.

The families knew each other well, if not before the voyage, certainly after spending months at sea together, and it didn't take long for one of William Blanton's boys - William Blanton II -  to marry one of James Robert's daughters, Catherine McClurkin, and through that union William Blanton I and James Robert each came to be my 5th great grandfather.

Shortly after their arriving in America, the Revolutionary War broke out and James Robert, William Blanton and several of their sons joined the fight, seeking to preserve the freedoms that prompted their migration from Ireland. And so did Jane McClurkin, daughter of James Robert (and sister of Catherine).

There is a family story that Jane, who was born in 1749 and died in 1852 at the age of 103, was a heroine in the Revolutionary War. According to McClurken family records, Jane (who by then was married to David Weir, who also arrived from Ireland on the ship "Lord Dunluce") carried a secret message hidden in the long plaits of her hair from Colonel Davis in Mecklenburg District to General Sumter's Clem's Branch camp east of the Catawba River, riding a horse bareback, following a blazed trail through woods infested with British soldiers and American Tories.

True story? We'll never know. I can find reference to the story in several McClurkin genealogies, but they were all likely copied from the same source. History confirms that General Sumter did make camp at Clem's Branch, and there was a Colonel Joseph R. Davis who distinguished himself in service during the revolution, but that's about all the historical fact I can apply to Jane McClurkin. However, there are numerous women well known for their actions during the Revolution, having spied for either the Americans or the British, so it is well within the realm of possibility that Jane in fact carried messages to General Sumter. At any rate it makes an interesting story from the Tree.

Monday Meanderings - 6.6.2016

Weather apps for the smart phones are a big deal in Texas right now. I did learn that the Government Alerts that come installed on an iPhone will cause a heart attack when they go off, so unless we are watching for that funnel cloud, they stay turned off. But the less-official apps will also alert you, and this past week they have been very busy telling us about lightning strikes and flash flood warnings.

Barb's phone has a weather service app from a local TV station, and ever-so-often some little man will clearly announce "The nearest lightning strike was one point four miles away," or "There is a flash flood warning for your area." He is proud to make these public service announcements whether or not your phone is turned on, so periodically the other night - long after Barb had gone to bed - the little man kept up this one-sided conversation to let me know what was going on.

Don't know about you, but when I'm sitting alone, absorbed in some book, it doesn't do the old heart any good for some stranger to pipe up unexpectedly. #can'tfindtheoffbutton

And yes, it's flooding down in Texas. So much so that we have booked our next cruise out of Port DFW. But there is no truth to the rumor that the legislature is going to change the State Song to "The wise man built his house upon the rock."

How many e-books can you put on a Kindle? Asking for my wife. To be sure most of them are free or 99 cents, but I keep telling her that there has to be a limit. So far she has proven me wrong.

We watched the College Softball Women's World Series this weekend. The other night two sisters were in the game. Sisters are not that unusual, but these girls were on opposing teams, and both are starters and highly competitive. Their parents were there, and after each half-inning, they dutifully got up and moved to the appropriate section for the at-bat team, donning different colored jackets and shirts as they switched.  They interviewed the parents and Mom confessed that she wasn't having fun - she just wanted the game to be over.

It's not unusual for critters to wander onto our patio (and feast on our tomatoes). Saturday night Barb heard something bump the patio door, and when she looked out there was a mamma racoon and two fat little babies. They soon wandered away, but in a few minutes papa racoon came by looking for his family. We pointed the direction they were headed and he seemed content with moving on, without any tomatoes. Can't say as much for the squirrel that was out there yesterday afternoon.

Stories from the Tree - Boyd's Mill

My Boyd ancestors settled in Laurens County, South Carolina and many of the family members were involved in the operations of the Mill that Samuel Boyd built.  Della Boyd Culbertson's diary provides insight into the mill and its importance in the family.

"The Boyd home was on the east side of Reedy River about one fourth of a mile from the mill. Here Samuel Boyd and wife Nancy reared a family of eight children, five boys and three girls. Samuel  also had a cabinet shop for making furniture. He invented a clock with all of the inside fixtures, wheels, pegs, made of wood. All of his boys except one followed the same trade. He handed down his profession as miller and wood workman to at least four more generations, sons, grandsons, great, and great great grandsons. Quite a number of his descendants were wood workmen of different sorts. One of his grandsons, Stewart Boyd, son of Sanford, has invented a number of things."

"Samuel's sons did a big business at Boyd's Mill. They built two and a half grist mills, and did a tremendous business. They had a saw mill, furniture factory, and carding and spinning plant, in a small way, they ran thirty spindles. They made most all sorts of furniture. David's three oldest sons, Nathan, Bradford and John all worked there. They had a large machine, turned by hand, to card rolls for spinning."

After Samuel's death, and after the devastating War Between the States, the three brothers that owned and operated the mill, David, Bradford and John, decided a change was needed.

"After the close of the war between the states, David Boyd and his wife, Tabitha, decided to go west. He sold his farm and his interest in the mill property. In November 1866, he and his entire family moved to Washington County, Texas. When David decided to go west, each of his brothers decided to sell their Interest in the Boyd's Mill property, as David was selling to a cousin Billy Boyd, whom they feared wouldn't be very pleasant to own property with – they all sold out. Billy Boyd owned the plant for years but only ran the mill and sawmill. After his death It was bought by Dunk Boyd (son of Sanford), James Downey, and S. C. Kerriman." 

The family record does not tell us anything further about the mill beyond that point, but a little research shows that the original buildings and machinery of the family mill eventually fell into disuse and were abandoned before 1900. But the location of the mill is known today as Boyd's Mill Pond, "a popular area for fishing and recreational boating. a spot that is well known to local fisherman for producing excellent catfish and large mouth bass, and for its size, would more likely be classified by most observers as a lake."

The pond came about in 1906 after a dam was placed across the river to channel the stream for an electrical power plant, seen above. Flooding, caused in part by the dam in 1908, washed away the last remnants of the original mill.

Now known simply as the Reedy River Company, the power plant is still in operation.