Dec. 1891 dance program and calling card for Maggie Smith my grandmother

 Mama Atwood was a young girl in Warren, Texas when she attended this dance at the Opera Hall.

It was Dec. 23,  1891

the three Atwood sisters: Ernestine, Ruth and Alma

His three sisters all outlived my father….and lived into their 90's.  Sitting in a swing on a summer

day  around 1990.  Ernestine (married to Hipp Arthur)  was eldest.  Alma (right, with the bright smile) was next, and Ruth was the youngest. She was a couple of years older than Thurston, my father.  He was the youngest Atwood child, born in 1914.

Laura Atwood Fischer, wife of dad's brother Edward Atwood about 1974

 I think these were made around 1974.  Aunt Laura at their Comanche house, visiting with a friend who dropped by, getting something out of the freezer (or putting something in)  and adjusting the water for their sprinklers.  She took care of their 2 acres of lawn, fountain and vegetable garden, as well as her greenhouse.  I sure miss her now and wish I could talk over my gardening plans with her.

remembering Uncle Harold Denny

Uncle Harold Denny  married my dad's sister Alma Atwood in 1926. They lived in a house that was given to them by Uncle Harold's mother when they married.  It was a block from the square in Comanche and Uncle Harold walked to his job as teller at the Comanche National Bank.  He walked home for lunch every day and back again.  He usually owned a Studebaker car which never got much mileage on it. He was a member of the Comanche Lion's club.  They attended St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Comanche every Sunday, where Aunt Alma was in the Altar Guild and Uncle Harold was on the vestry.

Uncle Harold's sister Aunt Coral Denny lived next door to his house.  Aunt Coral and Aunt Alma both had the cleanest, best smelling houses I ever entered.  I don't know how Aunt Alma did it because Uncle Harold smoked cigars. Mother said they cleaned with vinegar and "coal oil" which was another name for kerosene.


Uncle Harold always smoked cigars.  He and Aunt Alma always had copies of "Life" magazine which I would read when I went to their house.  And he had an old radio that had the most wonderful sound, especially the bass speaker.  It was rounded on the top and stood on the floor beside his chair in the living room of their house.

Uncle Harold liked to fish. He had an amazing collection of lures and fishing tackle.  He had a rowboat that he kept at Lake Eanes, which was the source of water for our town.  I remember being in the rowboat once with him when I got stung by a wasp of some kind.  He chewed up some of the tobacco   at the end of his cigar and put the tobacco on my skin to stop the stinging.  And it worked after a few minutes.

Aunt Alma and Uncle Harold believed in home remedies and almost never needed a doctor.  He had a relative named Dr. Gray who was our town physician for a while.  Once Uncle Harold got pneumonia and everybody thought he was going to die.  Dr. Gray put a long needle in his lung and drew out what Aunt Alma said was about 8 ounces or so of fluid from his lung.

She told me the story years after it happened of course. It was before I was born.  She said it scared her and Dr. Gray told her not to watch but of course she did.  Even though they almost never saw a doctor, Aunt Alma and Uncle Harold lived long lives.  And they always lived in that house on the Fort Worth Highway.  Uncle Harold's family had a lot of land. They were well off but they never let anybody know it.

Thurston's home made Christmas cards 1943

My dad Thurston made our family's Christmas cards one year.  I believe it was 1943.  He used red construction paper, white ink, and pretty Christmas "seals" or stickers.  It looks like he used a calligrapher's pen, or just a quill pen, which was still easy to find in those days.

Nice and not expensive I am sure.  He really was quite an artist, wasn't he?

Letter from Mama to Mamie from the train to California 1927

Oroville, CA August 28, 1927

Dear Mamie,
Just getting ready to enter Feather Canyon and I am feeling fine.

It is absolutely impossible to get into the observation car it is so crowded and they won't move over

letter from my grandmother Ruth Barry Ricketts

This was written August 6, 1958, five days after the birth of my daughter, Anne Flavia Reese by my grandmother Ruth Barry Ricketts to my mother Anna Louise Ricketts Atwood.

Dear Anna,

I am sending you a list of the names of "Ann's" in my branch of the family as follows:

Mary Anna Fisher Barthel   …my mother's mother 1st generation (nineteenth century)

Anna Mary Barthel Barry…..my mother    2nd generation

No Ann's in my generation (my mother goofed.) I was eldest child, and a daughter however.

Anna Louise Ricketts Atwood   4th generation

Patsy Ann Atwood Reese    5th generation

Anne Flavia Reese     6th generation

Ruth Barry at age 12