Irene's Autobiography
This is an edited version of Irene's Autobiography to protect the privacy of those persons still living.
My name is Irene. I was born June 1, 1899, and was (I suppose) a pretty baby, the 4th child born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Clynton Sanford of Smith County, Texas.
They gave me the name of my Grandmother Irene Farmer. My brothers were named Clyde and Jessie, and my sister was Lela. We lived in the country in a big house on a big farm. Our house had a wide outside hall right through the middle of it where the dogs ran at night. Late one night I heard a commotion out in the hall and peeked out. One of our dogs had chased a white pig into the hall. That was the first time I had ever seen a white pig.
At Christmas time we would hang our stockings on the mantle, and every Christmas morning when we looked in our stockings we would find an orange, an apple, and a stick of candy.
At an early age I developed asthma, and they treated me with medicine, but it was not effective. One day when I was 9 years old a man came by and told Papa to put me against a wall and bore a hole in the wall even with the top of my head and then put a lock of my hair in the hole and plug it up. He said that when I grew higher than the hole I would be well. Papa did this, and when I grew higher than the hole I really didn't have asthma any more. By that time I had a little sister named Minnie and two little brothers named Virgil and Cecil.
All the children in our neighborhood attended school in a one-room schoolhouse. There were about 30 to 40 children. Each class was seated in a different part of the room, and one teacher taught all the classes. Papa was the Superintendent of the School Board, and the teacher always boarded at our house. At harvest time Papa took all of his children out of school until the crops were gathered in.
Every year we had a Field Day, where children from several schools competed against eachother. Each school displayed students' art work and other things that they had made. We had three-legged races, we chased greased pigs, played baseball and marbles, tossed darts, and competed at broadjumping. The girls dressed up in funny dresses and sang songs which we thought were hilarious. Everybody brought food; as I remember that there always were several freezers of ice cream. We spread our table clothes out on the ground and put all the food out together on them. My, we had a good time.
There was one boy in our neighborhood who seemed to hate the other children, and we were all afraid of him, including the teacher; so we kept the door locked while school was in session. One day when it was time to go home, he wouldn't let us out; so we pushed at him with a broom handle, but he cut the handle off!
On the top row, Jessie is the first boy on the left, and Clyde is the second boy from the right. Virgil is the second boy from the left on the second row from the top, and Lela is the only girl on that row. I am the girl standing beside the teacher, and Minnie is the girl with the bow in her hair on the front row.
During the summer time several neighborhood families would get in their wagons and gather at the creek to spend the night. The men would fish, the women sang songs, and the children played games. When the men returned with the fish, the women cleaned and fried them and we all ate them along with the other food we had brought from home.
I had curly hair, and my mother rolled it up in corn shucks so that it would hang in long curls.
In 1908 Papa had this fine new home built. We were all very proud of it. We used coal oil lamps for light, but later on we had electricity put in the house.
We walked 2 miles to pick up our mail.
We walked 2 and a half miles to school.
In 1910 we got our first telephone.
When I was 11 years old, we had a new baby brother named Roy, and three years later a new baby sister named Barthene. They made a total of 5 boys and 4 girls in our family.
Mama had only one pair of scissors, and we were not allowed to use them. One day we sneaked them out, and when we heard Mama coming we hid them in a pillow case. She was looking for her scissors, so she just whipped both of us with switches until we surrendered her scissors to her.
We always held our church services in the school house. Our roads were narrow and rough. One Sunday on the way to church I was riding in the back seat of a buggy when one wheel went down into a large mudhole. I fell out of the buggy head-first and came back very, very muddy. Mama was angry at me because I was wearing my best dress.
At the age of 13 I obeyed the Lord and was baptized in the creek which ran across my father's farm.
In 1914 we got our first car. It was a Model T Ford. I was the bravest of the girls so I learned to drive it, and I've been driving ever since. None of my sisters have ever driven cars.
We never bought any ready-made clothes. I liked to sew, so I got the job of making the clothes for the family.
When I finished grammar school, I went to high school in Tyler. That was during World War I, and at school we had many patriotic parades. We wore blue skirts, white blouses, and red ties. We wore red, white and blue ribbon bands around our heads and sang patriotic songs as we marched.
After we won the war, when all the boys were returning home, I met a soldier named Archie Johnson. I liked him very much, and he liked me, too. When we began dating, he took me to several places of interest, but we especially liked baseball games. I would dress up in my best dress and hat and be off to the baseball game. All my family (and especially baby sister Barthene) liked Archie very much. Archie and I both moved to Houston to work. We dated for about a year and a half, and then we got married. Archie had only $6.00, but we were both working. I made $12.00 a week, and he made $40.00 a week.
The next year we had a pretty little girl with big blue eyes named Dorothy Louise.
Two years later we had a little dark-haired daughter named Margarete Winnie.
(Note from the editor: Margarete does not have the middle name, Winnie. It was just said to please a relative.)
We lived in Houston when we first married; later, we moved to Dallas, where our daughters attended Brown School and Forest Avenue High School. We loved our daughters very much, and as they grew up we gave them every opportunity we could. Both of them graduated from high school with high honors and were leaders in school and at church.
Dorothy attended the University of Texas and later married Albert Pasche. Dorothy and Albert adopted a beautiful little girl, and we were always happy to have her visit us. Later on, they had a son who had unusual ability. He could play any type of musical instrument and could win at anything he attempted. He has won about 20 trophies from all over America playing racquetball. Albert will soon retire from Mobil Pipeline Company, where he is an executive, after 38 years with Mobil.
Margarete preferred a business career, so she attended Draughon's Business college. She worked at Sanger's and Butler Brothers.
During World War II the government asked everyone to work to help win the war. Archie closed our business and went to work for army transport command at Camp Swift, Texas. Margarete and I made rubber gas tanks for airplanes, and Dorothy worked at an airplane factory. After World War II was over, Margarete married a veteran named Glynn Simmons. Glynn went to A & M University and studied food processing. They had 3 children. They lived in California for a while but were transferred back to Dallas. Margarete and Glynn do many things well, such as decorating houses and fixing cars. They have two houses. Glynn has two jobs, and Margarete has worked at Texas Instruments for more than 10 years. They have an electric organ which they enjoy playing, and both are active members of the Garland Road Church of Ghrist.
Once there were some outlaws named Bonnie and Clyde hiding in our area. We drove a black car with white wheels, and so did Bonnie and Clyde. One day when we were driving to Houston, the Texas Rangers stopped us to see if we were Bonnie and Clyde. That shook us up, but we continued on to Houston. The next day the Rangers located Bonnie and Clyde hiding in the woods, a gun battle developed, and both Bonnie and Clyde were killed. Bonnie was in a funeral home in our neighborhood, so a group of us went over there to view the body. She was beautiful but I asked myself -- why lead a life like that?
The Kilgore oil field is situated partially on some of the land of our original home place, which portion now has 12 producing oil wells. Our parents were good people, and we loved them very much. Archie and I were on hand when the first well came in. It was a great feeling to be sprinkled with that oil. I made movies of that well, and I still have them.
In 1949 Archie and I decided to build our house in Pleasant Grove. We worked on it for several months and ended up with a very nice three bedroom home. When we moved to Pleasant Grove I joined the Ada Bruton Garden Club and have been an active member in it since that time, participating in many flower shows. I enjoy this club very much, and through the years have won many ribbons and silver bowls.
We owned a garage and service station in partnership with Carl Melton. The business employed 14 men. Archie retired in 1965 and remained very active until about 1970, when he developed cancer and had some strokes. In 1974 he had a severe stroke and was in Baylor Hospital for 5 weeks. He grew weaker and died. It was a hard time for me, but I knew the Lord had called him home. He was a good man who obeyed the Lord, having been baptized at the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. I wanted to stay by his bedside all the time he was in the hospital, and I did. Fifty-four of his World War I buddies attended his funeral, which was held at the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ.
The World War I buddies formed Dallas County Barracks 765. We were both very active in that Barracks for several years and also did volunteer work at Veteran's Hospital in Dallas. I have two charms which I received for volunteer work at the Hospital -- one for 100 hours, and one for 1,000 hours. Archie served as quartermaster of the Barracks for 8 years. I did most of the table decorations for this group (for as many as 400 at a time) and I am still decorating.
We traveled to many World War I veterans' meetings and conventions in our area, and we traveled some with Albert and Dorothy on different occasions, going to Chicago, St. Louis, Disneyland in California, New York, Florida and Washington, D.C.. On one trip Albert was watching his son, who was three years old at that time, at the Farmers' Market in Los Angeles. A fat lady walked between them, and his son disappeared. We all panicked and ran off to look for him. Finally, we gave up and returned to where we had been. His son was standing there waiting for us and demanded to know why we all got lost! On the way back home his son mashed his finger almost off in a car door at a dude ranch where we had stopped to sight-see.
I have a vivid imagination. I see figures in things around me. For instance, when I take a bite out of a piece of toast, the rest of it might look to me like a shoe, or a boat, or maybe even a poodle dog. Sometimes in the clouds I see animals or, perhaps, a pretty lady with long, white hair.
One day while walking down the street I glanced down and spied a small, white rock which looked just like a perfect skeleton. Tar from the street had spattered the rock to give the appearance of a mouth and perfect eyes. I still have this rock for a keepsake.
Archie and I had a good life together. We were great pals, as well as husband and wife. We always liked the same things and had similar interests. We were married 54 years.
On our 25th Wedding Anniversary we all went to church together at the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ, and our children and grandchildren presented the church with this beautiful pulpit Bible in our honor.
That afternoon we had an open house at the home of Albert and Dorothy, and more than 150 friends came by.
I continue to live in the home we built because it is filled with good memories and because I like to have all my family there for dinner at Christmas time. These are my two great grandchildren. Now, I'm getting older -- 80 years old today.