LOUIS
MILTON WILLIAMS and ANNE
RUTH DANFORTH
Louis Milton Williams was born near Carterville
in Cass County Texas the 22 October 1902. He was the fourth son of Edgar Lewis
and Rosa Lee Williams. Although he was named after his father, he was nicknamed
“Boots”, a name by which he was known until his family moved to West Texas.
Louis Williams grew up in a big Missionary Baptist
family and he remembered how each Sunday he and his brothers and cousins would
ride to church in the back of a wagon, usually sitting on the tail-gate
swinging their legs in the dust kicked up by the wagon wheels.
Louis Williams’ paternal grandfather, George
Kearse Williams, was a popular Baptist Pastor of the Avinger Missionary Baptist
Church as well as several other local Baptist Churches. Louis said that they
would usually go wherever his Grandpa Williams was preaching that Sunday.
After Sunday Services they would all eat
Sunday dinner at his folks or with one of his many Aunts. He had nearly 20 of
them between both sides of the family. These Sunday dinners were large affairs
with heaps of fried chicken, sweet potatoes, black-eye peas, corn, gravy and
biscuits, finished off with peach cobbler or in the summer, watermelon.
Sundays were spent playing with his cousins,
with the kids generally swapped between all the aunts and uncles. At night
cousins slept over, packed into one big bed with kids stacked head to toe in
big iron rod bedsteads. Louis’ sister Jerrie Smith said he was popular with his
cousins and had many boyhood friends in East Texas.
As soon as Louis was old enough to hold a
hoe, he was sent out to weed the vegetable garden and feed chickens. Later when
his father operated a small cotton gin Louis worked for his father by climbing
up on top of the cotton and stomping down the cotton into the gin where it
would come out as bales.
Louis said that he was an active boy and had
a healthy appetite. His Mama kept him and his brothers and sisters supplied
with corn bread, biscuits, milk gravy, snapping beans, black eyes peas, corn,
okra, and summer squash of every kind. Louis said he always had a sweet tooth
and his mother was good at always having some type of cobbler in the house
usually served with thickened cream or on special occasions home made ice
cream. About the only type of fruit that was plentiful back then was anything
that could be grown locally. Peaches, apricots, plums, watermelons, and
muskmelons were always plentiful in the late summer but it was real hard to
come by grapes, oranges, apples or bananas. It was a real treat at Christmas
time to have an orange or an apple in the stockings, which the kids hung for
Santa Claus.
Louis Williams was very partial to his Mama
and was closer to her than any of his other brothers and sisters and in turn his
Mama favored him over the other kids. This caused some jealousy among the other
children and when Louis learned from his mother how to cook, and became a
better cook then any of the other children, they in turn teased him about being
a sissy.
Louis liked cooking and helping his Mama
which was considered women's chores in those days and Louis got into a lot of
fights having to prove that he was not a sissy. Eventually this caused him to
withdraw and not be as close to his family as some thought he should have been.
One time when Louis was ten years old he was
walking through some woods, near his Dad's farm and he heard a panther scream.
It scared him so he started to run home taking a short cut through the cane
brakes where he was bitten by a water moccasin snake. He started hollering at that point and some
of his brothers heard him and came a running.
They saw that his leg was swollen up so they carried him back to the
house where Clarence sucked the poison out of his foot.
Louis' Grandma “Toad” Williams was there and
she told Clarence to go kill a chicken and apply the flesh to the wound which
Clarence immediately did. When the doctor came he saw that the chicken flesh
had drawn the rest of the poison out and reduced the swelling. The doctor remarked that he could not have
done anymore himself, and after making sure it was not infected, said that
Louis would recover and have little trouble with that foot. The doctor was
right and Louis never had any trouble with his foot.
In 1914 Louis' parents debated over whether
they should uproot the family and move to West Texas. Edd Williams had suffered some serious set
backs and he heard that land could be had fairly cheap out West. However Rosa Lee Williams was immovable about
not wanting to leave her kinfolk in Cass County. She rejected the idea of
moving West.
Louis however liked the idea about moving out
west. He said that he always wanted to see a Jack-rabbit and said moving to
West Texas seemed like a perfect opportunity to get a chance to see one. He had heard stories all his life about their
odd shape and size and wanted see for himself if they really had long
mule-shaped ears.
So Louis kept after his Mama to make the move
and credited himself with helping his Mama make the decision to agree to the
move. However Louis never told his Mama
that the reason he wanted the family to move west was to see a Jack-rabbit.
Rosa Lee Williams never really came to terms
to leave Cass County. Her people had
been in Cass County since 1854 and she was leaving all the people she knew and
loved, except for her immediate family. She was resentful and held it against
her husband for years and years.
Louis got his wish to move and the family
made the necessary arrangements for the move.
At the age of 13 Louis left Cass County, Texas where he had just
finished 8th grade and moved to west Texas where many of his children and
grandchildren were to be born. In
January 1915 Edd and Rosa Lee Perser Williams said their goodbyes and gather up
other girls and younger children to ride on the train. Louis, and his brothers,
Austin, and Joe however, rode in a boxcar with the family furniture across the
great spans of North Texas leaving behind the green piney woods of east Texas
for the rolling prairies of west Texas.
As the train rolled west, Louis noticed that
the climate became progressively drier and the land began to be more sparsely
dotted with trees. West of Fort Worth the land seemed almost barren to Louis
after being raised in the piney woods of East Texas. The land was over grown with shrubbery known
as Mesquite Trees, which were about that would grow in the dry arid climate of
West Texas.
Louis finally saw his first Jack-rabbit
hopping along the railroad tracks as he and his brothers sat at the open car
door watching Texas roll by. He also saw his first mountain when the train
pulled through the communities of Aspermont and Peacock based at the foot of
the two large mounds known as Double Mountain.
After a trip of three days, Louis and his
family arrived in the cow town of Spur in Dickens County where Edd Williams
settled his family on a farm near the communities of Midway and Afton.
Dickens County was in stark contrast to the
piney wooded lush river bottom county of Cass. Dickens County was dry, dusty,
and waterless except for the North Fork of the Washita River. Scrub Mesquite
trees were the main form of vegetation along with a few cottonwood shade trees
planted around isolated farm and ranch houses, which were watered from
windmills.
The economics of Dickens County centered around
the cattle industry, principally the Pitchfork, Matador, and Spur Ranches.
However since the turn of the century, farming started to make an inroad into
the economy of Dickens County as farmers from central Texas brought cotton
seeds which were able to mature in the sandy soil of Dickens.
While Louis’ family were farmers, most of his
Dickens County chums were cowboys who worked the dugout line camps below the
escarpment of the Cap Rock that would eventually grow into the communities.
The town of Spur had developed around the
needs of the Spur Cattle Ranch and in the early 1900's it was the largest
community near Williams’ farm. It was to Spur that Louis rode in a wagon from
his father's farm to get supplies. He also attended dances held in Spur on
Friday and Saturday nights. Louis said also, once a month, a moving picture
show would come to town and his Dad would let him and his brothers and sisters
go to see the picture.
In 1917 Louis' sister Onie Belle married John
Colberg and moved to Spur, Texas to live. Shortly after this, Louis got into an
argument with his Dad and left home. Accompanied by a boyhood friend, Louis ran
away riding off on a pair of burros to make it on their own. The two teenagers
however could not decide where to go so they separated and Louis rode his burro
to Spur and landed on his big sister’s doorstep. Onie agreed to take the
runaway youth in and Louis made his home with the Colbergs. Louis was 15 years
old when he left home and he never went back.
John Colberg was able to get Louis a job at
the town's Buick Garage where he was able to earn money for himself and soon
Louis became friends with Raymond Poole. The two became best friends, dating
local girls and getting into mischief. When he was a teenager, Louis was
considered a dapper young man and he thought he was a real lady killer.
Annie Ruth Danforth was the oldest child of
Mabry and Minnie Danforth. She was born on her father's farm near the community
of Swenson in Stonewall County, Texas the 31st of March 1902. She was raised,
however near Portales, New Mexico until 1920 when her father moved the family
to Spur, Texas.
In 1920 Louis’ pal Ray Poole started dating a
girl named Prudence Wilson. Prude wanted Ray to get Louis to double date with
her girlfriend, who was new in town. Ray asked, "Well is she pretty? Louis
only will go out with a girl if she's pretty." Prude replied, "Well sure she's pretty,
but what's even better she's got pretty ways."
"Well what's her name then?"
"Annie- Annie Danforth!" said
Prude.
Ray agreed to try and match Louis and Annie
up. He told Prude to get Annie to come downtown and he'd get Louis there also
so that they could kind of “accidentally meet.” Prude went and got Annie and as
they were walking down the wooden sidewalks of Spur, they walked by Ray and
Louis who were sitting on wooden chairs in front of the grocery store.
Louis had a large Stetson over his face,
shading his eyes from the sun, his boots propped up on the hitching rail post.
Annie said to Prude, "Is that Louis?" Prude Wilson replied, "That's right."
However Annie thought to herself, "He sure looks conceited- just like he
owns the town." The girls just walked on by the boys and Louis
nonchalantly followed Annie her out of the corner of his eye. He turned and he
said to Ray, "Whose that with Prude? "
"Oh she's new in town."
"Well what's her name?" questioned
Louis.
"Prude said it was Annie Danforth. She
sure is pretty."
"Well Ray, I'll tell you what. She don't
know it, but I'm going to take her to the dance this Saturday!"
Louis was disappointed to learn Annie already
had a date for the Saturday dance and would not break it, so Louis went with
some other girl. At the dance Annie kept looking for Louis, but when she
learned that he had already ducked out with his date to go out and “spark” with
her, it made Annie mad. She decided then that she was just wasting her time
with Louis Williams. However at the end of the dance, Louis came back without
his date, and went up to Annie and said, "Hello, my name is Louis Williams."
Annie said, “I know that,” and Louis asked if
he could walk her home. "Well I came with this other boy," said
Annie, but after seeing that Louis was disappointed told him, "But he's my
brother Edgar, so I guess he won' t mind if you take me home."
Louis walked Annie home and he met her folks.
After that time, the couple went to all the dances together, until Annie moved
away from Spur with her family. In the fall of 1920 the Danforths moved to
Wildorado, Texas to work harvestings but returned to Spur in 1921 where Annie's
father worked as a carpenter and her mother worked as a housekeeper at the Spur
Inn.
The woman who was in charge of housekeeping,
“Miz Martin”, was also in charge of all the waitresses in the dining hall and
she asked Minnie Danforth if she knew of any girls who needed some work. Minnie
Danforth said she had a daughter who was a hard worker so Miz Martin told her
to send her down. Annie went to call on Miz Martin and while waiting to see
her, she watched the waitresses going in and out of the kitchen carrying these
huge trays loaded down with plates of food. When Miz Martin called Annie into
her office and told her that she wanted Annie to come and work at the Spur Inn
as a waitress, Annie exclaimed, "Oh Miz Martin I don't think I can learn
to balance them trays."
But Miz Martin said, "Now Annie your
mother said you were a good girl and a hard worker I believe you can do it if
you give it a try." "Well if you think I can do it I am willing to
give it a try."
Soon Annie was waitressing and carrying the
huge food trays just like the rest of the waitresses, with no problem what so
ever. Another reason why Annie was willing to give waitressing a try was
because Louis had gotten himself a job as a short order cook and bus boy at the
Spur Inn also. Ray Poole also worked as a bus boy at the Spur Inn and Anne said
they all had such a good time working there, even though it was hard work and
they worked very long hours.
After work, Louis would walk Annie home, and
they would sit on the front porch in the evening talking and watching people
walk by the house. In the summer of 1921 Louis began to court Annie seriously.
When asked why he decided to marry Anne, all Louis would say was, "Well we
got along good so we decided to get married."
Annie's mother did not like Louis Williams at
all and advised her daughter against getting involved with him. Minnie did not
like that his family were Baptist and had heard tales that Louis was a wild boy
who did not live with his folks. However Mabry Danforth took a liking to Louis
and said that if he was her choice then all he wanted from Louis was to take
good care of Annie.
In September 1921 Louis and Anne decided to
go ahead and get married without telling their families. Because Louis was a
Baptist and Anne was Church of Christ, the pair decided against a church
wedding and went instead to the county courthouse to get married by a Justice
of the Peace. On the 27th of September 1921 Louis and Anne along with their
friends, Prude Wilson and Ray Poole drove up to Dickens Court House in a
convertible Model A touring car and were married there.
Louis did not want to go inside the
courthouse building so Ray had the Judge come outside. Louis and Anne sat up on
the back seat of that convertible and were married by the Justice of the Peace
standing alongside the car.
After the couple were married, Ray, Prude,
Annie and Louis all drove over to Stonewall County where they had a picnic at
Double Mountain. Ray Poole took some wedding snapshots of Anne and Louis
sitting on a large rock.
When it began to get dark they drove back to
Spur, and Louis and Annie went to her folks to tell them they had gotten
married. Minnie Danforth was so upset she wouldn't speak to Louis for over a
week but kindhearted Mabry Danforth told Louis that he was welcome to stay with
them until he could get on his feet financially. Louis and Anne moved into a
room of their own in the small two-bedroom house. Her brother Edgar Danforth
got shoved out on to a cot in the front room.
Louis and Anne continued working at The Spur
Inn where in time Louis became a regular cook and Annie made good money in
tips. She said that she would some times bring home two dollars a day just from
tips alone.
Shortly after they were married Annie
discovered that she was pregnant and she had to quit work when she became quite
ill carrying her first baby. Annie delivered her first baby on 2 June 1922 at
her mother's home. It was a hard delivery and the baby was ailing himself.
Annie was proud of her little son and named him “Oscar Louis Williams” after
her father and husband. Anne had barely recovered from the delivery when little
Oscar Louis died 12 days after he was born in 13 June. A notice in the Texas
Spur dated 16 June 1922, “The two week old baby of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Williams
died Tuesday night at their home in Spur, the remains being interred Wednesday
in the Spur cemetery, the infant had been ill since birth.”
Annie was heart broken and she blamed herself
for not having a doctor deliver the baby at a hospital. Today the baby's death
probably would have been attributed to crib death or Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS). Oscar Louis had died in his sleep. Louis and Anne buried their baby son next to
the grave of Anne's aunt, Alice Danforth Mayo, with a little marker in the Spur
Cemetery.
Before long Louis and Anne decided to move
from Spur to Plainview up on the Cap Rock where her grandfather, Bill Peacock,
offered Louis a job as a cook at his cafe. Anne’s Grandpa Peacock was also in
the grocery business in Plainview and asked his son-in-law Mabry to come run it
for him.
It did not take long for Mabry and Louis
Williams to get mad at the ornery Bill Peacock, and they quit him to go out on
their own. Mabry and Louis took their families to Lamb County and settled in a
new community known as Spring Lake, named after the Spring Lake Cattle Ranch.
Here they bought a half section of land and built a two room dwelling Louis and
Anne's half of the house measured sixteen feet by sixteen feet and here they
lived until January 1924.
While living on this place Louis and Mabry
put in maize and cotton but they were unable to make a crop after the
grasshoppers and worms ate it all up. In spring 1923 they put in another crop
at Spring Lake and finally were able to make some money off it that time.
Anne Williams had a second son born while
living at Spring Lake. She insisted that a doctor be called to help with the
delivery. The baby boy was born 28 June 1923 and was named Raymond Leonard. He
was named for Ray Pool and Dr. Leonard who was the doctor who assisted with the
birth.
Ray Poole had continued to remain friends
with Louis and Anne even though he did not marry Prude Wilson. Prude Wilson
eventually married Otis Green Peacock, who was Anne's uncle. Ray Poole also married
and moved to the Hart Camp community in Lamb County where he raised a family.
In January 1924, Louis and Anne with baby Ray
moved to Roosevelt County, New Mexico where Anne's “Uncle Fred” Danforth was a
successful farmer near Lingo. Louis managed to rent a farm 13 miles south of
Portales from James David Autry of Dora where he raised cotton and maize. While living on this farm Anne found herself
pregnant with her third child, another son who was born at Portales on the 19th
of January 1925. Anne Williams named this baby Edgar after her brother Edgar
Danforth and Hugh for the doctor who delivered him. This became a pattern for naming her sons.
Louis and Anne lived on this farm at Dora
until December 1925 when Louis got a job offer to move to Brick, Oklahoma where
Anne's brother Edgar and sister-in-law Beulah operated a small cafe. Louis was a much better cook then a farmer,
and Anne hated living out in the country, isolated from other people, so
consequently they jumped at the opportunity to move. However this small Cafe was not enough to
support both Louis and his brother-in-law’s family so they both gave it up.
In March 1926 the Danforths and Williamses
returned to Lamb County, Texas and settled in the community of Earth where Edgar
Danforth went to work for his father-in-law, Jerry Washington Kelly. Louis
worked as a day laborer for six months.
The following October Louis and Anne returned
to New Mexico and rented another farm from Mr. Autry, this time near the
community of Rogers which was much closer to Portales. Louis and Anne worked picking cotton and in
January of 1927 Anne had her fourth child, a son born on the 17th. She named the baby completely after the
doctor, Willard Wallace. Louis small but growing family consisted of three sons
R.L. age 4, Edgar Hugh age 2, and Wallace an infant.
Louis planted a crop in spring 1927 but Louis
Williams was unhappy at farming and in January 1928 he and Anne left New Mexico
and moved back to Earth, Texas where his in-laws had settled. They stayed with the Danforths for only a
month before moving to Shamrock in Wheeler, Texas.
Shamrock was a wild oil boomtown in the late
1920's and Anne’s Uncle Braxton Peacock operated a cafe there for the oil field
roughnecks. Louis hired on as a cook and cooked for Anne's Uncle from February
1928 until September 1929 when he quit to move to Muleshoe where he received
higher wages as a cook.
Louis and Anne set up housekeeping at the
Muleshoe Hotel and was living here when Anne’s fifth child and first daughter
was born. Anne was near her time and did
not want to travel for Christmas so her folks came to Muleshoe for the
holiday. On Christmas Eve, Anne suddenly
went into labor and delivered a tiny baby girl.
The little baby girl weighed less than four pounds, and was so small
that her head could fit into a coffee cup! If placed on a table plate, from head
to toes she did not have reached the edges. If not by the mid-wifery experience
of “Grandma Poole”, Raymond Poole’s grandmother, the baby would have died. The premature baby was placed in a large
shoebox and Anne named her little daughter after her mother Minnie and her
favorite Peacock uncle, Lee Peacock.
As if having a baby on Christmas Eve was not
excitement enough for the family, on Christmas Day the hotel caught fire and
family had to flee into the street as the hotel burned to the ground. Men carried out Anne and her baby Minnie in a
folded up mattress. All of Louis and Anne's clothes and the children's toys
were burned up but Anne said, "We were all grateful that nobody was hurt
and we was still happy about Minnie being born.”
While Louis remained in Muleshoe to work,
Anne and her children went back to Earth to stay with her parents until she
could build her strength back up and make sure baby Minnie was out of any
danger.
In October 1929 Wall Street collapsed, which
threw the country into economic chaos.
The effects of the failure of the financial institutions in the East
were slow to spread to the West but by 1930 the effects of bank closure after
bank closure even reached the West Plains of Texas. Louis lost his job in Muleshoe, subsequently
in the spring of 1930, he moved his family back to Portales, New Mexico where
land was still cheap.
He rented a small farm from Herbert Bryant
just seven miles from Portales. Here Louis and Anne lived for the next four
years, not out of choice, but because they did not have the money to move nor
were there jobs anywhere else.
Between 1930 and 1934 Louis just barely
managed to feed and clothe his children. He was able to make a crop each year
but no one had any money to buy it and so Louis made most of his money peddling
produce that he grew on his farm in Portales.
During these years he was also able to find
work as a mortar mixer for a construction company in Portales that paid him $1
a day. He worked on several buildings in Roosevelt County including the
Military Academy at Roswell. Louis had
learned to mix mortar and lay bricks from his father-in-law when he and Mabry built
the brick Schoolhouse at Spring Lake back in 1923.
While living on this farm south of Portales,
Anne had her sixth child and second daughter.
The little girl was born the 31 October 1931 and was named Bonnie
Ruth. Anne said she was named Ruth for her
Aunt Ruth Danforth Bilberry but “Bonnie” was for a beautiful mare that was
Anne's favorite horse. This horse use to
follow Anne wherever she would walk around the farm but Louis had to sell her,
so Anne named her daughter Bonnie because she thought it was a pretty name.
The Great Depression had reached West Texas
and hard times became a way of life for most people. Louis and Anne were more fortunate than
others because in 1934 the family received $200 from the estate of her wealthy
great-Uncle, Charles B. Danforth, who died near Memphis, Tennessee. This money
helped Louis get started in a Cafe of his own. Mabry Danforth received $800
from his Uncles' estate and he gave $200 of it to Louis and Anne. Louis used this money to rent a small Cafe in
Earth and to get it operating. Louis
cooked and Anne waitressed to begin with and soon Louis got a reputation as a
good cook.
Louis and Anne ran several different Cafes in
Earth and at different locals during the 1930's. Some were simply known as Louis' Cafe but one
in particular was known as the Blue Front Cafe for which Louis had business
cards printed. The Chandler family of Earth were the town's musicians and they
would usually play at Louis' place because that's where people would come to
socialize while in town.
During the 1930's Louis and Anne's older boys
helped in the Cafe by busing tables and washing dishes. As they grew older they even were taught to
cook on the grill and how to prepare other food that was on the menu.
Louis became well known because of the good
hamburgers he could make and which he sold for a nickel a piece. On the
weekends his Cafe was always filled with hired farm hands and other single men
who wanted some good cooking. Louis also had his own Chili recipe that was very
popular as well as his hamburgers. Anne
worked in the Cafe with Louis and she made pies that she sold a nickel a slice
or 25 cents for the whole pie. Her
specialty was making a chocolate pie that could last without
refrigeration. She said her secret was
that she didn't use milk in her cream pies but just water, which made them keep
longer, and a lot of people thought even tastier.
In
November of 1934 Anne had her last child, a son born on the 5th of that
month. She named the baby Milton
Bradford Williams after Louis and the doctor who delivered him.
Louis and his mother-in-law Minnie Danforth never
did see eye to eye but they eventually reached a point where they tolerated
each other. Minnie Danforth was ornery
and would on occasion get a dig in at Louis' expense. One day Louis decided to get even with her by
playing a practical joke on his another-in-law.
Minnie Danforth had the habit of dropping in
to visit with her daughter at the Cafe nearly every day and since she used
tobacco in the form of snuff she kept a snuff can on a certain shelf in the
kitchen. So Louis thought it would be
real funny if he took some of his red chili powder and mixed it in with the
snuff then put it back on the shelf where Minnie wouldn't notice. Well it was not very long until Minnie
strolled into the Cafe and went to the kitchen and pulled her snuff can off the
shelf then went out to a table and sat down for a visit with Anne. Louis watched from the kitchen as Minnie
pinched out a bit of tobacco and placed it in her lip. Almost immediately Minnie hollered,
"Annie get me some water! I'm on fire!"
Minnie must have drunk a pitcher of water
before she could speak and the first thing she said was "Louis you get
your cotton picking self out here!" Louis couldn't help but laugh and this
put him in the dog house for nearly a month.
Earth in the 1930’s was a rural community
serving the needs of local farmers and ranchers and really did not amount to
much. Louis had a Cafe on the north side
of Main Street next to the Kelly Grocery which was run by Anne's brother Edgar
Danforth. To the north of Louis was the
telephone office and a gas stationed ran by this crippled man. Further down the
road was a blacksmith shop operated by the Runyon family. Across the street from Louis' Cafe were a
drug store and a grocery store owned by the Davenport family. Other early businesses in Earth were a
barbershop ran by Corbette Roberts and a man known as Barber Johns. The Post Office in town was operated by Edgar
Danforth's brother-in-law, Marshall Kelly and O.B. Whitford owned a hardware
store.
Louis and Anne lived about a mile from town
on land owned by Mabry Danforth. Mabry and Minnie Danforth lived near them
across from a big vacant lot where Louis' children played. Some of Louis Williams' other neighbors were
the families of Dewy Green and Walt Williams who was the town's bully.
Louis' brother-in-law Edgar Danforth and his
family also lived about a half mile east of Earth on a farm owned by Beulah’s
father, J.W. Kelly and the Williams and Danforth cousins from these two
families used to walk back and forth between Louis' and Edgar's houses to play
with each other.
Louis' daughter Bonnie learned to ride a
bicycle for the first time at her cousin's house. Louis and Anne's niece Marjorie Fern as a little
girl, was always playing at beauty shop; fixing up her cousins, Bonnie and
Minnie's hair in the latest fashion. So
this one time she talked her cousin Edgar Hugh into fixing his hair and she put
Chamberlain's Hand Lotion in it that made his hair stick like glue. Annie felt sorry for her embarrassed son as
she tried to wash the lotion out of his hair but she thought he was so pathetic
looking that she couldn't help but laugh.
Anne Williams recalled that her children were always getting into
scrapes but they managed to come out of it okay. She said they had to because people could not
afford to go to the doctors in those days unless it was an extreme emergency
like the time Milton caught the measles and came down with pneumonia. He was the only one of all her children who
spent any time in the hospital and that was at Littlefield.
Next to Milton, she said Bonnie came most to
killing herself as a child than the rest of her kids. One time Edgar Hugh and Wallace came home
with a stray dog and asked if they could keep him. Anne said to them, "You kids can keep
the dog if you build a house for him." Both Edgar and Wallace thought they
were fine carpenters from helping their Granddad Danforth and they said to
their mother that this was not a problem.
Bonnie was watching her older brothers and
said she wanted to help when she discovered that they were building a dog house
so Wallace told her hold on to a post he wanted to drive a nail into. He then
took a mighty swing and came down Flat Square on Bonnie's finger and split it
wide open. Anne was able to clean the
wound and bandaged it. It healed without any infection.
On another occasion when the family had moved
from Earth to Olton, which at the time was the county seat of Lamb County,
Bonnie and Minnie were playing tag when she stepped on Milton's teddy
bear. Milton had earlier pulled an arm
off his teddy bear exposing a fishhook wire, which Bonnie stepped on while
running barefoot. The wire went down
into her foot and Bonnie started screaming bloody murder.
Minnie ran back to Anne as fast as she could
who came out to where they playing and carried Bonnie back to the house.
Neighbors who saw what happened came over to help and soon the doctor arrived
at the house. Anne had tried pulling the wire out but couldn't and each of her
neighbors tried to get the wire out but couldn't. Mr. McAdams tried and he couldn't, a boy from
the drug store tried and couldn't and neither could the doctor. Finally this little kid across the street said
let me try and Anne said to go a head because he couldn't have done any worse than
the others. Everyone was nervous and
excited and saying how it should be down but this little kid just patiently
wiggle the wire and pulled the wire loose.
Louis and Anne's children while at Earth
attended the Spring Lake School where the school was divided into two
classrooms for the lower and higher grades.
The real higher grades went to a brick schoolhouse, which Louis and Mabry
had built back in 1923. Minnie Lee Williams
recalled that two of the grade school teachers were Miss Johnnie Kelly and Mrs.
Wilson.
She said, "When I was a little girl of
seven I started school at Earth and I remember by first teacher was Mrs.
Wilson. She was really mean and from the
first day she had every one of us who were in her class afraid of her. She used to hit us around but we were too
afraid to tell our mothers and fathers about her until one day, our Librarian,
who was the daughter of Ma and Pa Poole, saw her hitting me around. Miss Poole
told our parents what this teacher was doing and they were so mad they took all
us kids out of school until after Christmas holiday. I didn't go back to school
very much that year anyways because I came down with the measles, mumps, and
whooping cough that year."
Anne said there were really only two things
she really hated about living on the West Texas Plains and that was the
lightning storms and the snakes. She
said that this one time at Earth she had made some cookies and decided to take some
over to her mother's. She took her
daughter Minnie with her and found that her mother was not home so Anne walked
in and put the cookies on the table. As she started to come out of the house
this big snake slithered out of the field and coiled up at the threshold of the
house. Anne told her daughter to stay
back while she took a broom and knocked it out of the house. While it was stunned Anne grabbed a hoe
sitting by the porch and chopped the snake to bits. She really hated snakes.
In 1937 Louis rented out his Cafe and moved
to Hereford, Texas where his in-laws had moved to work a harvest. About this time their oldest son Ray, who was
fourteen, went to live with his Danforth Grandparents, which caused some jealousy
among the other grandkids. Ray Williams
was the Danforth's oldest grandchild and perhaps the only grandchild whom
Minnie Danforth cared anything about.
While at Hereford Louis and his sons picked
potatoes and pulled cotton while his youngest son Milton started
kindergarten. Louis and Anne only stayed
six months at Hereford but during this time Anne's children played a dirty
trick on her that she never forgot. Anne
was deathly afraid of mice and her children knew it so this one day Edgar Hugh
discovered a nest of field mice while picking potatoes and he and the other
kids decided to put them in the bottom of a basket filled with potatoes to give
to their Mother. Anne unsuspectingly pulled the potatoes out of the basket
until she saw the mice come running out from under the potatoes. Anne just about fainted.
While living at Hereford, Ray Williams became
acquainted with the Shipley family and he and Elvis Shipley along with Penny
Gray became best friends. They all ran
around together until the beginning of World War II when they all joined the
service together.
Penny Gray was later killed in action while
overseas. Elvis Shipley was the uncle of the Country Western Singer Waylon
Jennings and lived at Littlefield Texas.
From Hereford, Louis moved his family to
Olton where Bonnie was to injure her foot.
Here Louis ran another Cafe with the help of Edgar Hugh and Wallace who
were now expected to help with the cooking as well as the cleaning of tables.
The family lived in rooms behind the cafe but
after six months Louis said he wasn't making any money at that location so in
the spring of 1938 he moved his family back to Portales, New Mexico. They only stayed in Portales for a couple of
months before returning to Earth where Louis opened his Cafe again. Here Louis and Anne lived for the next three
years.
Christmas 1938 was spent at Earth Texas and
Minnie Williams recalled that it was "the best Christmas I can remember
when I was a little girl. Granddad
Danforth built us a little red table and chairs to match and mother got us some
dishes and dolls. Dad and Mom gave
Milton a little red wagon and that Christmas meant a lot to us. We didn't have a lot but we appreciated
everything because Mom and Dad worked hard in the Cafe."
Easter of 1939 was spent near Earth in the
sand hills where Louis took his kids for an Easter egg hunt. Anne had the family get all dressed up and
there while Milton was trying to light a lamp his little tie caught on fire.
This man who was a fry cook for Louis had come out with the family and he acted
quickly and. ran his hand over the tie burning his own hand in the process but
he did manage to pull Milton's tie off which kept Milton from getting seriously
burned.
In 1940 Wallace left home at the age of 13
and went to work for himself at the Spring Lake Ranch. Louis Williams had a quirk in his personality
that believed that the most important thing a body could be doing was working
and making a living for himself. He
thought that work was more important than education and he discouraged his sons
from getting an education at the expense of working and making a living. So by the time Louis left Earth in 1941 both
Ray and Wallace had already moved away from the family. Ray Williams stayed with his Granddad
Danforth in Portales and Wallace boarded at the Spring Lake Ranch.
In 1941 Louis and Anne left Earth for the
last time and sold their Cafe. Louis went to farming a section of land in the
community of Spade between the towns of Littlefield and Olton. Louis' farm was about two miles west of Spade
but he attended church at Spade.
Louis planted his whole place in cotton,
which was irrigated, from a big earthen water tank on which he had pumps to
water his fields. Minnie, Bonnie, and Milton would play cowboys and Indians
around this tank when they were not doing their chores.
Louis had on this place chickens, hogs, a
Black Angus bull, and eight cows; four of which were milked. Anne said the kids never had to milk the cows
but they did have to carry water to house from a windmill about ten yards from
the house. Louis also kept bees on this
place and had a large garden planted in beans, peas, okra, tomatoes, corn, and
melons. While living at Spade Minnie
Williams said her neighbors and girlfriends were from the Prator, Shipley, and
Jarnigan families. Mr. Jarnigin was the Hart Camp school bus driver.
When Milton was a little boy at Earth some
bigger kids dropped him down a shaft on an old ice plant where he hurt himself
when he hit the concrete floor. He could not move his right side of his body
without a great deal of pain so Louis and Anne took him to a Chiropractor in
Portales. The doctor made him use his
right side of the body until Milton eventually got over it.
In the summertime’s Minnie and Milton stayed
with their Danforth Grandparents while Milton was under going treatment and
this one time Anne's Uncle Fred Danforth gave Milton a goat to raise; saying
how taking care of it would be good therapy for Milton by giving him an
interest and keeping him active. Milton
named his goat “Queenie” and Queenie and Louis Williams were soon to have a
serious run in.
Louis had an old wool army surplus overcoat
which he wore everywhere out of sentimental reasons. Louis said that this coat had saved his life
when one winter while driving through a thick fog, he hit a parked double
trailer cotton truck on the way to open his cafe. He said that the heavy padding in the
overcoat kept him from being seriously hurt when he struck the steering
wheel.
However Anne and his kids tried to get Louis
to get rid of that coat because it was getting pretty ragged and it
smelled. Anne said she would get him a
better one but Louis said he was not going to part with it. So in desperation Anne decided to try and
wash it to at least keep it from smelling.
After she washed it Anne took it and hung it out in the barn to dry and
she did not notice Milton's goat was not tied up. Before anyone could notice that Queenie was
loose that goat discovered that army coat hanging in the barn and he ate everything
but the buttons and the collar. When
Louis discovered what had happened he was really upset because he was fond of
that old coat.
In 1941 Louis told Edgar Hugh that he had to
quit school and go to work at the Spring Lake Ranch where Wallace was already
working. Wallace was bringing his money
in and giving it to Louis and he wanted Edgar Hugh to do the same. Edgar Hugh
went to his Aunt Beulah Danforth and said he wanted to stay in school and she
said to him, "Well hun, I can’t make your daddy let you go to school. Now you are going to have to work that out
with your daddy somehow."
However Louis just got angry with his son and
Edgar Hugh decided to run away. Beulah
Danforth stated when asked about this Incident, "Louis he was a bull
headed one and poor Annie couldn't get him to change his mind don’t you
know. Louis, he didn't think kids needed
an education. All they needed was to be
making money and a living."
So Edgar Hugh and his second cousin Jake
Peacock decided to run away together and join the navy. Jake Peacock said that Edgar Hugh lifted five
dollars from Louis and off they went to Lubbock to the recruiting station.
When Annie discovered Edgar Hugh gone she
went over to her sister-in-law's house all upset and crying. Beulah Danforth said, "You'll never know
how she cried over Edgar Hugh and she said to me 'Beulah if there is anyway in
the world you can keep Edgar Hugh from joining the navy -please don't let him
join the navy. He's too young.' So I
said, "Well Louis wouldn’t let him come to live with me before he ran off
- No way- but will Louis let him live with us now?" and both Louis and
Anne said "Yes" so Ed and Beulah talked it over and Ed Danforth said,
"Edgar Hugh is a good kid and I don't mind to having him. I just love him to pieces."
Anyway Edgar Hugh and his cousin were at
Lubbock just fixing to sign up when Louis and Anne found him. Edgar Hugh saw his parents with his Aunt and
Uncle and started to run when Beulah Danforth hollered, "Edgar Hugh, you
come back here!"
But his cousin Jake Peacock said,
"C’mon! Don't go! C'mon!" Then Beulah Danforth said, "Edgar Hugh
do you hear me! I said some here!"
and Edgar Hugh came back, grabbed his aunt and hugged her neck. Then he started to cry. "Edgar Hugh, Hun, you don't want to join
the navy," she said, "You'll have to go soon enough. Now your Mama
and daddy have promised me that you could come live with me and Uncle Ed and
finish this year of school so don't cry.
I'll see some way that you have clothes for school if you'll come live
with us."
"All right" said Edgar Hugh but I'm
not going back home!"
So Edgar Hugh left home and went to live with
his Aunt and Uncle so he could finish his schooling, and now Louis and Anne
only had the three youngest children still at home.
Wallace was still working on the Spring Lake
Ranch feeding the cows and Ray was living with his Danforth Grandparents and
was working at an air base near Clovis, New Mexico where he completed the 11th
grade before joining the Army in 1943. Ray was stationed in Louisiana for boot
camp before being transferred to Seattle go, overseas to Hawaii. There he
served out the remainder of the war as a gunner protecting Diamond Head at
Honolulu and in the Military Police.
When Edgar Hugh turned seventeen, Louis and
Anne allowed him to join the Navy and he was sent to San Diego for boot camp.
After Boot camp he was assigned to a minesweeper named the U.S.S. Gamble and
served in the South Pacific theatre of the war fighting the Japanese Imperial
Navy.
Before joining the navy, Edgar Hugh began
dating a daughter of a farmer from the community of Hart Camp. Her name was
Wilma June Johnson and known as June. She and her girlfriend Otis Sullivan one
day decided to go over to Spade to visit with the Williams’ and see how Edgar
Hugh was doing in the Navy. They were 13 year old girls and Anne said she liked
them well enough but really didn't much about them at the time.
Otis had been dating Wallace so she was
familiar with the family too at the time and when they stopped by the house
seven year old Milton started teasing the girls. They told him they both throw
him into the sticker patch if he did not stop being a brat. Well he kept on
teasing them so the girls made good on their threats with Otis grabbing his
hands, and June carrying his feet and they carried him outside and threw him
into the sticker patch.
By the end of 1942, Louis and Anne sold their
farm at Spade and moved to Littlefield where Louis ran a little hamburger joint
at the end of town. He had two sons in the war at the time and just the three
kids, Minnie, Bonnie, and Milton at home. Wallace was still two young to join
the service so he continued to work on the Spring Lake Ranch.
In Littlefield Louis and Anne bought a house
near the Littlefield High School. Louis' cafe was not very successful just enough
to make a living and pay wages to some young girls he had working as
waitresses. One of these waitresses was Mattie Lee Jarnigin who was to become
Louis and Anna's first daughter-in-law in 1944.
During the years between 1942 and 1944 while
living in Littlefield, Anne and Louis' marriage came into serious trouble.
Rumors had it that there was some small time gambling going on behind Louis'
Cafe and that Louis was drinking beer pretty regularly at the time.
Anyway in April 1944 Anne decided to get away
for a while and go to California where her parents and her brother had just
recently moved. Anne took her three
children and stayed with her brother Edgar Danforth for three months at Hines
(Paramount) in Los Angeles County. In
June of 1944 Louis wrote Anne and told her he wanted her to come back and help
him run the hamburger stand in Littlefield so Anne returned to Texas but
determined to get her husband to agree to move to California.
However Louis stubbornly refused to even
consider leaving Texas even when his son Edgar Hugh came home on furlough and
begged his dad to move to California.
Edgar Hugh said, "Dad you could get a job there as a cook and
really make some money instead of the fifty dollars a week your making cooking
in Texas!" But Louis flatly refused to budge. He was afraid to leave the security of a
familiar place for the uncertainties of making a new beginning in
California. He was 42 years old and was
worried about making a living for his family at that age.
As determined, as Louis was to stay in Texas, Anne was even more determined to move to California. She wanted to get Louis away from the bad element she considered was hanging around the Cafe in Littlefield and too she wanted to be near her parents and brother in California. So she gave Louis and ultimatum and was crying as she said, "Louis I am packing up and taking the kids out to California. I know you don't want to leave Texas but I am moving to California with you or without you!"
Louis knew that Anne was serious and meant
business and decided that if that's they only way he could hold his marriage
together then he had to move to California.
In October 1944, Wallace Williams and his
girlfriend Mattie Lee Jarnigin ran off to get married on the 21 October. Wallace
who was 17 years old and Mattie Lee who was five days shy of being 17 eloped to
Muleshoe where they were married. His 19
year old brother Edgar Hugh, who was home on furlough, went along with his 15
year old girlfriend June Johnson to be witnesses.
When it was decided to move to California, Louis
reasoned that if he had to leave everything he built up behind in Texas to move
to California so could Anne and he went and sold all of Anne's things to a
second hand man except for a few cooking utensils. He sold his wife's 1912
Singer sewing machine that had once belonged to his mother-in-law and an
upright phonograph player and all their furniture for $100.
Settling their differences Louis and Anne
left Texas the last week in November 1944 in the company of Wallace and his new
bride of one month, Mattie Lee, their two daughters, Minnie and Bonnie and
their ten year old son Milton.
Wallace had fixed up an old 1936 Ford and
Louis drove it out to Los Angeles. They arrived on the 1st of December 1944
which was a Saturday and by the following Wednesday Louis had a job working at
the Consolidated Ship Yards in San Pedro where he worked until the end of the
war. Upon arriving in Los Angeles Louis moved his family in with his
father-in-law in Downey where they lived for the next six months until their
kids were out of school in June.
Louis and. Anne purchased, their first home
in California in 1945 at 7102 Dinwiddie Street, Downey near the Rio Hondo
River. This home was situated on a huge lot bordering on a railroad easement. In
the back by the railroad tracks, Louis kept chickens. Also situated on the lot
were two smaller homes, which were eventually occupied by various relatives on
different occasions. The main house, which faced the street Anne said, was
completely furnished when Louis purchased it, down to the sheets and cooking
utensils.
Shortly after Wallace with his new bride arrived
in California he went into the service and joined the Army. Wallace had his
boot camp training at Fort Hood, Texas before he was sent over to Italy at the
end of the European theatre of World War II in May of 1945. He served in Italy
transferring prisoners of war from one prison camp to another and was overseas
until he was mustered out in 1947.
During the whole period of Wallace's military
service, Mattie Lee lived with Louis and Anne except for short periods of time
when she went back to Spade, Texas to live with her folks. Mattie Lee was
living in Texas when Louis and Anne's first grandchild was born the 12th of
September 1945 at Amherst, Lamb County. Mattie Lee had a baby girl whom she
named Frances Anne Williams after Anne Williams.
When World War II was completely over in
August 1945 Ray Williams was able to return home to California and in March of
1946 Edgar Hugh Williams was also mustered out of the service, when then he
promptly went to Hart Camp, Texas where he married June Johnson with the mixed
blessings of her parents. She was sixteen years old and Edgar Hugh was
twenty-one.
Shortly after their marriage they returned to
California and made their home with Louis and Anne on Dinwiddie Street. June
Williams grew to love her mother-in-law like a real daughter and it was Anne
who taught June how to cook. However it did make June nervous hearing all the
quarreling that went on at Louis and Anne's residence, which was inevitable
considering the amount of people living on the lot.
Besides Louis and Anne' three younger
children, Minnie, Bonnie, and Milton, Ray had returned home before moving to
Hemit to live with his grandparents. Mattie Lee was also living at the
Dinwiddee home with her baby Frances Anne along with Edgar Hugh and his new
bride. Additionally Louis' sister Winnie and her John Walker husband and their two
sons had moved in with them.
By the end of August 1945 Louis was laid off
from the shipyards and was out of work nearly fourteen months before he was
able to find a job as a cook at the Rancho Los Amigos Rest Home. He was able to
collect some unemployment during this time but Anne found that she had to go to
work to keep the family a float. She went to work at the Faber and Metal Shop
in Downey where she, for a couple of years, was employed.
In 1946 Louis left working as a cook and
found work at the Conveyor Company of Vernon Huntington Park, California. Louis
Williams remained with Conveyors for the rest of his working life until he
retired after 21 years with the company.
In 1947 Louis and Anne's second grandchild
was born the 9th of June, another little girl named Charline Williams by her
mother June Williams. She was born in Los Angeles. Another granddaughter
followed in 1948 after Wallace came home from Europe. Marilyn Kay Williams was
born on the 8th of May also in Los Angeles.
Minnie and Bonnie graduated from Downey High
School together in June 1948, the only children of Louis and Anne to graduate
directly from High School. Ray Williams
did go back to night school to finish his High School education and eventually
went to work as a warehouse supervisor over shipping at the El Toro Marine Base
in Orange County.
While Milton attended Downey High School he
dropped out and began running around with his cousins Gene and Ken Walker whom
Anne thought were juvenile delinquents.
Milton Williams, in the late forties and
early fifties, was considered a wild
teenager. He ran around with his Walker cousins, who Anne considered bad
influences on Milton. Milton became a rebellious teenager and was known as the
terror of Downey as he and his friends would tear up the streets at night drag
racing their hot rods. They also rode motorcycles, wore tee shirts with sleeves
rolled to hide their cigarette packages, and began drinking beer and smoking
marijuana unbeknown to his mother.
His older sister Bonnie was a very pretty teenager and
Louis and Anne were too overly protective with her. She was not allowed to go
on date like her brothers were allowed too. Minnie Williams stated that while
teenagers on Dinwiddie Street Bonnie had as her girlfriends, , Isobel and
Eleanor Wheeler, who were sisters, and
Glenda who later married Lloyd Fagen.
In 1949, Edgar Hugh and June Williams
returned to Texas to live near his Johnson in laws. He rented a farm and at the
end of the 1940's Louis and Anne's fourth granddaughter, Donna Fay Williams was
born the 25 June 1949 at Amherst while her parents were residing in Lamb
County, Texas.
At the start of the 1950’s Louis and Anne
were still living in Downey, California still on Dinwiddee Street. Their eldest
son Ray Williams was also unmarried but dating several women while moving back
and forth between Southern California and Northern California where many of his
Grandma Danforth’s Peacock relatives lived near Auburn.
Edgar Hugh had relocated to Lamb County,
Texas where he farmed. While there Louis and Anne's first grandson Edgar Hugh
Williams Junior who was born the 10 of April 1951 at the farmer’s co-op
hospital in Amherst which was about 3 miles from Earth. Louis bought his first
grandson a little white baby sweater trimmed in blue ribbon.
A 1952 city directory for Downey, California
listed Louis M Williams, Anne R Williams, , Minnie L. Williams and Bonnie R.
Williams all living at 7102 Dinwiddee. “Willard
W.” Williams and Mattie L Williams were living at 7069 Dinwiddee. Both Louis
and Wallace were steel workers for the Conveyor Company in Maywood.
Wallace Williams must have left the Conveyor
Company shortly afterwards, as another grandson of Louis and Anne, Gary Wallace
Williams, was born the 17 August 1952 in Yucaipa, San Bernardino, California
where his parents Wallace and Mattie Lee had moved. Wallace preferred a more rural way of life
than living in Los Angeles County. He had a place where he could keep goats and
chickens. However he was back in Los Angeles County for the birth of Wallace and Mattie Lee's youngest daughter.
In 1952 Louis and Anne rented out their homes
on the Dinwiddie Street parcel and bought another house on Cole Street, still
in Downey. Eventually Louis and Anne bought several houses in and around Downey
in which they lived or rented out.
In 1952 Wallace and his young family was still living
in a small home on the Dinwiddee lot but were getting ready to move to Yucaipa
which was then a rural chicken farming community. By the 1950s post-World War
II development pressures in Los Angeles County also brought an increased urbanization
to the Yucaipa area. Agricultural production decreased from the farming
and ranching activities of the prior decades but was still prominent when
Wallace moved there. They moved after
their youngest daughter Terrie Lynn Williams was born the 22 May 1953 in
Lynwood, California
Bonnie fell in love with a man by the name of
Lee who was in the Navy in 1953, but her mother Anne disapproved of him and the
relationship was broken off. Bonnie
however found herself pregnant in April with Lee’s baby. Her girlfriend Glenda
Fagan, had a brother in law named Billy
Wayne Fagan who had two sons from a previous marriage. He agreed to marry
Bonnie. He was still in the Navy at the time. They were married the 17 July
1953 in Yuma, Arizona and Larry Paul Fagan was born 21 January 1954 in Lynwood.
Bill Fagan raised Larry with whom he had a stormy relationship.
In 1953 their son Edgar Hugh returned from
Texas after a joining the Lubbock Police Force with the help of his cousin
Mildred’s husband Claude Keaton. However after his partner was shot and killed,
June insisted that he quit and go back to farming. When a freak hail storm
wiped out his cotton crop, they picked up and moved back to Downey . Edgar Hugh
went to work for the Conveyor Company with his father. Edgar, June and their three children the lived
on the Dinwiddie place until buying a home in November of 1954 in west Orange
County, which is now the city of Garden Grove.
In 1954 Louis and Anne bought a small chicken
ranch in Yucaipa where their son Wallace had located his family and was working
as a wood worker in a furniture shop.
On 23 October 1953 Milton enlisted in the Army for a
hitch and was stationed in Colorado. He was mustered out in 1955 and when he
returned to Downey riding a motorcycle home. When Milton first got out of the service he ran around with
some boys his own age named Ronnie and Joe Clark. Their divorced mother Justine “Jerrie”
Bernhardt Clark was raising her children alone. She was a member of a square
dancing club, which Milton’s oldest brother Ray Williams had joined. Jerrie and Ray became acquainted because of
Milton running around with her sons and soon they were dating and getting
serious.
In the meantime Milton started dating a
pretty blond girl named Marie Buehlman and they were married on the 1st of
December 1956 in Norwalk. Milton went
to work as a truck driver for the Safeway Supermarkets and had two children,
Stephanie Irene Williams born the 29 November 1957 and Louis and Anne’s
youngest grandchild, Gregory Lynn Williams, born the 2February 1962, both at
the hospital in Lynwood in Los Angeles County.
Ray Williams was the last of Louis and Anne's
children to marry when he married Jerrie Clark on the 15 March 1957 in South
Gate, California. Jerrie was of
Russian-German ancestry and she was a refined lady with blond hair and striking
good looks. Anne had misgivings at first over her son marrying a divorced woman
who was 13 years older than Ray, and a Catholic to boot! But Jerrie through her charming ways won
Anne's heart and they were close up to Jerrie’s death in June 1978 when she
died of Leukemia. She was buried next to Louis Williams in the Rose Hill
Cemetery in Whittier.
In 1958 Louis and Anne moved from Dinwiddie
back to Cole Street where they lived until 1962 when they bought a home on
13234 Carfax Avenue in Downey. Here they lived for the next seven years making
this home the longest place they ever resided in their entire married
life. I have a memory however that they also lived at a home on Woodruff Street in Downey but I may be mistaken.
During the 1960’s, Louis and Anne Williams
had most of their children living in close proximity to them. Milton and Marie
Williams lived in Norwalk and later Walnut, California. Bonnie and Bill lived in
a house behind Louis and Anne on Dinwiddie until about 1959 and later moved to
Norwalk and then later to Buena Park in Orange County.
Minnie Lee lived much of the time in their
household. Minnie Williams never married and lived with her parents off and on
for the remainder of their lives. She
worked for several years as a live-in companion for invalid geriatric women including
her aunt Beulah Danforth’s mother in Earth Texas. Minnie was developmentally slow probably due
to her premature birth and she was the most petite of all of Louis and Anne’s
children. She was loved by all of her nephews and nieces. She developed type 2
diabetes in later life and had to live in a care facility until her death in
1999.
Wallace and Mattie Lee lived in Yucaipa and
later Redondo Beach before moving back to Lubbock Texas in about 1968 where
they lived the remainder of their lives with Wallace working for his brother in
law Walt Jarnigin.
Edgar and June Williams lived in Garden Grove
at 11562 Dale Street from 1954 until 1989 where they raised all their children.
Ray and Jerrie Williams lived in Grass Valley
and Citrus Heights area of Northern California for much of their lives and
raised Colleen a granddaughter of Jerrie’s until moving to Yucaipa about 1973.
Family visits were commonplace on a near
weekly basis, and holidays were held in various homes during these times. A domino game was nearly always set up for
Louis and his sons during these frequent visits. Easters and Christmas Eves were almost always
spent by their children’s families at Louis and Anne’s.
I know it was not easy living with Grandpa
Louis, who could be passive aggressive towards Grandma. They were always
bickering with one another and I remember one Easter, Grandma had made this
Easter Bunny cake made with coconut flakes. She had spent a lot of time making
it and I remember Grandpa placing it in the trunk. At the park when it was taken out it had been
ruined by something falling on it. It’s
the only time I remember Grandma nearly crying and somehow even as young as I
was I felt like Grandpa did it on purpose.
While grandma loved all her grandchildren
equally I feel she was more partial to Larry Fagan as he lived near her the
most and perhaps Grandma felt guilty for not letting Bonnie marry his father. However I don’t think Grandpa was very fond
of children at all or at least that was the impression I got as a little boy.
He was always yelling at us to behave and settle down.
My earliest impression on them living on
Dinwiddee street I must have been not much more than 3 or 4 years old. Way in the back of the long lot Grandpa kept
Chickens and a rabbit hutch for food. One time I went with him to see the
chickens and saw him chop the head off of one of them. Then he handed the bird
to me to take to grandma but the headless bird all of a sudden started flapping
and I dropped it and it ran around the yard before keeling over. It nearly
scared me to death and it has since made me wonder why he would do that to a little boy. May
be he thought it was funny.
On Christmas Eve the family tradition was for
Louis to make his Texas Chili and a kettle of pinto beans while Anne made all
sorts of pies, cherry, chocolate, pecan, and coconut cream. I remember one memorable Christmas Eve when my
mom’s folks came with us over to Grandma and Grandpa Williams. As everyone was
unwrapping their presents, my grandma Johnson was sitting enjoying the scene
when I noticed that Grandma Williams had disappeared. When she returned, she had a
placed a wrapped gift under the tree for Grandma Johnson who was surprised as
all get out to have a present. I am sure it was some knickknack that Grandma
Williams had but her kindness and thoughtfulness remained in my memory for my
entire life.
Louis retired while living on Carfax in 1967
but soon the cost of living began to eat slowly away at their social security
checks and they began to sell off their various properties. I also heard that as an Elder in the Paramount Church of Christ he was a cosigner for a loan that the church could not repay and he was obliged to help retire the debt. He began selling off his property about this time. He sold the Dinwiddee property for $70,000 just prior to the time when land values boomed in Southern California. The property which has been subdivided since then is worth more than a million dollars in today's markets.
In 1969 Louis and Anne moved up to Yucaipa
California where they bought a home on Nebraska Street. Because of
ever-increasing property taxes they finally sold all of their properties in
Downey and Louis worked for a short while in an eggplant there in Yucaipa on a
part-time bases. They became members of the Yucaipa Church of Christ.
Eventually Louis' health began to decline and
he sold their home on Nebraska Street because he was no longer able to keep
up with the yard work. Louis and Anne then purchased a doublewide mobile home
and moved it to 4th Street still in Yucaipa.
On Saturday the 25th of September 1971 their
children, to celebrate 50 years of marriage, gave Louis and Anne a Golden
Wedding Anniversary reception. An account of that occasion recorded in my journal
which went as follows:
September 25 Saturday 1971-I woke up at 9:30
to get ready to go to Yucaipa for Grandparents Williams' 50th Anniversary
Reception. I went up with Mom and Dad. The reception was held at the Church of
Christ building at 1:00. All of the clan was there, R.L.'s. Dad's, Wallace's,
Minnie, Bonnie's, and Milton's families. Aunt Beulah and Uncle Ed were there with
most of their descendants and many of Grandpa's relatives including his sister
Neil and his Aunt Nora. Our friends, Tom and Jean Horan came too, and Jean made
Grandma a money tree. The tree was painted gold and the leaves were made out of
crisp dollar bills. All in all there were about 75 persons there including many
of Grandma and Grandpa's Church of Christ friends. We had a family portrait
taken and afterwards we all went to a park, I think was called the Mill Creek
Park there in Yucaipa. We had a huge family Reunion there. It was fun and
probably the last time the family, as a whole will, all be at one place again.
There was plenty of food, ham, fried chicken, roast beef, potato salad, and all
kinds of pies, chocolate, coconut cream, banana, and cakes too. There was so
much I took some food back to the dorm at Cal State Fullerton for my roommate
and me later. It was 7 o'clock when I left to go home with Charline and Dennis.
Charlene is expecting her baby anytime. It sure was a pretty day and Grandma looked
really happy. In the late afternoon a wind came up and it turned pretty chilly.
65 degrees. It was a very nice occasion.”
In 1973 Louis really started to fade when he
became afflicted with Parkinson’s disease and began to get the palsy like shakes.
He went into a type of depressed withdrawal, seldom wanting to leave the house
or have company over. Anne and her daughter Minnie had the responsibility to
make sure that Louis took his medicine but by the end of 1976 Louis was almost
totally bedridden and Anne with heart trouble herself was no longer able to
take care of Louis at home. On the 29th of August 1976 he entered the hospital
at Redlands for an operation on his prostate and excerpts from his grandson's
diary read:
August 29 Sunday 1976: I spent the day up in
Yucaipa with Grandma Williams and I was so shocked to see Grandpa Williams. He
was all curled up on the bed and he looked physically deteriorated. He weighed
according to Grandma less then 112 pounds and he looked so thin with hollow
eyes and sunken cheeks. Bonnie and Bill were over and Milton and Marie came up
to help get Grandpa into the hospital. He's going to go to the hospital today
for an operation on his prostate and it seems to me he has given up his will to
live. It is so sad. Grandma is just an edgy nervous wreck over it and its so
hot today to boot. 100 degrees. Milton carried Grandpa to the car and I went
with him to help Grandma who also came with us down to the hospital in
Redlands. R.L. and Jerrie met us at the hospital and I was glad to see them.
They came down from Auburn in Northern California. In the hospital we got
Grandpa all situated and this Catholic Priest came in to visit with the family.
I thought to myself Holy Smoke! do you got the wrong room. Grandma was cordial
to him and thanked him for coming but let him know we weren't Catholic. I
thought it was funny myself. Then Grandpa said he wanted to tell me something
and I went over and sat on the side of the bed and began to tell, "Junior
I've done some things I'm a shame of..." That just freaked me out because
I was sure Grandpa was about to tell me his sins thinking he would die there in
the hospital. I said before he could speak another word, "Oh Grandpa you
don't have to tell me anything. That's between you and the Lord. You don't have
to tell me anything. I love you as you are." Then Grandpa but his hand on
mine and gave me a blessing. I was so freaked. Grandma was so upset because she
knows that Grandpa wants to die. I left Yucaipa for Garden Grove about 7:00 p.m.
though Grandma wants me to come back up before I leave for Washington D.C.”
Louis recovered from his operation but he
continued to resist the efforts of Anne and Minnie to care for him. He would
not eat properly nor take his medicine as he was suppose to and so in 1977 over
the objections of his daughter Bonnie, Louis was placed in a rest home in
Cherry Hills near Beaumont. Anne's failing health no longer permitted her to
care properly for her husband.
Of Louis death I wrote while I was living in Fort Worth, Texas: “On the 20th of
January I got a phone call from Mom saying that Grandpa Williams had died. He
died in a rest home of complications from pneumonia and old age. He was 75
years old but he gave up interest in life almost two years ago. He had been
steadily decline, in health primarily from his refusing to eat. He died at 5:59
a.m. with Dad and Aunt Minnie at his side. Mom had been with him and had just
stepped out to go to the bathroom and she came back she learned that Grandpa
had died. Everyone out there in California is really taking it hard since
Grandpa's was the first death in the immediate family. Grandpa was buried in a
nice suit at the Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier. Mom said most of the relatives
from Texas showed up and I wish I could go but we are broke. Mom bore the brunt
of Grandpa's death because she was the one who had to tell Grandma who had just
gotten out of the hospital herself from a mild heart attack. Marie said she
couldn't do it because the memory of her own mother's death was still too
painful so Mom was elected. Fran and I just could not go home for the funeral
because we had no money here in Fort Worth.”
Mom once told me that at Grandpa's viewing, Dad broke down and began sobbing seeing his father in his casket. Mom never saw my dad so grief stricken but he told her that he had never told his father that he loved him. I doubt if Louis ever told his sons that he loved them either. It was not the Williams' way to be demonstrative to their children.
Mom once told me that at Grandpa's viewing, Dad broke down and began sobbing seeing his father in his casket. Mom never saw my dad so grief stricken but he told her that he had never told his father that he loved him. I doubt if Louis ever told his sons that he loved them either. It was not the Williams' way to be demonstrative to their children.
Anne's own poor health after the death of her
husband was a major concern to her children. In June her daughter-in-law Jerrie
Williams died of Leukemia and was buried next to Louis at Rose Hill. She had
died on the 7 June 1978.
Anne's son Edgar Hugh Williams decided that
his mother needed to get away from California for a little while and during the
last half of June, he and his wife took Anne and her daughter Minnie to Salt
Lake City to see me. I wrote:
“In the last half of June, Fran and I were
delighted when Mom and Dad came up to see us on their way to Texas. They
brought with them Grandma Williams and Aunt Minnie. We had plenty of room in
Murray's big old house. Grandma slept down stairs because she couldn't climb
the stairs but other than that we all fitted in that big house just fine.
Although Mom did have a visit from the ghost in Murray's house the first night
they were here. It must have wanted to see who was in the house. Mom said she
woke up and noticed that Grandma was up with her light on downstairs when she
had gotten up to go to the bathroom. Well she said she came on down the stairs
to see if grandma was all right since Grandma was on Medication and taking oxygen.
It was 4 a.m. and while Mom was keeping Grandma company she heard someone
walking down the hall upstairs and she said to Grandma, "Edgar must have
gotten up." Soon Mom heard the steps descending down the stair case and
she had a funny feeling come over her and she said, "Edgar is that
you?" No answer. She called out again, "Edgar! Is that You!"
Still no response. She was frightened by now but didn't want to alarm Grandma
and said she was just going back to bed. She saw no one on the stairs or in the
hallway and she became so frightened by the experience that she wouldn't even
get up to go to the bathroom without making Dad get out of bed and go with her.
Dad just shrugged it off of course but the next morning we had to tell Mom
about the ghost but not to worry because it didn't do anything but walk the
hall, turn lights on, and play with the water in the bathroom by turning on
faucets and flushing the toilet. Besides this one experience we all had a good
time. The Cherry Tree in the back yard was loaded with fruit and Grandma loved
to pick the cherries off the tree. One day we even went to Temple Square to
visit the LDS Visitor Center and when this Mormon Guide asked whether Grandma
was a member of the Church, Grandma, I could hear muttering under her breath,
"Yes I am a member of the Church; the true Church, the Church of
Christ." When viewing paintings depicting Biblical scenes from the old and
New Testaments I also heard her remark, "Well they are nice but they're
all man's interpretations!'" The last night they spent with us we sat on
the back porch and had barbequed steaks and home made ice cream. The weather
could not have been any better the whole time they were here and Fran and I
were able to talk Grandma into letting Minnie stay with us instead of going to
Texas. So when Mom, Dad and Grandma let Minnie stay with us until the second of
July when we flew her home. We all had a good visit and Minnie needed the time
away from Grandma and the trauma of the deaths of Grandpa Williams and Aunt
Jerrie this year.”
Anne went on back to Texas with her son and
daughter-in-law and visited with many of her relations and friends. She took
several old pictures back to California from her cousin Boog Peacock of
Petersburg, Texas and she had a good time on her vacation. However it was to be
her last trip to her native state.
Anne spent the Thanksgiving Holiday 1978 at the home of her son Edgar Hugh. I wrote: “R.L. brought Grandma and Minnie
down from Yucaipa for Thanksgiving and Mom went all out and cooked up a big
Turkey Dinner which we hadn't expected because we didn't tell Mom we were
coming home for Thanksgiving until the Tuesday before we left. Saturday morning
we left to go home but we did stop in Yucaipa to see Grandma and Aunt Minnie.
R.L. came over too. We got off at around 11:00”
Anne also spent Christmas at the home of her
son Edgar Hugh in Garden Grove however she was not feeling well because she had
caught a virus.
24th December 1978- Fran and I both got up
early so we could be on the road before dawn. I drove from St. George, Utah to
Barstow before getting gas then on in to Garden Grove from there. We arrived
about 11:00 and Grandma, Minnie, and R.L. were down from Yucaipa and they were
all eating dinner when we arrived. Mom fixed a nice ham dinner. Since today was
Christmas Eve I wanted to do something special for the kids so Dad and I went
to the store and I bought stuff to make a candy cake house. In the evening
Milton, Marie, Stephanie and Greg dropped by and it was good to see them. Also
Willadene Webb a friend of R.L.'s came by. Donna, Ken, and Kenny came over, as
did Charlene Dennis and their brood. We exchanged gifts and Mom gave Fran and I
a queen size electric blanket. Really nice. We had cakes, pies, and homemade
candy coming out of our ear. Grandma made some of her good fudge too. Tom and
Jean Horan dropped over and it was good to see them again. All and all it was a
really nice Christmas Eve.”
While visiting with Grandma I decided to tell her how I found some information on her Peacock family. Grandma was the only one to liked my research into our family history especially when it concerned the Danforths. I told her how I had a dream that Grandma Minnie Danforth came to me to tell me where to find a book that had information about her grandma Martha Anderson Peacock. Instead of being skeptical Grandma then told me that she's had several dreams in a row where she heard her mother calling to her, "Annie, Annie," which woke her from her sleep because she felt so cold.
While visiting with Grandma I decided to tell her how I found some information on her Peacock family. Grandma was the only one to liked my research into our family history especially when it concerned the Danforths. I told her how I had a dream that Grandma Minnie Danforth came to me to tell me where to find a book that had information about her grandma Martha Anderson Peacock. Instead of being skeptical Grandma then told me that she's had several dreams in a row where she heard her mother calling to her, "Annie, Annie," which woke her from her sleep because she felt so cold.
Christmas Day 1978- Fran was sick all day and
didn't get out of bed almost all day. Betty, Norman and Beulah Danforth came
over for Christmas dinner and Aunt Beulah was on a real toot. She made some
caustic remark about Fran being in bed and when Grandma said she wasn't feeling
well, Buelah said she was just acting up for the attention. I can't believe
Aunt Beulah sometimes! She is so sweet but she can be so mean too. About 5:00
Grandma became so sick that Mom and Dad drove her home to Yucaipa so she could
go to her doctor. He said that Grandma had a virus that was going around and
needed to be home and rest. Before Grandma went home we had a nice turkey
dinner with all the trimmings. After Mom and Dad took Grandma home we took the
Christmas tree down for Mom and cleaned the house.
29th December 1978-Friday. We left for Utah
about 9:30 but drove over to Yucaipa to see Grandma and Aunt Minnie. I know
Grandma was still not feeling well because she was in her bathrobe with her
hairnet still on. Grandma apologized for her appearance because she usually was
fastidiously dressed. We had lunch with Grandma and stayed for about two hours.
Bonnie dropped by and it was good to see her before taking off. We left at 1:00
p.m." I didn't know it at the time but this was the last time I would see my
Grandma alive in this world.
After the first of the year Anne Williams
still not feeling well, and was backing her car out of her driveway when her
brakes failed and the car crashed into a brick retaining wall. Although she was
unhurt she became so agitated by the accident that her heart began to give her
trouble.
On the 4th of January 1979 she was admitted
into the hospital at Redlands to have surgery to place a pacemaker on her
heart. Her nephew Norman Danforth said he had a premonition that his Aunt would
not survive the operation and he and his wife Betty went up to Yucaipa to be
with Anne. They were the last people to see her alive on this earth when early
Wednesday morning on the 10th of January 1979 she had heart failure and she
died at the Hospital in Redlands, California. She died ten days short of the
first anniversary of her husband’s death. Anne Williams was now at rest,
reunited with a husband, an infant son, a brother, and parents who had preceded
her through the veil.
An account of the funeral of Anne Williams is
taken from excerpts from my journal.
10 January 1978-Wednesday: Mom called this
morning and said Grandma Williams has died! She died in Redlands at a hospital
where she was having a new pacemaker placed on her heart. Died of heart
failure. So glad we stopped and visited with Grandma at Christmas time. Haven't
had much time to think about it yet. Was called in to work this morning before
Mom called and decided to go in to work any ways and leave out tonight. Called
J.R. and Mary Peacock but they weren't home so talked to their son Dennis.
Grandma was 76 years old born 31 March 1902 at Swenson in Stonewall County,
Texas. She died 10 January 1979. I wanted to start crying every time I thought
of Grandma so I had to keep busy. When we got home in the afternoon Donna
called and said that the funeral wasn't till Monday so there was no need to
hurry home. However around 7 Mom called to say the funeral was moved up to
Friday. It was too late to think about traveling today because of the weather
conditions so we went to bed around 8 o'clock so we could leave out early in
the morning. Didn't get much sleep however. Just tossed and turned.
11 January 1979 Thursday-Got up about 4:30
a.m. Fran had been up since 1 cleaning the house and packing the car. We didn't
get off before 6 O’clock and after a lot of fighting, mainly from tension,
frustration, and lack of sleep. We drove straight through to California and
were in Yucaipa by 7:30 p.m. California time. A lot of the way I drove 75~80
miles an hour. The weather in Utah was bad almost all through the state but the
snow was gone from St. George on in. It really felt weird being at Grandma's
trailer home without Grandma there to greet us. Bonnie, Bill, Betty and Norman
were all ready there when we arrived. They were waiting for the folks from
Texas to come in. We sat around for about two hours eating and visiting, oh
yes, Pam Fagen and her little boy Aaron were up too. Pam was looking out for
Bonnie. About 8:00 Norman told Fran and I that they were going to the funeral
home to see Grandma and to be there when the others started arriving. So we
went with them and were the first to the funeral home and first to see Grandma
at the viewing. She was reposing in a light blue casket lined in blue silk. She
was wearing a dark blue dress, which she had worn years ago for her Golden
Wedding Anniversary. She also wore it to Grandpa's funeral last year then had
it dried cleaned and put away for her own funeral. She had on a string of
pearls and pearl earrings and she looked like she had just laid down for a nap.
There were lots of pretty flowers from friends and family and her casket piece
was made up of pink and white carnations with dark green feathery fern filler.
It was very pretty. But it was still a shock to see Grandma lying there knowing
that she won't wake up. Betty and Norman wanted to see Grandma first so they
could be prepared to help the family when they came to view the body. A little
after we were through, Bonnie, Bill, Pam, and Minnie came. I went with Minnie
into the viewing room and both Minnie and Bonnie broke down and cried and
lamented. Bill tried to comfort Bonnie while I let Minnie cry on my shoulder. I
told Minnie that Grandma was a faithful Christian and that God promised her
rest and now she's gone to her reward. That is the test of the Christian Faith.
This seemed to comfort her a little because she stopped her hard sobbing from
the heart. However Bonnie was inconsolable and they left as Milton and Marie,
Dad and Mom came together. R.L. also came about the same time in his truck. Dad
did not look well at all. He was thin, pale, and gray. When R.L. saw Grandma he
broke down and cried. Poor R.L. He lost his father, mother, and wife all in one
year and the burden of Grandma's funeral fell on his shoulders because Wallace
was back in Texas, Dad was just recovering from his own heart problem, and
Milton was at the time making a delivery to Las Vegas. However it couldn't have
been nicer and everything was done wonderfully. Mom held both R.L. and Dad
while they cried and expressed their grief. Afterwards we all went back to the
trailer for a little bit and shortly thereafter the folks from Texas came in
about 9:30. They didn’t get to view the body because the funeral home closed at
9:00. Beulah, Wallace and Mattie Lee came with Marjorie Fern and Bill Damron
while Danny and Marilyn brought their own car with their kids, Dena, Danny, and
Candace. Minnie went home with Bonnie and Bill and Fran and I went home with
R.L. and spent the night over there. We didn't get to bed before 12:00. What a
weary, weary day. Good to see Marilyn again. All of her children are growing so
big. Its sad that we only get together for funerals.
12 January 1979-Friday-Fran and I spent the
night at R.L.'s and we tried to get some rest. We got up at 8:00 had had
breakfast of pancakes with R.L. But before we could eat, Wallace and Mattie
called and said that they wanted R.L. to take them over to the funeral home to
see Grandma before the Church service. He went over to the coach to pick them
up and I locked up his place and went over to Grandma's trailer by our selves.
Marjorie Fern, Bill, and Beulah were there already with Bonnie, Bill, and
Minnie. Milton, Marie, Stephanie, and Greg all came up together and Marie went
into the kitchen to get the coffee going. Milton went over to Bonnie and hugged
her neck and they both cried, and soon Wallace and Mattie Lee came back with
R.L. Mattie Lee was just jabbering away, couldn't stop talking. Nervous I
guess. Betty, Norman, Mom and Dad soon came up too with Donna and her Baby.
R.L.'s step children, Jackie and Theo and their daughters Terri and Marsha who
came with their families. It was really
a full house. The little kids really helped lighten up the morning with their
carefree playing. It was hard to be too sad when watching Grandma's
great-grandchildren on the floor playing. The funeral was at 11:00 over at the
Yucaipa Church of Christ. The children of Grandma rode over in a limousine that
the funeral home provided. Fran and I drove over with Donna and little Kenny in
Mom's car. The Church was almost completely filled which to me is a testimony
on how loved Grandma was. Her casket was on view as you filed into the church
and I'll try to list all the people I knew who was there. However I'd say most
of the people were friends and Church members who knew grandma. R.L. Williams
was there with his step-children, Theo Clark, and his wife Jackie, their two
daughters and their husbands and children, Theo's brother Joe and his bunch,
and R.L.'s friend Willadene Webb who sat with Fran and I. Our bunch included
Dad, Mom, Charline, Dennis, James, Denise, Michael, Dennis' mother Janet Peavy,
Donna, Kenny and of course Fran and I. Wallace's bunch included Wallace, Mattie
Lee, Frances Ann, Aleesa, Steven, Marilyn, Danny Stevens, Dena, Danny Jr,
Candace, and Terrie. Minnie and Bonnie were together with Bill and Bonnie's
former daughter-in-law Pam and Bonnie's grandson Aaron. Milton and Marie were
there with Stephanie and Gregory and Marie's father Alfred Buelhman and her
brother Al Buelhman. Dad's cousins Gene Walker and his wife Carolyn, and Norman
and Betty Danforth were in attendance. Aunt Beulah Danforth was with Marjorie
Fern and Bill Damron. Norman's daughters Beverley Watrous and Barbara Danforth
and their son Alan Danforth all came. Grandpa's sister Nell and her husband Toy
Dial were there too. That's about all the people there that I knew but almost
twice that many people were there for the funeral. Three Church of Christ
Ministers gave short talks about death and the scriptures and a little about
Grandma. She was eulogized as a 'Christian Woman’ and a "perfect example
on an elder's wife. R.L. 's step-granddaughter sang a beautiful song and a
small choir sang some hymns between the talks. The only hymn I knew was
"When We Meet On that Beautiful Shore." Wallace was visibly sobbing thru out the whole
service but the rest were as stoic as ever. I wish they all had cried their
guts out because it would have been a healthy way for them to express their
emotions. After the Service the Church of Christ ladies prepared a dinner for
everyone in the recreational hall but I didn't eat because Donna wanted to
leave for home and I had to go get our car, which we left at Grandma's. After
the dinner we all left to go to Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier for the burial.
Denise and James went with Fran and me.
I got a little lost but managed to find my way over there from Yucaipa.
This morning was dreary, overcast, and drizzling a little rain and on the way
over to Whittier the smog was so bad it made my eyes sting. However once we
reached Rose Hill the sun had come out and a breeze blew all the smoke away. It
was a beautiful, beautiful, clear, and sunny day. On the side of the hill when
Grandma's graveside service was held you could see clear across the San Gabriel
Valley. Gary Williams and Eddy Griess were able to make it to the burial and so
Larry Fagen was the only Grandchild that was not able to come. He's back in
Norfolk, Virginia in the navy and couldn't get time off., It was a surprised to
see Gary. He's a regular goat-roping cowboy with a long blond handlebar
mustached wearing boots, blue jeans, and a buckle. He really looked sharp but I
guess I'm really a city boy myself. The funeral was completely over at 4
o'clock and we took Denise and James home. Poor little Denise was sobbing so
much and said, "I'll never forget Grandma. She'd always let me have all
the vanilla ice cream I wanted when I was staying with her." James had
been silent and introspective all through the funeral so it was right out of
the blue when he said, "And I'll never forget her peanut brittle." He
said it with total conviction and seriousness that Fran and I had to laugh. One
of the last things Grandma made was an afghan for Denise at Christmas time.
After the funeral we went to a McDonald's for some drinks then took the kids
home to Charline’s. There Charline said that Mom wanted us to come right over
to Mom's so we did. There at Mom's was Milton and Marie, Minnie, Aunt Beulah,
Betty and Norman. Norman suggested that we all go over to his house for some
chili so about 6 we went over there and stayed till about 10:00. I don't know
why but Beulah sure doesn't care a thing about Fran. I guess being a Yankee
from Minnesota she reminds her too much of Betty. Anyways they get along just
like cats and dogs. Fran was trying to be nice and said to Beulah, "Thanks
for the canned squash it was real good." Mom had given us a couple of jars
that Beulah had put up and given to Mom, and Beulah said, "I made them for
June!" You had to put a sweater on because
she was so cold to Fran. But Beulah was in rare form when she kept calling
Beverley's boyfriend by Bev's ex-husband's name. Beulah kept calling him Paul,
and finally Bev got mad and said, "Gram his name is Mike! " and
Beulah said in a snoot "Well I'm sorry it won't happen again!" And it
didn't because Beulah ignored him for the rest of the evening. When they made
Aunt Beulah they broke the mold. She sure is one of a kind. But I love her. All
in all we had a good time at the Danforths but I almost cried when Dad said to
Norman, "Go sit with your mother. I'd give anything to be able to sit with
mine." I really love my Danforth relations. I really enjoy their company.
After we left about 10:30 we came home with Mom and Bad and Minnie. I think
Minnie is holding up extremely well.
14 January 1979 Mom and Dad got up early to
go out for breakfast then to Church with Minnie, James, and Denise. R.L. called
a little later and said Grandpa's Sister Jerri Smith and her niece Doris Rose
Butler had finally gotten in and were over at Gene and Carolyn Walker's house
in Fountain Valley. About 11:30 we drove over there to see Aunt Jerrie Smith
and Doris Rose. Minnie came with us and over there were also Aunt Nell and
Milton and Marie. While there it poured down cats and dogs all the streets were
flooded. Aunt Jerry had to come to California to see a specialist for her
nerves and Aunt Nell was down in Southern Cal to see a doctor about her foot.
Coincidently today was the 6th anniversary of Granny Rose's death in Plainview
and her 75th Wedding Anniversary, and here we are- many of her children,
grandchildren, and great grandchildren and several great-great grandchildren. I
like to think that we are in a great relay race passing the torch of life from
one runner to another. Granny Rose and Grandma Williams' race is run but they
passed the torch on to the next generation and then we to the next. Fran and I
really had a nice time at Gene and Carol's and just as we were getting ready to
leave Mom called and said she and Dad were coming over so we stayed a little
longer and had dinner. Gene's kids Luxie, Randy, and Andy came over too and I
hadn't seen them since we were in Junior High. I talked mostly with Aunt Jerry.
It was a down pour of rain most of the day, rain, rain, rain.”
Anne had made a will out before she died and
it was read to the family on the 15th of January 1979. Anne left the remainder of her meager estate
to Minnie who all agreed needed it the most. Her sons Edgar Hugh and Milton
Williams were made executors over the estate.
Anne Williams was a good cook and she was
quite skilled in crocheting and knitting. She crocheted doilies and table
clothes as well as made several afghan blankets for her grandchildren. Louis
Williams also was a good cook and his hobbies were gardening and playing dominoes.
Whenever Louis and Anne would visit their
children usually a card table was soon produced and the dominoes brought out.
Both Anne and Louis enjoyed playing dominoes and some card games. Anne Williams
loved her family and she is sorely missed and her death has left a great
vacancy in the lives of all who loved her. One time a daughter-in-law asked
Anne which grandchild was her favorite and Anne's reply was, "The one I am
with at the time."
Two of Grandma and Grandpa Williams' favorite
recipes-
Grandpa Williams West Texas Chili Recipe1 lb of course ground beef with suet
1 chopped onion
1/8 bottle of Eagle Brand Chili Powder
1 tsp Ground New Mexico Chili
1/4 of a garlic pod
1/8 tsp of ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon of Paprika
Salt to taste
1 quart of water
Boil the ground beef with chili spices and then simmer to consistency desired
Grandma Williams Apple Butter Recipe
Pare three cups of applesCook in saucepan until real dry
Add 1-cup sugar and 1/2 tsp of the following;
Cinnamon, Ginger, Allspice
and add 1/4 tsp of ground cloves.
Watch that it doesn't bum after adding sugar
Pour into jars and seal by hot water bath method.
Grandma Williams Chocolate Pie
¾ cup sugar ½ cup flour
¼ cup powder coco
A pinch of salt
1 ½ cup water
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
¼ cup sugar
Mix all the dry ingredients and then add water and bring to a boil stirring constantly until thickens. Cool to the touch then add the egg yolks 1 at a time while mixture is still warm and beat in well until the mixture is shinny. Return to the stove and cook a few minutes until bubbly. Pour into a baked pie crust. Beat egg whites and sugar to a meringue, spread over pie and bake until the meringue starts to brown.
FAMILY of LOUIS and ANNE DANFORTH WILLIAMS
Louis Milton Williams, son of Edgar Lewis
Williams and Rosa Lee Perser, was born 22 October 1902 near Carterville, Cass,
Texas and died 20 January 1978 age 75
years at Cherry Hills, Riverside, California. He was married 27 September 1921 in
the town of Dickens, Dickens County, Texas. His wife was Anne Ruth Williams,
daughter of Mabry Oscar Danforth and Minnie Gertrude Peacock. She was born 31
March 1902 in the community of Swenson, Stonewall County, Texas. She died 10
January 1979 age 76 years in Redlands, San Bernardino County, California. They
are buried in Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.
Children and descendants
Oscar Louis Williams was born 2 June 1922 in Spur,
Dickens, Texas and died 13 June 1922 Spur, Dickens, Texas. He is buried in the Spur Cemetery. “The two
week old baby of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Williams died Tuesday night at their home
in Spur, the remains being interred Wednesday in the Spur cemetery, the infant
had been ill since birth. The Texas Spur, June 16, 1922
Raymond
Leonard Williams
was born 28 June 1923 Plainview, Hale, Texas and died 2 July 2015 in Fontana, San
Bernardino at the age of 91. He was the last surviving child of Louis and Anne
Williams. He married Justine "Jerrie" Bernhardt Clark on 15 March 1957 in South Gate, Los
Angeles, California. She was born 25 Sep 1910 in Catherine, Ellis, Kansas
daughter of Michael Bernhardt and Anna Marie Husch natives of Mariental,
Russia. She died 7 Jun 1978 in Yucaipa,
San Bernardino, California. Ray was the stepfather of Jerrie’s grown children. Ray
married 2nd Eleanor Fritze on 5 April 1980 in Yucaipa, San
Bernardino, California. She was born 20 Sep 1924 in Manhattan New York City, New
York, and died 18 October 2011 in Redlands, San Bernardino County, California. She was buried in Redondo Beach while Ray was
buried next to his first wife Jerrie in Rose Hills. His niece Frances Anne
Griess was executor of his estate with his nephew Edgar Jr. (Ben) to serve as
executor if Frances was unable.
Edgar
Hugh Williams
was born 19 January 1925 Portales, Roosevelt, New Mexico and died at the age of
77 on 26 December 2003 Palmdale, Los Angeles, California of a massive stroke.
He married Wilma June Johnson on 20 March 1946 in Olton, Lamb, Texas. She was
born 3 June 1929 in Shamrock, Texas and died 13 April 2011 in Mesa, Arizona at
the age of 81 years. She was cremated and her remains were buried with her
husband’s body in Rose Hill Cemetery, Whittier, California. Edgar Hugh joined
the navy at the age of 17 and was the only one of Louis and Anne’s sons to
serve in combat in the South Pacific during World War II when the ship he was
on was bombed. After he was mustered out of the service he returned to Texas to
marry his sweetheart. They moved to California to live with Louis and Anne for
a couple of years before returning to Texas where he farmed and had joined the
Lubbock Police Force. In 1953 they returned to California and Edgar went to
work for the Conveyor Company in Maywood as a steel worker. In 1954 they moved
to Orange County and bought a house on Dale Street which eventually became a
part of Garden Grove. They lived in this home for 36 years and where they
raised their three children. Edgar Hugh changed jobs in the early 1960’s
eventually working for H & L Distributors for Coors Beer and later as a
foreman for Downey Fabricators supervising steel workers. He retired in 1989
and sold their house in Garden Grove and then moved to Victorville, California
where they only lived a few years before moving to Arizona to be near Milton
and Marie. They first bought a home in Prescott and later in Cottonwood. After
Milton died in 1995 Edgar and June moved to Texas to help take care of her
widowed father. However he died shortly afterwards. They had a house built in
Lubbock, Texas but was dissatisfied with living in Texas with their
grandchildren growing up in California. In 1998 they moved backed to California
and bought a house in Palmdale, Los Angeles, California where Edgar Hugh
Williams died the day after Christmas. June Williams continued to live in
Palmdale when she decided to move to Las Vegas where she bought a mobile home.
Her daughter Charline Wachs moved into the same mobile home court until they
decided to move to Arizona to be closer to grandchildren there. June Williams
bought a home in San Tan Valley cared for by her daughter until her health declined
and she died in a convalescent home in Mesa, Arizona.
A. Charline
Williams was born 9 June 1947 Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California and married
Dennis Lee Wachs on 31 July 1970 in Westminster,
Orange, California. Dennis Wachs was born 11 September 1947 in Wabash County,
Indiana. He served in Viet Nam. While Charline was engaged to Gary Clark who
was in the navy during the Viet Nam, became pregnant in 1968. Gary then broke
off the engagement with Charline and she gave birth to James Edgar Clark who
wasborn 1 December 1968 Artesia, Los Angeles, California. In 1970 she met
Dennis Wachs after they were married they had Denise Elizabeth Wachs born 22
October 1971 Bellflower, Los Angeles, California who married Aaron S Ferguson on
31 March 1989 in Baltimore, Maryland and later divorced and Michael Louis Wachs
born 14 January 1975 in Pomona,
Los Angeles, California lives in Newton, Kansas.
B. Donna
Fay Williams was born 25 June 1949 in Amherst, Lamb, Texas. She was married
twice. Her first husband was Terry John Pierce whom she married 4 February 1968
in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were later divorced. She then married Kenneth Louis
Jones on 13 February 1975 in Santa Ana, Orange, California. They were the
parents of two sons, Kenneth Thomas Paine Jones born 27 August 1976 in Anaheim,
Orange, California and Kevin Louis Oakes Jones born 1 November 1979 also in Anaheim,
Orange, California
C. Edgar
Hugh "Ben" Williams Jr. was born 10 April 1951 Amherst, Lamb,
Texas and married Wilma Frances Fuchs on 7 January 1977 in Salt Lake City, Utah
and later divorced in September 1988. They had no issue. Ben Williams was an
elementary school teacher for 27 years before retiring in 2015. He is a Gay
activist in Salt Lake City and community historian.
Willard
Wallace Williams
was born 17 January 1927 in Portales, Roosevelt, New Mexico and died 16
December 2012 at the age of 85 years in Lubbock, Texas. At the age of 17 he married
Mattie Lee Jarnigan 21 October 1944 in Muleshoe, Bailey, Texas. She was born 26 October 1927 Caney, Atoka
County, Oklahoma the daughter of Walter Jarnigan and Blanche Self. I never knew
Uncle Wallace or as he was known to others “Wad” very much as he lived always
some distance from the rest of the family and did not always attend family get
togethers. I remember the house they had in Yucaipa and a huge picture window
in the front room where you could see the mountains. They had goats on the
property and I know they drank goat milk which seemed strange to me. They had a
little cocker spaniel dog as I remember for a very long time. In the mid 1960’s they moved back to Texas
however their daughters were married and stayed in the Redondo Beach area of
Los Angeles County. I believe Wallace and Mattie Lee lived there a short time
before moving back to Texas. I know they were back in Texas by 1968 because I
went with my mom who drove Grandma and Grandpa and Gary Williams back to Texas.
I remember Grandpa grousing at mom for how fast she was driving. He also
irritated me because he gave some money to Gary to spend but nothing to me.
Again I remember in the summer of 1969 I
helped Francis Anne drive back to Texas with her kids and stopping in Prescott
Arizona to pick up Marilyn and her kids.
Wallace remained in Texas for a time on a farm while working for his
brother in law Walter Jarnigin. The last time I remember seeing Wallace and
Mattie Lee was when Mom and Dad had moved back to Lubbock where they had a
house built in about 1996. His daughter Terrie Williams commenting on her father's funeral said "On the day we buried my dad, right after the grave side service the wind kicked up , dust blew and giant tumbleweeds blew across the road while on the way to church for fellowship and comfort food the congregation cooked for us. What a memory.....like I never seen."
A. Frances
Anne Williams was born 12 September 1945 in Amherst, Lamb, Texas. She
graduated from Yucaipa High School in 1963. She married Claude Edward
"Ed" Griess on 23 July 1965 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Eddie Griess as I knew him was born
24 July 1942 in Mt. Carmel, Illinois and died 13 February 2002 at the age of
59. He was divorced with a son named Richard Edward “Ricky” Griess who Frances
Anne raised along with her own children. He was born 6 August 1963 in Los
Angeles County, California to Eddie’s 1st wife Carol Orcutt. Frances
Anne Griess had two children Aleesa Anne
Griess born 18 February 1966 Orange, Orange, California the wife of Arthur
Ogden and Steven Edward Griess born 21
December 1967 Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California. Alessa Ogden lives in
Grants Pass, Oregon and Steven lives now in Odessa, Texas. Frances worked for
years as Former Bookkeeper Administrative Assistant at Ace- Main Building
Supply before Eddie and Frances Ann moved to Grants Pass, Oregon where she
operated a café called the Chuck Wagon for years until she retired. She now
lives in Rogue River, Oregon with her 2nd husband Mr. Marlett.
B. Marilyn
Kay Williams was born 8 May 1948 Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California and
married Danny Lee Stevens on 13 July 1965 in Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California.
Danny was born 17 Dec 1944 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, and died 3
July 2009 in Kingman, Arizona, at the age of 64 years. Marilyn Stevens had
three children and raised a granddaughter. Her children are Dina Lee Stevens born
19 August 1970 in Redondo Beach, Los Angeles, California, Danny Lee Stevens Jr.
born 3 May 1972 Lubbock, Lubbock, Texas and Candice Lynn Stevens born 16 August
1977 Lubbock, Lubbock, Texas. Marilyn Williams Stevens resides in Lubbock,
Texas
C. Gary
Wallace Williams was born 17 August 1952 Yucaipa, San Bernardino,
California and died 25 May 2013 in Huntington Beach, Orange, California at the
age of 60 of liver failure. He was a liver transplant recipient and lived
several years after his operation. He operated a motorcycle repair shop in
Huntington Beach. He married Lynn Crane 20 July 1972 Lubbock, Texas. They divorced
circa 1975. They had one son Gary Lynn
Williams who was born 31 July 1973 in Lubbock, Lubbock, Texas and resides now
in Farmington, New Mexico.
D. Terrie
Lynn Williams was born 22 May 1953 in Lynwood. Los Angeles, California. She
married at the age of 16 years Virgil Steven Lamb 10 March 1971 in Las Vegas,
Nevada. They were divorced in October 1975 in Los Angeles County. Steve Lamb
was later killed in a motorcycle accident 22 October 1981. Terrie never
remarried and made a living working as a fleet manager for the South Bay Ford
Lincoln dealer in Hawthorne, California. She has lived most of her life in
Redondo Beach. Terrie is a beautiful artist making jewelry and ceramics. She is
funny sometimes, likes the outdoors, doesn’t drink or smoke, loves the
water...swimming, boating, bathing. She is creative, inquisitive, likes movies,
plays, music, dancing....picnicking and watching stars & spinning stories.
Minnie
Lee Williams
was born 24 December 1929 in Muleshoe, Bailey, Texas and died age 69 years on 7
June 1999 in Riverside, Riverside, California. Minnie Williams never married
and lived with her parents off and on for the remainder of their lives. She worked for several years as a live-in
companion for invalid geriatrics including her aunt Beulah Danforth’s mother in
Earth Texas. Minnie was developmentally
slow probably due to her premature birth and she was the most petite of all of
Louis and Anne’s children. She was loved by all of her nephews and nieces. She
developed type 2 diabetes in later life and had to live in a care facility
until her death in 1999. Aunt Minnie’s
birthday was Christmas Eve and her birthday was often overlooked which I felt
bad as a child but now I realize how lucky she was to have most of her kinfolk
gathered for Christmas Eve on her special day.
Minnie would often take us to the movies and I remember he taking me to
see the Ten Commandments when it first came out and much later while visiting
in Downey she took me to see Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. They were special
occasions for me. Minnie loved her sweets which probably contributed to her
diabetes as an adult. Minnie never lived out on her own until after her parents
died and then she many lived in retirement homes ran by the Church of Christ in
Yucaipa. My dad and Milton were executors of Minnie’s inheritance and made sure
she had money to live on until she died. She had medicare and medi-cal to help
with her medical issues but she had very little in the way of Social Security
as she was never fully employed. She was
a kind sweet aunt.
Bonnie
Ruth Williams
was born 31 October 1931 in Portales, Roosevelt, New Mexico and died at the age
of 64 years on 31 August 1996 a Loma
Linda hospital, Riverside, California. She married Billy “Bill” Wayne Fagen on 17
July 1953 in Yuma, Arizona. Bill was born 10 May 1927 in Kerns County, California
to Wilbur Thomas Fagan and Nellie Newberry. He died on 19 Nov 1993 in Yucaipa,
San Bernardino, California. Bill joined the Navy on 25 Aug 1944 during
World War II. After he was mustered out he joined his folks who had moved to
Downey. He was a truck driver by occupation for much of his life. Bonnie was
pregnant with another man’s child when they married and Bill raised Bonnie’s
son who took Bill’s last name. For much of the 1950’s Bonnie and Bill lived in
a house behind Louis and Anne’s main house on Dinwiddie Street. After Louis and
Anne left Dinwiddee so did Bonnie and Bill and moved to a house on Golden
Avenue about 4 miles south still in Downey. In 1968 Bonnie and Bill moved to
Buena Park, California in Orange County. They lived here until Bill Fagen was
injured in an industrial accident and later had to go on partial disability and
semi-retirement. They moved to Yucaipa in the late 1970’s and lived there where
they both were living at the time of their deaths.
I don’t think Bonnie worked but was a stay at
home mom. I remember she always brought rice krispie marshmallow treats to most
of the family gatherings. She was a good cook and always seemed to be
happy. A special memory I have of Aunt
Bonnie was when I was staying overnight with them when they lived in Downey.
When she put Larry and I to bed I remember her washing my feet with a warm wash
cloth. That gesture was simple but it showed to me that she loved me, or that I
had really dirty feet. She was very sociable
and it seems that Grandma and Grandpa favored Bonnie and Bill more than the
rest of their kids; maybe because they lived close to them. I heard that grandpa
Williams was always helping them out financially. Sometime in the early 70’s there was a
falling out between Milton and Marie and Bonnie and Bill. Evidently Bill Fagan
was attracted to young blond girls and had acted inappropriately to their
daughter Stephanie. From that time forward, Milton and Marie would not attend
family functions where Bill Fagan would attend.
I never liked my Uncle Bill Fagan who always seemed to be cross. He was
very thin almost skinny and his eyes would bulge whenever he was mad. I don’t know if he was ever abusive to Aunt
Bonnie but I think she stayed with him out of a sense of duty and perhaps she
had no choice. I always felt sorry for Aunt Bonnie even though she behaved very
badly after Grandma Williams died. She was upset that Grandma had left
everything to Aunt Minnie so she took Grandma’s silver set of flat ware and a
secretary writing hutch. After Bonnie passed away I have no idea what ever
happened to these items.
A. Larry
Paul Fagen was born 21 January 1953 Lynwood, Los Angeles, California and died
at the age of 46 years 5 July 1999 in Guam. He died of a heart attack. He
married
Pamela Bullington 8 September 1973 in Las
Vegas, Nevada and later divorced in 1976. He enlisted in the navy and married
as his second wife Betty Bonan 17 January 1979 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
He served in the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm when
Iraq invaded Kuwait. He was stationed in Guam where he is buried. Larry I think
was the best looking of all the male grandsons of Louis and Anne. He was quite
skilled in carpentry work and in high school shop built his mother a
grandfather clock. I got to know Larry quite well when I was able to get him
hired while he was in high school at a Taco Bell I worked at on Lincoln and
Western in Anaheim while I was attending Cypress College. He was a good worker
but he had dubious friends with whom he hung around. He told me once how he and
his friends would break into cars and steal 8 track players. I was really
shocked and told him he needed to get his act together. I think he was mainly
influenced by his friends. One of his pals had a sister named Pam Bullington
whom Larry began dating in high school. I
lost track of Larry after I went off to Cal State Fullerton and later moved to
Utah. I was surprised to learn that he married Pam but she was six months
pregnant. A son, Aaron Paul Fagan was
born 2 January 1974 in the Pioneer Hospital in Artesia, Los Angeles, California. Larry and Pam divorced not long after that however
Bonnie and Pam remained close. Larry decided to make a career for himself in
the navy and had little to do with the family much after that. At one point
Bonnie and Bill thought about moving to Virginia where Larry was stationed
because he refused to return to California to live. I heard Larry always denied
that Aaron was his son but Bonnie and Pam always said he was and there’s no
reason to not to believe them. Bonnie
and Betty Fagan did not get along primarily because she preferred Pam as a
daughter in law and the fact that Betty was a Pilipino by ancestry. Pam
remarried a Mr. Page and resided in Chino, San Bernardino, California.
Milton
Bradford Williams
was born 5 November 1934 at Earth, Lamb, Texas and died 28 October 1995 age 60
years in Sedona, Coconino, Arizona. He died of colon cancer. He married Marie
Joanne Buehlman 1 December 1956 in Norwalk, Los Angeles, California. Marie was
the daughter of Alfred George Buehlman and Myhrties Evelyn Schmidt. Marie was
born 13 January 1937 in Los Angeles County, California and died 23 January 2010
age 73 years old in Sedona, Arizona. They are buried in the Sedona Community, Cemetery.
Milton was a truck driver for most of
his career and Marie worked as a book keeper. She once told me that she loved
working with numbers. Milton was my favorite uncle as that he was only 17 years
older than me and I remember as a little boy he would give me piggy back rides
and bounce me around. As a teenager when
ever I had a fight with my own father, Milton would calm him down and stand up
for me. However with his own children he was a strict disciplinarian almost to
be abusive. Milton and Marie lived in Norwalk until the mid sixties when they
moved to the community of Walnut. I remember spending my Easter Break my Junior
year of high school over at their place in Walnut. An economic downturn had
Milton and Marie sell the house in Walnut and move to Anaheim where they bought
a smaller house on Radcliffe which was a cul de sac. They lived there for much
of the 1970’s until they bought a more spacious house in Anaheim Hills on East
Paseo Laredo which had a pool. There they also had two Doberman Pinchers. In
1985, while visiting relatives in Texas, their only son Greg Williams was
murdered in a drug deal that went wrong. Greg had become very rebellious being
part of the “punk” scene, doing drugs, and fighting with his parents.
Eventually they told him to leave and for a while he moved in with his Uncle
Edgar Hugh but as he was a bad influence on their grandson James Edgar Clark
who was living with them at the time Greg was asked to find another place to
live. He told me once that he slept on roof tops of schools and office
buildings because they were safer places to be at night. I always was fond of my little cousin even if
he once called me an “over educated dork.” I thought it was funny. Anyway, his uncle and aunt Edgar Hugh and
June were called to identify the body and notified Milton and Marie of their
son’s death. The killer was never identified and his murder remains unsolved. After this time Milton and Marie life was
difficult and they became increasingly abusive of alcohol until they eventually
completely stopped. When Marie’s father passed away he left her a considerable
estate from properties he had owned in Los Angeles County. They decided to retire and move away from
California to Arizona and had a large home built in Sedona located at 225 Deer
Trail. Milton bought a jeep and enjoyed the back country. He especially enjoyed the coyotes and one he
feed regularly in the ravine behind their house. Not long after Milton and
Marie settled into their new house, Milton was diagnosed with aggressive colon
cancer. He was nearly bed ridden for the remainder of his life. He passed away
on 28 October 1995 in Sedona, ten years to the day that his son died. Marie remained a widow for the next 15 years
but took several cruises to Alaska with her grandson Steven Hagg. However she
became estranged from her daughter Stephanie after Marie converted to the
Church of Christ in Sedona. She left her house and estate to the Sedona Church
of Christ leaving Stephanie without an inheritance. She is buried next to
Milton in the Sedona Community Cemetery.
A. Stephanie
“Steph” Irene Williams was born 29 November 1957 in the Lynnwood hospital
while her folks lived in Norwalk, Los Angeles, California. Stephanie was in the
first graduating class of Esperanza High School, Anaheim, California in 1975.
After high school she married Charles “Chuck” Allen Ashburn on 13 September
1975 in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 17. The marriage did not work out and
they were divorced in 1977. She
graduated in the Class of 1980 in Electronics engineering technology in
Anaheim, California. She married a second to Jon P. Haag in 1982 but they later
divorced in 1985. They had a son born 12 April 1983 in Anaheim, California they
named Steven Jon Haag. Stephanie went
back to using her maiden name and before Milton died she had another son she
named David Gregory Williams Havens who was born 19 May 1995 in Fullerton,
Orange, California. Stephanie retired from the Boeing Company where she was a Space
Simulation Lab Supervisor from October 1983. She was in Senior Engineering R
& D Tech, IR Tech for 23.5 years. Steph Williams came out as a Lesbian
after her cousin “Ben” Edgar Williams did. She is currently [2017] living in
Corona, California in a relationship with Julie Sundeen. Steph struggled with
substance addiction for many years as an adult but overcame it. One of her
favorite quotes because of it is “I know
that faith in my Higher Power will not calm the storms of life, but it will
calm my heart. I will let my faith shelter me in times of trouble.”
B. Gregory
Lynn Williams was born 2 February 1962 Lynwood, Los Angeles, California and
died at the age of age 24 years on 25 October 1986 in Santa Ana, Orange,
California. He is buried in Rose Hill Memorial Cemetery in Whittier near his
grandparents .
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