Chapter 40
Summer of 1925 – Mineral Water Cures
In the spring of 1925, Mandy, still feeling the weakness of her broken leg, began to think of going to Mineral Wells, Texas, to get some treatment for her leg and her health in general. She had nephews and nieces in Mineral Wells, as well as her sister Emily’s children. Before I ever knew of the Noel family, Emily had passed away in the spring of 1916. So, Frank drove Mandy down to Mineral Wells to Mandy’s niece, Lydia Wediken, whose husband, a doctor, was deceased. Living nearby were old friends of Frank, Jim Walters and his brother, Henry Walters, and their families. I believe Henry had two sons, eight and ten, by a former marriage. Jim was in his second marriage, also, with a wife named Lola.
Ed. note: These photos are not dated, but the one on the left has a street scene, and the Crazy (Water) Hotel is in downtown Mineral Wells. The automobiles appeared similar to the Ford Model T, so this was around 1925. The right image is an advertisement, showing a large mansion, which seems to be a later location of the Dr Millings’ Sanatorium, absent Dr Abel. The link below is to modern Mineral Wells, Texas, and the healing waters they still advertise. RAN. https://visitmineralwells.org
At Mineral Wells, with offices in the “Crazy Water Hotel”, were Dr. Milling and his brother-in-law, Dr. Abel. They were called Magnetic Masseurs, who treated all illnesses by massage, akin to chiropractic methods. Mandy had planned to stay a few weeks in the niece’s home, travel to and from the doctor’s office, but she decided that was a drain on Lydia and the nephews, so she just took up residence in the sanatorium. The treatments were getting desired results after a few weeks for Mandy. Frank was not feeling so well that spring, and as the summer came on, following the planting of crops and getting them off to a good start, he decided to go to Dr. Milling and take some treatments for his general condition, which hopefully would relieve his heart condition some. It was very lonely being at home alone, with the two babies. Of course, Mandy’s children still at home included Viola, now 21, Laveda, 16, and David, 14. (Pearl, though married with two children, is just 20 years old.) They lived across the road from us. Lona, two years older than Viola, married Arthur Crossland the year before, now with a baby boy, Lloyd Dale, born in February 1925. We enjoyed the Noel “kids”, as we called the sisters and brother, and spent much time with them.
Pearl Learns to Drive The Model T
Ed. note: 1924 Frank purchased a 1923 Model T Ford Touring car, like this one. So, Pearl is learning to drive this model car, with her dear friend and sister-in-law, Viola teaching her. (Thank you, Getty Images.) RAN
One day, out of the blue, Viola announced that she would teach me to drive the car while Frank was gone! Frank had taken the public bus to Mineral Wells so that we could have the car for our use in his absence. Viola was a good driver and a good teacher for me. She surmised that Frank was not the one to teach me, as the husband is always too much of a perfectionist, finding faults that were not important. So, one day we all loaded into the car and drove to Hollister, 9.5 miles away. Part of the road was curved, and rough in places where we crossed a small creek with a narrow bridge. So, Viola waited until we came to the highway, six miles from Hollister, before she gave me the wheel. I wobbled back and forth across the road a few times, until I got the feel of it, but I soon straightened out into a rather smooth driver. I think Viola took the wheel a short distance from Hollister, but she let me drive a portion of the way back home. We were both very proud of our accomplishments of the day.
I don’t recall how many driving lessons I had before she let me out alone, but I was driving well when Frank returned from Mineral Wells. Mandy stayed on for a couple of weeks in Mineral Wells after Frank came home. So Frank decided that the kids and I would go with him to pick her up. It was a nice trip and the Walters were very hospitable people. We stayed in Lydia’s home the two nights we were there and socialized with Jim and his “current” wife and Henry and his wife and sons. We had taken our camera, so photographs were snapped to strengthen our recall of a vacation to Mineral Wells, Texas, in the summer of 1925.
Ed. note: This is an old 1925 roadmap of Texas and Oklahoma. Your job is to find Mineral Wells, Texas!! Look west of Dallas, through Fort Worth to Parker, then Mineral Wells. Oklahoma border is the green squiggly line, The Red River. Grandfield and the farm are just west of the work Nest. RAN
Ed. note: This map is up to date, showing names more clearly. Find Mineral Wells just above Weatherford. Burkburnett is just below Red River and the Noel farms are just west of there on the Oklahoma side of the river. RAN
Frank was disappointed at the condition of the farm crops on our place when he returned to take care of things. It seemed that Austin’s hired hand had spent too much time “combing” Austin’s place and had neglected the cotton crop on our place. Austin also took care of Mandy’s place except for hoeing the weeds in the cotton rows, which Viola, Laveda, and David did. Viola was the responsible leader and manager, but I suppose the hoeing (also called “cotton chopping”) job on their place was about all she could manage.
That fall, Melvin (Jack) Savage (the younger brother of Pearl’s stepmother, Mama Betty) and his wife, Inez, with daughters, Katherine and Geneva, came to visit my folks (Grandpa Pete and Mama Betty, Billy and Arthur Thornton) from Tennessee. You may recall that fun-loving Jack and Viola Noel dated for a while, many years earlier, when he lived briefly with the Thorntons on the farm, near the Noel farm. We visited and had fellowship with them while they were there, but I don’t recall that Viola and Jack ever met up while he was there.
“Bumper” cotton crops were in evidence throughout Tillman County in the fall of 1925. Austin was going to accumulate enough money to buy a farm somewhere. For some reason, I cannot recall why he was drawn to the Carnegie, Oklahoma area. Frank’s second younger sister, Lona, and her husband, Arthur Crossland, with their son Lloyd, lived near Grandfield, perhaps, with Arthur’s folks. So, he, too, was ready to go adventuring, and he did find a place to rent a few miles from Austin’s farm, which he had purchased north of Carnegie.
Ed. note: Cotton was a major “cash crop” for southwest Oklahoma farmers in 1925. “Bumper” crops far exceeded expectations in yield. For two weeks in the 1940s and 1950s in October my siblings and I were let out of our rural Victory grade school and high school for “Harvest Break” so we could “pick cotton” (or “pulled bolls”) RAN
Suspense at Cooper Creek crossing
In the fall of 1925, Mandy, the girls, and I had a suspenseful few minutes as Frank brought a high load of hay home on a Model T truck. He had bought the hay from Carr Staley, who lived and farmed near Frederick. The hill south of our premises was the least steep of the other hills heading to the creek crossing. At any rate, this was the route he chose. We saw him turn the corner at the top of the hill by the mailboxes, and began to watch him closely as he made his way slowly down the hill towards the creek. I had my children out in the front yard, and Mandy and the girls and David were standing in their front yards; David, with curiosity aroused, began making his way down toward the action. At one point in the road, the truck came to a full stop, where it appeared to us that the top-most hay bales were just ready to topple off. The person riding with Frank was now on the road, well ahead of the loaded truck, motioning this way and that, guiding Frank down the hill to the bridge. At last, he was there, and we all breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed the hill on our side of the creek and pulled the truck into our driveway. We all met him when he came to a stop, and as he climbed down from the truck cab, we all talked at once, unleashing our pent-up excitement of the past few minutes. Frank smiled and looked at the truck over and under to see it had weathered the trip well. He returned the truck to Austin in good shape.
Ed. note: This modern photo, part of a video, shows a 1925 Model T Ford truck, similar to Austin’s truck that Frank borrowed to haul this big load of hay bales that Pearl is describing with excitement and suspense. RAN
Also, in the fall of 1925, with the good cotton crop on Mandy’s lease, she and the girls decided to spend some money on furniture and dishes. A round oak extension dining table, chairs, and a buffet were acquired. One day, when Mandy had us all over for Sunday dinner, somehow, the extension table was not divided evenly on the pedestal. At the close of the meal, all of the pretty new dishes were stacked on the long end of the table, ready for washing when the table tilted with its load on the long end and without warning the dishes all slid off onto the floor, breaking a great number of them, while everyone stood helplessly by!
Frank and I suffered a blow that winter when the owner of our Indian lease, William Wyatt, decided to move on the land himself and farm it. Again, Austin’s generosity came into play. He would let Frank have his lease, even though Frank still owed Austin $2,000, for the lease where we lived. Austin offered to sell Frank his lease contract for another $2,000, amounting to $4,000, which we now owe Frank’s kind brother. Frank would be in debt to him at the beginning of 1926. Mandy would sell her lease to Viola and her new husband, Ueal Bowman, who she had married in the fall of 1925. As Lona and her mother, Mandy, were always so agreeable, Grandma Mandy and the two younger children, Laveda and David, would move away to live with Lona, Arthur, and their baby, up in Carnegie. So, the scramble began in 1926. (The next chapter will feature a map and photos.)
Some high points of 1925
Mildred, born in December, 1920, is now 4 and a half years old. She recalls that her earliest memory is of being in the house where we lived in 1925: she remembers sitting in her high chair at the table eating dried apples. She loved these apples cooked and mushy and sweet.
I had learned to drive the Model T Car, but obviously, I hadn’t had much training in driving in reverse. One day, I was backing out of the garage—I will never forget this—and I turned the steering wheel before I had the car out of the garage! As a result, I hit the door frame, causing no permanent damage, but I learned my lesson!
It was 1925 when I cut my hair. When Frank came home from Mineral Wells, where he had been among all the stylish cousins, he watched me comb my long, dark hair one day and said he was glad I had never cut my hair. It sounds almost ironic that I would cut it so soon after Frank said he liked it uncut. But, I was influenced by my sister-in-law, when Lillie, Austin’s wife, had cut her hair and gotten a permanent wave. At first, she went to the beauty shop once a week for a Marcel-wave with curling irons, but a permanent wave was less expensive in the long run. I got Marcelles for some two years before I got a permanent wave. Our first haircuts were “Buster Brown” style, cut straight across the back with bangs in front. Viola’s hair, naturally curly, took a cut better than our straight hair. Frank was not antagonistic, wanting me to leave my hair long. He wanted me to look like other women, and “bobbed hair” was the style!
1925 photographs and an advertisement for short haircuts, possibly similar to Pearl’s Buster Brown and Marcel Wave styles.
Ed. note: So ends 1925 with that interesting note on women’s hairstyle and a hint of some major family moves, dramatically altering the Noel and Thornton family “community” . The next chapter will bring an adventure of these new living situations, traveling up into the Wichita Mountains north of the Noel farms to visit Mandy and family. Stay tuned. Leave a comment. RAN