Uncle Edward and Aunt Laura in the 1970's

 Uncle Edward Atwood and Aunt Laura ran the Atwood Hatchery in Comanche for almost 40 years.  They had a very nice house on Highway 16 at Wrights Avenue.  Their hatchery property was across the street on Pearl Street.

In 1976 they had a huge estate sale and loaded a moving van with all of their household goods and moved to Everett, Washington.  Aunt Laura's sister Nora lived in Seattle which was just a short drive away.

These photos were made on their moving day.  Aunt Laura took care of her gardens and trees right up until the last minute, and visited with folks who came by to see them off.

Why I love chickens

Uncle Ed and Aunt Laura Atwood

I spent a lot of time with Aunt Laura looking after the chickens at the Atwood  Hatchery.  I remember watching her "grade" eggs with a machine that had a "candle" light to see if the egg was fertile. If it was fertile it had a  tiny drop of blood in it.  The machine sorted the eggs according to their weight.  Double yolk eggs were good to eat but not to hatch chicks from.

I went with her to feed the chickens in each chicken house.  She had to knock on the door so the silly things could get all excited and fluttery and settle down again before we could go in.  The egg boxes were along one wall.  I was allowed to help gather the eggs and put them in wire baskets that she carried.  I just had to be sure I counted how many I added.

Always I have loved to watch chickens, and to listen to them talking softly to each other, and see them turn from tiny balls of fluff to little ugly things with pinfeathers, to big bustling hens over the weeks.  I never cared to go near a rooster, although I think they are beautiful.  When you are a little person, a rooster will try to scare you and even attack sometime if he thinks you are after his hens.

My tomboy days

Uncle Ed made this picture in the back yard of their house at the hatchery.  I didn't know I was sitting in a "half lotus" yoga pose until much later in life.

But I remember loving how flexible I was and how thin.  My teachers used to try to get me to eat...I was wiry and strong.... about 9 or 10 when this was made.  I loved hanging by my heels on the playground "monkey bars" which looked like a ladder turned sideways with posts to hold it up above the ground about 5 feet or so.

Also I was a champion "jacks" player.  We had tournaments at our birthday parties and at slumber parties.

Uncle Ed and Daddy and all the uncles used to keep their yards free of grassburrs so we kids could run around barefoot.  What a loving bunch they were!!!

Snow in Comanche January 1943

On January 2, 1947 Aunt Laura wrote in her letter to Aunt Mamie:

"we are having the most beautiful snow.  It started New Years Eve and the forecast for tonight is more snow.  We (Ed and Laura) are carrying water to the chickens three times a day for three days so far."

We lived nearby Ed and Laura's place that year. Snow was and is so rare in Texas.  It was huge fun.  Here are a couple of pictures from that day. In January 1947 Bill was 4 and a half and I was 8 and a half.  Our birthdays are 4 days apart.

Uncle Ed and Aunt Laura

My father's oldest brother was named Edward Beverly Atwood.  Everybody just called him Ed. He married Laura Fischer, a lady of German extraction who was from the hill country of Texas.

Uncle Ed and Aunt Laura when they married around 1934

They spent their lives building and running a chicken business called the "Atwood Hatchery."

It was located on Highway 16 north of Comanche, Texas.

When I became a teenager I had a job in their hatchery taking chicks out of the incubators.

When I stayed over at their house I thought it was funny that Uncle Ed blew his nose so loud.  

Aunt Laura and I joked that he could "wake up the chickens."

A Christmas card from the hatchery about 1947