Papa Barry my great grandfather

Papa Barry married Annie Barry in 1891.  He looked very different in later years.  First picture above shows Donald my grandfather holding Clare Jean, Ruth Barry Ricketts, my grandmother, Papa Barry with Anna Louise (my mother) standing at left front with Elna, her sister, next to her. 

Devil's Den revisited (earlier post from 2/14)

Another photo I found from the Devil's Den excursion by the Ricketts family and friends.  Anna Louise is on the far right, next to her is her sister, Elna Ricketts.

Cousins of my Mother and her sister

These two darling little girls are Ona Mae and Marian Ricketts. They were the daughters of Sam and Ruby Ricketts, cousins to my mother, Anna Louise Ricketts.  They were very close in age to Mother (Anna Louise Ricketts) and to Elna, Mother's sister.

According to Mother, the four cousins were almost inseparable growing up.  Often one cousin would "choose up" and so Anna and Marian might spend the weekend at Sam and Ruby's house in Howe and Elna (mother's sister) and Ona Mae would stay at Donald and Ruth's (my grandparents.)

607 Broadway in Clarksville

Clockwise from top left: Elna Ricketts, Grandpa John Barry, Anna Louise (my mother) and Clare Jean Ricketts in front of the family home at 607 Broadway in Clarksville. 

In  1990: Me, my granddaughter Margaret, and Mother (Anna Louise Ricketts) sitting on the steps of the house at 607 Broadway.  This house burned to the ground about 3 years after this photo was made.

Devil's Den outing 1927

Around 1927 or so, Donald and Ruth Ricketts took their girls on a vacation.

They went to a park in Arkansas called "Devil's

Den."  With them were a large group of friends, also Donald's brother Sam and his wife Ruby, and their two girls, Ona Mae and Marian.

In the photo of the large group, my mother Anna Louise is seated in the far left corner of the picture.



In the second picture at left, where Anna Louise is in the center, the couple on the left is Sam and Ruby Ricketts, and the couple seated on the rock are Ruth and Donald Ricketts.





Seated on the rock below are some friends and cousins.  On the far right is Anna Louise, in front of her is her sister Elna.

Among the bathing beauties in the picture below, Anna Louise is second from left.

on a country road....

Country road on what looks like Sunday afternoon in Red River County.  Left to right:
Elna, child of Ruth and Donald Ricketts, Alvina Barry, sister of my grandmother Ruth, and Mabel Barry, second sister of Ruth.  On right is Anna Louise Ricketts, my mother.

My parents' wedding

The date was June 12, 1937 when Thurston and Ann, my parents, had a double wedding with Mother's sister Elna, and her husband, Bronson Hanks.  They had zero money and so did their families, so they married in Tyler, at the home of Thurston's brother, my Uncle Watt, and his wife, Frankie Cash (more about them later.)

On their first anniversary both couples got together again and here are their pictures.  Mother was six months pregnant with me. I was born three months later on September 9, 1938.