Tr's sister Ernestine Arthur in the 1970;s

Ernestine Atwood Arthur with Daddy at Christmas in the 1970's.  Her husband Hilburn "Hipp" Arthur at right in back.  Daddy told me when he was little she and Alma used to box his ears.

Uncle Hip and Aunt Ernestine

I took these snapshots in 1945.  The man standing on the right is Hilburn Arthur.  I never knew him as anything except Uncle Hip.

Below is Aunt Ernestine.  She was one of Daddy's older sisters. She always had a smile on her face.  And she kept chewing gum in her purse and always offered me some.

Aunt Ernestine taught me to knit.  And one time she made a whole wardrobe of beautiful doll dresses with hats for one of my dolls.

She had the most comfortable lap I ever slept in.  And late in life she gave me a real down comforter which I still have to this day.

Hilburn Arthur's Sinclair station

Thurston worked for a time at this "filling station" as it was called then.  It was on the main street of town, which was Central Avenue. The station was operated by Hilburn Arthur, who was Thurston's brother-in-law.   Thurston's pay was 25 cents a day in 1933.

Things were really hard for Thurston and his mother after Manning died in 1929.  Mama Atwood wrote in her letters to Mamie about the hard times.  They lived on "poke salit" from the hard, and black-eyed peas from the garden.  Mamie, Frank and sometimes Edward sent a little money to Mama to help out but they all had difficulty during the Great Depression.

One time Thurston worked in an "ice house" where he had to lift heavy blocks of ice.  He did lots of odd jobs and for a long time he delivered newspapers on his bicycle which Mamie gave him for his 15th birthday.  Mama wrote about mending and altering clothes that had been Frank's.  

The Atwood's house in Comanche, Texas

Thurston always told me he could see the original split logs under the dining room floor.  The house had 3 front doors for some reason. 

On the front steps about 1920.  In back, Hilburn Arthur, soon to marry Ernestine next to him.  Mamie on the right.  In front are Ruth and Thurston about age 9 and age 6

Bill Atwood about 1949 with Rico, Mama's dog who was named for her favorite singer, Enrico Caruso.