Thurston's home made Christmas cards 1943

My dad Thurston made our family's Christmas cards one year.  I believe it was 1943.  He used red construction paper, white ink, and pretty Christmas "seals" or stickers.  It looks like he used a calligrapher's pen, or just a quill pen, which was still easy to find in those days.

Nice and not expensive I am sure.  He really was quite an artist, wasn't he?

Thurston's Christmas letter to Mamie 1928

December 18, 1928

Dear Sis,

I am sending you a small Christmas gift.  I hope you will like it.  I know that you do not expect much from me but someday I am going to give you a much larger gift.

I am getting along fine in school work and in other things.

You never mention Cecil's (Mamie's husband) name in your letters.  I would certainly like to see him.  I'll bet he is a good sport.  I would like to take him possum hunting with me sometime, and also I would like to go duck hunting with him.

Sunday I got Uncle Jesse's (Manning's brother) car and went to Cedar Mountain and got us a pretty Christmas tree.

I am 14 years old now and this summer I want to get me a job in the print shop at "The Comanche Chief" (Comanche County newspaper)  I would like to learn the business.  I think you will not find many misspelled words in this letter.  I can spell but can't write so good.

Love

Thurston R. Atwood

Thurston in May 1928 in the Boy Scout uniform Mamie bought for him.

Letter from Thurston to his big sister Mamie 1928

Thurston was born in 1914. He was 14 years old when he wrote this.

Dear Sis,

I am going to get promoted this year.  School will be out soon.  My grades were: reading 88 spelling 99 arithmetic 71 language 80 geography 85 history 88.  There are 25 or 26 in the class and I ranked 13.

Arithmetic is hard.  I made 95 in deportment.

This summer I am going on the Scout camp and nothing is going to keep me from it.  I hope to get me a job this summer painting with Uncle Jess.  He will give me 25 cents an hour for painting houses.

Say, I weigh 115 lbs and I can whip Watt all over the house.  I can Ha! Ha! you write him and ask him if I whipped him over at Jack's house.  I did.

It won't be long until I am a 1st class Scout. I am going to get a merit badge for cycling.  I have to ride a bicycle 50 miles ini 10 hours.  I can, too.

Lots of love  "Bill"

Thurston, Manning, Edward and Watt Atwood 1928

Thurston's gift to his granddaughter Margaret Reese

when Margaret Reese went to medical school at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, my dad gave her a vintage Mustang and she really enjoyed it for a while.  Sometimes I think Thurston enjoyed it more than Margaret did.  I think it was about a "65 but aficianados will probably recognize the model.

The Three Atwood Brothers

Thurston and his brother Frank "Watt" Atwood made a trip in the 1980's to Everett, Washington near Seattle.  They went to visit their older brother Edward, who had moved there around 1976.  I believe they enjoyed their time together; it was the last time all 3 brothers were together in their lives.

The Atwood clan 1928 Thurston standing right

Edward

Frank "Watt"

Thurston never stopped clowning around with his brothers.  His favorite nickname for Watt was "the swamp rat."

My happy Dad, Thurston Atwood in his 60's

Thurston in the front yard at their home in Mineral Wells, Texas.  He enjoyed his 60's very much.  He didn't stay retired for long; the company he helped found, S-Tec, wanted him back part time and he went.

Daddy liked to refinish and restore horns from Ford Model A's.  He would go to swap meets for car people and set up a display with his horns.  It seems that Ford used five different horns during the years Model A''s were being manufactured.

Daddy had a sample of each one, and a battery hooked up so he could play the "Ah-OO-Gah" sound and attract people to his table.

Many people brought old beat-up horns to him to restore.  He would fix them and mail them back.
Model A competitions required all original parts to qualify for judging.

a letter from Thurston to Patsy Atwood Reese April 1958

Band Hall
April 2, 1958

Well spring has come; and I don't guess I have to mention that this is my favorite time of year.  My fancy is turned in different directions than it used to be….but it still turns, which is something.

The fishing bug  is really about to get the best of me,,,,Bob, Bill and I went out last Sunday…but too much wind kept us from fishing very long.

Thanks for the socks…I guess that you are about the only one who ha ever knitted me anything.  I am going to save them and wear them next football season.  I tried them out the other day..and I like the way my feet feel..I know they will be warm.

I think of you kids a lot…and wish I could share some of the happiness being around you.  But I know that it is re a l fine for you both to be so far away from the influences of parents.

…I will enclose a check for five for just being an expectant grandpa.  My gosh..it better be a girl.  So get something colored that will suit a girl.

Thanks for the pictures you're gonna take. …

73's and 88's  (that's ham talk for hugs and kisses)

Doc.

(Doc was Thurston's amateur radio "handle."  Amateur radio operators call themselves "hams."  Daddy and Uncle Ed both spent a lot of time with their "ham rigs" in  the late 1950's.)

when I find the photo of TR with his ham rig I will add it to this post.

Daddy with a big fish

Today is Father's Day and I wanted to post a good picture of my dad.

He just loved to fish.  he fished with his brother, and his brothers in law, and with my mother.  They also took us fishing.

Their favorite place to go fishing was on the Gulf of Mexico.  We would go to Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, and Port Aransas which was a little island with a causeway going to it.

When Mother and Daddy were first married they went fishing in the Gulf, and Mother caught a fish.  She got so excited she threw the whole rod and reel into the water.

Through the years TR collected some really good fishing tackle.  I always liked to look at the fishing lures and stuff that the men in our family collected.

Letter from my mother when I was a baby

Dec. 19, 1938   ( I was three months old)

Dearest Mamie:  (Mamie was Daddy's older sister who lived in Los Angeles)

…..Bill and I are so very proud of our baby, and I am glad all of his family seem to be so
 fond of her. (Bill was Thurston (my dad's) nickname in the family.  Everybody called them Bill and Ann.)

…..We have been in Comanche for just a little more than a month and are with Alma an Harold.  Alma and I take turns cooking and it works out fine.  Of course taking care of the baby is a big job itself, but Bill is very sweet to help me a great deal, and does the entire washing, even for Alma and Mrs. Atwood.

 …..You can never know how much my life with him means to me…and I suppose no one can except me.  We believe we are the happiest people in the world, even if we haven't become rich or famous.

Sincerely

Ann

lullaby from Daddy

I never heard this song anywhere except when Daddy sang it to me as a lullaby while he rocked me in the rocking chair.

Early pictures of Anne Flavia, our first baby

Here are some pictures from Anne Flavia's first year.  The one at top was made on Mother and Daddy's front porch at their house in Hillsboro. It includes my brothers Bill and Bob.

Below left is from the reunion of Mother's family in Austin in May of 1959.

Below is me, Mother, holding Anne, Hayne in back and Daddy on the right.

Easter 1942 Mother, Daddy, Bill and Me

I found more photos from when Bill was a baby.  He was born when I was 4 and he looks to be about 6 or 8 months old.  So I was 4 or 5 years old.   It looks like we had a great old car with a running board.  I wish somebody would comment and tell me what model of car that was. 

TR Atwood as Band Director

This is what my father, Thurston Atwood, looked like when he directed the Eastland High School Band.

He was very popular in Eastland.

He was also popular in Comanche, Texas and in Mineral Wells, where the following newspaper article was written:



Dearest Mother,

We are having a wonderful time and this sulphur water is plenty hard to drink.

Love,
Thurston


Boy scouts had a camp in Glen Rose,  where Thurston went as a teenager one summer.

postcard from Mama in California 1927



Los Angeles, CA
August 13, 1927

Dear Thurston,

Yes I certainly saw some big waves like these.  The tide was in both times I was down there  (more writing in pencil illegible)

Love

Mother

Sputnik's trail

This is a photo of the satellite trail of Sputnik, the Russian spacecraft.  It is a time exposure made in our back yard.  It was printed on the front page of the Fort Worth StarTelegram and the Comanche Chief newspapers.

My father made this photograph and was very proud of it. Here is the letter he sent to me in Iowa City at the time.

Tuesday, October 22, 1957

Dear Patsy and Hayne,

I am enclosing a picture of Sputnik's rocket, which Bill and I took at 5:02 Sunday morning.  This is a time exposure of approximately 4 seconds while the rocket was directly overhead.  I feel very fortunate to obtain this photo.  To give you some idea of the orbit and the directions…the camera was placed on the rock walk halfway between the house and the back fence  North and South is across the long end of the picture.  The weak beginning and the curved tail are false impressions--due to too strong an action in opening and closing the shutter.

The direction of course, was from the northwest to the south east.  The rocket at this time was 39 minutes ahead of Sputnik.

Patsy at age 15 months

Today is my dad Thurston's birthday!!!  He was born 98 years ago.

 I started walking on my first birthday.  I am pretty sure these snapshots were all made the same day when I was about 15 months old.  We lived in a little town in south Texas while Daddy sold washing machines and kitchen ranges.  We lived in a garage apartment.

                                                                                                       Daddy used to tell this story to me:

When we walked down the stairs from the apartment I would always hold on to Daddy's index finger for support.

One day I stopped and said, "Wait, Daddy. I can do this." And I took hold of my own finger with the other hand, and went down the steps by myself.

My dad as a band director

 Here are two pictures of my father, Thurston Atwood, at the beginning and at the end of his career
as a high school band director.  He started this work in 1947 and finally retired around 1965. For the first five years of his career as a band teacher, we were in Eastland, Texas.  His band won a first division at the annual IUL contest every year he was in Eastland. 

In 1952 we moved to Comanche, where he took up directing their high school band.  He was very popular in both towns, and became a member of the Texas Music Educators, and always had students in the All-State band or orchestra every year.

more Eastland band

 This goes with an earlier post showing the Eastland Band at the State Fair. It was 1950.  On the left is the invitation Daddy received to participate in the Music festival day.  Below is the marching band half time show at the Cotton Bowl the same day.

The message is "Howdy Folks, (Texas) Greets You."  Eastland band is the second letter E in the word "Greets."

1934 letter from Thurston

Thurston (my dad) had been working all summer with his brother Watt selling washers and refrigerators for Texas Power & Light.  On their stationery he wrote his mother and enclosed a $5 bill to help with her expenses.

Daddy wanted very much to go to music school after high school but he was told in no uncertain terms by his brother that he had to go to work and help support their mother.  Widowed in 1929, she had tried selling Avon cosmetics, selling books door to door, and taking in sewing. 

But in those days there was no such thing as Social Security, and Mama could not have survived without money from her children.

I think it is legible, but the letter starts

 :"Hello, Mom Ol' Sweet...Here is five smackers..."