Moving to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas

I'm not sure, but I think that when we moved to Texas, Daddy had a big truck, and we had an old Chevrolet car. Daddy put the car up on the bed of the truck, and we three girls, Norma, Carole, and I , rode in the car! I don't know if we had our furniture, etc., with us that trip. I just remember being in that car!

I remember our wonder at seeing palm trees and citrus orchards when we got to the Valley. I think when we first arrived we stayed at someone's house while Mother and Daddy looked for a place for us to live. I remember sleeping in a screened-in porch somewhere.

One of the places we lived was out on South McColl Road, which was between McAllen and Pharr. It must have been one of the first places we lived because I remember riding the bus to elmentary schools in Pharr and San Juan. The house is gone now, along with the orange, grapefruit, and lemon trees that were prevelant at that time. Expressway 83 is probably on the spot now! It was way out in the country then. The house had green shingles as siding. There was a nice front porch and a bush with blue flowers on each side of the steps. We had a well, but no hot water heater. We had to heat water for dishwashing and bathing, although we did have a bathroom with a tub. We were living there in 1949 when Kathy was born. She and Daddy are the Texans in the family! I was 12, Norma was 14, and Carole was 11. Alan was three years old. He was always running away from Mother and losing himself in the orchards that surrounded the house. One day we missed him and began searching for him. We finally heard him crying. We found him down the road sitting in the middle of a big red ant bed! He was covered in ants!

We lived in several houses in Pharr. I remember four different ones, two of them on the same street the Baptist church we attended was on. One was a little white house which, strangely, did not face the street but was placed side-ways on the lot. The end of the house faced the street. It was two or three blocks east of the church, and a couple of blocks west of the high school. Another house was a big old house that was further west of the church and was on the corner across from the Methodist church. That church was later sold to the City, and the Pharr Library was built on that lot. It was only a block off of Cage Blvd., the main street of Pharr. We were living there when I was in High School, because I remember that one time I had the flu. Mother wasn't very sympathetic to our claiming illnesses, and sent me to school. I lasted for a few classes, but when I got to English class with Miss Carman, I put my head down on my desk and went to sleep. She woke me up and sent me to the nurse, who sent me home! I slept the rest of the day and night, I was so sick!

We also lived in a house on the east side of the high school on Wright street. It was across the street from the practice field for the High School. We watched some girls doing calesthentics(?) and preparing for some kind of show at the high school. We lived across the street from a family named Billings. Betty was Norma's age, and Donald was my age. Donald and I and a brother and sister from down the street named David and Doris became the 4D's. We dug tunnels in the Billings' back yard for forts. We did many things together. We lived here when we took our first trip to the beach at Boca Chica. We traveled down in the back of Daddy's big truck. We were ignorant as to the effects of the sun, etc., and stayed out in the water the whole day. By the end of the day we were covered with huge blisters! I was never so miserable in my life! That night I couldn't sleep because of the pain and because everytime I closed my eyes I would still be riding the waves! Another time we went to the beach with Mama and Grandaddy Boggs. There were hundreds of Portuguese Man of War (jelly fish) on the beach and in the water. I got stung by one! I have always hated the beach!

Another house we lived in was across Cage Boulevard west, several blocks from the main street. We walked to school from there. I remember one day I had taken off my shoes on the way home. An elderly lady who lived across the street called out, "you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl!" I thought that was very funny.
We were living in this house when Alan and his best friend, Johnny Warden, painted themselves black because they wanted to be like a little black boy they knew! While were living here, also, I think Carole contracted Meningitis. She was always getting something, poor thing.

I think I was a Sophomore in high school when Daddy built us a house in town. It was a beautiful house! It had an attached garage, kitchen, den, LARGE living room, three bedrooms (I think) and two bathrooms. There was a huge screened-in back porch which ran the length of the house. We were living there when we got our first TV. It must have been 1952-53. The next installment will take up from here.