Symbols in the story

Things I remember during my lifetime
By Agnes Anna Daugherity Stivers

My earliest memory is of the house where I was born. It was on the banks of the Penasco River near Hope, New Mexico, The seventh child, third girl, of William Franklin and Mary Charlene Daugherity. The first child, David Anderson died as a infant. Then came Walter Marshal, Charley Nicholas, Ellen Elzira, Clara Jane, Richard David, and myself. While I was still small we moved to Dayton, New Mexico where Mary Elizabeth was born. While we lived in Dayton and Hope papa was a “sheep rancher”.
We moved back to Hope where Leatha Mabel was born. At that time papa had bought a large bunch of horses and with a family named Riley we started in covered wagons for Oklahoma where we heard the horses would sell for a good price. We made quite a caravan with four wagons and all the horses. There was seven of the Riley family and ten of us. On the back of one of the wagons papa attached a chuck box with shelves. When the lid came down it made a table. On the other wagon he made a chicken coop. We also took two cows, so we had fresh eggs, milk and butter. Papa and the boys killed wild meat for us. Mama had a large Dutch oven in which she cooked stews and hot biscuits on the top. As we stopped for mama and the older girls to cook the evening meal Mary and I would gather wild flowers, and as we doing this one day a wild horse started chasing us. Mr. Riley was chopping wood and when he saw the horse after us he hit him with the axe, it stunned him for a while then the horse ran away.
We arrived in Lock, Oklahoma after several months but the horses did not bring a very good price. Mama was not happy there so we traveled the same way back to Otis, New Mexico. We later moved back to Dayton where papa bought a farm. Rufus Franklin was born there. Later papa built a new six room home on another part of the farm. He did not like to farm so bought a general store and had tenant farmers. They lived in what we called the “old house”. Next came Raymond Paul and that completed our family. The main crop of the farm was alfalfa but grain and cotton were also raised, Mama was quite a gardener so we had fresh vegetables. We had cows and chickens. All in all we had a very comfortable life. Our farm was a little over two miles from the town where papa had his store. There was a fruit orchard on the farm so we had plenty of fruit. I started to school while we lived in that area and as there was no school in Dayton we had to walk three miles to another town, Atoka. There were no school buses at that time. There was a railroad track not too far from our home so we and the neighbor children walked on that. Later a school was established in Dayton. After I finished grammar school I lived with my brother and his family in Artesia and attended High School.
Mama would drive me there in her horse and buggy every Monday morning and pick me up on Friday afternoons. It was seven miles from where we lived. After I finished High School papa sent me to Amarillo, Texas to go to Draughons Business College. Ellen had married Rex Walling and lived in Amarillo so I lived with them while going to school and later when I was working. I got a job with the firm of Blank and Simmons that carried all kinds of insurance. There I did stenographic work and other jobs in the office. It was my job to take the mail to the post office and buy stamps. A young man named Louis Scott Stivers was stamp clerk there. Large blue eyes and black hair. We became acquainted and one day he surprised me by asking for a date. I was going with two other men at that time but always saved the week ends for Louis. Finally I stopped dating the other young men. Two years later we married. I mean Louis and I. He lived with his widowed mother and single sister at 1900 Taylor Street in Amarillo. His father had died many years before. His Brother Hamlett, wife and daughter lived in Dallas. We were married in my home in Dayton. All my family were present. His mother, sister or brother did not come to the wedding. For what reason I do not remember. We spent two weeks in that area then went back to Amarillo by train. Louis resumed his work at the Post Office and I worked back in the office while the girl that took my place was on vacation. I forgot to say we were married April 4, 1915.
Mother Stivers and his sister Genevieve lived with us for economical reasons. Genevieve gave piano lessons to help support her mother. In December of that year our son Louis Scott Jr. was born. It was quite the thing to do then to name your first son after his father. My father was a little disturbed that I did not name the son for him so I promised to name the next one for him. Which I did on August 18, l9l8. My father was William Franklin and father Stivers was Calvin Neal. So we named the son William Neal. So I was kept busy with two little boys. We did not have a car but the town was small and we could walk or take the street car wherever we wanted to go. The office where Louis worked was ten blocks from where we lived. The winters in that part of Texas were very severe. We had a good neighbor that moved to Huntington Park, California and kept writing us how very beautiful the weather was there when we had snow on the ground practically all winter. He also sent literature and pictures of orange groves and lovely trees in bloom. Finally Louis could not stand the cold weather any longer so we sold our home. Louis came before we did and bought a home and vacant lot next to it in Bell, California. Mother Stivers, the two little boys and I came later by train.
We arrived in Los Angeles on February 20, 1920. Coming from a snow covered ground to lovely weather, orange blossoms and so many beautiful flowers made us feel very happy and we soon settled down to a good living. Our address was 155 S. Otis Street but later became 6617 Otis Street. Mother Stivers and Genevieve lived with us for quite a while then built a home next door on the vacant lot. Later Genevieve married Frank Barton. Louis was not transferred to the Bell Post Office for quite a while so got a job with the Edison Company. He loved the outdoor work so when he was reinstated in the Post Office he asked to be a postman. He worked there until he was retired. On October 7, 1921 our third son, Eugene Hamlett was born. Mary had married Hugh Smith and lived in Amarillo but later came to live with us in Bell. Aunt Mary and Uncle Hugh became quite special to our boys as was Aunt Genevieve and Grandma Stivers. When Louis Jr. first began to talk he called Mother Stivers “Nanaw” and Genevieve “Nabee”. So that was their name through the years. We built a small house on the back of our lot and Mary and Hugh came to live there. After a year or two they moved to a larger place and my brother Rufus, Wife Dottie and baby son William Donald lived in the little house. We left off the William and called him Donald, he was like a brother to my boys. Before they came though we had another son, Charles Hugh, born February 5, 1925. All the boys attended school in Bell and when Louis Jr. graduated from High School we sent him to Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas. He was there for a while then Pepperdine College was established and he came home to go there.
Mr. Pepperdine wanted the Bible taught and we were glad because we wanted our sons to have other Christian training than what we could give them at home or in the church. We sold our home in Bell and bought a lot on 78th street near the college which was on 79th street and Vermont Avenue. While we still lived on Otis street Oslyn White came to live with us and when the college opened he became one of the cooks and lived in the boys dorm there. The Vermont Avenue Church of Christ was established nearby so we worshiped in that congregation. Previous to that we went to church in Huntington Park. . Bill was working with a Spanish speaking group of Christians on Echandia Street in Los Angeles and there he met a young man named Hector Corrales. He was interested in attending Pepperdine so came to live with us. We had three very, very happy years then war was declared. One by one the boys went, first Bill in January l942, Eugene in 1943, Hector also in l942.
In the meantime Hector had married Consuelo Rodrigues. In June of 1942 Louis Jr. who worked for Douglas Aircraft was sent to Newport News, Virginia where he worked as an engineer. Before this Bill graduated from Pepperdine College, Louis also from Pepperdine and California Tech. Hector was drafted before being graduated but came back after the war ended and was graduated from Pepperdine. Charles was graduated from Washington High School and had a month or two at Pepperdine before he was drafted. He went into the Navy as a hospital apprentice but was later put into the Marines, was in the states for a while then sent overseas. He lost his life at Iwo Jima in March of 1945 just after his twentieth birthday in Feb. Words cannot express the anguish I went through after getting the horrible telegram but with God’s help I managed to go on and make a home for Louis. I am sure he suffered as much as I did but took it silently. In August of l945 the war ended. I forgot to say that after the boys were drafted I became very restless and finally got a job with Sears where I worked for fifteen years. Bill was also sent overseas and served in the China-Burma area. Louis was never put into the service but worked with other engineers for the government at Langley Field, Virginia. While he was there a young lady he met at Pepperdine, to whom he was engaged, went to Virginia and they were married September 2O, l942. So Helen Isabel Smith became Mrs. Louis Stivers Jr. Eugene was stationed many places in the states but never sent overseas. While the boys were all gone my brother Walter came to work in Los Angeles and lived with us. We also had some Pepperdine students there with us at different times. Eugene Gilmore, Louis King, Don Dietriech, Herand Gervorgian Erash Epthah, Frank Pack and a young Korean student whose last name I cannot remember, his first name was Kim. Before the boys came home my brother got a room downtown Los Angeles as I needed the rooms for my sons. Eugene came first then Bill and much later Louis Jr. and Helen. He had asked to be transferred to Moffatt Field near Sunnyvale, California. What a happy reunion, sad also, because one dear one was missing.
Life had to go on though and one should become stronger after suffering. By this time Louis Sr. had retired from postal work after more than thirty five years of service. When things got settled after the war Louis Sr. made many trips to Kentucky to visit relatives. He would go to Dallas and meet his brother there then on to Louisville. Louis loved his people very much, especially his mother and sister, Lucie Ann and Genevieve Tarlton. Several years before we moved to 78 street Mother Stivers fell and broke one leg, was bedfast for two years before she passed away. Genevieve had married Frank Barton and they took care of mother until she died. My mother had passed away many years before we moved to 78 street and papa lived with us part of the time, and my sisters and brothers part time. Genevieve had a brain hemorrhage and for several years was like a child. We hired a wonderful lady, Mrs. Berry, that took care of Genevieve and Frank. Genevieve died first then several years later Frank died. Papa lived about twelve years after mama died. After I retired from Sears Louis Sr. and I went on many trips to Texas and Kentucky. Also short trips to San Jose and other parts of California.

A few things I forgot to write.