third generation

I was born May 5, 1926 at the homestead about a mile south of Cement. I was the 9th child out of 12 and the 6th and last daughter. I was named Elizabeth but when- I was little I couldn't say Elizabeth so I told my brother J.V. if he would call me Betty I would call him Jake. I have been called Betty ever since then but Jake didn't seem to stick with J.V. We always had to work hard but I’m sure it did us good. Daddy never kept us out of school to pick cotton or any of the farm jobs, but we had to pull boles on Saturdays. My back still hurts when I see a cotton patch. I think we always had to dig potatoes on the 4th of July but usually got homemade ice cream that night and had fire works. We spent a lot of tine sitting in the barn picking off peanuts but had lots of good peanut brittle. I remember the delicious cinnamon rolls Mama used to make. She would make over a 100 at a time and that would be our supper that night. Later in Purcell I used to buy cinnamon rolls from a lady who made them. They were so much like the ones Mama made. There was a big canyon in the back of our house and this was my playground. I traveled to many places in my imagination in the old junk cars that were in the canyon. We kjds had some good clod fights there. There were some pipes across the canyon and we kids used to like to walk across them even though Daddy told us not to walk on them. I remember one time in particular, Verna and a friend Lois and I were walking across the pipes and I fell off and we thought I had broken my leg. Verna and Lois helped me walk until we got close to the house and then I had to walk by myself so that we wouldn’t get in trouble for walking across the pipes. We had a grape vineyard and Daddy always made homemade wine, I really did like. One time I drank too much of the wine and I sick and started talking out of my head. It must have been embarrassing to Mama when she took me to the Doctor and he told her I was just drunk.

I was a fairly good student in school, I played basketball and this was the only time I got to wear shorts as Daddy didn' t think girls should wear shorts, in later years he changed his mind and let us wear them. I had to wear a lot of my sister’s hand-me-downs. I got my first very own coat when I was in the 7th grade. Between my Junior and Senior years of school I went to Los Angeles, California and spent the summer with Sally. After I graduated I went to Berkeley, California and stayed with Verna and Max. While in California I worked in a glass factory and the shipyards. In 1945 Verna, Max and I came back to Cement and opened a cafe.

While working in the cafe, I met Gene Hendricks and we were married September 3, 1946. We went to look at bird dogs on our first date and always had one or more bird dogs and I still have bird dogs. Gene and the boys had lots of fun hunting with them. Gene worked in the oil fields and in 1948 we bought a trailor home and traveled and lived where the work was until 1962. While Gene was in the drilling dept we moved a lot. Six months in one place was a long time for us. I can't remember all the places we lived but lived in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Utah. Ronnie and Pancho were born in Oklahoma and Ray in Texas. In 1960 Gene went into the Production Dept. and in 1961 we moved to Purcell and bought our home where I live today. Carrie was born here. I had a good married life. There were good times and bad times but the good always seemed to out weigh the bad. Gene died of a heart attack in 1980. We all miss him very much.

After Gene passed away I went to work in a bank in Purcell and still employed there. I never worked out during my married life so this has been quite an experience to me. In 1984 I bought a VCR and enjoy watching the old movies and the new ones as there is no theatre in Purcell. I do a lot of crocheting and enjoy the time I spend with my children and grandchildren.

Betty Lenore Robertson Hendricks

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