Maud History "Interview with Ruby Dell Walker Powell"

March 14, 2014                  Interview with Ruby Dell Walker Powell

Ruby Dell stopped by for this interview en route to a funeral.  She had only recently attended three other funerals.  We were happy she took the time for this and we hope to add to the information she gave us as time goes on. 

She has lived in Maud all her life, at least if you consider that she actually began life in the community of Friendship in 1931 which is close enough geographically that it may, by some standards, be considered a “suburb” of Maud.

Her father was Morris Walker and her mother was Ellen Autrey Walker.  Her maternal grandparents were Elbert Eugene Autrey and his wife Alma.  Elbert was a circuit-riding preacher who traveled via donkey to various places to preach.  He was the first generation of his family to live in Friendship, her great grandfather Absalom Autrey having stayed in Louisiana.  Ruby Dell has fond memories of her preacher grandfather whom she said had a mustache and looked the same in his old age as he looked in his youth.  In those days there were a number of Autreys around with three different spellings of the name, but they were all related.

In 1941 when Ruby Dell was about 10, her family moved into Maud.  Her dad Morris had worked at the sawmill, and then in the early 1940’s he began working at the icehouse.

At that time the icehouse, the ice cream factory, and the ice cream parlor were all housed adjacent to each other as related enterprises and owned by M. B. Chandler.  Ruby Dell’s mother Ellen worked in the ice cream parlor while her dad worked in the icehouse.  She remembers the stools and the tile floor in the parlor.  “That’s where I learned to dance,” she smiles.  “In the summer, all the women around would pick fruit and cut it up to go into the ice cream.”

Maud was a busy town back then with a dry goods store and shoe repair store. . .  The variety store had a post office in the back of it.  Next door was a drycleaners.  There were two cafes, a barber shop, a beauty shop, a grocery store, and a drugstore.  There were often street dances on Main Street.  There was a John Deere store and a theatre next to that.  “And we even had a skating rink out on 67.”

“I remember one time all us kids got sick, Mama brought us to the pharmacy and Mr. Glass gave us all shots.  And I remember going to the theatre.  It was a big theatre, and admission was 25 cents.  One time the whole high school went to a showing of Gone with the Wind.   Mr. Young owned the theatre.”

When Ruby Dell turned 16, her mother had a birthday party for her.  Her friend Edna Carol Hardage had brought a date with her, a boy named Cletus Powell, whose family Ruby Dell knew of but not well.  Cletus was five years her senior and had already served a term in the Army, had come home and gone to work at Red River Army Depot.  Ruby Dell looks mischievous and says, “Cletus ended up taking Edna Carol home and came back by himself.  We got married three months later.” 

Ruby Dell and Cletus loved to go dancing—wherever and whenever they could.  Back then they attended a lot of dances at the Maud Gun Club.

She was 19 years old, had been married for three years, when her mother and dad were in a terrible car accident at the intersection of Highway 67 and Austin Street.  Her dad died and her mother was in the hospital for six weeks.  It was a difficult time and she and Cletus then moved back into her old family home to be with her mother.  Her second child was only two months old.

Ruby Dell and Cletus had three children:  Cheryl, Butch (Cletus Jr.), and Shirley.  Shirley served in the Air Force and Butch in the Marines.  This was a point of pride with her since her husband had served in the Army.  Shirley was killed in a car accident in the 1990s. 

She also talked about her 41 years as a member of the Eastern Stars.  It has clearly been an important part of her life.  Her husband Cletus was a member of the Masonic Lodge.  The Lodge was prominent in Maud as it was in many places back then.  When Ruby Dell was in high school the Home Ec class, under teacher Jo Covey, prepared meals at school to take to the Lodge for their meetings.  F.E. Cooley and J. W. Glass were also members of the Lodge.  The Masonic Lodge today is still housed in the original Lodge building used back then. 

We are grateful for the time Ruby Dell spent answering our questions.  We almost certainly only scraped the surface of her Maud memories.  And she brought along a surprise—her sister-in-law—who also shared with us some wonderful Maud memories which we will feature in a separate segment.  Thanks to both for sharing with us.      –Robin

(Note from Robin:  I do my best to get information accurately from whomever I interview.  My apologies for any mistakes made in my note taking or transcribing.)

Maud History, Cindy Porter talks about Floyd Foster Jr.

The editor of Maud Matters recently asked if I would contribute a series of articles on the history of Maud and its people.  In the few years that I have been in the area, I have come to love Maud and have adopted it as my own.   Many of you have been here for generations and know each other, are related to each other, and indeed together form the very pulse of Maud.  Some of us are relative newcomers and have been greeted with warmth and friendship at every turn.  I have felt at home in the community and many of you are now dear friends.

In some ways Maud may be your standard small town with its quirks and squabbles and shortcomings and gossip and good old boys and fish tales; it has its share of heroes and pride and accomplishment.  But Maud is also interesting.

A few years ago we were in a state park and ran into a man who was visiting.  It turns out he was originally from Maud.  He told stories of when he was a little boy and how he would steal vegetables from a farmer’s field.  He talked about the White Squirrel Café and told story after story, laughing and reminiscing, and it was clear he had happy memories of Maud.  His stories were so intriguing I wrote them down as fast as I could.  I have misplaced the notes but when I make contact with him again I will ask permission to use his name and try to get those stories down again to share with you.

In the coming months, I hope to interview many of you, get to know you, and learn of your history in Maud and why the community is important to you.  I want to know your personal stories—your joys and triumphs, your sorrows and losses, and how your stories, your histories, are woven together to create the story of Maud.  The story of Maud is your story.  I invite you to contact me or the editor with any stories you would like to share.  We can’t guarantee to run every single story, but we anticipate there will be enthusiasm for this project.  And we aren’t limiting it to the distant past or to the early days.  If you have a great story that is from Maud’s recent past, it will someday be a joy to be read by your grandchildren or great grandchildren.  Do you walk your children in the park?  Do you get donuts on Saturday as a family on your way to the lake?  Do you have lunch every day at the Community Center?  Are you a regular patron of the library?  Do you listen to the noon whistle blow every day and the church bells peal and hear the whine of the trains going straight through the middle of town?  Do you grab a gallon of milk and a burger from DeLaughters?   Did you propose to your wife here in Maud?  Is the home you live in a part of your family’s history?  Do you have family buried in the Center Ridge cemetery?  What kind of flowers have you grown here?  These are part of our Maud story.  

Robin 

March 1, 2014    Cindy Porter talks about Floyd Kenneth Foster, Jr.

We met at the Maud Library where Cindy arrived with her arms full to the brim with documents.  She was enthusiastic about sharing memories of her father and Maud.  Cindy is the daughter of Floyd Kenneth Foster, Jr. and Ollie Drew Holt Foster.  She wanted to focus on her dad and talk about his contribution to Maud.  She wants him to be remembered as “Maud’s historian.” 

This will be a brief introduction to a man who was well-known locally as the man who owned the old Mobil station. Later we will continue with more information about him.

Born June 1, 1925, in Maud, Texas.  Death June 20, 2011, in Maud, Texas.

Mr. Foster has not even been gone three years yet so the memories of her dad were still fresh in Cindy’s mind and her emotions of having lost him are still raw, but perhaps that made it all the more meaningful to her to share with us how proud she was of her father and how much she loved him.  With the advent of construction on the new tire shop in the same location where the “old Mobile station” was, there has been alot of reminiscing about the old Mobile station and Mr. Foster. 

Floyd Foster Jr. in his later years

Floyd Foster Jr. in younger years

Cindy says her father kept journals and ledgers throughout most of his life recording notable events and even daily weather.  She claims to have stacks of these journals at home.  The photos here are from a collection of Maud memorabilia Floyd put in scrapbook he labeled “Memoirs of Maud, TX”.

Excerpt from his records, in his own handwriting

We will be looking at this book in greater detail later.  It includes a hand drawn map (undated) of Maud showing locations of many local business establishments.

Many thanks to Cindy Porter for sharing her documentation and her memories.  We look forward to many more excerpts from this treasure.  We appreciate the efforts her father made to preserve memories of Maud and of his legacy.

--Robin 

Used by permission from Cindy Porter from the journals and ledgers of Floyd Foster Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the author.