Loyd & Peggy

Most of my tales as amateur historian have been about people who died long before I was born. For the last five years of her life, I coaxed my mother to tell me all the secrets of her life; she asked me not to write this until after she died. Peggy Spicer passed away on February 10 2025 at the age of 87. Here now is the tale of my parents, Loyd and Peggy.

As you’ll soon see, Peg (everyone, including her children, called her Peg) never threw away any scrap of paper.

Peggy Long

Peggy Joyce Long was born in Girard, Kent County, Texas on June 19 1937, the third child of Walter Clifford “Cliff” Long (1905-1977) and Vienna Golden “Goldie” Jackson Long (1910-1984). Peggy was the great-granddaughter of James Calvert, who was born in Alabama, fought for the Union in the Civil War, survived Andersonville, and moved from Iowa to Murcheson Texas in 1899.

Golden’s parents were James “Ed” Jackson (1879-1950) and Jennie Calvert Jackson (1881-1968). They and Golden’s brother Clyde (1908-1974) lived in Jayton, eight miles south of Girard.

Cliff moved to Kent County with his parents after 1920, and married Golden in January 1929. At its peak in 1930, Kent County had 3851 residents; it is now down to about 700.

Cliff and Golden had two children, Guinn and Pauline, before the Great Depression hit West Texas. In these photos taken on the same day in 1933, Golden is with Cliff and their kids, and with her parents and brother Clyde.

After the economy began to improve, they had three more girls, beginning with Peggy in 1937.

In 1938, the Longs moved a few miles south from Girard to the Mark Luna farm, where they stayed three years. In 1941, they moved to the Tom Hunnicutt farm; they were now in the Jayton school district, so Peggy began school in Jayton. Her youngest sister Nora Lea was born there on August 25 1941. In March 1944, the Longs returned to Girard when Cliff got a job at the gas station, after the previous worker left for the war.

During World War 2, Cliff’s younger brother Leonard “Red” Long (1909-2004) served in Europe as a Sergeant in the Army. Peggy got V-Mail from Red in October 1944, when he was safely in France after D-Day. V-Mail was Victory Mail, where soldiers overseas wrote letters home, which were first approved by the military censors, then converted to microfilm to be flown back to the US (saving weight on shipping paper letters), then printed on a standard square form and delivered . Over a billion V-Mails were delivered during the war.

Well here I am right when you think I am not going to answer your letter. Well that where you are wrong. I guess you are going to school about now. Who is your teacher, do you like her? Do you still live where you did?

Love, Red

Everything was rationed during the war: food, car tires, and especially gas, so Cliff rode a horse seven miles to Girard to visit Red when he came home on leave.

Cliff’s job was to drive a gas tanker truck to all of the farms and ranches in three counties, delivering gas and diesel for their tractors and other equipment. He left home at 5AM, and rarely returned before 9PM.

The Longs didn’t have a car at the time, so anytime they had to go anywhere they all piled into the cab of the gas truck.

Peggy’s brother Guinn went to school with Bobbie Smith. They graduated in 1948, and were married in December.

Peggy was in the same grade as H. T. Stanaland and Loyd Carey; they will make appearances later in this tale.

In late 1949, Ed Jackson was diagnosed with colon cancer, placed on morphine, and given a few months to live. Clyde would take care of him one week, and Golden would live the next week in Jayton taking care of him.

While Golden was gone every other week, Peggy at age 12 had the job of taking care of her father and two younger sisters Jan and Lea. She cooked the meals, washed the clothes, and got her sisters ready for school; she said she grew up that year.

Ed Jackson died of cancer on June 15 1950 at the age of 70, four days before Peggy’s 13th birthday.

While driving the gas truck on the road between Girard and Spur in 1952, another truck came across Duck Creek bridge at the same time, and Cliff had to swerve abruptly to avoid a collision. The tanker truck flipped and rolled, winding up in the ditch, and Cliff’s legs were pinned under his seat. He had a lit cigarette, and was sure the truck would explode. A lady drove by the wreck, stopped, and pulled him out of the truck, which luckily did not explode.

Cliff was taken to the hospital in Spur. A few days later, Peggy was told by the school principal that her 8-year old sister Nora Lea had been stricken with polio. The principal took Lea and Peggy to the same hospital where Cliff was, and a friend took Golden there.

Lea was transferred to the bigger hospital in Lubbock. Golden stayed there with Lea, and Peggy took care of Jan while both parents were in different hospitals. Lea survived her polio bout, but had weakened muscles for the rest of her life.

Polio was an epidemic in 1952, and thousands were paralyzed and spent their lives in iron lungs. Paul Alexander was the final survivor in the US, and died in 2024 after 72 years in an iron lung.

In this 1954 photo, Peggy is in the center of the Girard Yearbook staff, and the fellow to her right is Hamlin “HT” Stanaland Jr. HT was in love with her since first grade, and was convinced she belonged to him, but she never had any feelings for him. He was a member of the stern Assembly of God, and got in severe trouble once for taking her to a movie on Sunday. HT finally gave up when she married Loyd, and he married and raised a family in Jayton.

The blond girl with glasses is Betty Lou Crafton. She got scandalously pregnant in the spring of 1955 with a Lubbock boy, and had to quit school, get married and leave town to raise her new son Audie.

Weldon Myrick (1938-2014) lived in Jayton. He grew up tall, and Jayton High insisted that he play for the basketball team. Weldon preferred music to sports, so he transferred to Girard High.

Each morning, Weldon would pick up Peggy, Jan and Lea in his car and take them to school, and then take them home after school, where he would stay for supper. He started dating Lea, and would bring her home in the evening and crow on the front porch to let her parents know she was back. He wanted to marry her in 1954 when she was 13 and he was 17; he wanted her to stay at his invalid mother’s house in Jayton and care for her while he was on the road starting his musical career.

Golden talked Lea out of that marriage. Weldon married someone else, and in 1968 became the star steel guitar player at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he played for the next 32 years. He wrote songs for Buddy Holly and others, and played on over 130 hit records, including 12 by Elvis.

Each fall, school was out for two weeks so the kids could go pick the cotton harvest. Peggy and her younger sisters Jan and Lea picked cotton on HT Stanaland Sr’s farm, and wasted a lot of bolls by picking them when they were still green and chunking them at each other.

One cotton picking season in the early 50s, Peggy was in love for the first time. The Bonnet family from Georgetown traveled around Texas picking cotton each fall, and Leroy (1935-2002) was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. After two weeks they were gone, and she never saw Leroy again.

The Longs only source of water at their home in Girard was a cistern, which collected rain water, and wasting water was a great sin: Cliff was upset when Golden watered a flower bed. Peggy did not like getting wet, and swore that she could bathe out of a thimble. She was not happy about a lake trip with her sisters.

Peggy was a cheerleader and pep squad member, played basketball, was the FFA Sweetheart, Halloween Queen, and Valedictorian of the Class of 1955.

Peggy said she was Valedictorian because she copied answers from the boy next to her; she won a one-year subscription to Reader’s Digest.

Here she was, out of school in a tiny little town, waiting on life.

Loyd Spicer

Loyd Eugene Spicer was born in Rochester, Haskell County, Texas on May 20 1935, the second child of Eugene “Gene” Emerson Spicer (1911-1999) and Susan “Susie” Johnson Spicer (1913-1977). Loyd was the great-grandson of Rowan Spicer Jr, who was born in Alabama and moved the Spicer family to Abilene Texas in 1882, the year after it was founded.

After World War 2, Gene bought farmland outside Anson, forty miles south of Rochester. He then sold it and bought 330 acres of land seven miles east of Jayton, where he farmed cotton and raised cattle. Loyd began going to school in the nearby tiny town of Peacock in 1949.

In February 1952, Loyd entered the Golden Gloves boxing tournament in Abilene, and was promptly knocked out in the first round, ending his fisticuffs career.

Loyd had to get up each morning at 5AM to feed the animals and work on the farm, and never got to attend school before December, after the crops were harvested. In the spring of 1952 he finally got sick of it, and one morning when his father told him to get up, replied “No, you feed them, I’m leaving.” He kept a life-long dislike of being told what to do and what rules to follow

He hitchhiked away from the farm at the age of 16 with his mail-order guitar, and began roaming around Texas.

At some point in the winter of 1952-1953, he was playing with a country band in a bar in Juarez Mexico when a fight began in the audience. Gunfire began, and he was hit by a stray shot in the knee. The band was afraid that they would get arrested as part of the fight, so he didn’t risk going to a hospital. He nearly froze to death while hitchhiking home, and had a bad knee for the rest of his life.

During his wandering period from 1952 to 1955, he lived near downtown Ft Worth for a while, and walked five miles out and back to eat at Rancher Bill’s BBQ. Rancher Bill’s was at the corner of Highway 80 (Camp Bowie) and Alta Mere in west Fort Worth; at that time that intersection was the Weatherford traffic circle. In the 1960s, that circle was demolished and the new larger Benbrook circle was built a few hundred yards farther south.

This 1955 photo shows the old traffic circle at the right, with Rancher Bill’s at the upper right of the circle. To the left of the circle was a drive-in movie, and below that was Buddies grocery; they are both gone now. The current circle was built at the upper left.

Sometime in 1953-54, Loyd married a hooker (Peg’s description of her) in a bar in Fort Worth, then moved to Houston with her. She had two sons by previous relations, went out every night with different men, and left him at home with the boys. She got pregnant, and he didn’t know if the child was his, so he left. There is no DNA evidence that I have a half-sibling, no memory of the hooker’s name, and no clue as to the bar or preacher’s identity.

While he was in Houston, he played at the same event with George Jones, whose first recording was released in January 1954.

Susie Spicer’s mother Pearl Johnson lived in Farmersville (north of Dallas) with her daughter Evelyn Abbott. Pearl had been a widow since 1925, when her husband Tom Johnson was murdered in Haskell (that tale is coming, if I live long enough to finish it).

At least once during this period, Loyd went to Pearl’s house to play music with friends, wearing a wedding ring. In the bottom photo, the fellow in the middle is Loyd’s cousin Tom Halliburton (1933-2014), the only child of Susie Spicer’s sister Mabel Johnson Blackwell Halliburton Wheeler (1907-1990).

They Meet

At Peggy’s senior prom in the spring of 1955, Weldon (age 17) played steel guitar, and Loyd (age 20) played guitar. Loyd wanted to go see Peggy that night at Weldon’s house, but Gene said it was younger brother Clyde’s turn to use the car.

In late June 1955, Bobbie Long took Peggy, Jan and Lea to a rodeo in Claremont, fourteen miles west of Jayton, where Weldon and Loyd were playing again. Peggy was on stage adjusting the stand mike for Loyd and didn’t tighten it enough, so it fell down and cut his hand. Loyd said he wasn’t sure if she was a boy or a girl, because she had short hair and no boobs.

Loyd and Peggy had their first date on June 30 1955. At 20, he was working on the construction of the new Jayton school, and was also bootlegging whiskey in dry Kent County with Weldon’s father, until he got enough money to buy an old Nash car. There are two-hundred fifty-four counties in Texas; to this day, Kent County is one of the four dry ones.

At some point in 1955, he took his car for service to Joe’s in Abilene, an outlet of Reed Service Inc, and met Glen Reed (1932-2002), who became his best friend in the 1950s.

The Letters

Peggy kept hundreds of letters from the 1950s. Here are the interesting ones, some complete, some excerpts.

In December 1955 Loyd was working in Abilene repairing vacuum cleaners at Air-Way, and living at the home of his aunt Mabel Wheeler at 317 S Mockingbird. He went to Girard and spent his first Christmas with the Long family, and was delighted to learn that they played cards and dominoes; he had never been allowed to play games at the Spicer family home. For the rest of his life, a day without a game was not a complete day.

My Dearest Sweetheart,

Just a line to say Howdy. Guess everythings OK. I’m still at Air-Way believe it or not. Guess I’ll probably be here from now on.

You’ll never know how much I miss you Honey. Maybe we can spend weekends together til then. So I’ll see you Sunday Darling.

All My Love,

Loyd

12-30-1955

My Dearest One

Hope this finds you alrite. Words can’t say just how much I miss you Honey, but the Good Lord willing we’ll be together permanently soon.

Starting the 15th I’ll be making 80 or 85 dollars a week. I’ll get another raise in 30 days after that.

Keep writing even if I might not answer real quick like.

All My Love,

Loyd

1-5-1956

My Dearest One,

Received your most welcome letter today. I was down with a cold all day Saturday, still don’t feel very good.

I’ll probably go on the road in 3 or 4 days – I’ll write wherever I go. If I can get out of debt once more then we’ll begin to make final plans and preparations to be together.

I worked on some washing machines this evening, hope they stay fixed.

So Long Sincerely
More Than a Friend
Yours Forever

Loyd

1-10-1956

In January 1956, he began working at the Wash Pot in Abilene, a laundromat owned by Gene’s brother Lealan Spicer (1923-2001).

My Dearest Sweetheart,

I changed jobs yesterday. I’m at the Washpot Laundry for my uncle. I pick up and deliver, and solicit new business.

I’ll see you by Sat evening if the roads are alright. It sure is bad here this morning, it has sleeted and snowed since right after dinner yesterday. There is about 4 inches on the ground now.

All My Love,

Loyd

1-18-1956

Dearest Sweetheart,

I’m still on the same job. Surprised! I’m getting a good deal of cleaning this week, and might see you Saturday.

I guess Weldon and Lea have broken up by now, or have they? It looks to me like if they can’t get along for a few hours at a time, they wouldn’t have too much chance for days or years at a time.

Love Forever,

Loyd

1-25-1956

My Dearest One:

I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to write, but maybe I can find words to say why. I got some concentrated bleach in my eye Monday & I could hardly see til Friday. Then I was fixing to come up there [Girard] yesterday and had a wreck. It tore the front end up on my car pretty bad but just did five dollars damage to the other car. My brakes went out at a red light, it speeded up instead of stopping.

I’ll always love you with all my heart & promise to do everything in my power to keep you happy once I get in shape to make you all mine. If I’m not able to make it up there next Saturday, call me collect at the laundry 2-3476 at 1:30PM.

All My Love Now & Ever

Loyd

2-5-1956

My Dearest One,

Just a line to let you know I am still here. I didn’t make it back in my Nash. It throwed the No 1 insert, front main [motor mount] and flattened the crankshaft at Anson, so I’m walking again [25 miles to Abilene]. I hope to have another one by Saturday. Maybe I will. It will cost $100 for another motor, and it will be a used one, so I think I’ll just sell it and trade for something else.

Love Forever,

Loyd

4-5-1956

In April 1956 the Longs bought their first TV. In 1950, only 9% of American households had a TV; that had risen to 73% in 1956.

Well I reckon as to how I had better try and write you a few lines.

We got us a TV last Thursday and I’m trying to watch it and write at the same time, so if this doesn’t make sense don’t be surprised. I’m so sleepy I can hardly see. I don’t think I have been to bed at a decent hour since we got this thing. I think I am just too old for TV, Ha!

All My Love, Forever,

Peggy

4-22-1956

After his Nash expired, Loyd bought a 1950 Chevy for $125 from Bill Williams in Jayton.

With his new used Chevy, Loyd moved from Abilene to Grand Prairie, staying at the home of Glenn Reed’s sister Evelyn Modisett.

My Dearest One:

I guess I had better let you know I’m still alive and well. I decided to come down here and go to work. I got me a job repairing appliances, and I’m painting [houses] at nights and Sundays.

I made it down here in the old car even if I did get a ticket for no inspection sticker. That cost me $10 I didn’t have.

I went over to my sister’s [Fern] yesterday, it is just a little less than 30 miles over there.

Love Forever

Loyd

4-29-1956

In June 1956 Loyd changed jobs again and moved to Dallas, where the business owner Clarence Fugitt (1902-1963) let him sleep in the back room of the shop on Haskell Ave.

Loyd wrote to Peggy on her 19th birthday:

My Dearest Sweetheart:

I guess I had better answer your letter I received last weekend. I was very glad to hear from you, more so than you can know.

Well Honey, how does it feel to be an old woman? It sure doesn’t seem like a year since I met you in so many ways, yet in others it seems I’ve known you almost forever. I only hope the last year has been as happy for you as it has for me.

I have finally gotten my car fixed up except for a seeping head gasket. Believe it or not it never has jumped out of gear again.

I must go to work now sweetheart, so a very happy birthday and I’ll see you the next weekend.

All My Love Forever,

Loyd

6-19-1956

I received your letter today and may I say it made me very happy, although I was a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing you Saturday, but I guess if you can stand to stay away four weeks I can stand it. I may be wrong, but I think you miss me as much as I do you, if that’s possible. I hope this is the longest we will ever have to be apart and I also hope it doesn’t have to happen very often.

It looks as thought we think right along the same line, the letter I got today had almost the same thing in it as the one I wrote to you last night. Maybe that has something to do with us getting along with each other. I just hope and pray that we will never have any more arguments than we have had this past year, and with you around I don’t think we will. Some couples were meant for each other and some weren’t, and I think we were. I hope you feel the same way.

Darling I don’t know anything else to say except that I love you with all my heart and miss you more every day. I don’t mind the days so much, but the nights seem like weeks and I guess they are just as long for you, but if it is necessary I will wait a lifetime for you Darling.

Well I guess I have run out of anything to write for tonight. I guess I could go on talking forever, but I never did like to talk to paper. I guess it’s too much like talking to yourself, and I never did find talking to myself interesting. I hope you will believe the things I have told you Darling, because I mean them with all my heart.

Good night Darling and remember that I will always love you. Please write to me, and I’ll be here whenever you can come.

All My Love, Forever and Always

Peggy

6-20-1956

By August 1956, Peggy was showing off an engagement ring.

I guess I had better try and write my little meany a few lines tonight.

Well another one of these lonely weekends is almost gone, I missed you very much Darling, as I always do.

I sure hope you can read this, I’m out on the porch and it is almost dark, but I figured I could write just as good in the dark as I could in the light, Ha!

Weldon was up at the house a little while this morning and he said he was still in the TV business, and that’s about all he had to say for himself. He almost fainted when I showed him my ring. I think Pauline was the most surprised one of the bunch though, I don’t think she really believed it.

They have been teasing me all day, Pauline told me she would get us some bunk beds without the ladder, she’s so silly she hurts.

We went down to see my grandmother [Jennie Calvert Jackson] this evening, and she already knew that I had my ring. I don’t know how news gets around, but it sure travels fast. My uncle was teasing me about how many Cracker Jacks we had to eat to get it, and my aunt said well at that I was lucky, because when she got married they weren’t even making Cracker Jacks.

We got to see the Grand Ole Opry last night, it was good for a change.

I guess you had a big weekend didn’t you? You better not have, you better stay at home and be a good little boy.

Well I am getting hungry again, so I guess I am going to have to close and go raid the ice box again.

Until I see you remember I love you and you alone.

All My Love Forever and Always

Peggy

8-5-1956

Boy we saw a real good Grand Ole Opry show Saturday night. You might have seen it, but if you didn’t here’s the ones that we saw. Hank Snow (M.C.), June Carter, Ray Price, Eddie Arnold, Johnny Cash, Jimmie Dickens, and Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs. I believe it was the best one I have ever seen. It is also going to start coming on here every Thursday night at 8:30.

All My Love

Peggy

9-3-1956

Johnny Cash first performed at the Opry on June 7 1956, where he met his future wife June Carter backstage.

Now that they had a TV, Peggy became a baseball fan and watched the 1956 World Series, which the Yankees won in 7. This was the last Subway Series, as both the Dodgers and Giants moved to California the next year.

Well the Dodgers won today but they had me worried. I believe it was the best game of the Series so far.

Two more just won some money on the $64,000 Question. I sure wish I was smart, but I don’t guess there is any hope for me. The only smart thing I ever did was say yes, the first time you ever ask me for a date.

Honey good-night and be good. If you can’t be good, please be careful. Ha!

All My Love

Peggy

10-9-1956

In October 1956, Loyd was attacked while he was sleeping in Fugitt’s shop; luckily he had a knife and took care of them.

My Dearest Sweetheart:

I’ll finally write you a few lines. Honey I don’t see how I can make it in this week. I’ll see you for sure next Friday nite. I got my car stole last Friday nite & just got it back Tuesday pretty well tore up. Then Monday nite about midnight four damn juveniles tried to make hash of me while I was asleep. They sorta got slipped up on though. I cut one all to hell from his belt up & turned the other 3 over to the police. 

Well enough of my troubles. I’ll see you darling for sure next Friday.

Love Forever

Loyd

10-25-1956

After continued trouble with the damn juveniles, Loyd left Dallas and moved to Keller to live with his sister Fern (1932-1984), who was married to Eddie Winsett (1928-2000).

My Dearest Sweetheart:

I’ll finally write and answer your letter. I had some more trouble with those damn punks last Sunday night [October 28]. They tried to get to me and couldn’t, so they cut my tires up. I moved over here Monday and went to work Tuesday. I work for Elliston Appliance 4901 Ohio Garden Rd [in River Oaks, a westside suburb of Fort Worth]. It is a lot nicer place than the other one was. Darling, those punks got me so far behind it will be next Friday night before I’ll be able to come in. I guess we’ll come in for the folks anniversary the 9th, but have to come back here before the 3rd.

Well I have to get to work so remember I love you so much more than I’ll ever be able to show.

Love Always & Ever

Loyd

11-2-1956

Loyd was a drinker, and Peg was from a teetotaler family.

My Dearest Darling,

I hope this finds you well and all together. I am alright I guess, still just as mean as ever, Ha!

…

Bye for now Honey, be good. I love you very much, but remember I love you more when your sober.

All My Love,

Peggy

11-15-1956

My Dearest Darling,

I hope this finds you well and happy. I am well and lonely as usual.

Did you have to work today? Daddy didn’t have to work so we just had a very quiet Thanksgiving by watching TV.

Christmas will be here before we know it. It seems like only yesterday that we spent last Xmas together. I hope this Christmas will be as wonderful as the last one was.

I will say goodnight for now my Darling, be real careful and come to see me. Sweet dreams to The Greatest Person on Earth.

All My Love,

Peggy

11-22-1956

My Dearest Darling,

I hope this finds you well. There has been so much sickness though, you have probably been sick too, but I hope not.

Guinn and Bobbie came in Friday night and went back about two this evening.

Did you see the fight Friday night? There wasn’t a whole lot of fighting in it.

I must close tonight and go to bed. Good-night to the Greatest Person on Earth.

All My Love

Peggy

12-2-1956

The fight was Floyd Patterson vs Archie Moore. They fought on November 30 for the vacant heavyweight title, after Rocky Marciano retired. The 21-year old Patterson knocked out 39-year old Moore in the 5th round.

Peg finally gave Loyd an ultimatum: choose alcohol or her.

Good night my darling. I don’t mean this in a nagging way, but remember darling drinking never did solve anything, so be good will you.

Remember Honey, I love you with all my heart and to me you’re the only and the greatest person in the world.

All My Love to You Forever,

Peggy

12-10-1956

In early January she spent a couple of weeks at Guinn and Bobbie’s house in Fort Worth on Lafayette Ave, and got to see Loyd a few times.

My Dearest Darling,

Well it looks like I’m going to have to do something that I hoped I would never have to do again, write you a nasty old letter. I don’t guess it’s quite that bad but I would much rather tell you I Love You in person. Although I guess letter writing is safer.

We went down to Montgomery Wards tonight and didn’t get back until about 8:30, and then I sewed some on a skirt for Bobbie, and then I decided I had better try and write a couple of letters. Now isn’t that a good enough excuse for being up late? I hope you are in bed fast asleep and are safe and sound. I hope you have sweet dreams and I’ll be watching over you. I only wish I could see that good.

We rode around a little bit yesterday evening, and then Pokey and Gerald [a married couple, friends of Guinn and Bobbie] came over and ate supper with us and watched TV.

I could say I love you and miss you on a thousand pages but I’m just going to trust that you will believe me without me writing it that many times.

I must go to bed before my eyes pop out of my head.

Come this week if you can, and if not I’ll be looking for you this weekend.

Love Forever,

Peggy

1-21-1957

Montgomery Wards (aka Monkey Wards) was the rival of Sears, and had a 7-story warehouse and store in Fort Worth which was famous for surviving the great flood of 1949, when the water reached the 2nd floor. The building is now condominiums and shops.

My Dearest Darling

Well I guess it’s letter writing time again.

I made Bruce some little stuffed toys this evening and that’s just about all I have done today.

I miss you so very much. I would give anything to see you tonight and would even like to tickle you again, Ha! I am so mean, ain’t I?

Love Always and Forever

Peggy

2-5-1957

Bruce was the first grandchild of the Long family, born in October 1955 to Peggy’s sister Pauline Collins.

Early in 1957, Loyd went back to work at P & F when Fugitt offered him an interest in the firm. He always enjoyed giving himself comically inflated titles. KSKY AM660 went on the air in 1941, and is still broadcasting in Dallas.

My Dearest Darling,

I guess I had better try to write you a few lines this pretty Sunday evening.

What did you do this weekend? I haven’t done nothing but eat and sleep.

It seems like it has been a year since I have seen you. I tell you I don’t know what I did before I met you.

Darling I don’t know when you are planning for us to get married, but I do hope you will let me know a few days in advance. Will you please?

Be real careful, and remember I love you and only you now and forever.

All My Love,

Peggy

2-10-1957

My Dearest Darling,

I guess I had better try to write my Darling a few lines tonight. I just got through watching Stanley and Celia. They get crazier every time.

I sure hope you can read this letter. I was grating some cheese for supper tonight, and I grated all the hide off my right thumb, and I can’t bend it so pretty good. That’s not bad for me, is it Ha!

…

Please write real soon and come as soon as you can. I miss and love you very much Darling.

All My Love,

Peggy

2-11-1957

Stanley was a sitcom on NBC in 1956-1957, starring Buddy Hackett as Stanley, and Carol Burnett in her first prime-time role as Celia.

Sometime in early 1957, Loyd and Peg had their first time alone, and she didn’t get pregnant. Neither of them tore the letter up.

My Dearest Darling,

I hope this finds you alright.

They’re having a ball game up here tonight, but I didn’t exactly feel up to going, so am watching TV instead.

Darling, I guess I shouldn’t put this on paper, but I think you will be as proud to learn as I was that it looks as if I’m not pregnant after all. I have felt pretty rough today, but I can honestly say that this is one time I’m proud to be sick.

Darling you will never know how much I miss your kind words, tender kisses and strong arms.

Please write to me Honey and come when you can. Be real careful because you’re all I have to live for.

All My Love

Peggy

P.S. It might be best if you tear this letter up.

2-12-1957

Cheyenne (1955-1962) was the first hour-long western television drama, starring the extremely handsome 6’6″ Clint Walker. Peg had dreams.

My Dearest Darling,

You don’t know it but you almost lost your future wife last night. I dreamed last night that I was fixing to marry Cheyenne. When I woke up this morning I just lay in bed and laughed for about thirty minutes. I guess I am just going to have to quit watching him, Ha! I think that was the silliest dream I have ever had.

Good-night my Darling sweet dreams and come to see me as soon as you can.

Love You Always

Peggy

2-20-1957

My Dearest Darling,

Will try to write you a few lines tonight if I can think of anything to say.

Have you been watching Do You Trust Your Wife? The couple that is on there now won $100 a week for twenty years. They shouldn’t have any financial worries for a while.

Lea got her engagement ring last night. It is real pretty but it’s not as pretty as mine.

Honey it is my bedtime again so I will close for this time.

Good night my Darling, and be real, real careful.

Love You Forever,

Peggy

3-5-1957

Do You Trust Your Wife was a quiz show hosted by the ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Married couples competed for the prize, and the husband decided whether he would answer, or trusted his wife to get it right. In 1958, Johnny Carson took over as host, staying until he took over the Tonight Show in 1962.

Loyd told Peggy that he had divorced the hooker, although there is no record of the marriage or divorce. He had received his draft notice from the Army, one of 138,504 drafted that year, and had no intention of joining the Army and obeying orders. They left Girard in mid-March 1957, and headed east, stopping for a few days at Pearl Johnson’s house in Farmersville.

Golden wrote:

We got your card and you said you would write a letter in a day or two but we haven’t received no letter. Did something happen, or did you all get married as sudden as you decided to go back with Loyd? Did you ever get to feeling well, I hated for you to go off sick. I don’t know if you are still at Farmersville or not, but be sure and write and let us hear from you.

Love

Mother

3-20-1957

A few days after they eloped, Peggy’s baby sister Nora Lea married Loyd Carey (we called him Uncle Short) in the Long house on March 26 1957, 5 months before Lea’s 16th birthday. Golden wrote:

Dear Peggy,

We got your letter today, was glad to hear that you was still alive. Had decided you had got lost or something. I had decided you all didn’t get married, and probably could guess why, but I hope things work out for you all, and I am sure they will, and more power to you all.

I wish we could lend a hand but you know we just get by ourselves. I guess that is all anybody can expect now days.

Lea and Loyd [Carey] married last night about 7 o’clock. They married here at the house, just the family, Mr and Mrs Carey, and Gladys [Loyd Carey’s sister] and us. The Girard kids wrote all over their car, tied cans on it. When they went to leave they were all waiting for them outside, they cheered them out of town. The Jayton boys were waiting for them at Jayton, and Loyd said the boys at Slayton said they would be waiting for them when he got there, so I don’t know what they run into up there, Ha.

Guinn & Bobbie hasn’t been home. If you don’t get married this weekend, why don’t you go stay a few days with them [in Fort Worth], I know it would please them.

Well I must close so be sweet and don’t wait so long to write next time.

Mother & All

3-27-1957

Dear Peggy,

We got your letter was glad to hear from you. We have been hearing the news about the storm, sure sounds bad, did it strike anywhere near you or Loyd? Let us here from you just as soon as you get this letter.

I wish you were back home if you are not going to get married any ways soon. I bet you are tired of staying there, or you know what I mean, I bet you hate to stay there so long.

Pauline & Dwain came Sunday, Bruce just looked around like he thought someone was missing.

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Mother

4-2-1957

Loyd’s aunt Evelyn wrote (the first page of this letter is lost):

Loyd, that old man [Clarence Fugitt] you worked for or with has called two times since you left. He wanted me to call him if I heard from you, but I didn’t. He says the place is filled with things that need working on, and that you have over one thousand dollars worth of his parts, so you had better get it straightened out with him.

It’s just about supper time, so I had better close. I am glad that you are both happy, and hope you will always stay that way.

Little Evelyn says “Hello” – Bye for now

Evelyn & Family

April 1957

Evelyn’s daughter Little Evelyn was Loyd’s youngest cousin, born in 1953.

Dear Peggy,

Well I thought I had better write you a few lines, before you forgot me.

I guess you know all about me getting married, so that isn’t anything new to tell you. I really can’t tell the difference, Ha. I want you and Loyd to be sure and come see us as soon as you’ll can when you get married. I know how it is getting married, we are just about broke ourself.

I’ll try to tell you a few things I got in my shower. I got around 21 towels, around a dozen wash rags, 5 pyrex bowls, cake pan, muffin pan, 2 floor rugs, flour sifter, rolling pin (oh boy!), 2 knives, set of 4 steak knives, 4 aprons, canister set, grease set, tea pot, duster, dresser scarf, measuring cup, sheets, bedspread, tea pitcher, cornbread pan, cup towels … that’s about all I can think of.

Me and Loyd have been married a week today, and he’s done gone [working in Midland]. I sure am lonesome.

Answer real soon. Here’s our address, will be there until our month’s house rent is up.

By By for now,

Love Always,

Lea & Loyd

405 East Lubbock St, Slaton, Texas

4-2-1957

At the start of April, they left Pearl’s and drove east until his gas money ran out in Montgomery Alabama. Peggy sent a postcard to Susie when they arrived:

Just a line to say hello and let you know where we are. We’re in Montgomery, Alabama, we got here about 10:00 this morning. Loyd got him a job [appliance repair] this morning. It has been raining ever since we left Farmersville. Bye, will write a letter when I have time.

Love

Peggy & Loyd

Write to 228 S Lawrence

4-4-1957

Peggy wrote back home that they got married on the way to Alabama, in Meridian Mississippi, on April 3. Actually, they never got legally married, because Loyd decided that that was another law that he was not going to obey.

Lea wrote from Lubbock to Peggy in Montgomery:

Dear Peggy & Loyd,

Well here I am finally. I guess better late than never. I don’t know why I haven’t written, I guess I’m just lazy. And after I’ve waited all this time I still don’t know much to say.

I got a letter from Mother today, she said you had got a TV set, I know it’s a lot of company. We’ve had one about 2 or 3 weeks, I sure do enjoy it. Boy do I get lonesome. We live in just a regular furnished house, it’s yellow trimmed in brown. We have four rooms and a bath. We really don’t need this big of a house but we just grabbed it because we had to move. I think we’re going to move to a smaller house and cheaper. Boy isn’t money a problem, Ha.

Peggy are you going to work or just stay home and raise a houseful of younguns? Oh by the way, what day did you’ll make the fatal step? Where did you’ll get married at? Say Peggy was you scared? I bet you was. I was doing OK until the preacher got there, and I just said to myself “Listen girl, you ain’t going to be single much longer.” Ha. No, I was nervous though, and it was just as easy for Loyd as going to the toilet.

Bye for this time and be good,

Love Always,

Lea & Loyd

P.S. By the way I believe you’ll are up for congratulations. I know you will be happy and I hope you’ll have the best of everything. And lots of luck for all these years to come. And all the happiness anyone could have.

5-9-1957

Peggy’s mother Golden wrote to her:

Peggy, did you take all your things with you when you run off and got married, Ha. Aren’t you ashamed to be such a naughty girl, I think you all are cowards or something like that, Ha. I run off and got married, but I didn’t leave the state. I think you all are the ones I will say should come to see us, as we didn’t put the miles between us.

5-5-1957

Peggy, I can’t think of who all you have to write to, I didn’t know you had that many cousins, or maybe you are writing to some of your old boyfriends. You had better watch her Loyd, Ha. I guess I had better hush, for I am too far away to referee a fight.

Loyd, I am sorry your Uncle [Sam] is after you. I guess that is one thing we have to accept whether we want to or not. I think I told you Delton [Peg’s cousin] had to go take his physical about a month ago, he was 22 in April.

5-15-1957

Peggy’s grandmother Jennie Jackson wrote to her, with a stern warning for Loyd:

Dear Peggy & Loyd

There is no telling what I’ll tell you in this letter, it has rained & rained and then rained some more. Even the house is mad and all swelled up. I’ve tried all day to open my front door and haven’t succeeded yet. I’m just about as blue as this paper. All tho I’m thankful we haven’t had tornadoes like they have all around us. You see we always have something to be thankful for. Well I finally got my door open (3 PM) and everything has cleared up some. I feel better now.

I spent Sunday with Eda & Clyde. Delton was at home. He will soon be in the service. I hate to see him go altho it has helped some of the boys. Peggy if you don’t care I want to talk to Loyd some?

Now Loyd you got my very best granddaughter, and if you are not good to her, well I’ll just step over there and see about it. And don’t let it be known that Peggy is kin to James Calvert. He was my father, was borned and raised in Alabama, such a large family 26 children. I know everyone in the state is a little kin to me. So you went the wrong way.

Peggy it’s my earnest prayer for you, that you will be happy and have a sweet home. I don’t have a home, it’s just a place to stay. Altho I like to say, we are all doing very well. Golden has been sick, but she spent the day last Tuesday with me (believe it or not). And I am about the same.

I don’t think of any more to write this time. So be sweet and come to see me soon.

PS Write me soon. I wrote Nora Lee but not her Loyd (Carey). I never saw him. I don’t write to men till I see them see how they look. HaHa

5-20-1957

Loyd’s sister Fern wrote to them:

I never thought I’ld see the day, Loyd, that you would get tired of beans. If you all like chili, I’ve got a dandy recipe for it.

I can’t imagine why the Plymouth flew apart, if you were only cruising along at 90 mph. I’ll bet Peggy never has to set her hair, cause riding with you would curl anybody’s.

Our Linda is getting to be the meanest kid in the neighborhood. She never gets up til 10:30 and never goes to bed before 11:30.

Well I am out of news, so guess I’ll go spank Linda, wash dishes, bring in clothes and then open a bottle of Pearl — Ahh. The last thing should be the first.

Love Always,

Fern & Family

May 1957

After his Plymouth flew apart, Loyd bought a 1947 Pontiac Streamliner Torpedo.

Susie wrote to her son Loyd, urging him to come back for the draft, since he was shaming the good name of the Spicer family. If you’ve read any of this blog, you may now laugh.

Dear Loyd,

I don’t quite know how to write this letter but I must. 

I sent you your draft business and I know you got it and this draft board hasn’t heard a word from you or about you. I talked to Mrs Johnson and she said you would be in serious trouble if you did not report to a draft board there and let her hear from you at once. She thinks it is just a mix-up and that you are not “delinquent.”

I thought so too but it is past time you were heard from. The board meets this month and if she hasn’t heard from you she will have to report you “delinquent.” 

So if you reported to a draft board there be sure and have them get in touch with this board here. It is very urgent. If you haven’t reported yet be sure and do so. You can’t run far enough away for them not to find you and just in case you didn’t care to report, you might think about your parents and brother & sister. We have to live here you know, and it is very embarrassing already. You were brought up to do right and I don’t think it is asking too much on your part to do it for our sakes if not for your own!

I do hope it is just a mix-up and you can get it straightened up at once. I’ve just been sick over it.

We spent Mother’s Day weekend at Mother’s [Pearl Johnson]. She is here now. I guess she will go home this weekend.

Clyde is out of school. It is too wet to plant anything. They have no cotton up yet. It is beginning to look serious here. It is raining here now. Sandra passed into High School. She was Valedictorian of her class. Mother, Turner, Clyde and Bill were here to see her graduate.

Son, if you haven’t reported, I hope you will. We don’t have any money at all and if we did it wouldn’t be right for you to have to ask for it to pay a fine for not reporting. So let this draft board hear from you, please.

Peggy, I hope you are not too homesick yet. I guess housework keeps you pretty busy doesn’t it? Mother said they hadn’t heard from you. So if you have time they would love to hear from you. We enjoy your letters too.

If Loyd goes to the draft board and doesn’t pass his tests I may try to come see you all this summer if you stay there. If you have any influence with Loyd and he hasn’t reported to the draft board I hope you can get him to report. I just can’t understand it. Let us hear from you all at once.

Love to You Both

Mother

6-2-1957

On The Run

Loyd and Peggy moved every 3 months, because employers had to report the Social Security numbers of their employees after 3 months, and he didn’t want the Army to find him.

From Montgomery, they drove north 1250 miles until his gas money ran out in Willmar Minnesota, where they lived from June to September 1957. Loyd found an appliance repair job paying $75 a week; they found an apartment and slept on the floor until they could afford furniture. While there, they played miniature golf in the neighboring town of Spicer, which is named for John Spicer (1841-1928), son of a Swiss immigrant and unrelated to us.

It began snowing as they left in September, heading south for a warmer state. 800 miles later, they stopped in Fort Smith Arkansas when his gas money ran out, and settled into a duplex in a trailer park.

Here I finally enter the annals of Spicer history, when I was born in Fort Smith on December 9 1957. Peggy never went to a doctor while she was pregnant, because they couldn’t afford it, and spent seven days in the hospital. The axle broke on the Pontiac when they got to the hospital, so Loyd walked to get parts and tools and replaced it in the hospital parking lot.

We lived across the street from a hamburger joint which played loud music into the wee hours. In December 1957, the Everly Brothers “Wake Up Little Susie” was a top hit, and the joint played it all the time. Loyd hated that song, and was eager to move again.

After three months in Fort Smith, when I was six weeks old, we hit the road. Loyd took out the rear seat of the Pontiac to load all of their belongings, and left the seat on the porch of the duplex. Peggy couldn’t breast feed, and they couldn’t deal with formula on a road trip, so the doctor told her to give me whole milk.

They returned to Montgomery, where Loyd was advised by his previous employer to turn himself in, as living on the run with babies is not a smart idea. He was out of gas money, so he sold all of his tools to his old boss, and we hit the road back to Texas.

They ran out of gas money in Brownwood Texas, where Glenn Reed lived. Glenn gave him gas money, and Loyd took the back road through Claremont to Girard, because the draft-dodging warrant was at the Jayton courthouse.

We reached Cliff and Golden’s house in January 1958, then Loyd went to talk to his father, who advised him to turn himself in. He surrendered at the Jayton courthouse, then rode with other Kent County boys by bus to Abilene for the Army physical. He failed the physical due to scoliosis, because he couldn’t stand straight enough to salute. He was judged 4-F and released, so the year of running was for nothing. Cliff drove to Abilene to bring him back to Girard, and our normal life began.

Family Life

Loyd went to Lubbock in April 1958 looking for work, but didn’t find any. He then went to Amarillo in May 1958, where he stayed with Guinn and Bobbie, who had moved from Fort Worth. He found work there, and brought Peggy and me up there.

In September 1958, we moved to Abilene, where my sister Mona was born in January 1959, and my brother Guinn in August 1960. The Spicer kin in Abilene at that time included Loyd’s brother Clyde, his uncle Lealan, and his cousins Charles and Frank.

Loyd always preferred working for himself; Ole Spicer was 23 years old when he ran this ad.

Peg made all of our clothes, so we have matching fabric in many of our childhood photos.

In 1959, Loyd made $4190 working for Hefner Appliance Service. Per the Census Bureau, the average family income in 1959 was about $5400.

If you were not well-off in 1960, with 2 kids and another on the way, how did you get money when business was slow? You could mortgage your furniture and appliances for twelve monthly payments of $35.

In June 1960 Loyd bought a 1949 Packard for twenty-four payments of $54.50. This is the first car I remember, because I gashed my leg on the front bumper and still have the scar.

Dr Bessire delivered my brother in August 1960, and in October he was still waiting on his $5.00 fee.

Loyd always had past-due business bills; in late 1960 he received a letter from C. G McKellar in Dallas, who was delighted to work in the field of credit.

Medaris still hadn’t been paid in December, so they sent a telegraph, hoping to avoid embarrasment. I’m not sure who they expected to be embarrassed, and I suspect they never got paid.

In 1961 we moved forty miles north from Abilene to the small town of Stamford, possibly to avoid creditors. Loyd’s grandfather Charles Lonzo “Lon” Spicer had been buried there in 1949, after he committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. Carbolic acid (aka phenol) was widely used in pesticides and herbicides, and had long been the suicide of choice for despondent farmers who didn’t want to waste a bullet.

Loyd always guaranteed his work, but occasionally there were problems.

In January 1962, Loyd paid the $1.75 poll tax so that he could vote. Throughout the South, the poll tax primarily existed to keep black people from voting. In March 1966, the Supreme Court declared the tax unconstitutional.

Fort Worth

In August 1963, Fern’s husband Eddie Winsett brought a U-Haul to Stamford to help move us to Fort Worth. The five Spicers piled into the cab of Loyd’s pickup for the trip to our final town.

We lived a few months at a time on El Campo, Tex Boulevard, 6th Ave and 5th Ave, moving each time when the neighbors or city complained about Loyd running a business from the house. The Spicers were too poor to pay attention, so Loyd usually waited for the threat of legal action to move.

For a couple of months we lived at 2412 5th Avenue in Ryan Place. This neighborhood was built in 1920, and the house is now valued at $900,000. In 1963, these mansions were run down and cheap to rent. This house had 3 stories and a basement, with a giant central staircase; it was amazing and memorable for little kids used to tiny homes.

In the summer of 1964, Peggy saw an ad in the Star-Telegam for a house for sale in southwest Fort Worth, with only a $50 down-payment required. The neighborhood had been platted out of ranch land in 1950 and named South Hills. They bought the house on Trail Lake, assumed the existing loan of $11,000, and lived there for the rest of their lives.

In this 1949 photo looking southeast, Trail Lake runs horizontally below the railroad track; in 1950 it was extended on the other side of the track to build South Hills.

As part of having a mortgage, Loyd decided it was time to start following some of the laws, so he began filing his income tax returns for the first time.

After we moved to Fort Worth, we started eating at Rancher Bill’s, but didn’t know it was one of Loyd’s old hang-outs. It closed in the 1990s, and the location is now a Pep Boys.

Panther Hall had opened in Fort Worth as a bowling alley in 1963, and quickly changed to a country music ballroom. The first show featured Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, and Loretta Lynn played the night of JFK’s assassination (they offered to cancel the show, but she needed the money). The Cowtown Jamboree was televised on Channel 11 from there each Saturday night, and all the big acts played there: Porter and Dolly, Loretta, Willie, Waylon, Merle, Conway, even the Byrds and Grateful Dead. It survived until 1979, hanging on as a disco in its final years; the building was demolished in 1992.

In 1965, Weldon was touring with Bill Anderson as a member of his band the Po Boys, and they played Panther Hall on September 5. Loyd and Peggy took us when we were 7, 6 and 5. After the show Weldon took us out for supper, and told Loyd that he envied his family life. I don’t remember the evening at all.

What else could you have done in Cowtown on that 1965 evening? You could eat pancakes at Ol South (which had two locations then: the University location is still open), or you could go see Lee Marvin and his drunken horse in Cat Ballou, or you could see The King and I at Casa Manana, or you could go to the Capri for some adult movie fun in blushing color.

Cliff and Golden moved from Girard to live in Jennie Jackson’s house in Jayton in December 1963. Going to Jayton for Christmas each year was one of the year’s highlights; we called it “seeing the lights of Bethlehem” when we got close after the 4-hour drive. In these photos from about 1966, Jennie is in the wheelchair, the Spicer and Collins boy cousins are down front, and my sister is sitting in Cliff’s lap

Some years the Spicer kids would get to spend the summer in Jayton, while Loyd and Peggy enjoyed a kid-free spell in Fort Worth. Every Sunday was roast, fried okra, black-eyed peas, and lots of pie. One summer I joined the Little League baseball team and warned the coach I had amnesia, since I forgot the word asthma. He placed me in deep center field, way behind the center fielder, so I think the team did OK.

In about 1965, Loyd met Joe Dyer (1939-2010), who had a shop on South Main where he repaired and resold old televisions. Loyd rented the shop next door at 1125 South Main, and opened Wishy Washy Washer Works, where he repaired and resold old washers, dryers and refrigerators. Both shops were across the street from Melvin’s Pawn Shop. Some day I’ll write about Melvin, who was murdered in his home on the night of March 13 1983. That block of South Main was owned by Stereo Center, and Loyd’s rent in 1968 was $60 a month.

Loyd was in line each weekday morning with other junk dealers when the Goodwill or Salvation Army warehouses opened, shopping for broken appliances to repair and resell. He advertised in the Fort Worth Press (the cheaper competitor of the Star-Telegram), offering bargains galore:

Perfect late model Hotpoint washer. Solid porcelain, has every feature known to man or beast. Cost 289.50, will sell for 69.50. It is a dandy. 1125 S Main, open all day Sunday.

As always, Loyd guaranteed his work, but failure to search your pockets was not covered.

Loyd and Joe walked two blocks each day for lunch at the State Cafe at 1211 South Main; when I was a kid and spent the day with him at the shop, I had a hamburger and a glass of milk while he played pinball.

Loyd was a non-stop smoker; if he was awake he had a lit cigarette, even when playing a banjo. He met the other members of the Dyer family, who were also musicians, and they began playing together at their homes. Later they formed a bluegrass band, and played at festivals. Loyd played banjo, guitar, dobro and lap steel, but fiddle was his favorite.

In 1968, Jennie Jackson’s was the first funeral I attended. We called her Granny Jackson; she dipped snuff, and chased us in her wheelchair with a fly swatter.

Loyd had his own sense of humor. Once when he needed some peace and quiet at home, he told us that if we laid flat on the floor and concentrated very hard, we could levitate. An hour or so later, we decided that our powers of concentration were insufficient and got up.

The Spicer kids became great game players, with 42 and pinochle our favorites. Each fall, we would travel one-hundred miles to Fort Belknap for the Spicer Reunion, which primarily involved feasting and games.

The Wreck

Loyd decided that televisions were easier to tote than appliances, so he closed Wishy Washy Washer Works and changed to repairing and reselling TVs. He always owned old worn-out cars that he worked on in the driveway; he was especially fond of old Cadillacs. In the fall of 1971, he changed and bought a used 1964 Studebaker Post Office van with a right-hand (curbside) drive at a government auction for $175, and began using it as his work truck. It was not a wise choice for traveling on the highway.

On November 11 1971, he was returning home from Granbury with the van loaded with used TVs. A car raced around him on the highway and forced him off the road, and kept going. The van rolled over multiple times, and he was thrown out the windshield, with TVs crashing onto him. A lady stopped and held him, just like with Cliff’s wreck nineteen years earlier, until the police and an ambulance arrived. Our lives changed in every way.

Loyd had no medical insurance, and was taken to John Peter Smith county hospital, a few blocks south of his shop on South Main, where he stayed for the next two months, having multiple surgeries and nearly dying several times. When he arrived at the hospital, he refused blood transfusions, claiming it was against his Jewish faith (in fact, he was just scared of them). Our first phone had been installed at Trail Lake a few days earlier; the hospital called Peggy, who told them that he definitely was not Jewish and give him all the blood he needed.

In 1971, when we were 13-12-11, children were not allowed to visit hospital patients, so we couldn’t see him. Each day for the next two months, Peggy got up at 6AM and drove to the hospital, then came back in time to get us up and take us to school. Her church friend Doris Cline picked us up from McClean Middle School. Peggy came home to make supper, then went back to the hospital until 9PM, then came home to put us to bed.

Loyd told Peggy that he would gladly sign a contract for just fifteen more years with his family. He finally went home on January 5 1972, my sister’s 13th birthday; we were surprised to see him there (in a wheelchair) when we got home from school.

In July 1972, the Social Security Administration rejected Loyd’s claim for disability insurance. He worked some from the house for the rest of his life, but was not able to work a full-time job.

Peggy began working at home, sewing late into the night to make custom clothes for wealthy women of Fort Worth. After a few years, the late-night sewing wore her out, so she went to work at Town & Country Drugstore as a cashier, and then became a pharmacy technician.

Loyd’s sister Fern Winsett died of a heart attack on February 20 1984 at the age of 51, after a lifetime of smoking.

A year later, Loyd died alone at home of a heart attack on July 9 1985 at the age of 50, two years short of the fifteen year contract he had hoped for after the wreck. I had gone to the auto parts store to buy parts for an old car he was working on; before I left, he said that he was feeling awful.

All Things End

Peg said that she was destined to be a widow. Loyd died when he was 50, and her two other crushes from Girard died young.

Pete Hagar finally got up the nerve to ask her on a date, but she was already dating Loyd, so she turned him down. He married and had kids, and died in 1970 at the age of 34. He was working as a cowboy on the Beggs Ranch near Post, when his horse was spooked by a snake: it threw him, he was tangled in his lariat, and he was dragged to death.

Gary Gregory took her on one date, and when he was taking her back home from Jayton to Girard his car engine burned up from lack of water. His father, a stern rancher, was not happy and signed him up for the Army the next day. He retired as a Sergeant with a wife and daughter, and died in 1993 of heart failure.

After Loyd’s death, she never had any interest in finding a second husband, and remained a widow.

In May 2019 l took Peg on her final trip to Jayton, where she visited her parents and grandparents one last time.

Peg retired from the pharmacy in December 2019 at the age of 81, three years after I retired. She lived for six more years, becoming frailer each year, devoted to her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She passed away on February 10 2025, forty years after Loyd.

Here ends the tale of Loyd and Peggy.