Elbert and niece, Gale
When their mother passed away in 1944, only Elbert (age 14) and Rena (age 16) were left at home. This great sadness gave Elbert and Rena a close relationship.
My dad, David Leroy Riney, had a horse named Molly that most of the Dean grandchildren rode at some time or other. The story about Molly is that Leroy worked for a neighbor and his wages were going toward purchasing Molly. I'm sure he had to put in a lot of hours to purchase her because in the 1930's wages for a 12 year old farm boy were not too high. He was 12 years old when he had earned enough to pay for Molly. That would have been the year 1934. Most all of the children in the Mulberry Canyon had to walk several miles to attend school and if you had a horse you were fortunate. Jack and I both rode her as we were growing up, for gathering cattle and also pleasure. When Gail Dean Brown would come to stay with us in the summer one of her favorite things to do was ride Molly. I do not ever remember my Dad not having a horse and we have the last horse he bred and raised still on the farm south of Merkel. (recollection by David Riney)
Gale and Steve
August 16, 2022. Gale and husband George visited Steve (Elbert Jr's son) at Mocha Moment in Janesville, Wisconsin. (click photo to enlarge)
Gale with Elbert on Molly
Gale was very jealous of her uncle's attention. (Photo at Shepherd place where Leroy and family lived about 1950.)
Dad said that Rena asked to go to town and live with a sister so she could finish high school in Merkel rather than at a new school in Baird. Dad had one year of school at Baird and told about a couple of goofy boys he knew there, but I forget their names. One worked in a bank later and on one of our visits to Texas, Dad stopped in to see him. Gale was jealous of her Uncle's attention. When Dad took me to meet Rena at Big Lake before we were married, Gale would have nothing to do with me—it was all about Uncle Dunie. (recollections by Janna Hey Dean)
