Elbert Marshall Dean, Sr.
"After we helped move Grandpa and Myrtle into housing in Merkel, Raymond and I were wrestling in the yard with Uncle John. Uncle Buster thought he'd get involved by trying to pull me off. I took Buster down and somehow got my elbow in his mouth. Grandpa Dean laughed and laughed at that." (recollection by Jack Riney)
(Following are recollections
by grandson Grady Jaynes)
One time when we were visiting Grandpa Dean and Myrtle we were eating supper with them. I noticed Grandpa had a thumb and several fingers that were black. I watched him for a while but he never seemed to favor that hand. I finally leaned over and asked my Mother what was wrong with Grandpa's fingers. I guess I was too shy to ask him myself.
Mother told him I was curious about his fingers, and he and Myrtle died laughing. Seems he had been out in the country picking up pecans. He was getting the culls. Those are the ones that have fallen from the tree and were still wrapped in the seed coat.
The seed coat is a thick green covering that protects the pecan as it is forming. As it ripens it turns black. When it dries out the seed coat opens and the pecan fall out of the coat. Pecans in the seed coat have limited value since they have to be manually removed from the coat. These pecans were free to anyone you wanted to pick them up. When Grandpa got them home he had to shell them by hand. He had used his thumb and fingers to peel the pecans. The sap had stained his thumb and fingers. He said it would take a week or so for the color to wear off.
Elbert Dean, Sr.
