Elbert & Lillie Mae Dean
Elbert's 50th Birthday,
October 20, 1940
"Mildred sat for hours and played the old piano by ear, the songs we loved so much. So I didn't mind doing her work, so she could play, and we could enjoy as we worked. And we were always in church. Dad was the song leader, so we learned all the old songs by heart." (recollection by Maureen Dean Jaynes)
Our neighbors all had good water, but we had gyp water. Mother used our water for her garden. At the end of every season, we could see a white substance on the soil around her plants. We fetched our drinking water by pulling the wagon east and south of our house, about 3/4 mile away, to an area with a spring. A neighbor had a windmill and stone well. We'd remove the well cover and send the bucket down with the pulley. We'd fill 2-55 gallon drums in the wagon and return home. (recollection by Elbert Dean, Jr.)
I went to Union Ridge School which was west and north of our house. Mrs. Shouse taught grades 1-5; Mrs. Humphrey taught grades 6-7. The teachers lived east and south of Merkel and gave us rides once in a while on the way to school. We put on performances. A couple of boys rode their horses to school. Sometimes one horse would get loose, and we could hear them fussing and fighting in the barn. My dad was on the school board at this school (according to Maureen). Later, I rode the school bus to school in Merkel. (recollection by Elbert Dean, Jr.)
Elbert & Lillie Mae Dean, Sr.
(The coupe belonged to Buster. Buster and Pauleen were probably visiting on a Sunday, as they often did.)