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MEMORIES OF BILL
NETTLETON OF 1930 CLOUD REUNION
The trip from Shive, Texas by Bill, his Mother
(Jodia Nettleton)
and sister Florence
Nettleton was made in a 1929 Model A Ford Roadster. (A
really fine car. . . that the girls really liked. ) Bill's
father did not come with them because of the size of the car and
the baggage of the ladies left no room. Also Mr. Nettleton
was not in very good health.
Their first stop was in Rogers, Texas at Aunt
Margret's {Margaret
Jane Cloud Rowe} place, where they visited for awhile.
They then went to some people's home that he thinks their
name was Rogers and they lived in Rogers. They spent the night
with them.
The next day they went to Uncle Bob Cloud's {Robert
Samuel Cloud} and stayed the night with them so the women
could get things ready for the dinner the next day. Daddy
and Hillard Murphy "hooked up" and drove that little '29
Ford all over the country. Looking for pretty girls. Seems
they found some too. Might have been "kissing cousins"
he can't remember.
The reunion was the third day they were there.
The park the reunion was held in was very big
and had big bath houses and toilets, a big swimming area that all
the young folks enjoyed. The men pitched "mule"
shoes because that was what most everyone had was mules. Also,
there was silver dollar pitching, croquet played with handmade sets.
The families from Milam county were very skilled croquet players
and very serious about their games. The little kids played
ball and the usual outdoor games, london bridge, hide and seek,
etc.
There was food on many tables because everyone
had wonderful gardens and the ladies outdid themselves with cakes,
pies and homemade breads. The tables were covered with white
bed sheets. The table that was set to eat on was approximately
50 feet in length.
The meat was prepared by Uncle Albert and son,
the black man Turk and his two sons. A pit as scooped out
with a fizno pulled by two horses. The fire was built and
burned down and the meat was placed on chicken wire held up
with iron rods. There were a couple of hogs, a couple of young
steers and 4-6 goats. The meat was cut up by a couple of the
Pratt men. (He did not know their names.)
After dinner the kids played, pallets were spread
and naps were taken by some and visiting done by all. The
young folks flirted and drove their cars up and down the roads and
went swimming. Some of the Pratts that lived a good ways away
camped down from the eating area but Daddy didn't remember how many
or who.
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On July 13th, 2001, Bill Nettleton's daughter,
Ann Nettleton Hartzo, sent these reminicences of her father's trip
to the reunion to me. Ann can be reached by email at
"caddy-ann-at-juno.com". (To get her actual email
address, replace the ".at." with "@".)
Bill
Nettleton passed away the day after thanksgiving, November 29, 2003
after spending a wonderful thanksgiving with his family.
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