78 bar steady 29.79 1mph SE dew-point 65 Sunrise 5:53 Sunset 8:44pm Summer
Waning Crescent of the Thunder Moon
This is a few of the 50+ Ellis clan who attended the 2008 reunion at rest on the back porch of the Baker’s Texas sized house and property.
The reunion entailed a good deal of eating and the usual amount of what have you been up to. A few of the more memorable updates for me follow.
Jean Cate’s son Jeff and his Brazilian wife, Danielle, move to Brazil in two weeks for at least ten years. They’ve lived in the states for some time, but after the birth of their beautiful son decided he needed immersion in Brazilian culture. Jeff doesn’t speak Portugese, but said he’s gonna right to work on it. The impact of the line of demarcation effects our family.
Many people had retired including Dan McGregor who, this September, will watch from the side lines as school starts without him in any of his many coaching assignments: basketball, football, tennis, golf, and several others. We were all a good bit grayer than the last time I attended the reunion in 2000.
Jane (Stephens) ran a family meeting in which Aunt Dorothy and her husband Harley Brown were remembered. They both died over the year since the last reunion. Aunt Dorothy had a phenomenal memory, all agreed, recalling family facts long after others had forgotten them. She died at 100+ intellectually sharp up till the end. “She proved you’re never to old to learn. Yeah, And never to old to get married!” She and Harley married when she was 90 or so. Harley was a world recognized expert on riffle beetles. Riffle beetles capture oxygen and work with it below water. He was a fun and funny guy.
We agreed to have the meeting next year the third week in July, place undecided.
I became interested in Ellis history. We all know a good bit about the Spitler side of the family, but not much about Elmo Ellis and his family. Apparently Lloyd Ellis, son on Henry Ellis, Elmo’s brother, has come the last few reunions and has some considerable history.
A few stories reveal a good bit. At one point Elmo and Jenny gathered their children on a train from somewhere in Oklahoma where Elmo had work as a farm hand. Their destination was Mustang, Oklahoma, sort of the family seat of the Ellis and Spitler families. In Ada, Oklahoma Grandpa Elmo got off the train and none of his children saw him again save for Uncle Charles. He had a glass eye, losing one eye while fighting a grass fire.
Those who knew him a bit said he was charismatic, charming, but “never got down the working thing.” He was a rich kid who ran through a sizable inheritance. Family.
Mike Simpson, a former petroleum engineer and owner of an oil and gas services company he recently sold, gave me some tips on looking up information about our land in Pecos County. He thought the fact the guy wanted to buy the land meant he knew something, too. The oddity is that the best website is the Texas Rail Road Commission which handles all oil related permits for the state. They apparently also control all matters related to trucking. Go figure.
Before I sign off today I wanted to mention a couple of other interesting sights along the way to Mineola. There were 2 Beer Barns. At the Beer Barn there are two truck sized drive through bays, somewhat like a coin operated car wash. The trick here is that you can drive in, buy your beer by the case, or, as the sign said, Get Kegs To Go and they load it in your vehicle. You don’t have to get out.
At a major intersection on Highway 80 there was a vendor wagon with a sign that read: Scene of the Crash Bar-B-Q.