ROBERT & MILDRED RIDDLE
Across
the Fence
By
Arvord Abernethy
Another
Central Texas
reared couple has chosen
Hamilton
as the place they would like to call home. Robert and Mildred Riddle were
both reared at Cameron, but have spent most of their married life in
West Texas
and
New Mexico
.
When
it came time for them to retire, they thought that they would like to be
down in this part of the state. One day they were visiting a friend at
Burnett and Buddy Williams happened to be next door with a Hamilton-New.
Buddy, being a pretty good talker, told them something about
Hamilton
and showed them the classified ads of houses for sale.
The
Riddles had been through
Hamilton
many times and liked its appearance. They liked the cleanliness and
neatness of the town and also the friendliness of the people. They came on
to Hamilton and bought their new home which is one of those new brick
homes at the far end of Boynton Street; east of the Park Heights Church of
Christ.
The
Riddles are liking their new home real well. It is on a large plot of
ground, so it gives them work to do to occupy their time. They got to come
down a few times in the spring and set out some pecan trees and shrubs.
They didn’t get to plant their garden until after they moved about the
first of June. Robert has bought a small tractor and some plows to work a
small patch he has. The day I visited them, he had been mixing and pouring
concrete for a patio he is building back of the house.
Robert
retired from El Paso Gas Co., where he had worked for 30 years. Much of
this time was spent at Monahans, but they had been located at Shamrock the
last few years. He was a supervisor for the gathering division of El Paso
Gas in that section of the Panhandle. His territory included part of the
country where I lived before moving to
Hamilton
. Some of the largest and deepest gas wells in the country are right in
there. The pressure on some of them is unbelievable. The Riddles will be
going back up there in August to receive a Safety Award he won.
The
Riddles have five children. Some of them are in
Texas
, some in
New Mexico
, and one is the wife of a minister in
California
. They have 16 grandchildren, so part of their retirement will be spent in
visiting and entertaining grandchildren. Many of them have already been y
to see granddad’s and grandmother’s new home.
I
had a real enjoyable visit with them the other day. While there, I asked
him if he knew his land was once a part of the county poor farm. He said
that he had heard that and he figured that he would end up on the poor
farm someday.
Try
to meet the Riddles sometime. You will enjoy them. They are Baptists.
Shared
by Roy Ables
ACROSS
THE FENCE