Arlee Claud Gowen, [Claud Franklin10, Jeremiah Benja-min Nunley9, [William Benjamin8, [William, Jr.7, Lt. Wil-liam6, John5, William4, [William3, Thomas2, Mihil1], on of Claud Franklin Gowen  and Ora Ethel Cox Gowen, was born, Friday, November 24, 1922 at Lamesa. 

Nothing spectacular appeared in the sky; no meteors shot across the heavens; no fireworks announced his arrival.  The newspa-per headlines of that week were fairly dull.  Rebecca L. Fenton of Georgia was sworn in as the first female senator in the U.S. Congress.  Ramsay McDonald was selected as the leader of the British Labor Party.  Wilhelm Cuno was named as the head of a new German government.  G. Van Biesbroeck discovered Ast-eroid No. 990 Yerkes.  The Italian government gave Benito Mussolini dictorial powers “for one year.”  Arch-aeologist Howard Carter entered King Tut’s tomb.  Japanese Crown Prince Hirohito was appointed Prince-Regent of Japan.

Arlee Claud Gowen attended McCarty community school and Lamesa public schools, graduating from Lamesa High School in May 1939.  For two years prior to graduation he was em-ployed by the "Lamesa Reporter," weekly newspaper on which he worked as a "printer's devil."

What was life like in the 1920-1930 decade?  The value of money is perhaps the first thing to be noticed.  My first job at the newspaper paid 10¢ an hour.  When I could borrow the family car for a date, gasoline was 17¢ a gallon.  Before electricity came in 1929, we used kerosene lamps, and ker-osene cost a penny per gallon more than gasoline.  A quart of oil was 25¢.

A haircut was 25¢.  A telephone cost $2.25 per month for those who could afford them; my Dad said we couldn't.  

We produced our own meat, eggs, vegetables and fruit.  Three pounds of rice cost 18¢; a gallon of milk 12¢, and eggs were 22¢ a dozen.  An apple pie at the bakery was 10¢, and two loaves of bread were 10¢.  Brown sugar was 7¢ a pound.

The doctors would make a housecall for $2 and deliver a baby at home for $10.

What memories stand out for a youngster growing up on a farm in the "dirty thirties?"  What poignant recollections of youth remain from over 50 years ago? 

"Having my own tin dinner plate when I became old enough 'to come to the table.'  The tiny plate, embossed with numerals and the letters of the alphabet around its circumference, would make the kid a 'man of letters,' according to Cousin Guy Rotan who was the donor of the treasured tinware.

Receiving a bright red coaster wagon for Christmas that would allow you to transport all your dogs and cats in one trip.

Drawing straws with my grandmother to see who had to go outside on a cold, snowy day to winnow the chaff out of the popcorn before we made popcorn balls.

Watching a sandstorm that looked like a wall 3,000 feet high roll onto the farmstead out of Lynn County during the dustbowl days.

Sitting on top of a packed icecream freezer while Dad turned the crank and con­templating the ecstasy of that ambrosia crossing the palate as my rump slowly turned numb with cold.

Shelling peas in a washing machine wringer and watching the legumes emerge like machinegun bullets, when the family un-dertook a mass-production canning effort to supply the food co-op during the depression.

Slipping our feet into the flouroscope in the shoe department at Collins Department Store when trying on new brogans.  You could see in the x-ray image where the toes were pinched, and with it probably came enough radiation to see your feet glow in the dark.

Firing up ready-rolled Chesterfields pilfered from Uncle El-mer's pack by Cousin Dorman.  When he caught us, he put us in the cab of his pickup, rolled up the windows and gave us the whole pack to smoke non-stop.

Selecting the brightest, shiniest, red 'lumberyard' from the stock of spinning tops at Boothe's store and seeing that oak leviathan splintering tops of lesser pedigree from the 'keepers' ring' on the schoolyard.

Chopping cotton in the summertime on the Sellers farm at 20 cents an acre for the first money I ever earned.  The most dis-agreeable parts of the job were (1) the gnats that swarmed into the shade of my straw hat and (2) the water bucket was always at the other end of the field.

Building the 'world's largest nigger-shooter,' a catapault-sized device capable of hurling a half-pound stone 300 yards and endangering the lives of everyone who came within range.

Substituting at right end and catching the touchdown that won the intramural championship.

Riding away from Montgomery-Wards on the first all-alum-inum bicycle ever seen in a town of 4,000 envious people.  It wasn't long before the aluminum fenders, the light, the bell and the 'longhorn' handlebars were stripped down and stashed in the "car shed."

Meeting the special train from Slaton that brought the towns-people and their devious Tigers to play our Golden Torna-does.  The minute our win was posted on the scoreboard, fistfights broke out and continued in a running battle all the way from the stadium to the depot.

Riding the go-devil cultivator behind two obstreperous little mules who de­lighted in walking on the rows of young cotton rather than on top of the soilbed the minute you began to day-dream.

Climbing the city water tower at night with a bucket of paint on a dare and having Firechief Standifer turn on the ear-splitting city siren immediately below us.

Eating 'spotted dog' pudding in the kitchen of the widow Emma Jones as a reward for taking the milk over to Judge Robin-son's.

Stumbling onto a bootlegger's drop, stashed under a culvert and running all the way home with the box of six gallons of home brew proudly clutched between us, only to have Dad send us back to return it where we found it.

Pulling bolls for 'a dollar a hundred' and thinking that there must be a better way.

Helping Dad dig a cellar under the house, using a one-horse scoop pulled by 'ole Bill.'  Dad would 'fresno' the dirt out of the excavation while I kept the horse going forward to dump and backing up to refill.

Sleeping out under the grape arbor in the summertime and watching the stars peep through the Concord vines and in-variably getting purple stains on the pillowcase to Mother's chagrin.

Sitting atop a runaway horse and holding on for dear life to the hames that were pumping like pistons on a racing locomotive.  That skittish stallion shied at a tincan in the row while I was riding him to 'scratch' cotton.  The scratchers were cedar posts with headless 16-penny spikes driven into them that were dragged along the row, breaking the crust to help sprouting cotton plants emerge.  I could have bailed out any time in the soft plowed ground, but those cedar posts were flailing the air behind me like machetes.  The trace ropes pulling the posts broke when he jumped a 10-foot ditch onto the county road-bed, but then the surface was too hard and he was running too fast.  He covered the half mile to the house in record time, and approaching the horselot gate, planted his front feet in a dead stop and watched me sail over his head and over the old top-rail.

Showing Cousin Dorman in his visit to the college how to "re-quisition" golfballs at the driving range at 2:00 a.m, only to have the floodlights suddenly come on and being forced to flee through the campus steam tunnels.

Rounding the Ad Building circle in the slickest, reddest Ford roadster that 3,500 envious Tech students had ever seen.

Receiving the president's gavel to add to my Los Camaradas fraternity pin in my senior year and seeing it wind up on the sweater of the 'prettist girl in Tech.'

Spending the year of 1941 in organizing a treasure-hunting expedition to Cocos Island and in securing permission from the government of Costa Rica to embark, only to have it all go up in the flames of Pearl Harbor on December 7.

Being catapaulted from the flight deck in a Curtis Helldiver and suddenly realizing that my youth was over."

On July 4, 1990, Arlee Claud Gowen wrote a letter to reminesce with Bob Crawley, a grade school classmate who later graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy:

"Dear Bob,

When I began to recall the events that you and I shared, starting almost 60 years ago, it took some mental gymnastics to reach that far back--probably to the second grade in Miss Birdie Brock's room.

I remember the favorite time for the two of us in those days was recess.  Besides tag football and softball, we added "One-and-over," "Keepers marbles," "Apple core, Baltimore" and a demolition derby we played with spinning tops in a circle.  At Mr. Booth's store I bought a giant red "Lumberyard top" which was the nemesis of every spinner on the schoolyard--until Casey Costin showed up with an even bigger one.  He got a direct hit on my "Lumberyard" and split it right down the middle.

I remember looking out the window of Mrs. R. A. Stuart's classroom and watching sand­storms roll onto our school playgrounds.  Sometimes when they came out of the north they looked like a wall, thousands of feet high, that was on the verge of falling over on us. 

I remember you were a "city kid" and I was a "country kid."  J. D. Braswell and I had farther to walk going home after school, but occasionally we found discarded polo balls when we crossed the Lamesa Polo Field, and that and other good fortunes made going home quite an adventure.  Once we found a bootlegger's stash under a culvert.  We ran all the way home carrying a box of six gallons of homebrew between us--only to have my dad turn us around and send us back to the culvert with the stash.

I remember meeting the special train from Slaton that brought the townspeople and their devious Tigers to play our Golden Tornadoes.  The minute George Gable and Stanley Wilkes scored the last-minute winning touchdown, fistfights broke out and continued in a running battle all the way from the football field to the depot.

I remember working for weeks on kites for the kite-flying contest held every spring at Lamesa Airfield, a grassy pasture near A. C. Woodward's house on the Stanton highway.  The members of Troop 22 and Troop 23 went head-to-head in the several events.  My specialty was the Battle Kite event.  My fighter kite was built with a sharp spar on top for skewering other kites.  It had razor blades on all sides for slashing the opponents.  I broke up fruit jars and snuff bottles, ground them up into powdered glass and glued the lethal powder onto the kite string for the purpose of cutting opponents' kitestrings.  Generally, when the time came for launching kites, my entry, like a heavy-laden bomber, had so much armament, it couldn't take off.

I remember riding away from Montgomery-Wards on the first all-aluminum bicycle ever seen in the town of 4,000 envious people.  It wasn't long before the aluminum fenders, the light, the bell and the "longhorn" handlebars were stripped down and stashed.  Before long, there were two more aluminum bikes in Lamesa.  Johnny Wheeler and Cowger Andrews bought identical bikes and also stripped them down into racing bikes.

I remember riding the go-devil cultivator behind two obstreperous little mules who delighted in walking on the rows of young cotton rather than on top of the soilbed the minute you began to daydream.

I remember climbing the city water tower at night with a bucket of paint on a dare and having Firechief Luther Stan­difer turn on the ear-splitting city siren immediately be­low us.

I remember the Scout Hikes we made down to Mullins Ranch and the trails we followed there in search of arrow­heads and Indian relics.  Once Joe Spikes and Leslie Pratt made the mistake of having both troops in a joint camp-out.  On the first night we played "Capture the Flag."  The troops were pitted against each other in pitch-black darkness.  Tobey Tweat and I, being members of the Bat Patrol, could see in the dark, and we almost got back with your flag.

I remember sleeping out under the grape arbor in the summertime and watching the stars peep through the Concord vines and invariably getting purple stains on the pillowcase to my mother's chagrin.

I remember sitting atop a runaway horse and holding on for dear life to the hames that were pumping like pistons on a racing locomotive.  That skittish stallion shied at a tincan in the row while I was riding him to "scratch" cotton.  The scratchers were cedar posts with headless 16-penny spikes driven into them that were dragged along the row, breaking the crust to help sprouting cotton plants emerge.  I could have bailed out any time in the soft plowed ground, but those cedar posts were flailing the air behind me like machetes.  The trace ropes pulling the posts broke when he jumped a 10-foot ditch onto the county road, but then the surface was too hard and he was running too fast.  He covered the half mile to the house in record time, and approaching the horselot gate, planted his front feet in a dead stop and watched me sail over his head, easily clearing the old toprail.

I remember escorting Ruth Tinkler to her Ko Shari dances while in college at Tech and getting to cut-in on the Eiland sisters.  Those were glorious days!

I remember spending the year of 1941 in organizing a treasure-hunting expedition to Cocos Island and in securing permission from the government of Costa Rica to embark, only to have it all go up in the flames of Pearl Harbor on December 7.

I remember how exciting it was when I first realized that pretty girls would notice a new Ensign in Dress Whites and Gold Bars.  And I remember the frightful experience of being catapaulted from the flight deck in a Curtis Helldiver and suddenly realizing that my youth was over.

Looking back over six decades, I remember that we have had our share of disappointments and shortcomings, but I also recall that we have been blessed far beyond the dreams of two depression-age kids from Lamesa.

On this occasion, when we recall the good days and the pleasant times that we spent together, here is a wish that you will continue to enjoy the happiness that we shared, so long ago.

                                                                                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                                                                               Arlee Gowen

In September 1939 he enrolled in Texas Technological Col-lege at Lubbock.  During his undergraduate days he was em-ployed as a printer at Wood Printing Company and Texas Tech Press.  Later he was a sportswriter on the "Lubbock Ava-lanche-Journal."  He was graduated in June 1943 with a BA degree in journalism.

On October 27, 1942, Navy Day, he volunteered into the U. S. Naval Reserve as an aviation cadet and, prior to reporting for active duty, was employed on the flightline by Breedlove Aer-ial Service, flight training contractor for U.S. Army Air Corps.  His naval training began at University of Texas where his phy-sical training officer was "the meanest man that ever walked the face of the earth," Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who was la-ter one of the winningest coaches in college football at Texas A&M University and University of Alabama. 

After additional training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station and the University of Notre Dame he was commissioned an ensign at South Bend, Indiana.  Additional duty assignments took him to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; Newport, Rhode Island and Newport News, Virginia.

He was assigned to the USS Randolph (CV-15) as its con-struction was being completed.  As a "plank owner" on the new aircraft carrier he was aboard on its shakedown cruise to Trin-idad.  Following refitting and renovation the USS Ran-dolph joined the Fifth Fleet operating in the Pacific theatre, arriving on station there via the Panama Canal, San Francisco and Hawaii.

The USS Randolph joined the fleet in the island anchorage of Ulithi atoll and participated in the war against Japan until its conclusion, taking part in the Battles of Bonin Islands, Iwo Jima, Io Shima, Okinawa and the Philippines and air strikes on Tokyo, Kyushu, Minami Daita Jima and the Nansei Shoto, operating with the Fifth Fleet, the Third Fleet, Task Force 58 and Task Force 38.

His ship participated in the first naval air strikes on Tokyo on July 10, 1945.  On July 14-15 the armada attacked Northern Honshu and Hokkaido.  On July 17-18 the Task Force struck at the Tokyo Plains.  On July 24, 25 and 28 the U.S.S. Randolph participated in attacks on targets in the Inland Sea.  On July 30 Central Honshu felt the wrath of the Grumann Wildcat fighters and the Curtis Helldiver divebombers from the fleet.

On August 9, the air attacks returned to Central Honshu, on August 10 to Northern Honshu.  On August 28, the U.S.S. Ran-dolph was ordered to procede to Tokyo Bay to take part in the initial occupation of Japan.  The ship's company was to provide a shore party to march through the streets of Tokyo.  Close or-der drills took place on the flight deck to prepare the sailors to make a good appearance before the Japanese peo-ple.  Boot camp and our early training seemed seemed to be ancient his-tory to the rusty sailors.  At the last minute we re-ceived a reprieve.

Suddenly, orders came for the ship to withdraw and to pro-cede to Pearl Harbor on its way home.  The vessel was to be outfit-ted to take part in the Magic Carpet operation.  The air-craft carrier was take 5,000 Italian prisoners of war to Italy and to bring back that many army nurses.

When the surrender ceremony took place in Tokyo Bay on Sep-tember 2, 1945 the ship was homeward bound.  The U.S.S. Randolph  returned to Baltimore, Maryland October 27, 1945 for a Navy Day victory celebration. 

He was awarded four battle stars and six campaign ribbons for service in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Mediterranean the-aters.  He was cited for "conspicuous gallantry" by Adm. Mark Mitscher in an attack by enemy aircraft at Ulithi when his ship was hit and severely damaged by Kamikazi aircraft.

Later the USS Randolph made shuttle trips to Naples, Italy to deliver Italian war prisoners and to return to the United States groups of U.S. Army nurses.

In December 1945 Lt.[jg] Arlee Claud Gowen received a transfer to Naval Air Transport Service and was stationed successively in Norfolk, Virginia; Patuxent River, Maryland; Olathe, Kansas and Amarillo, Texas. 

On February 16, 1946 he was married to May Belle "Bonnie" Bonner, daughter of Joseph Drew Bonner and Alice Belle Hestand Bonner in Crane, Texas by Eddie E. Myers, minister of the gospel, according to Ector County, Texas Marriage Book 5, page 246.  She was born Friday, September 11, 1925 at Breck-enridge, Texas.  May Belle "Bonnie" Bonner Gowen had grad-uated from Texas Technological College in June 1945 and was a teacher in Phillips, Texas High School at the time of their marriage.  After a honeymoon in New Mexico the couple lived at Pantex, Texas near Amarillo Army Air Base where he was stationed.  He was separated from naval service June 6, 1946 at Galveston, Texas, and they moved immediate-ly to Lubbock where they had met in college.

In 1946 Arlee Claud Gowen assisted in the organizing and founding of "Southwestern Crop and Stock," a farm mag-azine.  He was named editor of the publication which printed its first edition in January 1947.  May Belle "Bonnie" Bonner Gowen was a teacher at Hutchinson Junior High School in Lubbock at that time.  In 1955 he became a deacon and a bible school teacher at Broadway Church of Christ.

In August 1956 he assisted in the organization of High Plains Credit Corporation and was named executive vice-president of organization while continuing in the publishing business.  In 1959 he established a wholesale electronic supply which be-came known as Electros, Inc.  In 1961 he purchased a farm in Bailey County, Texas.  In April 1965 the couple applied for a distributorship with Amway Corporation and in November of that year became direct distributors with that organization.

He had become interested in family history research in 1941 and continued to pursue that interest for many years.  In Sep-tember 1986 he entered a manuscript, "The Widder Dyches" in the Texas Sesquicentennial competition.  It was adjudged first place winner and was displayed in the Hall of State at the State Fair of Texas alongside the original Texas Declaration of Independence.  In March 1987 he was named to the board of di­rectors of the South Plains Genealogical Society.  In 1987 "The Widder Dyches" received first place in Texas State Gen-ealogical Society competition.  In 1988 an account of his fifth-generation grandfather, "Matthew Morgan McCall, M. D, Alikchi Chukma of the Choctaws" again took the TSGS award.

In 1985, 40 years after the liberation of the Philippines, they made made a trip there and visited the area around Manila Bay, Cavite Naval Base, Bataan and the Island of Corregidor.

Having sold their publishing, finance and electronics interests the couple in 1988 lived in Lubbock where they continued to operate their Amway distributorship from their home at 5708 Gary Avenue.

In 1989, they sold their Amway distributorship and entered retirement.  In that same year, he received a visit from a cou-sin, Miller Abbott "Bud" Gowen of Geneva, Switzerland who proposed that they organize Gowen Research Foundation to make a study of the family history.  Arlee Claud Gowen was elected president of the organization which he continued to head in September 2003.

In June 1997, he assisted with the organization of The Brandy-wine Crucible, a heritage society composed of the Cox family researchers and others.  He was named a director of the organ-ization.

Two daughters were born to Arlee Claud Gowen and May Belle "Bonnie" Gowen:

              Bonnie Lee Gowen                                   born December 16, 1951

              Connie Louise Gowen                              born July 3, 1954

Bonnie Lee Gowen, daughter of Arlee Claud Gowen and May Belle "Bonnie" Gowen, was born December 16, 1951 in Lub-bock, according to Texas BVS File 207127.  Her first home was at 3107 30th Street in Lubbock, her second was at 3413 20th street, and in 1970 her family removed to 5708 Gary Avenue.

After attending Lubbock Christian School and Lubbock public schools she was gradu­ated from Lubbock High School in 1970.  Following two years at Texas Tech University she transferred to North Texas State University at Denton, Texas where she was grad­uated with a BS degree in May 1975.  Following graduate work there in chemistry and computer science she was married June 16, 1979 to David Michael Hill, son of David Hill and Betty Hill of Plano, Texas.

David Michael Hill, a graduate of North Texas State University and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of Viet Nam, was employed in the university's computer complex where they met.  In June 1979 she was employed by Mostek Corporation, Carrollton, Texas, as a computer engineer, and two years later she was employed by Phillips Coal Division, Phillips Petrol-eum Company, Richardson, Texas as a systems analyst. 

In November 1984 they made their home at Lewisville, Texas where he was employed as a satellite communications engi-neer with Bell of Canada in nearby Richardson.  At that time she was employed by Cray Research Corporation, a super-computer manufacturer as a systems analyst.  In April 1985 she was employed by Convex Corporation, a computer man-ufacturer in Richardson.  In May 1985 they purchased a home at 2405 Golden Oaks, Garland, Texas.  They continued to live there in 1993.  Later they removed to 3644 Amber Hills Drive in Dallas.

Connie Louise Gowen, daughter of Arlee Claud Gowen and May Belle "Bonnie" Bonner Gowen , was born July 3, 1954 in Lubbock, according to BVS File No. 118566.  She attended Lubbock Christian School and Lubbock public schools and was graduated from Monterey High School in 1973.  During her undergraduate days she worked for the City of Lubbock in its Parks & Recreation Department, for Globe Department Store and as a waitress for International House of Pancakes, Ramada Inn and Big Texan Steak House.  She was graduated from Texas Tech University Cum Laude with a BS degree in 1976 and from University of Texas Medical School at Hous-ton, Texas in June 1979 with an M.D. degree.

In July 1979 she began a surgery residency at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.  In July 1981 she began a period of residency at Veterans Administration Hospital, Johnson City, Tennessee.

She was married there June 25, 1983 to Darryl William Hiers, son of Dr. Donald Grover Hiers and Gypsy Lee Whitten Hiers.  In July 1983 she began the practice of plastic surgery in Chat-tanooga, Tennessee at Erlanger Hospital in association with the University of Tennessee.  He was graduated there from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. degree May 6, 1985.

In July 1985 she established a plastic surgery practice at Jonesboro, Arkansas, and they purchased a home there at 601 Arrowhead Drive, within 100 yards of the original homestead of James Gowen who settled there before 1870!

In 1986 she was appointed to "Outstanding Young Women of America."  In January 1987 she was inducted into "Who's Who of American Women."  Later that year she was entered into "World's Who's Who of Women." and was named an asso-ciate fellow in the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.  On November 20, 1987 she was appointed to American Board of Plastic Surgery.

A newspaper article read:

"Dr. Connie Louise Hiers and William Raymond "Bill" Fritz will be married June 29 at 2:00 p.m. in the Holidome of the Holiday Inn in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  The bride-elect is the daughter of Arlee and May Belle "Bonnie" Gowen of Lubbock.  She is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Claud Franklin Gowen and of the late Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Drew Bonner, all of Lubbock. 

The bridegroom-elect is the son of Mrs. Mary Ann Fritz and Dr. B. D. Fritz, both of Jonesboro.  He is the grandson of Mrs. Velva Mae Powers of Jonesboro and of the late Mr. and Mrs. William G. Fritz of Senath, Missouri.

Dr. Hiers graduated Cum Laude in 1976 from Texas Tech University and received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas at Houston.  She received her general surgery training at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and at East Tennessee University in Johnson City, Tennessee and her plastic surgery training at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.  She is a member of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, Craighead Medical Society, Arkansas Medical Society, American Medical Association and American Society of Outpatient Surgeons.  She is a plastic surgeon practicing in Jonesboro.

Mr. Fritz graduated from Arkansas State University in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia in 1986.  He was employed by the United States Marshals Service from 1986 to 1990.  He is employed as a financial consultant with Merrill-Lynch in Jonesboro.

Friends and family members are invited to the wedding and to the reception which will follow in the Jonesboro Holidome."

Minnie May Gowen, daughter of Jeremiah Benjamin Nunley Gowen and Emma Catherine Bailey Hawkins Gowen, was born September 19, 1891 at Milford, Texas, according to Ellis County, Texas Birth Book 81, page 406.  Her father was 44, and her mother was 44 at that time.  Later her family removed to Coryell County, Texas where she attended school.

She was orphaned at age 13 with the death of both her parents in 1904, and she accompanied her brother, Claud Franklin Gowen to make her home in the household of her half-sister, Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hawkins Lee in Coryell County.  Lat­er the family moved to Throckmorton County, Texas.

On July 11, 1909, at age 17, she was married to Jehue Elmer Shipley, son of Hardy S. Shipley and Anna Hughes Shipley, daughter of James Edward Hughes.  Jehue Elmer Shipley, grandson of Jehue H. Shipley and Hattie Rowena Guffey Shipley, was born at Bakersfield, Missouri March 15, 1890.  Jehue H. Shipley appeared as the head of a household in the 1880 census of Fulton County, Arkansas as Household No. 209-213.

In 1909 they purchased 80 acres of land from Parrott Ranch.  After two years there, they sold out and moved to Merkel, Texas where they farmed for another three years.  After a prolonged drought there, they removed to Salt Branch, east of Merkel where they farmed for four years.  Next they moved to Steth, Texas in Jones County where they rented land from McDonald & Son.  Shortly afterward they returned to Woodson.  In 1920 they rented a farm from Miles Hughes and made a "bumper crop," according to Minnie May Gowen Shipley who reported that they bought their first Ford for $595.

Afterward they lived briefly in Kerrville, Texas where he worked for the telephone company.  In 1921 they returned to Woodson he was employed by an ice plant.  He operated a Sinclair service station for 14 years.  After a short employment in a lumberyard, he returned to the service station business.  Each fall he worked at Kight Gin.  In January 1959 he suffered a heart attack, and they moved to Breckenridge, Texas.

They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in Breckenridge, Texas July 11, 1959.  In attendance at this anniversary was Winn Boyles, age 86, the justice of the peace who performed their wedding ceremony 50 years earlier.  He officiated again as the couple repeated their marriage vows with some of the same witnesses looking on.

Jehue Elmer Shipley died in Breckenridge August 1, 1967 and was buried in Woodson Cemetery.  Minnie May Gowen Shipley died in Lubbock, Texas in 1976 while on a visit with her sister-in-law, Ora Ethel Cox Gowen.  She had a fall in the home of her sister-in-law, and a broken hip resulted.  Following surgery and the development of pneumonia, she died and was buried beside her husband.  No children were born to this union.

Family Researchers:

Dirk Calvin, 9596 Liberty Church Drive, Brentwood, Tennessee, 37027, 615/776-2848

Miriam Dendy, 1800 Ballard SE, Huntsville, Alabama, 35801, 205/534-0947

Arlee Gowen, 5708 Gary Avenue, Lubbock, Texas, 79413, 806/795-8758,

[email protected]

Jerry A. Gowen, Box 641, Antioch, Tennessee, 37011

Thomas Mason Gowen, Route 7, Box 7904, Manchester, Tennessee, 37355, 615/728-

7495

Sally Gentry Johnston, Box 892, Jacksonville, Alabama, 36265, 205/435-8519

Shari Lynn Southard, 5240 W. Las Palmaritas, Glendale, Arizona, 85302, 602/842-

4419

Joy Q. Stearns, 618 Greenwood Circle, Mt. Olive, AL, 35117

Betty Stevens, 2804 W. Boyce, Ft. Worth, TX, 76133