The Family
 of
Dorothy Lou (Mathis) Childress (1922-2000)
&
John Franklin Childress, Sr. (1918-1977)

John Childress married his sweetheart Dorothy Mathis in Texarkana, Arkansas in 1940, after a whirlwind romance of less than a year.  They first moved to the Childress family farm outside Arp, Texas (shown above), but soon thereafter moved into a small Humble Oil & Refining company-furnished home in the middle of the oilfield in Turnertown, Texas (in the second photo, below, our home is just beyond the oil "treater.").  The small wooden frame home (first photo) was big enough to raise three sons and a myriad of dogs, cats and parakeets over the ensuing decades.  Perhaps the most outstanding dog in the world was "Bud," a German Shepherd capable of riding surfboards, squirrel hunting, jumping high fences and subsequently chasing bike riders at incredible speeds.  He was not, however, ever able to bring down a pickup truck by biting the tires in spite of numerous attempts.

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(Click on the thumbnail sketch below to see enlarged view.)

Above center, a Sunday meal with "Grandpop" and "Grandmama" at the John Childress home (circa 1952) in the Humble Oil & Refining camp house in Turnertown, Texas.  Pat Childress sits in the foreground, then l. to r. are Will Childress, wife Fannie Childress, John F. Childress, Sr. and Mike Childress.  The above right photo features John F. Childress, Sr. and his three sons; Mike Childress, twin Pat Childress (b. 1945) and Johnny Childress (b. 1941).

Click here to go to the Childress/Mathis Family Tree data on Roots Web for notes on the above individuals.

More Contemporary Childress Photos (the three sons of John Franklin Childress, Sr.):

• John Franklin Childress, Jr. (b. 1941)
• Lloyd Michael Childress (b. 1945)
• Joel Patrick Childress (b. 1945)

For additions, corrections or comments, please send an e-mail to Patrick Childress