Closest Birthday

This week's topic from Amy is "Closest Birthday", so I have to talk about my dad, since his birthday is the day before mine!

Aubrey Delton Springer was born March 22, 1917 to George "Aubrey" and "Minnie" May (Ramer) Springer in Midlothian, Ellis County, Texas.

Source: Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932, Ancestry.com, Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013), Ancestry.com, Record for Springer. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=2275&h=654620&indiv=try.

His big brother was Ramer and his big sister was May Ruth.

And it wasn't long before he was a big brother to Buford, Janella and George Henry.

Ramer, May Ruth, Delton and Buford

And then Modena came along.

Not long after this 1927 photo was taken, the Great Depression hit and things got really difficult for everyone. (I didn't know until I researched for this blog that the World Wide Depression really lasted until 1941!)

Source: http://clccharter.org/andrea/reading/No_Promises/Depressiontimeline.gif

According to Delton's siblings, the Great Depression had a significant impact on the lives of their family, but especially my dad's. I am not sure how old Delton was, but he was accidentally shot in the head as a child.  This is the way his older sister, May Ruth remembered it.

Family Tragedies – Delton Getting Shot

One thing that I remember which really upset the whole family, no one will forget this, because it was such a tragedy. It was accidental and couldn’t have been helped. The boys, when we were growing up, they always helped Daddy milk and feed the cows, and feed the horses at that time, feed the chickens and gather the eggs. The boys’ work was outside work, altogether. Because, I was the oldest girl and the other two, well, were ‘way down the line. But they were out at the feed bin looking for rats. We’d had this whole herd of rats getting into our feed bin and eating feed and everything. So, one day the boys saw a big ole rat up on the rafter. They were down on the ground. They saw it up on the rafter of the feed bin. Delton went running to the house to tell Daddy about this rat. So, Daddy got his gun to go down and shoot this rat. They’d been trying to find this rat and get rid of him. And so Daddy got the gun and went down to the barn where the feed bin was, and Delton stood down on the ground in case he came out. If he saw the rat he could tell Daddy. So, he saw the rat run and Daddy saw it run on the rafter and Daddy shot at this rat. It hit the rat – I don’t know if it killed the rat or not, I can’t remember – but it hit the rafter and glanced down and hit Delton in the head right in the edge of the head (I don’t know if you remember or not). But anyway, of course we all just had a screaming fit. It scared Daddy to death. I never will forget how much my Daddy suffered from that. He, right quick, carried him to Waxahachie to the doctor in Waxahachie and he told him after examining it, that it had just glazed part of his skull. He didn’t think it was enough to bother his mind or anything like that. But it had gone through and come out of his skull. Of course that was a real tragedy – the awful big tragedy in our family and Daddy – I never felt so sorry for anybody – clear on until he passed away, he’d always mention the accident - how he wished it had never happened, because it affected the family, besides his life and Delton’s life.

My brother, Ray, visited with most of Daddy's siblings about the shooting and the long term effects on him, and this is what he learned.

As stated in Ray's story above, Delton lost a year in school while he was recovering, putting him in the same grade as Buford.  Delton and Buford graduated from Midlothian High School May 29, 1936.

After graduation, Delton moved to Dallas to live with his sister, May Ruth and her husband, Willis Noles.  They had moved to Dallas for Willis to work at the fair grounds where preparations for the celebration of the Texas Centennial were being made at the State Fair Grounds.  Delton was working for a Mrs. Love and in October, Mrs. Love invited him to a Deer Supper at her church, Saner Avenue Methodist Church.  (She had already received permission from Dorothy Nell's mother that it was OK to bring Delton and introduce him to her!)

Some friends from Saner Avenue Methodist Church 1937.
(I don't see anyone I recognize.)

Here are mother's words describing that night (typed from her manuscript):

Delton came with Ralph Ross and they sat behind Dorothy Marie Kemble and I, and Delton played with the large brown button on my coat.  I didn't ever think of going out with him but here it is August 1937, and I have been going out with him since about April 25, 1937.  I saw him on the bus on Tuesday morning as I was going to school to turn my books in as I had to quit school six weeks before school was out because of illness.  Delton ask me on the bus that morning if I was not Dorothy Nell Clark and I told him I was and he ask me if I remembered him and I told him I didn't think I did and he ask me if I remembered the Deer Supper at the church and I told him yes and he said well you remember me then.  Well I didn't think I would ever see him again but the next Sunday morning he came to church and he sat right in front of me but I still didn't know who he was, so after church, Juanita Tennison and I was going to ask him what his name was but before we could get outside he had already gone home so I ask Sara Jane Love who he was, and she wanted to [know] why I wanted to know and I told her I just wanted to know who he was.  That night at Christian Endeavor [the youth meetings of the day] Delton sat about three seats in front of Fred Wren and I.  After Christian Endeavor Fred and I was standing there talking to several people and Delton was standing out about the end of the sidewalk and when Fred walked off and left me standing there Delton walked up there and began talking to me.  When we started into the church he ask me where I was going to sit and then he ask me if I was with that other boy and I told him no, as I really wasn't.  He ask me if he might take me home and [I] told him he could.

I am not sure the year this was taken, but it's pretty close!

Well, her narration goes on from there, but we'll save that for another time!

Here they are in  Keist Park 1937.

Dorothy Nell and Delton outside Minnie and Aubrey's house.
September 4, 1938.

In mother's diary, she mentions double dating with Buford and Ernestine several times. 

The relationship flourished over the next several months and they actually got married on Good Friday, April 7, 1939 at May Ruth's house. 

    

Here are Delton's entries in Dorothy Nell's Diary about that week:

April 7, 1939        Friday           Tonite we were married at 9:20 - 502 S. Cumberland St., Dallas, Tex.

April 9, 1939         Sunday        Delton was sick. The Doctor said I had the Smallpox.

April 10, 1939       Monday       Delton was quarantined in the Parkland Hospital for 15 days. D. N. often came up to the window 2 stories below on the outside and talked.

So, the Honeymoon was very different than they expected, I am sure!

At some point, and I am not sure of the exact year, Delton attended Brantley Draughon Business College in Fort Worth.  This education was the basis for his career as a Bookkeeper.  Here is an interesting story about a man who graduated from high school in 1935 and went to Brantley Draughon Business College, like Delton:  http://www.norrisc.com/fwtale.html

In 1946, Delton attended the Dale Carnegie Institute of Effective Speaking and Human Relations.  He was very proud of that accomplishment and used what he learned his whole life.  Delton and Dorothy Nell had five children. And they had six grandchildren at the time of his death. He lived a life of service to others, always doing everything he could to help those around him.  I am glad to share a birthday with him - just one day later.

Here is the news article about Delton's death.

State and Local Section Front Page article with photo, Thursday, September 30 or Friday, October 1, 1982.  Fort Worth Star Telegram, Photo on Page 17A, Story on Page 20A

A MAN MOWING HIS GRASS WAS KILLED when a truck hit him in southwest Fort Worth.  See Story on Page 20A

Man Killed when hit by truck

By Gilbert Bailon

Star Telegram Writer

A 65-year-old man mowing the lawn of a fellow church member was killed Wednesday when by a garbage truck jumped a curb in southwest Fort Worth, police said.

Aubrey Delton Springer of 1432 W. Gambrell St. was killed at 10:40 a.m. when a SCA Services, Inc. truck hit him as he was mowing a lawn at 3116 Southwest Loop 820.

The 35-year-old truck driver was arrested and jailed for investigation of involuntary manslaughter.  The suspect was later released on $2,500.00 bond.

Springer was mowing the yard of Nettie M. McPherson, who also attends St. Paul United Methodist Church.  Mrs. McPherson said Springer had cared for her lawn as part of a church program to aid the elderly.

Police said the truck was traveling west on a service road, jumped the curb at 3108 Southwest Loop 820 when the driver apparently glanced away.

The truck traveled 108 feet off the road, snapped a fire hydrant and slammed into Springer as he stood by the lawn mower, police said.

Springer was dragged 50 feet under the truck, which traveled another 150 feet after hitting him.

Mrs. McPherson said she was talking on the telephone when she heard the crash.

“I saw the truck pass by, and when I raised up I saw him (Springer) laying there,” said Mrs. McPherson.

Springer was pronounced dead at the scene.    

SOURCE: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX) 30 September 1982, page  20  GenealogyBank https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A10EEA3CFD727D370%40GB3NEWS-149E05F83589D96B%402445243-149C4FB7A5AF70BA%4019-149C4FB7A5AF70BA%40 : accessed 9 September 2018

And the Obituary.

Thursday Evening, September 30 and Friday Evening, October 1, 1982   Fort Worth Star Telegram

AUBREY DELTON SPRINGER

…hit by truck

Funeral for Aubrey Delton Springer, 65, of 1432 W. Gambrell, was to be at 10 a.m. today at St. Paul United Methodist Church.  Burial will be in Laurel Land Cemetery.

Springer was killed Wednesday when he was hit by a truck.

Springer was a bookkeeper for Texas Electric Service Co., where he had been employed for 35 years.  He was a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church and was past president of the men’s group.  He was also chairman of trustees there.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy N. Springer of Fort Worth; three sons, George Ronald Springer of Greenville, Raymond Clark Springer of Cedar Hill and Rickie D. Springer of Fort Worth; a daughter, Betty Hedgpeth of Fort Worth; his mother, Minnie Springer of Fort Worth; two sisters, Ruth Jackson of Stephenville and Janella Clement of Bridgeport; three brothers, Ramer Springer of Red Oak, Buford Springer of Zapata and George Springer of Montalba, and six grandchildren.

[Arrangements Gause-Ware, Owens & Brumley, 425 S. Henderson.  335-4557]

Aubrey Delton Springer died when he was 65 years, 6 months and 7 days old.  The 36th anniversary of his death is later this month.  The next day, September 30, 2018, I will be  65 years, 6 months and 7 days old.

'Til Next Time

#52Ancestors