Dovie Rosa Lee Lambert (1896 - 1979)

In April, 1903 I got pneumonia and typhoid fever at the same time. I was unconscious for two weeks. They didn't expect me to live. Before I regained consciousness, Avis (17) took pneumonia and died in 4 days. The first thing I remember after all that was looking across the room and they were carrying her body out to prepare for burial. Then the same year on November 25, Mama also died with pneumonia. I was six in May, and I was six and a half when she died. My sister Martha took care of me like I was her own. She had Tuberculosis for several years and died in September, 1906.

From Dovie Lambert's written memories. "We moved to Altus, Oklahoma in December 1900. Papa bought 160 acres of the land someone else had already filed on, and lived there the required time to clear the claim. We had a two room house and a half dugout. Pretty good sized room. I think he paid $700 for it and sold it six years later for $3500. In those days that was big money. We also had two more rooms built on, had it sealed inside with beaded ceiling, which was good in those days. Mama and the girls took old clothes, tore them in strips and made carpet for all the rooms except the kitchen. I helped roll the string into big balls. There was a man in the community who had a loom to weave them into about 3 foot widths to make a carpet. It helped to keep the house warmer.

From Dovie Lamberts written memories. "My family came to Texas in 1898. I was one year old, born May 23, 1897. We came from Booneville, Mississippi. Corinth was our Post Office and shopping town. We came to Waxahachie, Texas (Ellis County). My Dad rented some land from Algolon Clemons. But his son-in-law Pat Whitten was the owner. They had several hundred acres, and several of our family lived on the same farm.

When Mary was asked about a couple of her favorite childhood memories, she wrote the following: "Christmases were nice, even though we did not have a lot of presents, Mae and Mama would make new pajamas and/or buy houseslippers. We sometimes had a tree. The cattlebuyers at work gave all the comptometer operators a 5 pound box of Pangburn's chocolate. They were terrific, full of nuts, fruits, caramels, etc. Chewy and soft. Everyday after our meal we were allowed to choose oneor two. Which one to choose? I finally learned the square ones were usually chewier than the others -- just what I liked.

Also at Christmas, Mama usually bought fresh fruits and hard candy and put them in the Christmas basket. They sat on the dining room table until they were gone. Other than that we almost never had candy. We had pop only a few times as we were growing up. I didn't care for pop. But I learned to drink it.

The year I started to Junior high, Mama made dresses and smocks. My dress was a sailor dress, Navy blue with white polka dots. My smock was floral, with pockets. There was a drawstring at the neckline and Mama used crochet thread to make the drawstring. There were pom poms on the ends. It was always fun to go to Martin's in Poly to buy new shoes. I think this happened twice a year. Maybe once."

When Mary Virginia was asked about one or two of the worst memories she had, she wrote the following: "Nell became ill when she was about 12. We were so afraid she would die. She had her tonsils removed and they then hemmorraged. After it was all over she had a heart murmer and was not well for several years. When I was in high school my mother had a nervous breakdown and was at home several months. I came home from school one day and a neighbor wha was a licensed nurse was there. Mama was crying and could not stop. She had come home from work. The nurse told us she was very ill and we needed to help her. She told us we must not fuss or bother Mama, but to take care of the house be grown up. It was very frightening.

When Mary Virginia was asked if money was ever a concern for their family, she wrote the following: "We didn't have enough money. Yes it concerned me deeply. When my father was killed in an automobile accident, he left my mother with a good insurance policy (several thousand dollars). With it Mama bought a car, built a house on Avenue N in Ft. Worth and furnished it. Since there was a depression, lots of our relatives were out of work and we opened our house to them if the occasion called for it. We rented out rooms to some. We loaned money. One man never repaid it. By the time we girls were ready to graduate from high school, we were in debt. We were each to work 2 years, at which time Mama figured we would be debt free. Ella Mae and I each worked our two years, then Jean and Nell worked a lesser time, as we pulled out of debt sooner than we expected to.

We cut corners every way we knew how to do it. We ate a lot of beans dried fruit and very little meat. We used a lot of oatmeal. Few desserts except for the dried fruit. We made our clothes from clothing family members and friends discarded. Occasionally, we had something Brand new and we really appreciated it. No ball games, eating out, long distance telephone calls, movies (unless invited by a friend), an occasional large 5 cent ice cream cone. Once I remember a hamburger and a coke."

When Mary was asked if religion was an important part of their life, Mary wrote: "Yes, very much so. Until the death of my father, the only times I remember attending church or Bible school was with Eva Hatzenbeuhler. I still have the attendance charts they gave us. I was told that our Daddy, who was a Methodist or Baptist, did not want us to leave to go to church on Sunday. After his death, we began attending the Polytechnic Church of Christ on Avenue I in Ft. Worth. We attended there when we were at home until our marriages. The church and teachers and preachers there had a profound influence on my life. I loved and still do the Bible stories, hymns and fellow Christians."

Her daughter, Mary Virginia Keney Bachman, when ask what work her mother did, wrote the following: "My mother worked for Swift and Company from the time of his death as told above. Before her marriage, she worked for Bell Telephone Company and was head operator at one time. She was sent by Bell Telephone to St. Louis during the time of a strike and also to Galveston during the Hurricane of 1918."

Her daughter, Mary Bachman said in her written memories concerning Dovie.: "My mother became a widow after 8 years of marriage. She had 4 children, all girls, aged from 18 months to 7 years. After my father's death, Swift and Company, for whom he worked, offered her a job if she would move to Fort Worth. They taught her to use the comptrometer and she also filled in on the switchboaqrd for the regular switchboard operator. At home she worked and sewed, cooked and cleaned."