RUBY PEARL ("PEARL") CAUDLE[1]




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Name RUBY PEARL ("PEARL") CAUDLE Born 14 Aug 1900 MT. VERNON, JEFFERSON, ILLINOIS - LIVES AT BETHANY, OKLAHOMA.
Gender Female Baptism Abt 1923 DEER CREEK, YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA Baptism Abt 1923 DEER CREEK, YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA - SAVED AND BAPTIZED IN DEER CREEK ON WRIGHT'S FARM
GRANDPA RENTED AT YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA.
Person ID I143 Caudle Descendants Last Modified 29 Dec 2004
Father LOUIS NORMAN CAUDLE, SR., b. 8 Jan 1874, BRIDGEPORT, LAWRENCE, ILLINOIS
, d. 6 Oct 1943, SACRAMENTO, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Age: 69 years
Mother HATTI VESTA TOWER, b. 12 Jul 1878, LEAVENWORTH, CRAWFORD, INDIANA
, d. 10 May 1965, BETHANY, OKLAHOMA, OKLAHOMA
Age: 86 years
Married 11 Apr 1895 PARAGOULD, GREENE, ARKANSAS Photos Family photos for LOUIS NORMAN CAUDLE, SR. & HATTI VESTA TOWER Photos
» Slide ShowGrandma Caudle holding Milford with Earl and Wesley Yale OK 1938.jpg Aunt Nellie Johnson Pearl Anna Rita Moser and Jarita 1947.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Grandma Caudle Jarita Peggy Phylis Shirley and Melba Jean Dobbs Milford and Earl 1947.jpg Grandma Caudle Vaneal Dobbs Nellie Johnson Frankie Henderson Pearl Moser and Glen Caudle 1953.jpg Jarita Anna Rita Clifford Earl Grandma Caudle Wesley and Milford 1947.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Nellie Johnson Pearl Moser Glen Grandma and Elwood 1947.jpg Vaneal Dobbs Glen Grandma Caudle and Elwood 1947.jpg Vesta, Nellie, Glen, Roy and Pearl 1910-11.jpg Family ID F3 Group Sheet
Family ROY CLIFFORD MOSER, b. 17 Apr 1901, YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA
, d. 18 Mar 1952, PROTECTION, KANSAS
Age: 50 years
Married 24 Dec 1934 YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA Married 24 Dec 1934 YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA - FIRST METHODIST CHURCH.
SHE WOULD HAVE DISOWNED US, IT BELONGED TO HIS GIRLFRIEND. WE WERE BOTH KIND OF RUGGED LOOKING, MY NOSE WAS PEELING FROM THE SUNBURN. WE WENT TO LOS ANGELES AND LOOKED AROUND. YOU COULDN’T WINDOW SHOP LIKE WE DO HERE, WALK ALONG AND LOOK, THEY WERE GOING SO FAST THEY’D KNOCK YOU DOWN. WE WENT UP AND DOWN THE STREETS TO SEE HOW MANY CARS WE COULD SEE FROM OKLAHOMA. SHOWS YOU HOW YOUNG WE WERE, WE GOT A THRILL OUT OF THAT AND WE SAW QUITE A FEW. WE WENT IN A CHINESE PLACE, I NEVER HAD ATE CHINESE FOOD. THEY ALL WORE THEIR HAIR LONG, THE MEN HAD THEIR HAIR IN A PIGTAIL - LOOKED LIKE THAY DIDN’T HAVE ANY HAIR IN FRONT, JUST A PLAIT IN THE BACK AND ALL THOSE SLANT EYES! I WAS A LITTLE AFRAID, ANNE WAS A LITTLE BIT TOO. NOW THINGS LIKE THAT SHE WAS BRAVER THAN I WAS. ANNE AND I HAVE BEEN FRIENDS SEVENTY SOME ODD YEARS, WE WERE JUST AS CLOSE AS SISTERS, CLOSE AS NELLIE AND I. ANNE LIKED THINGS THAT I DID. I WAS ALWAYS ADVENTUROUS, NELLIE NEVER WAS. WHEN WE WENT THROUGH SAYRE ON OUR WAY TO CALIFORNIA, NELLIE WAS LIVING THERE WITH HER FIRST HUSBAND, I CALLED HER AND TOLD HER WE WERE ON OUR WAY AND SHE SAID, "OH PEARL WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO THAT FOR?" SHE NEVER DID WANT TO DO ANYTHING NEW. I WENT AHEAD AND THEN LOOKED AND LISTENED AFTERWARDS. WHEN WE WERE KIDS WE’D WORK IN THE COTTON PATCH AND COME IN FOR DINNER, I’D BE JUMPING FENCES AND STUMPS AND SHE’D BE JUST DRAGGING ALONG. YOU’D THINK I HADN’T DONE NOTHING AND WE HAD KEPT RIGHT SIDE-BY-SIDE, BUT SHE WAS JUST TIRED, LIKE I AM NOWADAYS. MOTHER DIDN’T THINK I DONE ANYTHING IN THE FIELDS; SHE’D MAKE ME WASH THE DISHES AND NELLIE GOT TO GO LAY DOWN. THEY HAD A GOOD SWIMMING HOLE RIGHT THERE ON DEER CREEK AND A BIG ELM TREE WITH A HUGE LIMB. WE’D GET UP ON THAT AND JUMP OFF IN THE WATER. I COULD SWIM BUT I WASN’T GRACEFUL, LIKE A DOG. DAD WANTED US TO WORK, PLANTING CORN, AND THE BLOOMING CROWS WOULD SIT UP ON THE FENCE AND WATCH AND COME ALONG BEHIND US AND DIG IT UP AND EAT IT. SO NELLIE SAID, "WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO THIS OVER, PEARL, SO WHY DON’T WE TAKE AND BURY THIS SEED." WE WANTED TO GO SWIMMING AND THEN GO INTO YALE, EVERYONE WENT TO TOWN ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND WE DIDN’T WANT TO MISS IT. SO WE WENT DOWN ON THE CREEK AND DUG A HOLE AND BURIED THAT CORN, AND YOU KNOW, IT ALL CAME UP THERE IN ONE PLACE AND DAD FOUND IT. ANNE AND I HAD A BALL ON THAT TRIP TO CALIFORNIA, WE HAD A LOT OF FUN. WE STILL DO. WHEN I WAS OUT THERE LAST SUMMER WE STILL HAD A LOT OF FUN - JUST A COUPLE OF OLD LADIES. I HADN’T SEEN HER SINCE SHE’D GOT OLD AND I LOOKED AROUND FOR HER THERE IN THE AIRPORT. THE PORTER WAS TAKING ME AROUND IN A WHEELCHAIR AND I LOOKED AROUND TO SEE IF I COULD SEE ANNE. FINALLY I SPOTTED HER, THREE OLD LADIES STANDING THERE, DRESSED REAL NICE JUST A CHATTERING AND LOOKING FOR ME. SO I WENT DOWN RIGHT BY THEM, THE PORTER WAS TAKING ME TO THE BATHROOM, AND I WENT RIGHT BY THEM AND I SAID, "HELLO, ANNIE." SHE DIDN’T RECOGNIZE ME AT ALL AND THEN HER YOUNGEST SISTER SAID, "THERE WENT RUBY." SO HERE THEY COME DOWN THERE BEHIND ME. SHE DIDN’T KNOW ME. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE I FINISHED THE SIXTH GRADE AFTER WE MOVED TO YALE AND THEN I DIDN’T GET TO GO ANY MORE. I STUDIED A LOT AT NIGHT; I ASKED THE TEACHER AND SHE WROTE ME OUT A LIST OF THINGS THAT WOULD BE THE BEST TO STUDY TO HELP ME OUT. THE SCHOOL WAS A LITTLE COUNTRY SCHOOL WITH ALL EIGHT GRADES, THE TEACHER WAS A YOUNG WOMAN, SHE WAS IN HER EARLY TWENTIES. DAD WOULDN’T LET US FINISH SCHOOL, WE COULDN’T EVER EVEN FINISH A TERM LIKE THE OTHER KIDS, WE HAD TO GO TO NEW SCHOOLS, SOME PLACES WE LIVED THERE WASN’T ANY SCHOOL CLOSE. I MET MY HUSBAND, ROY, THERE IN YALE. HIS DAD WAS THE [SCHOOL] CENSUS TAKER, SO WE GOT TO KNOW HIM THEN WE WENT TO THE SAME CHURCH AND I MET ROY. HE ONLY FINISHED THE EIGHTH GRADE AND IT WAS HIS FAULT HE DIDN’T GET TO GO ON, HE JUST DIDN’T WANT TO GO. THE OIL FIELDS WERE OPENING UP AROUND YALE AND HE AND THE OTHER BOYS OUT THERE WERE MAKING GOOD MONEY AND HE WANTED TO DO THAT, SO HE DIDN’T FINISH. ROY WAS GOING WITH SOMEONE ELSE WHEN I MET HIM, AND I WAS TOO. I WAS 15, FROM AUGUST TO APRIL OLDER THAN HIM. HE STARTED SOMETIMES DRIVING ME HOME AFTER A PARTY. SOMETIMES HIS DAD WOULD LET HIM DRIVE THE CAR, BUT NOT VERY OFTEN. HE HAD TO DO HIS COURTIN’ IN A BUGGY. AFTER HE’D TAKE ME HOME, WHEN WE DID GET TO GOING TOGETHER, CLARENCE’S SISTER (MY BROTHER-IN-LAW), MARY, WOULD MEET HIM DOWN AT THE CORNER, THEY HAD AN AFFAIR GOING. HER SISTER TOLD ON HER AND HER MOTHER WENT DOWN AT THE CORNER AND CAUGHT HER AND WHIPPED HER ALL THE WAY HOME. ROY AND I, WE WENT TOGETHER A LITTLE OVER THREE YEARS, BUT DAD DIDN’T LIKE HIM; I DON’T THINK MOTHER EVER DID EITHER. THEY THOUGHT HE WAS ORNERY. HIS FOLKS VISITED OUR HOUSE A LOT AND WE VISITED THERE, OUR PARENTS WERE ALL ABOUT THE SAME AGE AND WE LIVED JUST A MILE APART. ANYWAY, WE LEFT THERE, DAD LEFT AND WENT TO ARKANSAS, AND ROY AND I WERE BROKE UP THEN, HIM AND MARY WERE GOING STRONG, WE’D WENT TOGETHER THREE AND A HALF YEARS. FIFTEEN YEARS LATER WE GOT MARRIED. HIS SISTER, BESSIE, AND I NEVER QUIT WRITING EACH OTHER DURING THAT TIME, WE WERE ALWAYS JUST LIKE SISTERS. MARY RAN AWAY WITH THE 101 RANCH SHOW AND HAD A BABY BY ONE OF THE PERFORMERS SO THAT ENDED HIS ROMANCE. AND I WAS ENGAGED FOR AWHILE, THIS GUY WAS GETTING PRETTY SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING MARRIED, THEN I GOT A LETTER FROM ROY, I GUESS BESSIE HAD TOLD HIM I WAS GETTING MARRIED. WHEN I GOT THAT LETTER, I JUST FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE OTHER MAN. ROY WAS ALWAYS FIRST WITH ME, THERE WAS JUST SOMETHING ABOUT HIM, I FELT LIKE HE WAS PART OF ME. YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS WHEN I TELL YOU, ALL THIS TIME WE NEVER HAD WHAT YOU WOULD CALL A CLOSE KISS, UNTIL AFTER WE WERE MARRIED. JUST A PECK ON THE CHEEK OR A HUG. BESSIE AND CLARENCE LIVED IN YALE AND I WENT TO VISIT THEM AND MARY WAS BACK VISITING HER FOLKS AND SHE WENT OVER AND TRIED TO GET ROY TO LEAVE WITH HER THEN. BUT I WAS THERE, AND I GUESS I HAD A STRONGER HOLD ON HIM THAN SHE DID. AFTER THAT, ROY AND HIS BROTHER, RAY, AND CLARENCE CAME UP HERE AND I WAS WORING DOWN HERE [BETHANY, OKLAHOMA - NOW PART OF THE GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY AREA] AT THE BETHANY CHILDREN’S HOME, AND ROY ASKED ME THEN WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT GETTING MARRIED AND I TOLD HIM, "I DON’T KNOW. I’LL LET YOU KNOW IN JUNE WHEN I COME TO VISIT BESSIE." FOR SOME REASON WE DIDN’T MAKE OUR MINDS UP IN JUNE. WELL, I ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE SOMETHING WHEN I GOT MARRIED, I LOVED HIM, BUT I WANTED MORE THAN BE COULD GIVE ME. SO FINALLY, WHEN I GOT BACK HERE, I WROTE HIM A LETTER AND I SAID, "ROY, IF YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED, I DO TOO. I DON’T THINK I WOULD BE HAPPY WITH ANYBODY ELSE." HE WROTE BACK AND SAID, "I KNOW I WON’T." SO I GOT ON A TRAIN AND WENT TO YALE. CLARENCE MET THE TRAIN, THEN ROY AND I MET AT THE CHURCH AND WE WERE MARRIED THERE THAT NIGHT. HIS FOLKS DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT UNTIL THE NEXT DAY. IT WAS CHRISTMAS MORNING, WE GOT MARRIED ON CHRISTMAS EVE. AND HIS FOLKS HAD STAYED WITH SOMEONE IN TOWN. THE NEXT DAY THEY CAME BACK HOME BRINGING THE DINNER AND THEY WERE SO SURPRISED TO SEE ME THERE. WE STAYED THERE AWHILE, ROY AND RAY WOULD TAKE TURNS STAYING WITH THE FOLKS. I’D GET SO MAD AT PAPA SOMETIMES I COULD RING HIS NECK BUT WE GOT ALONG REAL WELL. ONE TIME I HAD MADE CORNBREAD AND HAD THE TABLE ALL FIXED WITH CORNBREAD AND MILK WAITING FOR THEM TO COME AND EAT SUPPER, AND PAPA GOT THAT CORNBREAD AND WENT OUT AND FED IT TO HIS TURKEYS. AND, HERE I HAD A WOOD STOVE, TAKES THEM FOREVER TO GET HOT, AND I HAD TO START OVER. I WAS 34 WHEN WE GOT MARRIED. I HAD BEEN ENGAGED TWICE IN BETWEEN THERE BUT IT ALWAYS SEEMED LIKE I WOULD HEAR FROM ROY AND I WOULD CHANGE MY MIND. ONE TIME THE GIRLS WHERE I WAS WORKING MADE ME A NIGHTIE WHEN THEY HAD THE SHOWER FOR ME. THIS FELLOW WAS WELL-TO-DO, HE TRAVELED, WE WOULD HAVE HAD NO STEADY HOME, WE WOULD HAVE LIVED IN HOTELS MOST OF THE TIME. THEY MADE THIS NIGHTIE AND SAID, "PEARL, THIS IS FOR THE FIRST NIGHT." WELL, I GOT TO THINKING ABOUT WHAT THAT FIRST NIGHT MEANT AND I DIDN’T USE THAT NIGHTIE FOR THE "FIRST NIGHT." I JUST STARTED WEARING IT THEN, AND DIDN’T MARRY THAT MAN. WHEN ROY AND I GOT MARRIED, I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT ABOUT THE FIRST NIGHT, IT WAS JUST NATURAL, WE JUST BELONGED TOGETHER. HE WAS THE OTHER HALF OF ME—AND WHEN HE DIED THAT’S WHAT IT FELT LIKE WHEN THEY BURIED HIM, LIKE PART OF ME WENT IN THAT GRAVE RIGHT WITH HIM. NEVER COULD FIND ANYBODY ELSE TO PUT IN HIS PLACE. SO, I GUESS HE WAS MY SOUL MATE. HARD TIMES WE HAD AN AWFUL TIME. IT WAS DURING THE DEPRESSION. ROY JUST WORKED HERE, THERE AND YONDER. BUT, IT DIDN’T TAKE MUCH TO MAKE US HAPPY AND WE WERE STILL LIKE THAT UP TO THE TIME HE WAS KILLED. MAYBE JUST A PICNIC, MABE ALL WE’D HAVE WOULD BE EGGS, AND WE WERE HAPPY AND WE’D HAVE A GOOD TIME JUST HAVING OUR FAMILY TOGETHER. AT HOME IN THE EVENING, WE’D ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO, PLAY GAMES AND THINGS. NOW, IT SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE TO HAVE MONEY TO GO HERE, THERE AND YONDER TO HAVE FUN, BUT WE DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THAT THEN. THE DUST WAS AWFUL, THE FIRST TIME IT BLEW I WAS WORKING DOWN AT THE BETHANY CHILDREN’S HOME, IT’S THE CONVALESCENT HOME NOW, BUT THEN IT WAS AN ORPHAN’S HOME. THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF OKLAHOMA CITY HAD IT. IT [THE DUST] WAS SO AWFUL, WE KEPT THE WINDOWS CLOSED; THE DUST WOULD STILL GET IN THE HOUSE AND COVER EVERYTHING. THAT’S HOW WE WENT INTO DEBT. THAT YEAR WE HAD TO PLANT SEVERAL TIMES. WE’D PLANT SOMETHING AND THE WIND WOULD JUST SWEEP THE WHOLE THING OUT OF THE GROUND. THEN IT WOULD COME A HARD BEATING RAIN AND JUST BEAT IT DOWN TO THE GROUND. WHEN CLIFFORD (SON) SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT WANTING A FARM, I JUST WANT TO SCREAM. IT DON’T INTEREST ME ANY. WE HAD SUCH A HARD TIME THERE. PASTEBOARD IN OUR SHOES. IT MIGHT NOT BE SO BAD IF YOU HAD PLENTY, I LOVED ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS, BUT WHEN TIMES ARE HARD AND THERE IS NO MONEY ANYWHERE, AND YOU’RE IN DEBT, ITS FOR THE BIRDS. STAMPS COST 3 CENTS AND LOTS OF TIMES I COULDN’T DIG UP THE MONEY FOR A 3 CENT STAMP. THAT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE TO THINK NOW, BUT THERE WAS MANY A TIME I COULDN’T DIG UP THE MONEY FOR A STAMP. THINGS WERE SO CHEAP BUT YOU DIDN’T HAVE MONEY TO BUY ANYTHING. YOU COULD GET EGGS FOR 10 CENTS A DOZEN. CLIFFORD SAID HE’D LIKE TO HAVE KEPT THAT OLD FARM. WE HAD SUCH A HARD TIME THERE. I HAVE A LOT OF GOOD MEMORIES THERE BUT I WOULDN’T WANT THE PLACE. IF ROY COULD HAVE GOT IT—HE WANTED IT. BUT ONE OF HIS SISTERS AND HER SONS WOULDN’T LET IT BE SOLD. HE HAD THE PAPERS AND THE MONEY TO BUY IT. WELL, I WOULD HAVE STAYED THERE, I DON’T CARE HOW THINGS WENT AFTER HE WAS KILLED. I WOULD HAVE STAYED AND LET THE KIDS HAVE HAD IT, BUT THEY WOULDN’T LET ROY HAVE IT. BUT WHEN CLIFFORD GETS TO TALKING ABOUT IT, I JUST WANT TO SCREAM. WHEN WE LIVED IN STILWATER [22 MILES WEST OF YALE AND HOME TO OKLAHOMA A&M COLLEGE THEN - NOW, OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY], ROY AND I BOTH WORKING TO GET THE BILLS PAID, YOU SEE WE OWED $3,500.00 AND IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO PAY THAT OUT, NO HIGHER THAN WAGES WERE. BUT ONCE A MONTH WE WENT TO A PICTURE SHOW AND ATE OUT. THEY HAD A HAMBURGER PLACE THERE, ANN’S WAS THE NAME OF IT, AND WE’D GO TO ANN’S AND HAVE HAMBURGERS AND FRENCH FRIES AND A BOTTLED DRINK AND THAT WAS OUR TREAT UNTIL THE NEXT MONTH. WE’D MANAGE TO GET WEINERS AND MARSMALLOWS AND GO DOWN IN THE WOODS AND TOAST THEM, SOMETIMES WE’D JUST GO TO THE FRONT YARD AND HAVE OUR EGGS, CRACKERS AND PEANUT BUTTER AND THAT’S ALL WE’D HAVE AT THE PICNIC. CHILDREN I HAD ALL THREE OF MY CHILDREN AT HOME, CLIFFORD AND ANNA RITA IN THE SAME ROOM, THE SAME BED. I HAD A DOCTOR AND NURSE BOTH, THEY CAME TO THE HOUSE THEN. WESLEY WAS BORN IN A LITTLE LOG CABIN. OH, WE DID ENJOY HIM, ROY AND I. WE DIDN’T THINK WE WERE GOING TO GET TO KEEP HIM. THEY DIDN’T THINK HIM OR I EITHER ONE WOULD PULL THROUGH IT. I HAD TO STAY IN BED ALMOST THE WHOLE TIME I CARRIED HIM, WITH MY FEET UP, THOUGHT SURE I WAS GOING TO LOSE HIM. BUT, I NEVER HAD NO TROUBLE AT AL HAVING HIM. CLIFFORD, POOR LITLLE THING, I WAS JUST HALF UNDER, THEY GAVE ME ETHER, PUT THAT WIRE THING OVER MY FACE. I COULD HEAR EVERYTHING, BUT THAT WAS ALL. I HEARD THE DOCTOR TELL ROY, "YOU GO AND GET YOU A TUB AND FILL IT FULL OF WATER OUT OF THE WELL." WE HAD A BIG, NO. 3 TUB, AND HE DREW WATER OUT OF THE WELL IN ONE OF THOSE LONG BUCKETS AND FILLED THAT UP. MY SISTER-IN-LAW, SYLVIA, WAS THERE, AND ONE NEIGHBOR WAS THERE. MINNIE [ANOTHER SISTER-IN-LAW, SHE IS MY BROTHER GLEN’S WIFE] WAS THERE, THEY WERE VISITING AT THE TIME, HE WAS WORKING IN THE MINES IN ARIZONA AND THEY WERE OUT HERE ON VACATION. MOTHER WAS THERE, TOO, AND SHE SAID THERE HE WAS WITH THAT CORD WRAPPED TIGHT AROUND HIS NECK AND HE WAS JUST AS BLACK. BUT THE DOCTOR JUST TOOK THAT BABY, HAD ONE HAND UNDER HIS NECK AND THE OTHER UNDER HIS LITTLE BOTTOM AND JUST DUNKED HIM DOWN UNDER THAT WATER AND HELD HIM A LITTLE WHILE AND BROUGHT HIM UP, HE DUNKED HIM I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES SHE SAID, THEN FINALLY HE CAME UP AND LET OUT A BIG "WAA." THE DOCTOR GAVE A BIG SMILE AND SAID,"GRANDMA, HE’S ALL RIGHT." HE HADN’T THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO BRING HIM TO.I COULD HEAR NOISE BUT YET I DIDN’T KNOW ENOUGH TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT. AND THEN WHEN I GOT TO SEE HIM, HIS BED HAD ALL WHITE SHEETS AND EVERYTHING, I JUST COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES, THAT LITTLE BLACK BABY LAYING THERE IN THAT BED, HE DIDN’T LOOK LIKE A WHITE BOY. HE WAS PLUMP, WESLEY WAS POOR—THEY WOULDN’T LET ME EAT THIS AND THAT, COULDN’T EAT ANY GRAVY—AND I COULD EAT ANYTHING I WANTED TO WITH CLIFFORD AND HE WEIGHED A FEW OUNCES OVER 7 POUNDS AND WESLEY WEIGHED LESS THAN 7 POUNDS. I SAID, "MOTHER, CAN I HAVE HIM?" SO SHE GOT HIM AND PUT HIM IN MY BED AND HE WAS STILL JUST AS COLD...I CRIED TEN.
I WAS BIG WITH ANNA RITA, I WAS ALL OUT OF SHAPE, I WAS AS BIG BEHIND AS I WAS IN FRONT. SHE WEIGHED MORE THAN THE BOYS DID. SHE WAS A BEAUTIFUL BABY, SHE HAD SUCH LONG LASHES, THEY JUST LAY WAY DOWN ON HER CHEEKS. HER HAIR WAS BLACK. I SURE WAS PROUD OF MY BOYS, I KIND OF WANTED CLIFFORD TO BE A GIRL AND THEN I DIDN’T EITHER, I THOUGHT ABOUT HOW MUCH FUN TWO LITTLE BOYS COULD HAVE TOGETHER, SO I DIDN’T MUCH CARE. BUT IF ANNA RITA HAD BEEN A BOY I THINK I WOULD HAVE BEEN HEARTBROKEN. WESLEY AND CLIFFORD FOUGHT, THEY’D GET IN THE BIGGEST FIGHTS, AND IT WAS USUALLY BECAUSE WESLEY WOULD DO SOMETHING TO MAKE CLIFFORD MAD AND THEN WESLEY WOULD LAUGH. MAKE CLIFFORD SO MAD! WE WANTED TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY, BUT THE DOCTOR TOLD US NOT TO AFTER ANNA RITA WAS BORN, I HAD MORE TROUBLE WITH [HAVING] HER. WE DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT BIRTH CONTROL THEN. A WOMAN I KNEW, SHE HAD 7 OR 8 KIDS, AND SO SHE TOLD HER HUSBAND, "I THINK I’LL HAVE AN ABORTION AND GET RID OF THIS ONE." SO SHE GOT RID OF ONE, I THINK SHE WAS ABOUT TWO OR THREE MONTHS ALONG. ANYWAY, SHE NEARLY DIED, SHE EVEN HAD HER DRESS PICKED OUT TO BE BURIED IN. OH YES, THEY HAD ABORTIONS BACK THEN, TOO. SHE SAID ONE NIGHT SHE WOKE UP AND SHE SAID, "SOME WILL LAUGH AT ME, BUT GOD WAS IN MY ROOM BY MY BED AND HE TALKED TO ME LAST NIGHT. I COMMITTED AN AWFUL SIN. BUT THESE CHILDREN I HAVE STILL NEED ME." SEEMED LIKE EVERYTIME THEY HAD SEX SHE HAD A BABY, BUT SHE PROMISED NEVER TO NEVER EVEN TAKE ANYTHING TO KEEP FROM HAVING THEM AFTER THAT AND SHE HAD THREE MORE. I WORKED WITH A GIRL AT WAYNOKA THAT TOOK A COAT HANGER AND CAUSED AN ABORTION. SHE ALMOST DIED. HER FINGERNAILS TURNED, YOU COULD JUST REACH DOWN AND PULL THEM OFF, AND HER TEETH, TOO. SHE WAS IN ENID IN THE HOSPITAL FOR A LONG TIME. ABORTION IS TAKING A LIFE, I DON’T BELIEVE IN IT. I’D A LOT RATHER TAKE SOMETHING TO KEEP FROM GETTING THAT WAY THAN I WOULD TO HAVE AN ABORTION. I THINK IT’S A SIN JUST LIKE TAKING YOUR LIFE OR MINE, IT’S A LIFE AS FAR AS THAT GOES. THERE’S SO MANY THINGS GIRLS CAN TAKE NOW, THERE’S NO SENSE IN IT. IF I HAD A GIRL NOW I THINK I WOULD TELL HER IF SHE HAD TO HAVE SEX AND COULDN’T WAIT, WHY GET HER PILLS AND TAKE THEM. I COULDN’T DO IT. SOMEONE TOLD HER TO TAKE A COAT HANGER, AND THERE’S JUST A CERTAIN PLACE THEY HAVE TO CATCH AND TEAR IT OPEN, BUT THEN SHE GOT INFECTED. TRAGEDY WE WERE LIVING OUT ON THE OLD HOME PLACE AT YALE. ROY WANTED TO BUY IT, HE HAD SUCH PLANS FOR IT, HE HAD GOT THE MONEY FROM FARMERS HOME AND HAD THE PAPERS FIXED UP AND EVERYTHING AND THEN HIS SISTER WOULDN’T LET IT BE SOLD. ROY WAS DOING CONSTRUCTION WORK AND HE SAID WHEN THAT JOB WAS FINISHED WE WOULD LEAVE THERE AND MOVE INTO TOWN. HE TOLD ME, "WHEREEVER YOU WANT TO MOVE WE WILL GO, STILLWATER OR WE WILL GO BACK TO BETHANY WHERE YOU ARE ACQUAINTED AND YOU CAN WORK IF YOU WANT TO." I WAS LOOKING FOR ROY TO COME HOME THAT WEEKEND AND HE DIDN’T MAKE IT ON SATURDAY. ON MONDAY MRS. WOODS DROVE OUT TO OUR HOUSE AND TOLD US SHE HAD SOME BAD NEWS. MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS THAT IT WAS MY MOTHER. BUT SHE SAID SHE HAD GOT A CALL FROM KANSAS AND THAT ROY WAS IN A CAVE-IN AND THEY WERE DIGGING TO GET HIM OUT. WE WENT INTO YALE AND WAITED THERE AT HER HOUSE AND THE SECOND CALL CAME IN THAT HE WAS DEAD. THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY CALLED THEY SAID HE WAS BURIED AND THEY HAD DUG HIS HEAD AND SHOULDERS OUT. THEN THERE WAS A SECOND CAVE-IN AND IT KNOCKED HIM ACROSS THE PIT, THEY WERE WORKING 19 FEET DOWN, AND BROKE HIS NECK. THAT WAS MARCH 18 WHEN HE WAS KILLED AND I COULDN’T CRY. I WENT THROUGH THAT WHOLE TIME—I SAT THROUGH THE FUNERAL IN A DAZE, NO TEARS, NOTHING. I JUST PUT MY CHILDREN OUT OF MY MIND. WE WERE SO CLOSE BECAUSE I WAS WITH THEM ALL THE TIME OUT ON THAT OLD FARM, WE DIDN’T GET TO GO ANYWHERE EXCEPT TO CHURCH, GET ON THE BUS AND GO TO CHURCH AND THAT’S THE ONLY PLACE WE WENT AT ALL. BUT I JUST PUT THEM RIGHT OUT OF MY MIND. I DIDN’T WANT TO LIVE. I HAD TO GO TO KANSAS TO SETTLE EVERYTHING UP. I TOOK CLIFFORD WITH ME AND WE GOT A ROOM THERE IN WICHITA, KANSAS, AND GLEN STAYED WITH WESLEY AND ANNA RITA AT HOME. I HAD TO SIGN THE INSURANCE PAPERS, IF HE HAD BEEN KILLED IN OKLAHOMA I WOULD HAVE GOT $35,000.00, BUT IT WAS IN KANSAS SO I GOT $6,000.00. I HAD TO BUY ANOTHER SUIT TO WEAR UP THERE I HAD LOST SO MUCH WEIGHT. ROY AND I BOTH WEIGHED 136 WHEN WE GOT MARRIED, HE WAS JUST TWO INCHES TALLER THAN I WAS AND WE WEIGHED ABOUT THE SAME. AFTER WE GOT BACK, ON THE 7TH OF APRIL, THAT’S WHEN I HAD A HARD TIME, I HAD A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. IT JUST HIT ME ALL AT ONCE AND I COULDN’T QUIT CRYING. I WOULD HEAR SONGS THAT WE LIKED, MAYBE WE HAD DANCED TO AS KIDS—IT WAS AWFUL. I FELT LIKE I COULDN’T GO ON WITHOUT ROY, SO I WANTED TO DIE SO THAT I COULD BE WITH HIM. MY CHILDREN JUST CAME SECOND TO ME THEN. EVERYONE WAS SO NICE, THE PEOPLE FROM THE CHURCH WOULD COME OUT AND STAY OF AN EVENING WITH ME. MRS. WOODS WOULD DO THE CHILDREN’S LAUNDRY, SHE’D COME ABOUT EVERY DAY AND PICK IT UP. SOMEONE WAS WITH THE KIDS ALL THE TIME. THEY’D FIX FOR THEIR FAMILY AND WHOSE EVER TURN IT WAS, I GUESS THEY MADE IT UP BETWEEN THEM, THE FARM WOMEN’S CLUB OUT THERE AROUND WHERE WE LIVED. I WAS IN BED ABOUT SIX WEEKS, OUT OF MY MIND MOST OF THE TIME. CLARENCE AND BESSIE CAME OUT AND STAYED THERE WITH ME ALL THE TIME AND HELEN WAS HERE FROM CALIFORNIA, AND SHE STAYED THERE WITH ME, TOO. I WOKE UP ONE DAY, I WAS JUST KIND OF IN A COMA, AND MY BROTHER GLEN, AND CLARENCE, MY BROTHER-IN-LAW, WAS SITTING THERE AT THE TABLE DRINKING COFFEE. I WAS ON A DAYBED THERE IN THE SAME ROOM. THEY SAID THE DOCTOR HAD BEEN OVER THAT DAY AND HE HAD TOLD THEM IF THEY DIDN’T GET ME OUT OF THIS SOON I WOULDN’T BE AROUND LONG. I WAS DETERIORATING. CLARENCE SAID, "WELL, IF SHE DOES GO, WE CAN DIVIDE THE CHILDREN UP BETWEEN US." I DIDN’T WANT EITHER ONE OF THEM TO HAVE THEM. I KNEW HOW CLARENCE WAS WITH HIS GIRLS, HE WAS GOOD TO THEM, BUT THEY PUT THEM OUT IN THE FIELDS, GOT UP REAL EARLY, SOON AS YOU COULD SEE, WORKING IN THE FIELDS. HE’D BE OUT THERE MILKING THE COWS IN THE MORNING CARRYING A LANTERN. THAT’S JUST NOT LIFE. SO I KNEW ENOUGH THAT I BEGAN TO WORRY ABOUT THE KIDS. I WANTED TO DIE, I WANTED TO GO WITH ROY, BUT WHEN I HEARD THEM SAYING THAT, TALKING ABOUT WHAT THEY WOULD DO WITH MY KIDS, I CHANGED RIGHT THERE. I WANTED TO STAY AND TAKE CARE OF THEM MYSELF. I HAD BEEN WORRIED ABOUT ROY, I WAS AFRAID MAYBE HE WASN’T SAVED [BORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN OR HE HADN’T COMMITTED HIS LIFE TO JESUS]. I KNEW HE WAS WONDERFUL AND ALL THAT BUT I DIDN’T KNOW IF HE WAS SAVED. I DIDN’T KNOW WHETHER JUST A GOOD PERSON COULD GO TO HEAVEN OR NOT. SO I HAD THIS DREAM, IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE A DREAM, IT WAS MORE LIKE A VISION. I THINK GOD TOLD ME THAT TO EASE ME, I DON’T THINK I EVER WOULD HAVE GOT WELL IF I HADN’T HAD THAT DREAM. I FELL BACK TO SLEEP AFTER THEIR CONVERSATION, THE DOCTOR HAD ME DOPED UP, AND THIS IS WHAT I DREAMED: I WAS OUT WALKING IN THE WOODS. I CAME TO A STREAM, JUST AS BEAUTIFUL AND CLEAR, I COULD SEE THE ROCKS DOWN IN THE WATER. I LOOKED UP AND THERE WAS ROY ON THE OTHER SIDE, STANDING THERE IN THE CLOTHES HE WAS BURIED IN, ONLY HE HAD HIS BOOTS ON. ON HIS SIDE OF THE CREEK, IT WAS CLEAN AND CLEAR, THERE WASN’T ANY DUST ON THE LEAVES, EVERYTHING WAS CLEAN, THE FLOWERS WERE BRIGHT AND PRETTY. THERE WAS A ROCK FENCE GOING UP OVER THE HILL AND I COULD SEE A CHURCH ON UP THERE WITH A HIGH STEEPLE, PAINTED JUST A SNOWY WHITE, AND THERE WAS WHITE PEGEONS CIRCLING THAT STEEPLE. THE SKY WAS A BEAUTIFUL BLUE AND I COULD SEE SOME WHITE CLOUDS AROUND. I LOOKED AT ROY AND HE WAS STANDING THERE LOOKING AT ME, CHEWING HIS BOTTOM LIP. HE HAD A HABIT OF DOING THAT OR PICKING AT HIS HANDS. AND HE NEVER SAID A WORD, BUT HE WAS WATCHING ME TO SEE IF I WAS GOING TO CROSS THAT CREEK. I THINK I WOULD HAVE DIED IF I HAD CROSSED THE CREEK, I WOULD HAVE WENT WITH HIM. BUT I JUST WATCHED HIM AND THEN DIRECTLY I HEARD THE CHILDREN, AND HERE THEY COME AND PULLED ME AWAY FROM THE CREEK, I WAS RIGHT THERE ON THE EDGE OF IT. I GUESS THEY DIDN’T SEE THEIR DADDY, CAUSE THEY NEVER LET ON. THEY KEPT PULLING ME AWAY AND I WOULD TURN AROUND AND LOOK. HE WAS STILL STANDING THERE AND THEN DIRECTLY HE TURNED AND BEGAN TO WALK UP THE PATH. IT WAS WHITE GRAVEL ALONG THERE GOING UP TOWARDS THE CHURCH. AND HE WAS JUST WALKING ALONG LOOKING AROUND ON BOTH SIDES. I COULD SEE THE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS, GRASS, AND EVERYTHING SO CLEAN AND MY SIDE WAS DUSTY AND DIRTY. HE WAS STILL WALKING UP THAT WAY AND THE LAST I LOOKED BACK HE DISAPPEARED BEHIND SOME SHRUBERY BY THE CHURCH. WHEN I WOKE UP WESLEY WAS STANDING AT THE END OF THE COUCH. HE HAD HIS T-SHIRT THROWN UP AROUND HIS NECK WITH ONE HAND AND WITH HIS OTHER HAND HE WAS PATTING MY HAIR. CLIFFORD WAS SITTING ON THE EDGE OF A CHAIR THERE BY MY BED THAT HAD SOME WATER AND SOME FRUIT THERE FOR ME. ANNA RITA WAS SITTING THERE ON THE BED AGAINST ME. I LOOKED AT ALL OF THEM, AND THEY LOOKED SO PRECIOUS AND I THOUGHT "HERE I WANTED TO LEAVE YOU." I BEGAN TO GET BETTER AFTER THAT, I FOUGHT TO GET WELL AND I DID. I HAD TO HANG ON TO THINGS WHEN I WALKED, I WAS SO WEAK, AND I HAD LOST A LOT OF WEIGHT. I FELT BETTER ABOUT ROY AFTER DREAMING ABOUT THE PLACE WHERE HE WAS AT. I HAD A CLEARER MIND ABOUT HIM. I DIDN’T FEEL BAD, I FELT LIKE HE WAS ALL RIGHT AND I NEVER WORRIED ABOUT THAT ANYMORE. I ALWAYS THINK IT WAS JUST A VISION, GOD LET ME KNOW. WIDOW A FRIEND I HAD WORKED WITH FOR ABOUT FIVE YEARS AT THE BETHANY ORPHANAGE HOME CAME TO SEE ME AFTER ROY WAS KILLED. SHE MARRIED A MAN THAT WORKED THERE, TOO. HE TAUGHT THE BOYS ABOUT OUTSIDE WORK. SHE WAS 15 YEARS OLDER THAN HE WAS AND THEY HAD TWO CHILDREN. ANYWAY, THEY CAME DOWN TO SEE ME, THEY DIDN’T COME DOWN FOR HIS FUNERAL BUT THEY CAME AFTERWARDS, AND THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY HAD THIS PLACE HERE AND IF I WANTED IT THEY WOULD FIX IT SO I COULD BUY IT. IT DIDN’T LOOK LIKE MUCH THEN. AND KRUGER, THEY TOOK ME TO HIM AND HE LET ME HAVE THE MONEY. WHEN I FIRST STARTED OUT, UNTIL I GOT ME A JOB, IT WAS $25.00 A MONTH I PAID ON IT, BUT I OWED $500.00 BESIDES HIS TO MY FRIENDS AND I PAID THEM EVERY MONTH $25.00 UNTIL I PAID THAT OUT. AND LATER HE RAISED ME TO $35.00, THEN $60.00, AND HE NEVER DID GO HIGHER THAN $60.00. A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN’T LIKE HIM, BUT HE WAS SWELL TO ME. ONE YEAR WESLEY GOT SICK, HE WAS AWFUL SICK AND I WASN’T FEELING GOOD EITHER, AND I CALLED HIM UP AND SAID, "MR. KRUGER, I CAN’T MEET IT THIS MONTH." AND HE SAID, THAT’S ALL RIGHT, WHEN YOU GET IT...." NOT MANY PEOPLE DO THAT. SO I DID AND I FINALLY PAID IT OFF AND THEN EVERY TIME I NEEDED MONEY I WOULD MORTGAGE. WE WENT OUT TO SAYRE AND STAYED AWHILE WITH ROY’S SISTER’S FAMILY. I WAS STILL BROKEN UP OVER HIS DEATH, SEEMED LIKE I JUST COULDN’T GET OVER IT, JUST COULDN’T GET WELL, COULDN’T GET MY STRENGTH BACK AFTER HAVING THAT NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. THE DOCTOR SAID IT WASN’T JUST HIS DEATH THAT CAUSED THAT, IT WAS THE BUILDUP OVER THE YEARS. MOTHER AND DAD HAD A LOT OF TROUBLE AND I HAD WORKED EVER SINCE I WAS JUST A KID, AND THAT JUST TOPPED IT OFF. BUT WE WENT OUT THERE AND STAYED ABOUT THREE MONTHS, AFTER WE BOUGHT THIS HOUSE. WE CAME BACK JUST BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED AND I GOT IN ON THE FALL SCHOOL TERM AND WORKED THERE SEVEN YEARS. THE WOMAN WE BOUGHT THE PLACE FROM TOLD ME ABOUT THE JOB IN THE PUTNAM CITY CAFETERIA THERE, I WORKED IN THE DININGROOM. SO I GOT HOME ABOUT THE TIME THE KIDS DID AND I WAS OFF IN THE SUMMER WITH THEM. AS SOON AS I GOT STRAIGHTENED UP WE CAME BACK. THAT HURTS TO SEE YOUR KIDS SUFFER. ONE DAY, WHEN WE WERE STILL ON THE FARM, WE HAD A BACK PORCH AND WE HAD A WOODEN BUCKET WE HUNG ON A CHAIN. IT WAS BOARDED UP SO FAR AND THEN WAS JUST SCREEN AND THE WATER STAYED COOL THERE, WE HAD A SEPARATOR OUT THERE AND EVERYTHING. ANYWAY, ROY’S HAT WAS HANGING THERE ABOVE THE MIRROR AND I HEARD CLIFFORD CRYING. HE’D GOT A BUCKET OF WATER AND BROUGHT IT IN AND HUNG IT UP AND HE SAID HE LOOKED IN THE MIRROR AND SAW HIS DADDY’S FACE LOOKING BACK AT HIM JUST AS PLAIN AS HE EVER SAW HIM IN LIFE UNDER THAT HAT. I LIKE TO NEVER GOT HIM QUIET, HE JUST SOBBED. WESLEY, AT THE FUNERAL, WESLEY NEVER LET ON LIKE HE EVEN NOTICED IT. HE HAD A SOW THAT HAD PIGS, HIS DADDY HAD GOT HIM A PIG AND [HE] HAD RAISED IT, HE WAS IN THAT FARMER’S CLUB [FFA-FUTURE FARMERS OF AMERICA]. SHE HAD 11 LITTLE PIGS AND ONE DAY I SAW HIM STANDING OUT THERE AND I WALKED OUT THERE AND HE HAD ONE OF THOSE LITTLE PIGS IN HIS ARMS AND HE WAS JUST WASHING IT WITH TEARS. HIS DADDY HAD SAID, "BE SURE AND WRITE ME ABOUT IT NOW." AND HE HAD WROTE HIM BUT HE WAS KILLED BEFORE HE GOT THE LETTER AND THEY BROUGHT IT BACK WITH HIS THINGS UNOPENED.
Children 1. WESLEY NORMAN MOSER 2x
2. CLIFFORD ROY MOSER 3x
3. ANNA RITA MOSER 2x
Photos Family photos for RUBY PEARL ("PEARL") CAUDLE & ROY CLIFFORD MOSER Photos Anna Rita, Clifford and Wesley Moser 1940.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Roy Moser Family 1947.jpg Family ID F99 Group Sheet
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Event Map Click to display Born - 14 Aug 1900 - MT. VERNON, JEFFERSON, ILLINOIS Baptism - Abt 1923 - DEER CREEK, YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA Married - 24 Dec 1934 - YALE, PAYNE, OKLAHOMA = Link to Google Maps
= Link to Google Earth
Pin Legend : Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
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Photos Photos for RUBY PEARL ("PEARL") CAUDLE Photos
» Slide ShowAunt Nellie Johnson Pearl Anna Rita Moser and Jarita 1947.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Nellie Johnson Minnie and Pearl Moser 1947.jpg Dorthy Pigue, Vesta and Pearl.jpg Pearl, Nellie, Vesta and Elwood 1958.jpg Pearl, Vesta and Nellie.jpg Pearl, Vesta Nellie and Vaneal 1947.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Retha, Pearl, Nellie, Vesta, Elwood and Clifford with Barbara Henderson and Anna Rita.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Vaneal, Vesta and Pearl.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Vesta, Vaneal, Nellie and Pearl.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Carol, Nellie, Pearl and Vesta at Pearls in OK City.jpg
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)Elwood, Nellie, Vesta and Pearl.jpg Pearl and her friend Ann 20s.jpg Pearl and her friend Ann.jpg Pearl.jpg Ruby Pearl Caudle.jpg
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Notes - HER FATHER CALLED HER RUBY.
REFERENCES: CAUDLE(4), PRESTON MILFORD, UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH ON JOHN JEFFERSON CAUDLE'S FAMILY, 2326 KENT COURT, WALDORF, MARYLAND 20602-2212, 1967 TO PRESENT.
PEARL'S IN THE WESTWOOD NURSING HOME IN BETHANY, OKLAHOMA NEXT TO THE HOSPITAL.
AUNT PEARL WAS MY FAVORITE AUNT. I WAS AT HER HOUSE ON THE "MOSER HOMESTEAD" AT YALE, OKLAHOMA OFTEN AND SHE WOULD TELL SCARY STORIES ABOUT LIVING ON THE FRONTIER, LIGHTENING, SOUND OF CHAINS BEING DRUG ACROSS THE FLOOR, AND HEADLESS PEOPLE. HER HUSBAND, ROY MOSER, WAS MY FAVORITE UNCLE. ONCE WHEN I STAYED ALL NIGHT WITH CLIFFORD, SHE TOLD US KIDS SCARY STORIES. THE ONE I REMEMBER WAS THAT WHEN SHE WAS A YOUNG GIRL HER FAMILY LIVED OUT ON THE PRIARIE SOMEWHERE IN OKLAHOMA. THE HOUSE WAS HAUNTED AND THEY WOULD SEE HEADLESS PEOPLE WALKING BY HOLDING THEIR HEADS IN THEIR ARMS DRAGGING CHAINS. SHE SAID THIS HAPPENED WHEN IT WAS STORMING OR GETTING READY TO STORM. GRANDPA, WOULD GO OUTSIDE TO INVESTIGATE BUT NEVER FOUND ANYTHING. ANOTHER STORY SHE TOLD US WAS THAT GRANDPA, LOUIS NORMAN CAUDLE, HAD SAVED A CEDAR TREE TO MAKE SHINGLES FOR THE HOUSE. A FIERCE STORM BLEW UP AND LIGHTENING STRUCK THE TREE AND TURNED IT INTO SMOKING SPLINTERS. GRANDPA, CURSING, RAN OUTSIDE, SHOOK HIS FISTS TOWARD THE SKY AND SHOUTED FOR THE LIGHTENING TO STRIKE HIM. FORTUNATELY, FOR HIM, IT DIDN'T. AFTER SHE TOLD US THESE STORIES, WE HAD TO GO TO BED BECAUSE THE NEXT DAY WAS A SCHOOL DAY AND WE ALL HAD TO GET UP AND CATCH THE SCHOOL BUS THE FOLLOWING MORNING. CLIFFORD AND I SLEPT TOGETHER IN THE ROOM NEXT TO THE KITCHEN, IN WHAT TODAY WOULD BE CALLED THE DINING ROOM. WE KEPT OUR HEADS THE COVERS BECAUSE THE CEILING WAS JUST RAFTERS. THERE WAS NO DRY WALL OVER COVERING IT. LATER THAT NIGHT, AFTER EVERYONE HAD FALLEN ASLEEP, ANNA RITA, HAD A NIGHTMARE. STANDING ON THE BEDSTEAD, AT THE FOOT OF THE BED, SHE WAS SCREAMING. I REMEMBER MY HAIR STANDING ON END AND HEARING AUNT PEARL SHOUTING AT ANNA RITA TO GET DOWN OFF THE BEDSTED. ACCORDING TO THE JANUARY 1921 SCHOLASTIC CENSUS REPORT FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 91 (EAGLE) IN PAYNE COUNTY, NEAR YALE, OKLAHOMA: RUBY P. CAUDLE IS SHOWN AS WHITE, FEMALE, BORN AUGUST 14, 1901, 19 YEARS OLD. TOM MOSER, HER FATHER-IN-LAW TO BE WAS THE ENUMERATOR. IT WAS SWORN TO BY L. N. CAUDLE, HER FATHER.
PEARL WAS WAYNOKA HARVEY GIRL THE DAILY OKLAHOMA (OKLAHOMA CITY TIMES) NEWSPAPER COMMUNITY SECTION, PAGE 1, WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1993 BY ROBERT E. LEE WHEN FRED HARVEY FOUND THAT MALE WAITERS DID NOT DISPLAY THE MANNERS HE WANTED IN HIS RESTAURANTS, HE SWITCHED TO FEMALES. THAT’S HOW RUBY PEARL (CAUDELE [CAUDLE]) MOSER ENDED UP WORKING AT THE HARVEY HOUSE IN WAYNOKA, A MAJOR STOP ON THE SANTA FE RAILROAD. SHE IS NOW 92 AND LIVES IN BETHANY. HARVEY, AND LATER HIS SONS, OWNED AND OPERATED THE FAMOUS HARVEY HOUSES ALONG MAJOR RAILROADS, OPENING THE FIRST IN 1876. TRAINS WOULD STOP, PASSENGERS WOULD FLOCK OFF AND INTO THE HARVEY HOUSE FOR AN ELEGANT MEAL, THEN GET BACK ON THE TRAIN AND IT WOULD GO ON ITS WAY.
PEARL WAS IN HER LATE 20s AND LIVING IN ARKANSAS WHEN SHE AND A FRIEND DECIDED TO SEEK WORK IN THE HARVEY HOUSE CHAIN, IN 1928 OR ‘29. THEY RODE THE TRAIN TO KANSAS CITY, APPLIED FOR AND GOT WAITRESS JOBS AND RODE THE SANTA FE TO WAYNOKA IN NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA. THERE, THE HEAD WAITRESS (WHO WAS ALSO THE HOUSE MOTHER IN THE WAITRESS DORMITORY) TRAINED THEM IN THE FINER POINTS OF SERVING DINERS. THEY WERE ISSUED UNIFORMS - LONG BLACK DRESSES FOR THE MORNING SHIFT, WHITE FOR EVENING AND BOTH WITH HIGHLY STARCHED WHITE APRONS AND CAPS. HARVEY GIRLS, AS THEY WERE CALLED, MADE $40 A MONTH PLUS ROOM AND BOARD, AND ANY TIPS THEY RECEIVED. THEY WORKED A SIX-DAY WEEK, AS DID MOST PEOPLE THOSE DAYS. EACH WAITRESS HAD TO HAND WASH, STARCH AND IRON HER OWN UNIFORMS. MEN HAD TO WEAR JACKETS TO [BOLD LETTERS] EAT IN THE DINING ROOM, SO SEVERAL WERE KEPT FOR THOSE ARRIVING WITHOUT ONE. IT WAS A COMMON SIGHT TO SEE A JACKET-LESS MAN COME IN, STEP OVER TO THE COAT RACK AND PUT ON A JACKET TO WEAR WHILE EATING HIS MEALS. ONCE, PEARL RECALLED, A MAN LEFT HIS HAT ON WHEN HE SAT DOWN, SO SHE ASKED, "MAY I TAKE YOUR HAT, SIR?" THE MAN TOLD HER NO, EX- [BOLD LETTERS] PLAINING THAT THE HAT WAS NEW AND HE HAD JUST PAID $57 FOR IT, A LARGE SUM IN THOSE DAYS. "SO HE PUT IT UNDER HIS CHAIR," SHE SAID. HE PROMPTLY FORGOT ABOUT THE HAT, PUSHED HIS CHAIR BACK AND CRUSHED THE HAT UNDER A CHAIR LEG. IN HER TWO OR THREE YEARS [BOLD LETTERS] AT WAYNOKA, SHE MET MANY CELEBRITIES, AMONG THEM [THE FOLLOWING NAMES ONLY ARE IN BOLD LETTERS] WILL ROGERS, GRETA GARBO, JOHN GILBERT, WALLACE BERRY, LON CHANEY, LADY VANDERBILT, EMILY POST, CHARLES AND ANN LINDBERGH AND MAE WEST ("SHE WAS PLUMP, BIG!"). WAYNOKA’S HARVEY HOUSE [BOLD LETTERS] HAD A MAIN DINING ROOM, A LUNCH COUNTER AND A SMALL ROOM FOR "THE COLOREDS," PEARL SAID. ONE TIME, SHE RECALLS, A WHITE MOVIE EXECUTIVE AND HIS BLACK WIFE GOT OFF THE TRAIN AND CAME IN TO EAT. THE WIFE WAS TOLD SHE COULD NOT EAT IN THE MAIN DINING ROOM (RESERVED FOR WHITES). "BOY, WAS SHE MAD WHEN THEY FORCED HER TO EAT WITH THE COLORED PORTERS," PEARL SAID. WAYNOKA BECAME A GLAM- [BOLD LETTERS] OROUS CENTER OF AIRLINE TRANSPORTATION IN 1929, THANKS TO THE WORK OF CHARLES A. LINDBERGH [NAME IN BOLD LETTERS], THE FIRST PERSON TO FLY SOLO ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN IN 1927. TRANSCONTINENTAL AIR TRANSPORT—LATER TO BECOME TWA—ESTABLISHED A NEW AIRLINE ROUTE, LAID OUT BY LINDBERGH, WHICH COULD TAKE CUSTOMERS FROM NEW [CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 OF THE COMMUNITY SECTION OF THE NEWSPAPER UNDER THE HEADING "LEE"] YORK TO LOS ANGELES IN 48 HOURS FOR $350. AIRPLANES DIDN’T FLY AT NIGHT SO PASSENGERS [BOLD LETTERS] LEFT NEW YORK BY NIGHT TRAIN TO CATCH A TAT FORD TRIMOTOR THE NEXT MORNING IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, AND FLY TO WAYNOKA. THERE THEY CAUGHT A NIGHT TRAIN TO CLOVIS, N.M., AND THEN ANOTHER TRIMOTOR TO LOS ANGELES. THE ROUTE ENDURED FOR 15 MONTHS, LOST $3 MILLION AND MADE AVIATION HISTORY. PEARL SERVED THESE PLANE-TRAIN PASSENGERS AT THE HARVEY HOUSE IN WAYNOKA. PEARL MOVED FROM WAYNOKA TO BETHANY [BOLD LETTERS] TO WORK IN AN ORPHANAGE. SHE MARRIED ROY MOSER IN 1935[.] HE WAS KILLED IN A CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT IN 1952. SHE THEN RAISED HER THREE CHILDREN, CLIFF, NOW OF EDMOND; WESLEY OF CHOCTAW; AND ANNA RITA ROSS OF OKLAHOMA CITY. SHE HAS SIX GRANDCHILDREN AND 12 GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN. EVENTUALLY, THE HARVEY CHAIN ALSO INCLUDED [BOLD LETTERS] MANY HOTELS AND RESORTS. IT ALSO OPERATED DINING CARS FOR MAJOR RAILROADS, AND EVEN SERVED AIRLINE IN-FLIGHT MEALS FOR A SHORT TIME. HARVEY HOUSES ALONG RAILROADS BEGAN DISAPPEARING SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR II—BUT NOT WITHOUT CREATING WONDERFUL MEMORIES FOR RUBY PEARL MOSER, AND THOUSANDS OF OTHER HARVEY GIRLS. [FOLLOWING THE STORY IS A PICTURE OF "ANN McCORMACK, AND RUBY PEARL (CAUDELE" [CAUDLE]). PEARL IS ON THE RIGHT IN THE PICTURE. THEY ARE IN THEIR BLACK UNIFORMS WITH STARCHED WHITE APRONS AND WHITE COLLARS. THEY] "WORKED AS HARVEY HOUSE WAITRESSES AT WAYNOKA IN THE 1928-30 PERIOD. McCORMACK NOW LIVES IN COLORADO, MOSER IN BETHANY." BEV MOSER, CLIFFORD’S WIFE, WROTE THE FOLLOWING PAPER ON HER MOTHER-IN-LAW, RUBY PEARL CAUDLE MOSER, FOR A CONTEMPORARY HISTORY CLASS SHE ATTENDED AT A LOCAL COLLEGE. SHE TAPED THE INTERVIEWS WITH PEARL AND PREPARED THE PAPER FROM THE TAPES: RUBY PEARL RUBY PEARL WAS BORN IN 1900. HER CHILDHOOD WAS SPENT IN TRAVELING THE COUNTRY WITH A FATHER WHO WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR AND FAILING TO FIND HIS BIG OPPORTUNITY. SHE BEGAN WORKING AT AN AGE WHEN MOST CHILDREN ARE STILL IN SCHOOL. ALL OF HER ADULT LIFE HAS BEEN SPENT IN OKLAHOMA. AS A YOUNG WIFE AND MOTHER SHE HELPED HER HUSBAND SUSTAIN THE FAMILY ON A FARM NEAR YALE. AFTER HIS TRAGIC DEATH IN 1951 SHE MOVED HER FAMILY TO A SMALL HOUSE IN BETHANY WHERE SHE STILL LIVES. SHE DEVOTED THE FOLLOWING YEARS TO REARING THREE CHILDREN. RUBY PEARL IS AN ORDINARY WOMAN IN MANY RESPECTS. SHE HAS SPENT MUCH OF HER LIFE AS A HOUSEWIFE AND HER FAMILY HAS BEEN THE FOCUS OF HER LIFE. SHE IS THE MUCH LOVED MATRIARCH OF A LARGE FAMILY OF CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN, AND GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN. STILL, AT ALMOST 85, SHE POSSESSES THAT ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT THAT LED HER TO HITCHHIKE TO CALIFORNIA AS A YOUNG WOMAN. AND THAT STRENGTH OF WILL THAT ALLOWED HER TO OVERCOME HER GRIEF AND FIND A JOB TO PROVIDE FOR HER CHILDREN. SHE HAS WONDERFUL STORIES TO TELL OF PAST YEARS, BUT SHE HAS A ZEST FOR LIFE THAT ALLOWS HER TO ENJOY TODAY AND LOOK FORWARD TO TOMORROW. RUBY PEARL IS A JOY TO KNOW. IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE TO INTERVIEW HER AND WRITE ABOUT THESE FEW EPISODES OF HER LIFE. I HOPE THAT THESE PAGES CONVEY THE SPECIAL PERSON THAT SHE IS. EARLY DAYS I WAS BORN IN MOUNT VERNON, ILLINOIS, BUT CHICAGO IS THE FIRST PLACE I REMEMBER. DAD WORKED ON THE RAILROAD. WE LIVED IN A BIG, WHITE HOUSE AND OUT IN FRONT OF IT, ACROSS THE STREET WAS WHERE THEY SWITCHED THE CARS, THE ENGINES WOULD COME AND GET ANOTHER CAR. I WOULD CLIMB UP ON THE GATEPOST AND TALK TO THE MEN ON THE TRAIN. WE RODE THE TRAIN EVERYWHERE. WE EVEN RODE THE TRAIN INTO TOWN AND GOT OUR GROCERIES AT SEARS, ROEBUCK. WE WOULD RIDE IT TO LINCOLN PARK ZOO. I LIKE TO EMBARASSED MOTHER TO DEATH, I WAS SITTING UP ON THE GATEPOST ONE DAY AND THE MEN CHANGING CARS ASKED ME WHAT I HAD DONE. I SAID, "OH, I WENT TO THE ZOO TODAY AND SAW THE MONKEYS. THOSE MONKEYS HAD WENT ROUND AND ROUND SLIDING UP AND DOWN THOSE POLES UNTIL AROUND UNDER THEIR TALES WAS JUST AS RED." I BEGAN TO TELL EVERYTHING THEY HAD DONE AND MOTHER GOT UP AND WENT IN THE HOUSE. WE VISITED MOTHER’S FOLKS IN THE EAST ON THE TRAIN, SOMEONE HAD DIED AND THEY HAD THE COFFIN IN A WAGON WITH HORSES PULLING IT AND THEY CAME TO A TRAIN CROSSING AND THERE WAS A LONG FREIGHT PASSING. THE DRIVER KEPT THAT TEAM AGOING, SAID IT WAS BAD LUCK TO STOP, SO HE KEPT GOING THIS WAY AND THAT NOT TO STOP. WE MOVED FROM CHICAGO TO PARAGOULD AND WE LIVED OUT ON AN ISLAND CALLED GRIFFIN’S ISLAND, ONLY TWO HOUSES ON IT AND WATER ALL AROUND IT, ONLY ONE PLACE WHERE YOU COULD GET ACROSS TO IT. WHEN WE’D GO VISITING, WE’D GET ON A BOAT AND THEY WOULD USE POLES TO MOVE IT ALONG. THE HOUSE WAS BUILT UP ON STILTS WAY UP HIGH AND YOU COULD LOOK DOWN AND SEE SNAKES SWIMMING AROUND THE STILTS. MOTHER’S SISTER HAD MARRIED A WEALTHY MAN [PETE BLACK], HE WAS A LOT OLDER, ONE OF HIS BOYS WAS OLDER THAN SYLVIA. DAD WORKED IN HIS SAWMILL THERE IN ARKANSAS. WE GOT IN A COVERED WAGON, TOP AND EVERYTHING, AND THAT’S THE FIRST TIME I CAME TO OKLAHOMA. WE WOULD GO OUT TO WYOMING OR COLORADO AND ALWAYS CAME BACK TO OKLAHOMA OR ARKANSAS, USUALLY OKLAHOMA. DAD ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WAS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE. HE COULD HAVE BEEN WEALTHY. HE HAD SOME JOBS HE MADE GOOD MONEY. HIS MOTHER DIED WHEN HE WAS 14 AND THERE WAS 12 KIDS, 4 BOYS AND 8 SISTERS, AND HE DIDN’T LIKE THEM BOSSING HIM SO HE TOOK OUT AND WENT TO TEXAS. HE’D TELL TALES OF THAT TRIP THAT WOULD JUST MAKE YOUR BLOOD CURDLE, MOTHER SAID SHE DIDN’T THINK THEY WERE TRUE BUT HE SAID THEY WERE. WE SETTLED DOWN AT NORMAN, HE HAD A BROTHER [WILLARD] DOWN THERE, IT WAS STILL THE TERRITORY THEN, AND WE LIVED THERE QUITE A WHILE AND THEN WE WENT TO WYOMING FROM THERE ON A TRAIN FROM OKLAHOMA CITY. SETTLED WAY OUT ON THE PLAINS ON 360 ACRES, BUILT A DUGOUT BUT WE HAD A HOUSE AND USED THE DUGOUT FOR A HEN HOUSE, LITTLE TWO BEDROOM HOUSE AND DAD WORKED ON A RANCH ABOUT FIVE MILES FROM THERE. ONETIME WE WERE CARRYING IN PUMPKINS IN THE FALL, THE WIND WAS BLOWING AND IT WAS TURNING COLD. I HAD THIS BIG PUMPKIN UP IN MY ARMS AND I SEEN THIS BIG RATTLER AND IT HIT MY DRESS AS I WENT OVER IT AND THERE WAS A COWBOY, MOTHER WASHED FOR SOME OF THE COWBOYS, AND HE WAS COMING TO GET HIS CLOTHES AND HE CAME AND SHOT THE SNAKE. THE COWBOYS WAS AWFUL NICE, THEY HAD A BAD NAME BUT THEY ALWAYS TREATED MOTHER AND US KIDS SO NICE. LATER ON WHILE WE LIVED THERE IN WYOMING, MOTHER WENT TO WORK AS A COOK ON THE RANCH AND SHE PAID A WOMAN TO TAKE CARE OF US. SHE LIVED ABOUT A MILE FROM US AND SHE HAD TWO LITTLE GIRLS AND A BABY AND THEN SHE TOOK US, NELLIE AND I, AND GLEN MY OLDEST BROTHER, AND WE STAYED THERE WITH THEM WHILE MOTHER WORKED. SHE [MOTHER] DROVE A LITTLE TWO WHEEL CART WITH A HORSE HITCHED TO IT WHEN SHE WENT TO WORK AT THE RANCH. WE MOVED AWAY FROM THE FARM TO A RANCH. WE WENT UP THERE IN THE WAGON TO LOOK IT OVER FIRST. IT WAS A COVERED WAGON, DAD, THAT WAS WHAT HE DONE. THE WAGON HE DROVE WAS JUST LIKE A STORE, FOOD AND EVERYTHING IN IT AND HE’D GIVE IT TO THESE PEOPLE WHO WERE STRANDED HERE, THERE OR YONDER. THEY PAID FOR IT. THIS RANCH WAS HORSECREEK. I FORGET THE NAME OF THE TOWN [LUTHER?] IT WAS CLOSE TO. HE WENT UP THERE AND STAYED AND MOTHER COOKED AT THE RANCH AND WE ALL SLEPT IN THE SAME ROOM, US KIDS SLEPT ON A PALLET AND DAD WASN’T THERE HALF THE TIME. DAD’S OLDEST BROTHER WAS THERE, MOTHER WAS FIRST ENGAGED TO MARRY HIM AND DAD CAME BACK AND SHE FELL FOR HIM, DROPPED UNCLE WILLARD AND MARRIED DAD. WE LEFT THE RANCH, I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG WE WERE THERE, AND WE WENT BACK TO THE FARM. THE SCHOOL THERE WAS ABOUT TWO OR THREE MILES FROM WHERE WE LIVED. HAD TO WALK. ONE DAY I WAS WALKING ALONG THERE AND I HAD MOTHER’S BIG OLD SAILOR HAT ON, SHE’D LET ME WEAR IT TO SCHOOL. PRAIRIE, NOT A HOUSE, NOT A THING, NOT A FENCE BETWEEN OUR HOUSE AND THE SCHOOL. SIX KIDS WAS WHAT THEY HAD, THEY HAD TO HAVE THAT MANY TO OPEN THE SCHOOL. AND I WAS WALKING ALONG THERE AND I HEARD A NOISE AND I LOOKED AROUND FROM UNDER THIS BIG, OLD HAT, AND THERE WAS A BIG BULL AFTER ME. HE HAD HIS HEAD DOWN AT THE GROUND, CHASING ME AND BELLERING. OH, IT SOUNDED AWFUL. LIKE TO SCARED ME TO DEATH. I SCREAMED AND STARTED RUNNING, THERE WASN’T ANYTHING TO RUN TO, NO TREES, NO BUSHES, NO NOTHING AND DIRECTLY HERE CAME A COWBOY RIDING UP. HE NEVER STOPPED, JUST REACHED DOWN AND PICKED ME UP, AND OF COURSE I LOST MY LUNCH BUCKET AND MY HAT. HE WENT BACK AND SCOOPED THEM UP, TOO, WHILE HE HELD ME WITH ONE ARM. HE SAID THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THIS BULL, SAID HE WAS LOCO, AND THEY WERE PLAYING DICE AND THE BULL GOT AWAY FROM THEM. HE JUST PICKED ME UP SO EASY. AFTER WE WENT BACK TO THE PLACE MOTHER HAD ANOTHER BABY, MY OTHER BROTHER [ROY RUSSELL]. SHE HAD TO CARRY WATER A MILE FOR EVERYTHING, AND SHE HAD FOUR KIDS TO DO FOR. THE CHRISTMAS AFTER HE WAS BORN, THE SNOW WAS SO DEEP, JUST LEVEL [PROBABLY WITH THE WINDOWS], MOTHER READ US THE STORY OF JESUS AND WE WERE HANGING OUR STOCKINGS UP AT THE WINDOW AND SHE SAID, "THERE’S NO USE HANGING THEM UP, YOU WON’T GET NOTHING TONIGHT. YOUR DADDY COULDN’T GET HERE EVEN IF HE WANTED TO. IT’S A REGULAR BLIZZARD." THE NEXT DAY A MAN SHE WASHED FOR CAME AND PICKED UP HIS CLOTHES AND SOME HOT BREAD SHE’D BAKED FOR HIM. THEN THAT AFTERNOON SOMETHING HIT THE DOOR AND SHE OPENED THE DOOR AND THERE WAS MR. MAYS, HE’D BEEN WANDERING AROUND ALL DAY IN THAT BLIZZARD AND COULDN’T FIND HIS HOME AND HE ONLY LIVED ABOUT A MILE FROM US. SO HE CAME IN AND SHE FED HIM. WE STAYED THERE UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST AND WHEN WE LEFT THERE WE HAD FROST SO WE WERE DRESSED IN WINTER CLOTHES AND RODE THE TRAIN BACK TO SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, FROM CHEYENNE. THE TRUNKS DIDN’T GET THERE WHEN WE DID AND THERE WE WERE IN LONG HANDLES AND IT WAS REAL HOT. WE MOVED INTO AN APARTMENT. WE’D JUST BEEN USED TO GOING LIKE WILD ANIMALS, AND THERE WE WERE UP THREE FLOORS. THEN WE MOVED INTO A HOUSE AND THERE WERE GREAT, BIG TREES AND IN WYOMING WHERE WE’D LIVED THERE WEREN’T ANY TREES. MOTHER HAD ANOTHER BABY THERE IN SPRINGFIELD. MY BROTHER ELWOOD WAS BORN THERE. SHE HAD TEN KIDS AND NO TWO WERE BORN IN THE SAME STATE, I’LL TAKE THAT BACK, NELLIE AND THE LITTLE GIRL THAT DIED [ANGEL] BETWEEN HER AND I, THEY WERE BOTH BORN IN CHICAGO. MOTHER HAD TEN CHILDREN ALTOGETHER. SHE LOST THE FIRST TWO BOYS [EZRA CLARK AND LOUIS NORMAN JR.] THEN SHE HAD ME AND THEN SHE HAD ANOTHER GIRL [ANGEL] AND IT DIED AND THEN THE REST OF THEM [NELLIE, GLEN, ROY, ELWOOD, BURNICE - 4 BOYS IN A ROW - VENEAL] ALL LIVED. SHE RAISED SEVEN OUT OF THAT TEN, DAD OUT TOMCATTING AROUND AND MOTHER DOING THE WORK RAISING US. MOTHER MUST HAVE REALLY LOVED HIM TO TRAVEL WITH HIM AND MOVE EVERYWHERE. SOMETIMES WE LIVED IN THE NICEST HOUSE IN THE COMMUNITY; SOMETIMES IT WAS SO POOR, YOU WERE ASHAMED FOR ANYONE TO KNOW WHERE YOU LIVED. HE GAMBLED A LOT AND HE WOULD LOSE EVERYTHING, THE FURNITURE AND EVERYTHING, AND THEY’D COME AND GET IT.
YOUNG AND ADVENTURESOME
WE TRAVELED BY TRAIN A LOT AND I ALWAYS LIKED EATING IN THE DINING CARS, SO WHEN I HEARD ABOUT THE HARVEY HOUSE RESTAURANTS I WANTED TO WORK THERE. A GIRL THAT LIVED ON A PLACE CLOSE TO US WENT WITH ME ON THE TRAIN TO APPLY FOR A JOB. HER NAME WAS IVY BAXTER; WE WENT FROM FORT SMITH [ARKANSAS]. WE SIGNED UP AT KANSAS CITY AT THE UNION STATION. THEY SENT US TO WAYNOKA [OKLAHOMA] TO WORK, SHE WORKED AT THE LUNCH COUNTER AND I WORKED THE DININGROOM. AND, I TELL YOU WHAT, I DIDN’T THINK I WAS SUCH A DUMB BUNNY BUT I WAS. RIGHT AFTER I STARTED TO WORK THIS MAN I WAITED ON, HE WAS FROM NEW YORK CITY, AFTER HE GOT THROUGH EATING AND I HAD GIVEN HIM HIS CHECK, HE SAID, "I’D LIKE A DEMITASSE, PLEASE." SO I WENT TO THE KITCHEN AND I ASKED THE CHEF, "JIM WHAT IS A DEMITASSE?" HE WAS A BIG, GOOD LOOKING INDIAN, A DIGNIFIED MAN, BUT HE LEANED BACK AND JUST LAUGHED, AND TOLD ME THAT IT WAS COFFEE. HE TOLD ONE OF THE HELPERS, "FRED, FIX UP RUBY PEARL A DEMITASSE TRAY, SHOW HER HOW TO DO IT." SO HE GOT A LITTLE LACE NAPKIN, THEN A LITTLE SAUCER, THEN HE PUT ANOTHER LITTLE LACE DOILY INSIDE OF IT, THEN SET THE CUP ON TOP OF IT, THE SPOON, SUGAR AND CREAM. I NEVER KNEW THERE WAS SUCH THINGS AS A DEMITASSE. AND THEY HAD FINGER BOWLS, YOU KNOW. WE HAD TO GO TO SCHOOL ONCE A WEEK AND STUDY MANNERS AND THINGS, WHICH SIDE, WHO TO WAIT ON FIRST, DIFFERENT THINGS. HOW TO PLACE YOUR SILVERWARE. ANNE, THE GIRL THAT I WENT TO VISIT IN COLORADO LAST YEAR, SHE AND I ROOMED TOGETHER AND SHE TAUGHT ME A LOT OF THINGS TO DO AND SAY, SO MY COURSE WASN’T AS BAD AS [IT WAS FOR] THE OTHER GIRS, SHE SHOWED ME THE ROPES AS THEY SAY. WE WORE BLACK OF A MORNING AND AT NIGHT WE WORE ALL WHITE, WHITE SHOES, EVERYTHING, OUR HAIR SLICKED BACK. OF COURSE, MINE WAS CURLY, I HAD TO PUT A NET OVER MINE. OUR HEAD WAITRESS, SHE WAS SCOTCH, AND SHE MARRIED THE CHEF, THE INDIAN, AND THEY HAD A LITTLE BOY. ANYWAY, SHE WORE HER HAIR SLICKED BACK IN A BIG BUN AND IT LOOKED SO NEAT AND SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO WEAR A HAIRNET. WE LIVED THERE IN A DORMITORY UP ABOVE THE RESTAURANT. THE BOYS STAYED THERE, TOO. THEY HAD ONE WING AND WE HAD ANOTHER ONE. BUT THEY SWITCHED IN THE NIGHT, YOU’D SEE A BOY OR GIRL GOING ACROSS TO ANOTHER ROOM. THE HARVEY HOUSE WAS VERY NICE AND FORMAL WITH WHITE CLOTHS AND NAPKINS. THEY WOULD CALL AHEAD FROM THE TRAIN AND TELL US HOW MANY TO EXPECT FOR LUNCH OR DINNER. WE HAD COATS HANGING, THEY LOOKED LIKE AN EVENING JACKET, BLACK, AND IF A MAN CAME IN WITHOUT A COAT IN THE DINING ROOM, THEY COULD [EAT] AT THE COUNTER [WITHOUT A COAT], WE WOULD BRING HIM A COAT. A BUNCH OF MEN CAME ON THE NOON TRAIN ONE DAY. I WAS ON DRINKS THAT DAY AND PART OF MY JOB WAS TO GO AROUND AND TAKE THEIR HATS AND IF THEY DIDN’T HAVE A COAT, TO BRING THEM A COAT. SOME OF THEM RESENTED IT, THOSE BIG RANCHERS FROM TEXAS, AND THIS GUY WAS FROM TEXAS. HE WAS JUST A NEW-RICH OIL MAN, AND HE HAD A HAT. BACK THEN MEN WOULDN’T HAVE THOUGHT OF EATING WITH THEIR HATS ON LIKE THEY DO TODAY. ANYWAY, I WENT AND ASKED HIM, "MAY I TAKE YOUR HAT." HE SAID, "NO, I’M NOT ABOUT TO LET YOU TAKE MY HAT. I JUST GOT THIS YESTERDAY MORNING AND I PAID $57.00 FOR IT." IT WAS A WHITE HAT, GRAYISH WHITE, A REGULAR COWBOY HAT. SO HE PUT IT UNDERNEATH HIS CHAIR ON THE CROSSED BRACES THERE. WELL, HE GOT TO TALKING, HE WAS A GREAT HAND TO TALK, AND WHEN HE’D TALK HE WOULD PUSH HIS CHAIR BACK. WHEN HE PUSHED IT BACK AND WIGGLED AROUND GETTING HIMSELF FIXED IN IT, HE SET A LEG OF THE CHAIR RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT HAT. THAT LIKE TO BUSTED ME UP. I GOT TICKLED. MR. GUNTHER, THE MANAGER, WAS WORKING THE CASH REGISTER THAT DAY AND HE SEEN ME AND HE KNEW I WAS ABOUT TO BURST AND HE MOTIONED ME TO COME UP THERE. I TOLD HIM WHAT HAD HAPPENED AND I SAID, "YOU ALWAYS TOLD US NEVER TO INTERRUPT A CONVERSATION WHEN THEY’RE TALKING AND HE’S JUST TALKING ALL THE TIME, I COULDN’T TELL HIM." SO HE SMILED THEN ABOUT IT. I WENT BACK TO MY PLACE AND, WE’D JUST STAND REAL STRAIGHT WITH OUR HANDS BEHIND US, SO I STOOD THERE AND WATCHED THE DRINKS AND KEPT THE GLASSES FULL. THIS GUY GOT UP FROM THE TABLE AND HE LEFT $2.00. I THINK I MADE ABOUT $10.00, THERE WAS EIGHT OF THEM AT THE TABLE. HE SEEN THAT HAT AND, OH, HIS FACE TURNED RED AND HE BEGAN TO BLUSTER AND STUTTER AND LOOKED AT ME AND HE SAW I WAS JUST ABOUT TO POP YET, YOU KNOW, IT WAS STILL JUST SO FUNNY TO ME AND I SAID, "WELL SIR I COULDN’T TELL YOU, YOU WERE TALKING ALL THE TIME." MR. GUNTHER DIDN’T THINK I SHOULD HAVE TOLD HIM THAT, BUT THAT WAS THE REASON I DIDN’T TELL HIM. BUT I KIND OF LIKED THE OLD BLOWGUT. WHEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT HAPPENED, I ALWAYS LAUGHED. EVERYTHING WAS FUNNY TO ME. EVEN AT HOME DADDY USED TO GET ON TO ME FOR LAUGHING. NELLIE AND I GOT SENT AWAY FROM THE TABLE A LOT OF TIMES FOR LAUGHING. DAD WOULDN’T LET US SIT AT THE TABLE AND LAUGH. ANOTHER TIME THIS FAMILY CAME IN, JUST NEWLY RICH FROM THE OIL, ALL DRESSED UP, YOU COULD TELL ALL THEIR CLOTHES WERE NEW. THEY HAD A DAUGHTER ABOUT 17 OR 18, I GUESS. I SET HER PLACE, HAD A LITTLE PLATE, AND LITTLE LACE DOILY, AND A FINGER BOWL WITH A SLICE OF LEMON. SHE PICKED UP THE FINGER BOWL AND DRANK IT. IT’S A LOT FUNNIER TO SEE SOMEONE LIKE THAT MAKE A MISTAKE THAN IT IS SOME DUMB SOMEBODY, THEY THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING. THAT WAS BACK IN THE LATE ‘20s AND THERE WASN’T NOTHING TO WAYNOKA AT ALL, JUST THE BIG HARVEY HOUSE AND THEY HAD JUST PUT IN THE AIRPORT. THAT’S WHERE THE PLANES FROM THE EAST AND THE ONE’S FROM THE WEST WOULD MEET AND THE PASSENGERS WOULD CHANGE PLANES. SOME OF THEM WOULD COME THAT FAR ON THE TRAIN THEN THEY WOULD GET OFF THE TRAIN AND GO THE REST OF THE WAY ON THE AIRPLANE, NEW YORK OR CALIFORNIA, WHICHEVER WAY THEY WERE GOING. THAT’S HOW I GOT TO SEE SO MANY MOVIE STARS. ALL THE OLD ONES CAME THROUGH THERE. WE SAW GRETA GARBO, JOHN GILBERT, WALLACE BERRY, THAT GUY THAT PLAYS THE WEREWOLF SO MUCH, LON CHANEY. SEEN A LOT OF WOMEN, I CAN’T THINK OF THEIR NAMES. I’VE GOT A PAIR OF SCISSORS THAT BELONGED TO ONE OF THEM, SHE LEFT THEM.
ONE TIME, I DON’T REMEMBER JUST HOW COME, I WAS WORKING THE COUNTER AND WILL ROGERS CAME IN. HE WANTED A BOWL OF PRUNES, SO I GOT HIM A BOWL OF PRUNES. AND HE GOT THIS PRUNE UP ON A SPOON AND UP TO HIS MOUTH AND HE LOOKED AT IT AND PULLED IT BACK AND SAID, "I WONDER HOW MANY TIMES THAT HAS GOT THIS CLOSE, AND A LITTLE CLOSER MAYBE, AND THEN BANK IN THE DISH." HE HAD A WAY OF TALKING THAT ANYTHING HE SAID SOUNDED FUNNY. LINDBERG AND HIS WIFE, THEY CAME THROUGH THERE ON THEIR HONEYMOON. THEY STAYED THERE, ANNE MORROW, SHE WAS HIS WIFE. LADY VANDERBILT, MAE WEST, LOTS OF FAMOUS PEOPLE CAME THROUGH THERE. WE HAD A LITTLE ROOM WHERE THE COLORED PEOPLE HAD TO EAT, THEY COULDN’T EAT IN THE DININGROOM. ONE WOMAN, SHE WAS MARRIED TO A WHITE MAN, HE WAS SOME BIGSHOT IN THE MOVIE BUSINESS, AND SHE SAID, "I HAVEN’T GOT ANY BUSINESS SITTING BACK IN HERE WHERE PORTERS EAT." BUT SHE HAD TO EAT THERE. AND IT MADE ME KIND OF GLAD THAT SHE HAD TO EAT THERE, SHE ACTED SO BIGHEADED. ANNE AND I WOULD CLEAN THE PLACE THEY ATE AT THE AIRPORT. THAT WAS OUR JOB; WE GOT PAID EXTRA FOR IT. TWA! THEY PAID US, WE BOTH WORKED TO HELP OUR FAMILIES AND WHEN ANYTHING LIKE THAT CAME ALONG MR. GUNTHER WOULD GIVE THAT TO US. THEN WE WORKED OUT OF HARVEY’S AROUND OVER TOWN AT DIFFERENT PLACES WHEN THEY’D HAVE A WEDDING OR SOMETHING BIG IN THEIR HOMES, WE’D GO IN AND SERVE IT FOR THEM; WE GOT PAID EXTRA FOR THAT. ANNE AND I WERE GOING TO BE SHIPPED OUT TO THE GRAND CANYON ONE TIME, THEN ANOTHER TIME WE WERE GOING TO ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO. BUT HER DADDY GOT WORSE AND SHE COULDN’T GO; I DIDN’T WANT TO GO ON MY OWN SO I NEVER WENT. THAT WAS BEFORE WE HICHHIKED TO CALIFORNIA. WE JUST THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUN. HER HUSBAND WAS GOING TO TAKE A TRIP, GOING SOMEWHERE ON BUSINESS, AND SHE SAID, "THIS WILL GIVE RUBY AND ME A CHANCE TO TAKE A TRIP." MAC HAULED US OUT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF EL RENO [OKLAHOMA] THEN DUMPED US OUT. I FORGOT TO PACK MY BIBLE. I WAS WORKING DOWN HERE AT THIS HOME THEN, AND I HADN’T TOOK MY BIBLE AND I ALWAYS READ MY BIBLE EVERY DAY, IT WAS A HABIT. SO MAC SAID, "WELL YOU CAN TAKE MY BIBLE THIS SMALL NEW TESTAMENT." AND HE JUST THREW IT ON TOP OF MY CLOTHES IN MY SUITCASE. THIS TOWN, I FORGET THE NAME OF IT BUT IT IS JUST BEFORE YOU GO INTO THE DESERT BEFORE YOU GO IN TO CALIFORNIA, THEY SEARCH YOUR BAGGAGE. WE’D JUST LEFT OUR RIDE AND THEY’D GONE ON THROUGH. THEY WASN’T GOING TO CALIFORNIA. I SEEN THE POLICE WAS GOING THROUGH ALL THE SUITCASES, SO I WENT ON DOWN THERE. ANNE JUST WALKED ACROSS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET, AND THEY WENT AND GOT HER. SHE HELD THAT AGAINST ME FOR A LONG TIME. I SAID "WELL, I THOUGHT WE MIGHT AS WELL GET IT OVER WITH AND THEN WE’D GET SOMETHING TO EAT BEFORE WE TAKE OUT." THEY OPENED MY SUITCASE FIRST, I WAS AHEAD OF HER YOU SEE, AND THERE WAS THAT BIBLE RIGHT ON TOP. ONE OF THEM SAID, "THERE’S NO USE IN GOING THROUGH HER LUGGAGE. NO ONE WOULD BE SLIPPING SOMETHING THROUGH AND PACKING A BIBLE HITCHHIKING" SO HE JUST LOCKED MY CASE BACK UP AND SET IT DOWN THERE BESIDE ME AND OPENED HERS. THEY WENT THROUGH EVERY PIECE SHE HAD, UNDERWEAR, EVERYTHING. SHE WAS SO MAD SHE COULD HAVE SPIT. WE HAD LOT OF FUN. WE CARRIED OUR MONEY IN OUR SHOES. WE NEVER HAD TO THUMB A RIDE SOMEONE ALWAYS JUST STOPPED AND PICKED US UP. THEY WERE ALL NICE, EVERYONE THAT PICKED US UP WAS JUST AS NICE AS THEY COULD BE, GOING AND COMING, UNTIL ALONG IN TEXAS WE GOT IN A T-MODEL FORD WITH THESE TWO OLD MEN. THEY MUST HAVE BEEN SEVENTY. THEY GOT CUTE, YOU COULDN’T KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF OF YOU. WE TOLD THEM TO STOP AND WE GOT OUT OF THE CAR. THEY WERE THE ONLY ONES WE HAD ANY TROUBLE WITH, AND THEY WERE OLD MEN, AND US JUST TWO YOUNG GIRLS. WE GOT A RIDE WITH SOME PEOPLE; THEY WERE GOING TO VISIT SOME PEOPLE AND STAY THERE AWHILE THERE IN EL PASO. SO THAT NIGHT WE WENT TO A POLICEMAN - WHEN WE GOT IN TROUBLE OR ANYTHING WE ALWAYS WENT TO THE POLICE, WE WOULDN’T ASK STRANGERS. SO I SAID, "I’M GOING TO ASK THAT POLICEMAN WHERE THE YWCA IS." SO I ASKED HIM AND HE SAID, "WELL THERE’S A YW ALRIGHT BUT IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN. MY WIFE HAS A ROOM AND IF I DIDN’T TELL YOU THAT SHE HAD IT AND SHE FOUND [OUT] ABOUT IT SHE WOULDN’T FIX MY EGGS RIGHT FOR A MONTH." HE WAS A GREAT BIG OLD IRISH POLICEMAN. HE TOOK US OUT THERE AND INTRODUCED HER AND WE STAYED THERE. WE DIDN’T PAY VERY MUCH ABOUT $5.00 FOR BOTH OF US AND SHE HAD US COME IN AND EAT WITH THEM, JUST AS NICE AS COULD BE.
ONE LITTLE PLACE DIDN’T HAVE A YW AND WE GOT US A MOTEL AND STAYED THERE, SCARED TO DEATH, IT WAS SO NOISY, OUT THERE IN THE PLAINS, SEEMS LIKE WE PAID $6.00 FOR THE TWO OF US THAT NIGHT. THERE IN EL PASO WE GOT ON A SIGHTSEEING BUS, THAT’S THE ONLY TIME WE PAID ANYTHING ON THE TRIP OUT THERE. YOU REMEMBER THAT LOVESONG, "RAMONA?" WELL, WE WENT TO SEE WHERE RAMONA HAD LIVED, THERE WHERE THE SNAKE KILLED HIM. WE WENT TO THAT PLACE WHERE THE SEA COMES UP IN THE DESERT. THINGS LIKE THAT WAS SO INTERESTING TO US BECAUSE WE’D NEVER SEEN ANYTHING. THAT WAS MY FIRST TIME TO SEE THE OCEAN. WE WOULDN’T LET ANYONE THAT PICKED US UP PAY FOR OUR MEALS OR ANYTHING; THAT WAY THEY DIDN’T HAVE ANY EXCUSE FOR GETTING FRESH. WE ALWAYS PAID OUR OWN WAY. WE RODE WITH TWO BANKERS FROM WICHITA, KANSAS, AND THEY SAID, "WELL, YOU CAN PAY YOUR WAY BUT WE’RE GOING TO GET THE DRINKS." WELL, ANNE PICKED UP THE GLASS, IT WAS JUST A LITTLE GLASS, FANCY LOOKING GLASS, AND SHE JUST DRANK HERS RIGHT DOWN. I NEVER HAD DRUNK SPIRITS, I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BOOZE, SO I TRIED TO ACT LIKE HER. I GOT CHOKED, THE WAITRESS AND EVERYBODY WAS POUNDING ME ON THE BACK, IT WAS EMBARASSING. TRYING TO ACT LIKE SOMEBODY, I WAS LIKE THAT GIRL THAT DRANK HER FINGER BOWL. ANNE JUST DRANK HERS RIGHT DOWN! SHE LIKES HER BOOZE YET, TOO. ANNE’S UNCLE LIVED THERE IN RIVERSIDE [CALIFORNIA] AND WE STAYED WITH THEM AND WENT DOWN TO SAN DIEGO AND WATCHED THOSE BIG SHIPS COME IN. WE HAD A CHANCE TO GO OUT ON A PLEASURE BOAT, THEY HAD IT OUT THERE, THIS MAN THAT WE WAS RIDING WITH TOLD US, "YOU GIRLS COME ON AND I’LL JUST INTRODUCE [YOU] AS SOME FRIENDS OF MINE." OF COURSE WE DIDN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR, EVEN IF WE’D WANTED TO, YOU KNOW TO LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THEY DID, BUT HE INVITED US. WE SAW THE BIG SHIP, SETTING OUT IN THE BAY, COULD HEAR THE MUSIC FROM IT. JUST IMAGINE US TWO GREENHORNS WALKING ON THAT.
- HER FATHER CALLED HER RUBY.
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Sources - [S159] HATTIE VESTA TOWER-CAUDLE, PEARL CAUDLE-MOSER,EA.
- [S159] HATTIE VESTA TOWER-CAUDLE, PEARL CAUDLE-MOSER,EA.
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RUBY PEARL ("PEARL") CAUDLE
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