Slaughter Family Thanksgiving

(Geraldine Crockett Slaughter sent along this photo and asked that it be shared with the rest of our family.)

"This was taken on Thanksgiving day at the Slaughter's. My daughter Sarah and her husband Scot are on my immediate left. Anna is in the center of the picture in the pink top and her husband Bart is behind her. Their oldest son Mason is on her right and their daughter Olivia is in the far right of the picture. Their youngest son, Ross is in the red and white striped shirt. Our son Paul is on the back row on the right (behind Olivia) and his wife Kate is just in front of him holding their toddler, Ellie. Their other two children Maddie and JP are on either side of Dorothy."

The House

The first of the above photos was first on the family blog June 1. It prompted an indepth conversation among family members regarding the building of the house Grandma and Grandpa last lived in while in Bordersville, just west of Humble. There was speculation about where the materials came from (Mishael Norris, Jr. indicated in a conversation with me that some of the materials were salvaged from the old house that was being replaced on the same site.) I recall there was discussion as to the dimensions of the house, the depth of the porch and the arrangement of the rooms within the house. Photos taken inside the house were posted at a later time with references to more precise details of the interior of the house.

Shortly after the initial discussion, Mike Norris sent several more photos of the house under construction which were evidently taken at the same time. (Photos 2 and 3) The second photo looks down the west side of the house toward the back. It shows a tree, bare of leaves, which I take to be the chinaberry tree I remember in the back. Given the absence of leaves on the tree, I would suppose the house must have been at that stage of construction during the wintertime. It appears to have moss hanging on it. Do any of you remember the tree to be moss-laden?

The last is a photo what I take to be the west side of the house and taken from a vantage point that I imagine to be along about the back yard/pasture fence line. If any of you have a more precise memory, please let me know.

Note: The last photo is one of those I mentioned earlier that didn’t scan well. There appears to be something in the photo processing of some old photos that reflect the scanner light, especially in the dark areas, and results in a poor quality scan. I tried several flat-bed scanners and found they all yielded the same result.

It's Been A Busy Summer

Hoping that I have put to rest some of the personal and professional obligations that have kept me from posting to the family blog for the past two months, I look forward to again posting photographs and a few documents that family members have been kind enough to share. I hope you will all continue to share your memories and memorabilia with the family through this blog.

Happy “Almost Fall”!

Joy

The Name Game

Geraldine Crockett Slaughter posted the above photo to the Norris Family Yahoo Group as a bit of a challenge. I think some of the family members are fairly easy to identify. What do y'all think?

The sweet white-haired lady in the far left with the bonnet in her hand is Geraldine's Grandma Crockett.

Lewis Norris: Malaria

Lewis Norris (second from left), others: unknown

In talking to my dad last Saturday about the war years, he talked about Uncle Lewis having been in the Merchant Marines during the war. Daddy said Uncle Lewis had malaria but Daddy didn't know where or when he contracted it. He said Uncle Lewis would come home on leave periodically and would arrive at home well and robust but after a little while would begin to lose weight and would become sickly again before leaving. I asked if Uncle Lewis was taking any kind of medication when he was at home and Daddy said "Not as far as I was aware." It may have been that Uncle Lewis took medication while he was serving at his duty station but didn't have it to take when he was home.

Mother mentioned that many men and boys had malaria in the "old" days and that her brother Melvin had also had it. We discussed that since malaria carrying mosquitoes were more prevalent in those days and that most men and boys worked outside, it probably was pretty common. Daddy said the common medication for malaria in those days was called "Three Sixes". It may have been quinine as that was the common treatment back then.

A Visit With Dad... Again, More Information

When visiting with Dad last Saturday, I asked if Grandpa Norris had worked in the shipyards during the war. I knew Daddy did and Geraldine (I think) mentioned in our discussions of building the house that Grandpa did too. Daddy confirmed that Grandpa had worked in the shipyards as a "shipfitter's helper". When I asked what that job entailed, he said the shipfitter was the man who fitted the large sections of steel plate that the ship was made from in place and that Grandpa assisted in that.

Daddy was a welder and I recall hearing him talk about taking a sling-shot to work with him. He said he used the "plugs" that were cut out to make space for the rivets in the steel plates in the sling-shot to kill the rats that were ever-present. He would use bits of bread from his lunch to attract them within range. He said he was so successful that his supervisor made him stop because the stench of the dead rats had become too much.

Evidently there were two shipyards in the Houston area during the war. One was the "Houston Shipyard" which built Liberty ships... used to haul cargo. The other was "Brown Shipyard" which built navel vessels... destroyer escorts and landing vessels. Daddy worked in both of the shipyards at one time or another.

Every morning, two buses left Humble bound for the shipyards; one to each. Workers who didn't drive in carpooled private vehicles paid to ride the bus bound for his particular place of employment. Since tires and gasoline were rationed, and difficult to come by even if you had the coupons, many workers rode the buses. The shipyards were located on the ship channel along about Galena Park.

For more information on shipyards in Houston during the war, click on the URL below:
http://www.coltoncompany.com/consulting/Shipbuilding%20in%20Texas.pdf

More information from this interview in the next few days.

A Visit With Dad... More Information

When talking to Dad last Saturday, I asked him about where Grandma and Grandpa had lived before living in the house we all remember in Bordersville. I knew they lived in what is the Baytown area when he was born in 1925. Daddy said he believes Grandma and Grandpa moved the family from the Baytown area about 1929 or 1930 to a tent on the banks of the San Jacinto River in the area between the old road that went down to the low water bridge and what is the present road known as FM1960, where it crosses Lake Houston on McKay Bridge. He said living there in the tent is his earliest memory.

My mother noted at that point that in the "old days" lots of people in the Humble area lived in tents. (Those were the oil boom days following the big oil strike at Spindletop in the Beaumont area and Humble was said to be a town approaching 20,000 people, most working in the oil fields.) Daddy said there was no one else living nearby when they lived in the tent down by the river.

Mom and Dad and I discussed when Grandma and Grandpa moved from Bordersville to town. None of us could remember precisely. The only thing I can remember for sure is that they first lived in a small house just off Granberry Street, and I believe it faced the Methodist Church. Then they moved, at some point, to that larger house on the corner just behind the Penticostal Church. I know they were living in that house when I got married in August 1966 and they were living there when Grandpa died in October 1966. Does anyone know precisely when they moved to town?

More information gathered from this visit with Daddy in the next few days.

A Visit With Dad

Informational tidbits from a conversation with Mishael E. Norris, Jr.:

The house most of us remember was built about 1944 with lumber salvaged from the old house before it and new lumber bought where necessary. The old house had been on the Al Davis property when Grandma and Grandpa moved there courtesy of Mr. Davis' kindness and $1.00 per year lease. The "lease" was to keep Grandma and Grandpa from effecting a "homestead" on the property.

Al Davis lived somewhere around Refugio and contact with him probably came about because Mr. Davis was either a relative or friends with the Lee family, particularly Edna Jarrell. Daddy says he doesn't ever remember seeing Mr. Davis after they moved first moved into the original house and he doesn't recall any mention of Mr. Davis having ever been paid the $1.00 per year. To the best of his memory, Mr. Davis died about 1946.

Al Davis' property where Grandma and Grandpa lived consisted of 12-15 acres and there was no other house on the property. When I asked Daddy about the dimensions of the house, the size of the rooms and such, he first said the house was 30' x 30' without the porches but was later not really sure about the dimensions. He and Mother both stated the front porch was a "deep" porch and then stated about "10 feet deep".

Viewing the photo of Grandpa in the frame of the porch he was building, I'm not so certain it was that deep. I plan to look at that again and try to gauge it and the overall dimensions of the house in relation to the porch. Grandpa was not a big man and, given his size in relation to the porch he was building, the porch may not have been 10 feet deep. What do y'all think?

When I asked Daddy about the well we all remember to the west of the house, he said it was a shallow drilled well. He said it eventually went dry and he doesn't remember any effort to dig it out or drill it out to make it again useful. At that time, Grandma and Grandpa started getting water delivered into the two barrels we all remember in the front yard by the fence.

Daddy said the back fence was about 10 foot from the porch and that there was no separate fencing for a chicken yard out back around the china berry tree. He also said the outhouse was about 50 foot from the back gate and that there was a barn, not a shed, just a little further out and more toward the front of the house. That is where Grandma milked the cow named Suzy.

We talked about butchering hogs. I remember being very small and seeing a "white" hog hanging from a single-tree evidently after being "scraped". Daddy said the hogs were white only after the scraping. I also remember wondering what the barrels half buried in the ground at a slant were for and finally seeing boiling water poured into it for dipping the hogs to remove their hair. Daddy said I probably wouldn't have seen that at Grandma and Grandpa's house since they didn't do any of that after they built the "new" house about 1944. Prior to that time, they did butcher hogs out under the china berry tree.

More of this "interview" in the next few days.

Photo Recap - Corrected Date

It seems the first photo above was taken December 25, 1957, and was not taken at the time of the 50th anniversary celebration of Grandma and Grandpa. Jane Holcombe sent a batch of photos for me to scan for use in the family blog and a duplicate of the photo was included. On the back was the penciled date indicating the correct date. Also in that group of photos Jane sent were two photos (shown second and third) which were taken August 20, 1958, and were noted to be taken at their 50th anniversary celebration.

Jane sent the photos by Charles and he gave them to me at the Alumni Banquet on Saturday night. Geraldine, Charles, Dutchie, Molly and I were looking at the photos and Dutchie noted how that Christmas must have been a warm one since everyone was wearing fairly light clothing.

It appears to me the anniversary photos were taken inside the house in Bordersville and I would guess it to be in the kitchen. Can anyone verify that assumption?

(Especially for Cheryl... below is the key to the people in the photos above...)

Photo 1 - Standing behind Grandma and Grandpa, L-R: Earnestine Norris Holcombe, Boyd Norris, Velma Norris Shelby, Lewis Norris, Edna Norris Crockett, Mishael E. Norris, Jr.

Photo 2 - Grandpa and Grandma

Photo 3 - Earnestine Norris Holcombe, Mishael E. Norris, Jr., Velma Norris Shelby, Edna Norris Crockett, Boyd Norris, Lewis Norris

Grandma's & Grandpa's Letters

Shirley Shelby Purswell found several letters written by Grandma Norris and Grandpa Norris to Great-Grandpa Dunman. The year was 1908. She has scanned these letters and posted them in the "files" section of the Norris Family Yahoo group. They are available to all of us now.

The letters are simply written and are about everyday things. The fact they were written in 1908 and are this year 100 years old is remarkable as is their survival. Though we can't all have these very delicate family treasures in our hands, we can have the benefit of seeing them. I hope you all enjoy them.

Thanks again, Shirley for making them available to us.

(The URL to reach the Norris Family Yahoo group is below. If you haven't yet joined the group, this might be a good time to do so. If you have any problems with joining, let me know.)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norris_group/

Happy Father's Day

(L-R) Edward Vyoral, Mishael E. Norris, Jr., Robert Norris

I hope all the dads in our family enjoyed their day and as many family members as possible were able to see or at least talk to their dads on Sunday. I know we all remember our deceased fathers everyday, but as our pastor said in church yesterday morning, on Father's Day we remember them with a special prayer of thanksgiving for their influence in our lives.

Please send along any photos you might have of YOUR Father's Day celebrations so we can run them in the blog.

2008 Humble Alumni Banquet

(L-R) Geraldine Crockett Slaughter, Virginia Crockett Willis, (back) Charles Holcombe, Joy Norris Vyoral, Molly Crockett Ott

Saturday evening, June 14th was the 76th meeting and banquet of the Humble High School Alumni Association. Also in attendance along with our family members shown above, were spouses Chester Slaughter, who is also an Humble graduate, and Edward Vyoral.

The banquet is always the second Sunday in June. It would be wonderful if, next year, family members in a similar photo could be multiplied many times.

(Geraldine, Charles, Virginia and Molly: if you'll let me know your graduation years, I'll edit this post to show that also.)

Four Little Cousins ~ August 1948

The four guys in this photo are (L-R) Mike Norris, Kenneth Crockett, Tommie Shelby and Charles Holcombe. I don't think there would be any mistaking any one of them.

I'm struck by how many family photos must have been taken along the side of the old house. It's distinctive faux brick siding makes the house itself unmistakable. By my reckoning, I would place this to likely be the right side/west side of the house. Might more photos have been taken on that side of the house because the west side would have had more sun in the afternoons, and therefore, better for photos? Is there anything you all remember that might make it more correctly identifiable?

I seem to remember there being a hand pump to a well on that side, but my memory is admittedly flawed. What do you all think?

Another Easter Memory Circa 1949

This is a GREAT photo...Let's see if we know who these folks are...

L-R
1st Row:
Geraldine Crockett Slaughter
Mike Norris
Joy Norris Vyoral
Unidentified Boy 1
Unidentified Boy 2 (behind Boy 1)
Richard Shelby

2nd Row
Marie Crockett Benardino
Kenneth Crockett
Unidentified Child
Charles Holcombe

3rd Row
Lewis Norris
Baby Holcombe
Elige Holcombe
Peggy Crockett Barry Darington
Velma Norris Shelby
Mishael E. Norris, Jr.
Evelyn Jones Norris
Boyd Norris

If I've misidentified anyone or anyone knows the names of the unidentified family members, let me know.

Photo Recap-Easter Memories...

Okay folks.... best guess on kids in this photo with Grandma:

left to right...

Virginia "Dutchie" Crockett Willis (on Grandma's right)
Tommie Shelby (sitting, facing camera)
Grandma
Charles Holcombe (sitting, back to camera)
Marie Crockett Benardino (almost hidden, at Grandma's left shoulder)
Kenneth Crockett (sitting, almost hidden in striped shirt)
Geraldine Crockett Slaughter (standing)

You'll just have to wonder who all those legs belong to!

Grandma and Grandpa's House

The above photo shows Grandpa Norris standing in the porch frame of the house I remember as being in Bordersville. It appears that he is putting boards in the porch section of the house. Do I understand correctly that Grandpa built this house?

Someone mentioned that the house in the background of the “Arm and Arm” blog entry was on the same site before this house was built. If that was the case, did Grandpa build that older house too? Does anyone know when these houses were built?

If Grandpa built this house, did he and Grandma “own” the house? I’ve always been curious about that point since I seem to remember being told the property belonged to “Texaco”.

Buddy, Mishaelle and I drove out to the site of the old house a few years ago. It many have been as long ago as 1995 or 1996. I had difficulty remembering how to get down there since it had been so long. I was first looking for the gully that I remember crossing on a wooden bridge that was just before Auntie Crockett’s house. The gully wasn’t as I’d remembered it in that, after finding the old house itself, I realized the gully was only a very shallow ditch that we crossed without any bridge or culvert at all. We did find the house finally and it was occupied. For that reason, we didn’t get any closer than about 500 feet. I’ve always found it interesting that upon returning to some house or even an area you knew as a child, everything seems so much smaller.

I will be posting this information to the family group, hoping to get some answers there. If you haven’t already joined the Norris Family Yahoo group, please consider doing so. I have listed the URL below that will take you to the group. Please contact me if you have questions.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norris_group/

Humble, Texas Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtjTPVTlvVc

The above URL will take you to a video posted on YouTube. The video was made by Bobby Panzarella, youngest child of Dr. Panzarella who practiced in Humble for years. Bobby is Buddy Norris' age and, though he's an MD (specializing in Emergency Room medicine, I'm told) his passion appears to be film making. Some years ago, he showed a movie he'd made about Humble to the crowd gathered at the Alumni. I'm not sure if this video is the same video, but I thought I'd give you all the opportunity to see it.

Enjoy!

Richard Shelby

Shirley Shelby Purswell has sent along this photo of Richard Shelby, Darlene Shelby and their daughter, Terry.

I'd like to again invite you all to send along both old and new photos of your families. Contact me if you have any questions about doing so.

Photo Recap-Kids Photo

Kids in photo ID'd as:

Theresa Novak
Mary Louise (last name unknown, but she lived with Aunt Velma)
Jared Foster
Tonya Dunn Franklin

Adults in Background:

Jimmy Dunn
Mitch Norris
Jimmy Novak

Photo Recap-Miscellaneous Family Group

This ID on people in the photo is incomplete but the recap is as follows:

Geraldine Slaughter
Chester Slaughter
Virginia Willis
(Guy in yellow shirt, unknown)
David Willis
Lorie Willis (David's Wife)
Jerry Willis
Robert Foster
Bobby Benardino
Harper Shelby
(unknown dark haired girl)

Any ideas on the unknowns?

Photo Recap-The Uncle Lewis Photo

Okay... Recap time... the general consensus identifies the people in the photo above as follows: (if this isn't correct, let me know.)

Jennifer Shelby
Jean Shelby
Lewis Norris
Jimmy Novak (in the background)
(woman in pink shirt, unknown)
Evelyn Norris
Edna Crockett

Memorial Day 2008

"Vietnam Reflections" by Lee Teter

Granite Walls

In August of 1966, I saw my husband of two weeks board a plane at Houston's Hobby Airport. It was the first leg of a trip that in six weeks would put him in the rice fields of Vietnam. I knew he would be gone for a year. As the doors of the aircraft closed and it pulled away from the boarding ramp, I was near hysteria, but I never once thought he might be seriously injured or killed. I was very naive.

Edward’s duty, as a machine gun-toting infantryman, was dirty, dangerous, and lonely. It was lonely because he saved his sanity at a time when it wasn't an easy thing to do. He closed in on himself, not letting anyone inside his mental suit of armor. Seven months into his tour, he was injured jumping from a helicopter on the side of a hill, to stand guard over injured crewmembers of a downed helicopter. His injury ultimately saved his life. He found out later many in his company were killed a week after his own injury.

Edward finally got back to the U.S. after a month in Vietnam spent dragging himself around on a homemade crutch, then a month in a hospital in Japan in a body cast. He flew home in a burn patient evacuation plane, glad enough to endure the horror of that flight to be back in "the world". He spent the remainder of his obligation to our government in hospitals and recovering in an army unit at Fort Hood, Texas.

It took thirty years of waiting, piecing together bits of information he volunteered, and gently probing, to get a picture of the horror he endured in those seven wretched months. Since he suffers no flashbacks, or post-traumatic stress, it’s been possible to move on with our lives. We have put that awful time he spent in Vietnam behind us. He suffered, but he came home alive. More than 54,000 men didn’t.

In August 2000, we visited the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, DC. The trip to the capitol was a spur of the moment thing, a side trip from our late summer visit to Tennessee. While Edward stood at one of the catalog directories, looking for the name of a friend, a German tourist with a thick accent and a camera asked him if he was a veteran. The tourist then asked permission to photograph Edward as he examined the book. Edward agreed. I stood back while the photos were taken and thought to myself how lucky I was to be standing by watching my husband examine the book. But for the grace of God, I would have been looking for his name on the wall. The German tourist finished his photo shots, and quietly asked me "Is he okay?" I must have looked at him oddly, because he asked again, "Did he come through it okay?" I nodded “Yes,” with a big knot in my throat.

Today, in light of the U.S. war in Iraq and the horrors our young men and women have endured there, I have to wonder now if we will again memorialize soldiers killed in the line of duty in granite and bronze. Will we again memorialize our young Americans who have died in a foreign land with a memorial? Will there be bronze statuary of young American soldiers handing out food packages from a Hummer while another mans a machine gun atop the vehicle?

Granite and bronze awash in tears are poor substitutes for living, breathing human beings. Can’t we find another way?

Joy N. Vyoral
© October 12, 2003

Grandma Norris' REAL Name

Using the Norris Family Yahoo Group, family members have engaged in a discussion over the past several days of Grandma Norris' full name. Everyone seems to remember the same basic name... just some question of name order and spelling. If anyone else has some idea, it would be helpful if you'd let the rest of us know, especially if you have some sort of documentation.

Again, let me encourage you to join the Norris Family Yahoo Group if you haven't already. I have listed the URL below which will allow you to go directly from this blog entry to the family group site. All you need do to join in is to click on the "join group" button and the site will send an email notifying the moderator to approve your membership. (This step is necessary to keep the spammers and porn 'bots out of the group.)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norris_group/

Email me if you have any questions.

Mishael E. Norris, Jr. and Boyd O. Norris

This photo was evidently taken in 1939, based on the Fox copyright stamp on the back. Dad had his 14th birthday that year. I'm not sure when Uncle Boyd was born so I would judge him to be maybe 8-10 years old. I'm struck by how much Charles Holcombe looks like Uncle Boyd in this shot. This is certainly an interesting little window on the lives of two country boys.

Yahoo Family Group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/norris_group/

I would like to encourage those of you who haven't already done so to sign up for membership in the Norris Family Yahoo Group.

You can click on the URL at the top of this post to go to the group site. Then it is only necessary to click on the "join the group" icon and you're in.

I've posted a couple of questions this morning having to do with Grandma's and Grandpa's names. I hope some of the family knows the real answers.

Easter Memories.....

One of the pleasures of having articulate adult children is having a window on their childhood memories. Their memories are like time capsules. It has always amazed me though, to hear them talk about the things they remember as children. As the adult on scene when many of their childhood memories were made, I usually have a very different perspective on the events.

When Geraldine sent along the photo of Grandma Norris sorting Easter eggs after a hunt, a beloved childhood memory came flooding into my mind. I know, from other similar photographs in my parents’ photo albums, that this type of Easter scene must have occurred year after year. In my mind’s eye, there is a flash of Grandma with an apron filled with colorful eggs. Then, the flash of memory with Grandma on her knees sorting the eggs with various grandchildren crowded around. I wonder if, back then, Grandma had any idea that something that was probably just another holiday chore for her would fast forward 60 years to be a beloved memory for some of her brood.

The thread of family memory runs through us all. As much as the blood in our veins ties us together so do these memories.

(Can anyone identify the children with Grandma in the Easter egg photo>)

Arm In Arm

Geraldine sent along this photo of Grandma and Grandpa to share with us all. Geraldine says she doesn't recognize the house in the background. Does anyone else?

Charlotte's Family

Cheryl Smith Kilgore, David Smith and Bob Smith, children and husband of Charlotte Holcombe Smith.

Cheryl and David are the children of Charlotte Holcombe Smith, the grandchildren of Ernestine Norris Holcombe and the great-grandchildren of Mishael E. Norris, Sr. and Zola Dunman Norris.

Velma and Joe Shelby

Thanks to Shirley Shelby Purswell for sending along a photo of her parents. Shirley is the only daughter and oldest child of Velma Norris Shelby and Joe Shelby, and the grandchild of Mishael E. Norris, Sr. and Zola Dunman Norris.

Three Guys and A Doll

L-R: Charles Holcombe, Charlotte Holcombe Smith, Jack Norris, Mike Norris

This is my favorite of all the photos in the blog so far. What a great photo of the two oldest Holcombe siblings and the Norris brothers! Thanks to Geraldine for sending it along for us all to enjoy.

(Charles and Charlotte, only son and oldest daughter of Earnestine Norris Holcombe; Jack and Mike Norris, only children of Lewis Norris; all are grandchildren of Mishael E. Norris, Sr. and Zola Dunman Norris.)

Yahoo Family Group Site

There now exists in "Yahoo Groups" a group site for our family. Yahoo Groups hosts these sites for a variety of group possibilities... sports, hobbies, romance, education, etc. Happily, a Yahoo Group is the perfect way for our family members to carry on discussions on a variety of topics.

Very soon I will send everyone on my e-mail contact list an invitation to the site. In order to join and be able to post at will, you must ask to join. That is the only way to keep the spammers and bots from entering.

If you would like to find the site yourself and speed up the process, go to Yahoo Groups, search with "Mishael E. Norris" and ask to join.

If you have any questions, e-mail me direct.

50th Anniversary?

Shirley Shelby Purswell sent the photo of Grandma and Grandpa and all the "kids".

I remember when the photo was taken and I want to think it was taken on their 50th anniversary. I could definately be wrong about that. I can see Buddy in the right frame of the photo hanging on the stair rail and I'd judge him to be five or six. That would make the date along about 1958 or 1959. Does anyone have the information on when Grandma and Grandpa were married? I think it would be nice to try to date the photo.

Shirley, like Geraldine, has sent along some really great photos. I would like to encourage you all to do the same... not just the old photos but photos taken more recently... of your families, your family activities. Mother's Day is coming up and I am quite certain there will be photos taken of our various family get-togethers. Be sure to send them along and we'll ALL enjoy them.

And in that vein, Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Happy Birthday, Edward!

Happy Birthday to Edward Vyoral who is 63 today.

Loooooooooking goooood!

William Butler and Elizabeth Smith Norris

This is another photo sent by Geraldine Crockett Slaughter. It is of William Butler and Elizabeth Smith Norris, parents of Mishael E. Norris, Sr. I'm wondering if anyone has any actual memories of them or may recall stories of them.

Zola Dunman Norris at age 16

Another thank you to Geraldine Crockett Slaughter for sharing the photo of Grandma Norris as a young woman of 16.

As always is the case with photos appearing on the family blog, feel free to save the photos to your computer.

Mishael E. Norris, Sr. as a Young Man

Thanks again to Geraldine Crockett Slaughter for the electronic copy of an old photo of Grandpa Norris as a young man.

A reminder... you can right click on the photo and save it to your computer. It can then be printed if you'd care to have a hard copy of your own.

Grandma and Grandpa Norris

I'm sure many of the "grandchildren" have seen this photo of Grandma and Grandpa Norris. Geraldine Crockett Slaughter is sharing this electronic copy with us. According to Geraldine, this photo was taken about 1954.

The location is the old place out in Bordersville, specifically in the "living room" which was the room on the left, just off the front porch. To my (admittedly flawed) memory, the house faced north and the room was on the east side of the house. (Correct me if I'm wrong about that.) The wall behind Grandma and Grandpa in the photo was the inside wall and on the right as you came in the room off the porch.

The photos on the wall behind them are (L-R) Louise Dunman, Grandma's niece, a graduation photo of Earnestine Norris Holcombe, Mishael Norris, Jr. with a small photo of Joy Norris Vyoral inset into it.

Addison Kilgore

The photo above is of Addison, son of Cheryl Smith Kilgore. Addison is 13 (and 1/2, he would tell you) and is finishing up with the 8th grade at Butterfield Junior High. He is doing well with A's and 1 B (in Algebra). At 5' 8", he's looking forward to Freshman football next year.

Addison is the grandson of Charlotte Holcombe Smith and Bobbie Smith, and the great-grandson of Ernestine Norris Holcombe and Elige Holcombe. He is the great-great-grandson of Mishael E. Norris, Sr. and Zola Dunman Norris.

Four Kids and a Boat

This is another of those old photos that I have in my files that I'm not totally sure of all the characters. Left to right, I think the little blonde is Sheila Holcombe Dunn. Next, there is Robert "Buddy Norris. Of that I am certain. Then I believe there is Gayle Holcombe Walger. Then there is Joy Norris Vyoral. How about confirmation from some of the Holcombe family on the two I'm not sure of.

Also, the boat has "Pearlie B" written on the side. Who did that boat belong to, and, while we're at it, what is the location of the photo?

Judging by Buddy's age in the photo, I would guess this photo may have been taken in the drive way of the duplex on Avenue D in Humble where we lived when Buddy was born. The Holcombes lived in one side of the duplex, the north side, I believe, and we lived on the south side. It was beside the McCaa Lumber Company and I can see what I think I remember to be mimosa trees along the driveway next to the big lumber yard building.

(Joy Vyoral)

Evelyn Norris and Edna Bates

This photo, taken today, is of my mother, Evelyn Jones Norris, age 80, and her sister, Edna Jones Bates, age 83. They are the only surviving children of Robert C. Jones and Florence Thorne Jones. Mishaelle and I drove Mother to Center, Texas, today for a week-long visit with Aunt Edna.

(Joy Vyoral)

Haden and Halee

Last Saturday was prom day for Dayton High School, Dayton, Texas. Our oldest grandchild, Haden attended the prom with his girlfriend, Halee. The prom was held at the Aquarium near downtown in Houston. This is their second prom together.

Halee is a senior this year and will graduate May 31. Haden is finishing his first year at Lamar University, College of Engineering, in Beaumont, Texas.

Haden McKay Vyoral (age 19) is the only child of our daughter, Mishaelle Vyoral. He is the great-grandchild of Mishael and Evelyn Norris, and great-great-grandson of Mishael (Sr.) and Zola Norris.

Photo by Joy Norris Vyoral

Peggy Barry Darrington

Kathy Westcott shared this photo of her mom which was taken on Peggy's 70th birthday several years ago.

From the grass skirt, shell top and lei, it appears to have been quite a celebration!

Photo contributed by and used with the permission of Kathy Barry Westcott

Kathy Barry Westcott and Family

Kathy Barry Westcott sent along a series of photographs to share along with an update on her family.

Kathy and husband, David, have lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the past 24 years. They are parents of daughter Charla (32) who lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with her husband and three boys (CJ, age 12, Cole, age 10 and Carter, age 4). Son, Craig (30) lives in Portland, OR. Youngest daughter, Angie (21) is in her third year as an education major at Miami University in Oxford, OH. Youngest son, Daniel (19) will graduate this year but can stay in school until he’s 21.

For those of you, especially younger family members who might not be able to keep up with who’s who in our expanding family, Kathy is the middle child, after Sherry and before Dickey, of Peggy Crockett Barry and Tommy Barry. The Barry kids were raised in the Pasadena, Texas area. Peggy Crockett Barry (now Peggy Darrington) is the oldest daughter of Edna Norris Crockett and Vernon Crockett. Edna was Mishael and Zola Norris’ oldest child. Whew….. got that, y’all?

The two photos above are of Kathy and David and of Daniel and Angie.
Photos contributed by and used with the permission of Kathy Barry Westcott

Hello Family Members

If you've found your way here, you've done so by linking to this blog location via the email I sent you. It's possible to set up a "feed" so that any time there is new content added to this family blog, you will be automatically notified through your regular email system. For the time being, either save the email I sent you with the link that got you here or you can add this blog site as a "favorite".

Please be patient with me and I'll try to provide instructions on how to do these things. Otherwise, if you have kindergarden through junior high age grandchildren or great-grandchilden, one or two of them will probably be more than happy to help you out. Older than that, they tend to not have much time for the old folks until they get old enough to want you to baby-sit.

I have high hopes for this little family endeavor and I hope you all will help me out by reading regularly, contributing your family news and photos and letting me know what you'd like to see here. I will accept tidbits of your family news which I will write up and post or you can write a piece yourself and I will post it for you. (Editing will be done only in the area of minor spelling and punctuation for clarity's sake and for appropriate content in a family-oriented blog.)

Now for the real fun stuff.....

Regarding the three photos above: I have no idea who took them or how they came to be in my hands. I scanned them sometime back for my personal digital photo files but there are kids in them that, while I know they are family, I'm not sure just which ones they are. I would like for those of you who can supply names and approximate ages to email me with that information which I will share when it becomes available.

Feel free to copy any photos posted in this blog to your own computer. It's a great way to share photos both old and new.

When identifying people in photos, please refer to photo 1, photo 2, etc. and work from left to right.