United States Navy World War I Veteran
My parents were Nella Ruma Fowler Streeter Parker and Willie Lloyd (Bill) Parker. Mother was born to Alonzo Amos and Mary Emma Parker Fowler on Febreuary 15, 1894 around Arcadia, Nebraska. Dad was born to Thomas Nathaniel and Margaret McClelland Parker on January 1, 1894 in Clarksbille, Arkansas. They were married October 1, 1924. Mother and Father had already had two children , Wildon Lance (Billie), born June 20, 1925, and Mary Arnell, born March 19, 1927 before I was born which then made us a family of five. Besides Billie and Arnell, I had two younger brothers, Dalmer Clair was born August 25, 1931, and Donal Ralph was born October 6, 1933. All five of we children were born at home in Big Four. The seven of us made the Parker Family.
Mother's wedding to Dad was her second. Mother's family came from Arcadia, Nebraska. In Nebraska, she met Jay Streeter. Her family moved from Nebraska in 1914 to Crosby County, Texas and Jay Streeter followed shortly after. Before moving to Crosby County, Mother's parents had visited in 1913 and agreed to purchase 5,000 acres of ranch land west of Blanco Canyon from J.M. Basset. The deal was completed in early 1914 and Mr. Basset accepted the family farm in Nebraska as partial payment on the acreage in Big Four. Contrary to popular belief, Big Four existed before and did not receive its name from the Fowler family. Mother and Jay married in 1915, and upon being married, like her siblings; she received a portion of the family ranch land to live on. They built a two-room house on their land. In 1917, Jay died and Mother moved to the remaining part of the 5,000 acres that her parents lived on and eventually Uncle Ralph moved into the two-room house.
When the Fowlers first arrived in Crosby County, they needed a place to stay until construction on the family homea was completed. Due to this, Granpa bought a house on South Harrison in Crosbyton. That home was sold immediately after the homes for the family members had been finished. I am certain that my grandparents' house and barns were the first to be built and completed on the new land. Each married child of my grandparents received a portion of the land on which they could build a house and start a family. The Family Home, Grandma and Grandpa's, was on the west side of Blanco Canyon.
That house is the place where a lot of my childhood memories occurred. I can remember sitting on Grandpa's shoulders in order to ring the dinner bell that was attached to the coal shed on the east side of the house. I also remember that the entire Mary Parker owler family would gather on Sundays at the Family Home for supper. At that time, the grown-ups ate first and the kids ate what was left over.
©Crosby County News, August 19, 2004
Grandma and Grandpa had a big barn with a second story which we kids would climb the stairs to the upper room. This is where the hay was stored. We younger kids would explore around the outhouses and the large caes those turkeys were raised in. I believe that there were always a large number of turkeys around the place, as well as chickens. Flocks of young and old chickens would roam the area. I am also sure that the coyotes would have had a good time catching them; however, they were put up at night in the chicken houses until their release early the next day. Also there was a large concrete stock or storage tank along a side of the windmill. Of couse, there was a clothesline with the T-osts. There were three lines on it and was equipped to be easy for short people, like Mother and Grandma. The front of the Family Home was facing the west but everyone came in on the east side, through the dining room or the kitchen. I don't remember very much about the iving room, except that it wasn't used very much by us kids. There was a whole of a lot ofus by the time that Grandpa passed away in March 1932. The house was a story and a half. The upstairs bedroom was off of Grandma's bedroom. I can remember the organ that Mother got was in the living room, as well as a stereoscope that one could look through and see a lot of different pictures when the lever was moved on it.
The Parker family grew up during a time of prosperity and of despair. The Depression, along with a drought, made times rough. Dad and Mother had built a new house on the land she received when she married Streeter. This house had three bedrooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen with built in cabinets which included a flour bin, potato bin, breadboard plus a bathroom which also had a claw foot bathtub along with a commode and linen cabinets. Construction began on the house in 1928 and was completed before my birth in May 1929. Dr. Cagle delivered me at that house. In those days, women were supposed to stay in bed for at least a week to recover from childbirth. During Mother's recovery, Aunt Daisy or Edith Pryon, Dad's niece, would stay with us. Edith was fairly young when she stayed when I was born. She also stayed when Dalmer and Donal was born, to the best of my knowledge.
The Big Four School was a traditional schoolhouse. It was a two room building with a shingled roof. The shingles were on all four sides, meaning that it didn't have a gable on each end. This was used during play time to play Anti Over. To play, a ball would be thrown over the top and then someone was supposed to catch it when it rolled over and came down over the other side.
©Crosby County News, August 26, 2004
There were windows on the north side of the building in both rooms. These were very large windows and had to be pushed out in order to get air into the room when it was hot. However, when it was cold, the wind would whistle through the windows and make the rooms a lo cooler. There were large heaters in each of the rooms. The heaters had metal jackets around them. There was quite a lot of space around the heater which included a water reservoir. I suppose that this was the humidifier. The male teachers were responsible for cutting the wood; however, coal was used for the most part. It was purchased by the school board and stored in the coal shed on the west side of the school.
Along with the coal shed, there was a two room teacherage which an additional room was added during Mr. Horne's tenure there. The boys' outdoor toilet was on the northeast side of the school. On the west side of the school, there was a girls' outdoor toilet nor far from the windmill and well house that held the water tank where we got our drinking water. There was a trough with faucets to permit one to get a drink without having a glass or a cup. I think that this well had a very high level of flouroide, since Billie and Arnell hd dark stains on their teeth. I didn't drink very much water and my teeth were not stained as bad as theirs. Dalmer and Donal had more stains on their teeth than I, also.
Prior to the time that the new auditorium was built, there was a partition between the Big and Little Room that would rise up to make the two rooms become one large room. This was the Auditorium before the new one. I can recall that the plays were presented here, as well as the Christmas program and the End of School programs. I am ertain that the addition of the new auditorium was a relief to the teachers at Big Four.
During my first rade year, the Board of Trustees decided to build the Big Four Auditorium. It was a nice building; it had a curtain in front of the stage that could be rolled up or down, as the occasion demanded. There were also curtains that would drop part of the way down, and I imagine that these would account for the acoustics. We also had a backdrop to cover the rear wall and side panels. These would cover dressing rooms and it provided places for the actors and actresses to stand. The power for the Auditorium was provided by a Delco Electric generator that was housed in a building south of the Auditorium. I don't remember very many houses that had electric lights and most of them were generated by Wind Chargers. The men of the community would get the system up and running when we had PTA programs and school plays.
©Crosby County News, September 2, 2004
At Christmas, the Auditorium was where the community celebrated with a Santa Claus and gift giving. There were light fixtures in the main part of the Auditorium and stage lights for the stage. I believe that we had spot lights to light up the stage, also. In those days, most of my mother's family gave each other individual gifts. I recall that the gifts might be a bowl or plate, or a home made dish towels or pillow case that had been embroidered along with pillow cases/ A group of people would sack up fruit, nuts, and candy in bags for Santa Claus to pass out to the people of the community that gathered at the Auditorium. I can remember that most of us kids would get gifts from classmates whose names we had drawn. The gifts were usually a package of firecrackers or some crayons. Halloween was also celebrated at the Auditorium. We had Halloween parties where we would dress up in costumes, in which some were frightening to the younger children. This was all in good fun; we usually didn't have a radio to listen to, besides the large one that we had in our dining room. These celebrations were among some of the most memorable.
Parties would be thrown by different people throughout the community and residents of the community were invited. We would play ring games, hide-and-seek, and skip rope. Mother would throw a party for Arnell for her birthday. Mother would make a large kettle of hot chocolate and I would get to stir it before I would be served. For some reason, we didn't really have the fear of the depression as other people. Mother would can fruits and vegetables and we would raise most of our meat. We would have to buy only sugar and flour.
Billie started school at Big Four in the first grade when he was six years old, in September 1931. Arnell was able to start in September 1932, because of the lack of kids in the fist grade. I guess that the trustees decided that they needed more students to satisfy state regulations. I started Big Four after I turned six. School started on September 2, 1935, and I was in the first grade along with Genevieve Edler and others. Mrs. G.H. Gilbreath was our first grade teacher. James Fowler joined us; hehad started to Big Four in Low First, which discontinued when I started. My second grade was taught by Miss Nell McDaniel. Lavelle Justus joined our group by moving in west of the school to a farm. Lavelle ustus was the youngest of the Justus' family and the only girl child. Miss Helen Wood was our third grade teacher. Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Horne moved into the teacher age while I was stlll in the little room and he became the big room teacher. Mrs. Horne didn't teach before she became certififed. Mr. Horne taught in the Big Room.
©Crosby County News, Sept. 9, 2004
Max is married to a woman named Jessie. They now live in Spur and have a daughter who lives in Jayton. Also, Forrest Edler and his wife and children lived in Big Four. One of his daughters, Juanita married a Hargrove and the other, named Genevieve, started school at the same time I did. These people and my parents, Bill and Nella Fowler Parker, along with my brothers, sister and me lived in Big Four. We made up the majority of the Big Four Community. My grandparents had nine children. Grandpa, by his first wife, Amelia Durham Fowler, had three children: Ephraim, Liddy and Charley, Ephraim Alonzo Fowler was born August 20, 1872, and was married June 27, 1892. He lived in Arcadia, Nebraska, where his wife died April 8, 1906, leaving seven children, Orval, Myrtle, Lloyd A, Elgin, Alvin, Goldie, and Lettie. Lettie married Johnny Parker, October 12, 1922. Uncle Ephraim and his wife moved to Crosbyton about the same time as my grandparents. Lloyd A. bought a farm west of our house, and I believe that he sold part of the land after they had lived there awhile. I believe Quincy Hames bought some of the land that he had sold. He ended up with about eighty acres of land. Sunday's at Big Four are memorable. Sunday school was taught at the Big Four School. Before church, Dad would line us four boys up to cut our hair and Mother would comb Arnell's hair. We dressed in our best clothes and sometimes we would get to church by a wagon pulled by a team of horses. This was the depression and we did not have an automobile. There was a large baseball diamond by the school and on Sunday afternoons, the men of the community gathered to play hardball while their families watch. Before World War II began, Mr. and Mrs. Horne bought a new Wiss Fordor car. It was a lot smaller than the normal car of that day, and I think that the engine was something similar to the Wilis Jeep. The Jeep was very popular during the war; it was used as a vehicle for transportation of soldiers. Kerry Wayne and I would go to town or to other events when he had the use of the car. It was very small on the inside. Along with these memories are those of Valentine's Day. The valentines would be an all day sucker attached to the card. I can remember how good they were. Having as many children as my parents had, we seldom were fortunate enough to give this kind of valentine away. I still have some valentines that I received from different people in my class. In those times, there was a three lane road from Canyon to Amarillo. This caused a number of bad wrecks between Idalou and Lubbock. I can remember Charlie and Inez Parker. Their daughter, Lorene, married Raymond Boren. He had children from an earlier marriage. One time, Raymond and Lorene had been at my grandmother's house and Raymond, who was very athletic, would lift Uncle Arnal up so that he could chin himself from Raymond' arm because he was so strong.©Crosby County News, Sept. 19, 2004
Charley and Inez's house on the farm was rock-sided and there weren't very may houses in Big Four like theirs .I can remember going to Johnny Parker's farm when he was building their new home there in the 30s. This was such an unusual home. There seemed to be weather strip on these windows and the rooms were sheet rock, like our house was when it was built. The outside was wood siding, and he roof was wood shingles. This house was a very up to date home and it was very much admired by the residents of Big Four Community. I moved from my house after I got a job with O.W. Young at Wilson and Young Lumber Company in Spur. I lived with O.W. and his wife Velma, for several months. O.W. would drive from home on Highway 82 and we would go to the yard off of Burlington, his was across the street from Rickel's Chevrolet Agency. O.W. and Velma started building a new house in the new addition at Spur and while this was being done I would stay in the old office that had been converted to storage after the new office was built. I didn't stay at Big Four for several months, until I changed jobs in early 1948 and moved back to be with Mother and Dad. I worked for Cicero Smith Lumber Yard in Crosbyton, and I would drive in from Big Four each morning and do my job. This is excluding the time that I spent with Aunt Ellen Pyron at her home in Crosbyton on South Crosby Avenue. During the winter of 48-49, I had a very hard time getting to work unless I was staying with Aunt Ellen. It snowed a lot, then rained, and then froze. This made the ground very slick and icy. People would drive on the lakes that had frozen over. Walt Edward, who lived east of the road to Kalgary, would have to crawl a part of the way to work because it was so slick that he couldn't stand up. I moved to Jayton in 1950, and there I met Micky. We married in January 1952. We would go to Big Four Auditorium for special events before we married. In fact, our wedding shower was at the Big Four Auditorium in January 1592. We returned to Big Four to see Mother and Dad and attend the special programs at the Auditorium. The last time I can remember going to Big Four was for the Christmas tree program when our eldest son was less than a year old. This was close to the time that the school was closed. A large group of ladies of the community regularly used the Auditorium as their main quilting area. This occurred until the Auditorium was no longer in use by the public. Our eldest son probably doesn't remember this; he was very young. Micky and I had five children, as did my parents. Jarri Alon, Jr. (Billy), Gerry Thomas (Tom), Timothy Joe, Charlotte Jean, and Guy Patrick.©Crosby County News, Sept. 30, 2004
Tim married Teresa Lamarr. He lives in Missouri with his family. Adam, Kaylee, and Eric. All three of them were born Texas. Jean lives in Lubbock with her husband, Archie Clanton. Patrick lives in Hewitt with his wife, Melissa King Parker, and their son Beau. Now, Micky and I live in Crosbyton. All that is left of the Big Four School is the Old Auditorium, which is now in shambles. The majority of the Fowler farm homes have been sold to other property owners and the homes have been abandoned or torn down. All that remains of the Big Four School is the abandoned school auditorium and our memories of what was at one time a very active school district.
©Crosby County News, Oct. 7, 2004
Written by: Jarri Alon Parker
(Note: some names and dates omitted from original document to protect the privacy of the living.
Parker, Nella 2/15/1894 1/24/1973
Born: Arcadia, Nebr.
Father: A.A. FOWLER
Mother: Mary Emma PARKER
Source: Adams Funeral Home
Transcribed by Bettye Odom
Parker, Willie Lloyd "Bill" 1/1/1894 6/21/1976
Born: Clarksville, Ark. SS# 465-22-7288 WWI Vet. Navy
Father: Thomas N. PARKER
Mother: Mary McCLELLAN
Religion: Prim.Bapt.
Source: Adams Funeral Home
Transcribed by Bettye Odom
Mrs. Nella Parker, a former longtime resident of this community, was buried Thursday in Crosbyton Cemetery following 3 p.m. services in First United Methodist Church. The Rev. Lee Crouch of Petersburg officiated, assisted by the Rev. Henry Salley, local Methodist pastor.
King Funeral Home directed arrangements.
Mrs. Parker, 78, was claimed by death about 10:45 p.m. last Wednesday in Pawhuska, Okla., Hospital. She had resided for the past three years in Barnsdall, Okla., with a daughter, Mrs. J.T. Easter.
Mr. Parker moved to the Big Four Community in 1914 and resided there until 1957 when the family moved to Muleshoe. They went to Oklahoma bout two years later.
The deceased was born in Arcadia, Neb.
Survivors include her husband, W.L. Parker; a daughter, Mrs. J.T. Easter of Barnsdall, Okla.; three sons, Dalmer Parker of Lubbock, Jarri Parker of Jayton and Donal Parker of Crosbyton; two brothers, Arnal and Glenford Fowler, both of Crosbyton; 16 grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren.
©Crosbyton Review, February 1, 1973
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
transcribed by Linda Fox Hughes
Willie Lloyd "Bill" Parker, who first moved to the Crosbyton community in 1919, succumbed at 9:22 a.m. Monday in Crosbyton Care Center. Mr. Parker, 82, had been in failing health for some time.
Memorial rites were conducted at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Primitive Baptist Church in Crosbyton. Elder Luel Handley of Cross Plains officiated.
King Funeral Home directed burial in Crosbyton Cemetery.
Mr. Parker was born January 1, 1894, in Clarksville, Arkansas. He and the former Nella Fowler were married in Crosbyton. She died Jan. 24, 1973.
The deceased made his home in this community from 1919 until 1957 when he moved to Muleshoe. He also resided in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, before returning to Crosbyton in 1973.
Retired farmer, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Mr. Parker was a member of the Primitive Baptist Church and the American Legion.
He is survived by three sons, Dalmer C. Parker of Lubbock, Jarri Parker of Jayton, and Donal Parker of Crosbyton; one daughter, Mrs. J.T. Easter of Barnsdall, Okla.; 23 grandchildren; and 13 great grandchildren.
©Lubbock Avalanche Journal, June 22, 1976
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