I was born Mary Alvistia Butler (better known as Sis) to the late Clarence and Eliza Butler in Erato County on Greens Creek between Dublin and Stephenville, Texas on May 17, 1921.My daddy was working at a gas plant in Desmon, Texas. I have one brother, William, who is 4 years older than I. Daddy bought a tent and moved to it when I was 2 weeks old. My mother cooked meals and washed on a rub board, carrying water from a well in buckets for some of the oil field workers.
In the fall of 1924 they had saved enough money to buy some mules and plow tools. They came to Dickens County and picked cotton for Dad´s Uncle Dock Elliott who lived close to Afton, Texas. My daddy rented 160 acres from Mr. John Benson who lived at Croton on the Ham place. Later Joe Ham bought the place back for a keepsake. We moved from a 3 room house into the big 8 rooms and upstairs. It was the biggest house out in Croton. Mr. Ham ordered it from Sears Roebuck and hauled it from the nearest railroad at Ouanah, Texas by teams. My daddy worked this section of land for Joe Ham on the thirds and fourths for 21 years, renting every year in August. Mrs. Erie Foster was a sister to Joe Ham and lived at Spur, Texas. She came out often. She had a daughter, Grace, and it was a thrill to play with her. Back then we only went to Spur once a year to buy supplies and to church on Sundays. The rest of the time we stayed home and worked. We had no TV or radio. We got a radio in the 30´s when daddy bought a wind charger with a big battery. We had electric lights in the kitchen and living room, and the first radio in Croton. On Saturday nights all the kinfolk came and most of them stayed all night to listen to Nashville and hear Minnie Pearl. I started to Croton school in 1927. We walked 2 1/2 miles - everybody walked. It was fun playing tag and a few fusses and fights with the boys.
In 1937 I started going with T.J. Conaway, My daddy hired him to cut our feed with a row binder, I helped daddy shock the feed behind him. We hand-headed maize and picked our own cotton which daddy had to haul by team to Spur to get it ginned.
T.J. and I married December 23, 1939. He was the son of the late T. L. and Maude Conaway who lived at Spur at that time. We moved to Wichita on the Haile place which we farmed. Our first son was Donald Joe Conaway, our second son Thomas Larry, our third son, Lonis Howard. In 1956 T.J. bought a water truck and went to Arlington, Texas to work on the toll road. That August the boys and I moved down to Arlngton and stayed until January 1961. We moved back to farm T.J.´s daddy´s place as T.L. wanted to retire.
We moved to Dickens in 1979. T.J. retired from farming in 1982. We have 5 grandsons and one granddaughter, 2 great granddaughters and one great grandson.
Source: Dickens County History...its Land and People © Dickens Historical Commission; Printer: Craftsman Inc. Lubbock, Texas 1986
Services for Thomas James Conaway, 74, were at 3 p.m. Sunday, July 12 in the Dickens Baptist Church. Rev. Mike Frieze and Rev. Mike Adcock, officiated.Burial was in Dickens Cemetery under direction of Campbell Funeral Home, Spur.
Mr. Conaway died about 9:27 a.m. in St. Mary of the Plains Hosital, Lubbock, on July 9, following a lengthy illness.
He was born in Dickens County and made his home here most of his life. He was married on December 23, 1939 in Motley County. He was a retired farmer and a Baptist.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Conaway, Dickens; three sons, Donald Joe Conaway of Golden, Missouri and Thomas Larry Conaway and Lanis Harold Conaway, both of Arlington; two brothers, Tommy Conaway, Jordon, Texas; Burrell Conaway, Abernathy; two sisters, Ernestine Rogers, Lovington, N.M. and Billie McClain, Hillsboro; six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Pallbearers included Calvin Brendle, Leland Brendle, Burton Brendle, Ben Kautz, Milford Byrd and Tim Walker.
©The Texas Spur, July 16, 1992
DICKENS (Special) Services for Mary A. "Sis" Conaway, 78, of Dickens will be 2 p.m. Tuesday at Baptist Church with the Rev. John Truitt officiating. Burial will be in Dickens Cemetery under direction of Campbell Funeral Home of Spur.She died Saturday, March 25, 2000, at the Crosbyton hospital. She was born May 17, 1921, in Erath County.
She married Thomas James Conaway on Dec. 23, 1939, in White Flat. He died July 9, 1992.She was a homemaker and a Baptist. She lived in Dickens County most of her life. She was a member of the Senior Citizens of North Dickens County and the Home Demonstration Club.
Survivors include three sons, Donald Joe of Golden, Mo., and Thomas Larry and Lanis Harold, both of Arlington; a brother, William Butler of Haskell; six grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
©Lubbock Avalanche Journal, March 27, 2000
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