Dr. W.C. Gruben and Stella Matthews Gruben
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Dr. W.C. and Stella Gruben
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Biography

W.C. Gruben, came to Spur on Thanksgiving day, 1909. He is a graduate of St. Louis School of Watchmaking and Optical School.

Dr. Gruben recalls that he stayed in the back room of one of the downtown dry goods stores and it was so cold that every store in the town sold out of blankets and be nearly froze. He had his office in the Lambden Dry Goods Company and started his watch repair shop. He was there about one year, and then moved to the Old Spur Drug Store to make his headquarters. In 1916 he built a business house on Burlington and has been there ever since.

In 1916 he married Stella Matthews who was teaching school at Croton at that time. She also taught in Spur in 1918 and 1919. Their children are W.C. (Bill) Gruben, Jr., Matthew Gruben, and Emma Pearl Gruben.

Source: History of Dickens County; Ranches and Rolling Plains, Fred Arrington, ©1971

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Additional Documentation

GRUBEN, William Charles Sr.
Born: Jan 18, 1886 Washington on Brazos, Washington Co., TX
Died: May 21, 1980 Brownwood, Brown Co., TX
Father: Klas GRUBEN
Mother: Anne WOLF
Occupation: Jeweler - Optician

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Obituary

Funeral services for Mrs. W.C. Gruben, 64, were held Tuesday afternoon at 2:30 in the First Baptist Church, Rev. Riley Fugit officiating.

Mrs. Gruben died Sunday following a lengthy illness. Born in Avocado, Texas, 1896, Mrs. Gruben, the former Stella Matthews, came to Dickens County in 1915 as a school teacher at Croton. She married Mr. Gruben in 1916 and continued to teach school in Spur in 1918 and 1919.

She was a member of the First Baptist Church and had been associated with her husband in their jewelry store business for 44 years. Gruben Jewelry is one of the few businesses in Spur that has been under the same management since the town was founded. The firm celebrated its 50th anniversary last year during Spur´s Golden Jubilee.

Survivors include her husband, two sons, and one daughter: William C. Gruben, Jr. Richardson, Matthews Gruben, Farmers Branch, Texas and Mrs. James Allbritton, Seymour. Three sisters and two brothers also survive. They include: Mrs. Rena Woodson, Girard, Miss Pearle Matthews, Dallas, Mrs. T.C. Ensey, Spur; Chester Matthews, Austin and R.W. Matthews, Lubbock, former superintendent of schools there.

Interment was in Spur cemetery with Campbell´s Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

©The Texas Spur, November 24, 1960

William C. Gruben was buried in Spur on May 22. He died in a Brownwood Nursing home at the age of 94. He is survived by his wife, Dora, of Brownwood; one son, Matthews Gruben, of Dallas, one daughter, Emma Pearl Allbritton, Seymour; two sisters, Sena Overton, Weatherford; and Letty Brumfield of Odessa; one brother, Henry Gruben, Spur; nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. He is also survived by two step-sons and one step daughter.

He was preceded in death by one son, Bill Gruben, Dallas. Mr. Gruben was one of the early settlers of Spur where he was an optometrist, watch maker and owner of Gruben Jewelry until he retired in 1976. As a businessman and he was involved in may civic activities. He served several years on the Spur School Board and was active in the First Baptist Church of Spur.

©The Texas Spur, June 12, 1980
From the records of Lillian Grace Nay, Spur Museum, transcribed by B. Hodges, August 2004

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