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Gleda Inez GravesGleda was born October 4, 1916, in Jack County, near Jacksboro, Texas. She was the third child of Olen and Nettie Graves. She had 3 sisters, and 2 brothers. Earlene Graves Smith, Thurman Graves, Hazel Graves, Lee Roy (Buster) Graves, and Bobbie Bernice Graves Collier.
Gleda was reared in a community near Jacksboro, Texas called Post Oak, where she attended school and church.
On March 14, 1936, she married Olen Franklin Miller from Newport, Texas, a small town near Bowie, Texas. They lived in the Jacksboro area for about a year when their first child, a daughter, Joyce Faye was born.
Gleda moved with her husband and infant daughter in 1937, to Kilgore, Texas, where their second daughter, Bettye Jean was born in 1938.
The family moved to Crosbyton early in 1939.
In Crosbyton she was a stay at home mother, rearing her daughters, and supporting her husband in his business endeavors. She supported her husband in his wheat harvest business. Each summer when wheat harvest time arrived, and school was dismissed for the summer, she and her husband along with the wheat harvest crew and her daughters, were off to the Panhandle of Texas, Kansas, and Colorado to harvest wheat. Each day, Gleda helped prepare meals for about 10-12 men, serving lunch in the field where the combines and trucks were working. During this time life was hard, as the only kitchen she had was in a small travel trailer, airconditioning was when you opened the window of the trailer, or went outside to cool off. The family would arrive back in Crosbyton just in time for Joyce and Bettye to start back to school in the fall.
In 1950 Gleda began her work as a nurse´s aide in the Crosbyton Hospital. She began her schooling as a licensed Vocational Nurse, soon after starting to work at the hospital. She continued working and going to school, and taking care of her family, all at the same time. She completed her schooling and became a Licensed Vocational Nurse around 1952.
On Dec. 1952, Olen and Gleda became parents for the third time, when a daughter, Deborah Anne, was born.
In 1953, Gleda began employment for Dr. Dale R. Rhoades, as his office nurse, a job she continued with for twenty nine years, until her retirement in 1982. At the time of her retirement, she had been on staff with the Crosbyton Clinic Hospital for 32 years, having worked as a floor nurse and then as Dr. Rhoades´ office nurse. During the many years Gleda worked at the hospital she had many exciting experiences as well as experiencing tragedies which occured to the residents of this area; births, deaths, horrible accidents. She was a real champ through it all, and many of these folks remembered her most for her love and compassion in their time of great need. She was always ready to help in whatever way she could to help relieve their suffering, if it was within her power. She had a smile of encouragement to all who came through the Clinic at the Crosbyton Hospital.
She was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Crosbyton, where she attended Sunday School and worshop services from 1939-1987.
She retired from nursing, in 1982 due to health problems, and she died March 13, 1987, at the age of 70.
She was survived by her husband of 51 years; 3 daughters, Joyce Hargrove, Bettye Odom, and Deborah Henegar. 6 grandchildren, Mark and Bruce Odom, Shawn Hargrove, L´Rae Watson, Jason and Cody Swift, and one great-granddaughter, Meredith Odom.
written by Joyce Hargrove, in August, 1999, submitted by Bettye Odom
Olen Franklin MillerOlen was born on Oct. 16, 1917, in Newport, Texas. His parents were Z.Z. and Nelia Miller. They owned a farm there. He was the youngest of 7 brothers and 1 sister. He attended Newport schools and also finished High school at Cotton Center, Texas.
He helped his family on the farm until he met and married Gleda Graves in March 1936. He and Gleda moved to Kilgore, Texas early in 1937, after their first child, a daughter, Joyce Faye, was born. Olen worked in the oil fields around Kilgore during the era of the oil boom. Their second child, another daughter, Bettye Jean, was born there on Oct. 15, 1938. In early 1939, the family moved to Crosbyton, Texas wherre Olen and his brother, Aubrey, (Pistol) operated a trucking partnership.
Olen started working on building a house for his family on Farmer Street in Crosbyton. While he worked on the house, he was also trying to truck and also the family went on wheat harvest every summer as soon as school was dismissed for the summer. They would be gone all summer, and return for the fall school opening. Olen and Gleda became the parents of a third child, in Dec. 1952, when Deborah Anne was born.
Olen worked on his home as much as he could. He started with a 2 room bunkhouse which he had purchased and moved to town. He eventually built it into a 4 room house, with a bathroom, and a garage. This same house is where his daughter, Bettye and her husband live today. Olen kept building on to the house until his death, when the house had enlarged to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen and den combination, living room, utility room, and a full sized basement.
Through the years Olen owned and opeated a Conoco station on Highway 82, Case Equipment Co., a Hudson automobile dealership. He farmed in the Cotton Center area from 1960-1966. He went to work for Crosby County and worked for them until his retirement in 1986.
Olen was very devoted to his church. He became a Christian late in his life (At the age of 53). He was a member of the Adult Men´s Sunday School Class, and was a deacon in the First Baptist Church in Crosbyton where he was ordained. He was active in the Lay Witness Program, and made a trip to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1972, for a special meeting. He and Gleda were very active in their church. Gleda had been a member for many years. She always attended church and took her little girls.
Olen and Gleda celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on March 14, 1986, in Crosbyton. Gleda died the following year, on March 13, 1987, the day before their 51st wedding anniversary. Olen died on August 5, 1987.
Written and submitted by Bettye Odom
Miller, Gleda Inez 10/4/1916 3/13/1987
Born: Jacksboro,Tx. SS# 466-48-7899-A
Death: Meth.Hosp.Lubbock
Father: Olen W. Graves
Mother: Nettie Jane Hillis
Religion: Baptist
Nurse at Crosbyton Clinic Hospital for over 30 years.
Moved to this area in 1939.
Source: Adams Funeral Home
Transcribed by Bettye Odom
Miller, Olen Franklin 10/16/1917 8/5/1987
Born: Newport,Tx. SS# 452-16-9695-A Death: Home
Father: Z.Z.Miller
Mother: Eloma Nelia Dickson
Religion: Bapt.
Moved to Crosbyton in 1939.
Source: Adams Funeral Home
Transcribed by Bettye Odom
Gleda MillerServices for Gleda I. Miller, 70, of Crosbyton were held at 2 p.m. Monday March 16, 1987 in First Baptist Church with the Rev. Lester Griffin, pastor, and Rev. Bruce Keller, pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Plainview, officiating.
Burial was in Crosbyton Cemetery under the direction of Adams Funeral Home.
Mrs. Miller died at 4:40 p.m. Friday, March 13, 1987 in Methodist Hospital following a lengthy illness.
She was born October 4, 1916 in Jacksboro, Texas and married Olen Miller March 14, 1936 in Jacksboro. She moved to Crosbyton in 1939 from Kilgore. She was a member of the Crosbyton First Baptist Church where she was a member of the Ruth Sunday School Class. She worked at the Crosbyton Clinic Hospital for 2 years then for Dr. Dale Rhoades for the next 30 years for a total of 32 years, as a nurse from 1950 till 1982.
Survivors include: Husband: Olen Miller of Crosbyton; 3 daughters: Mrs. Joe (Joyce) Hargrove and Mrs. Bill (Bettye) Odom of Crosbyton and Mrs. James (Debbie) Swift of Plainview; 2 brothers: Thurman Graves of Lone Grove, Oklahoma and L. R. Graves of Ardmore, Oklahoma; 3 sisters: Earlene Smith and Hazel Graves of Bowie and Bobbie Collier of Nacona; 6 grandchildren: Mark Odom, Bruce Odom, Shawn Hargrove, L´Rae Hargrove Watson, Jason Swift, Cody Swift; 1 great-grandchild: Meredith Odom; 2 step-grandchildren: Kim Harrison and Kende Swift.
Pall Bearers: Jerry Gentry, Brice Allen, Jim Reynolds, George Stanford, Rudolph McCurdy, Joe Farris.
Crosby County News & Crosbyton Review, March 19, 1987
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial Museum
Olen MillerCROSBYTON (Special) - Services for Olen Miller, 69, of Crosbyton are pending with Adams Funeral Home.
He was found dead at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in his home. Justice of the Peace Jim S. Travis ruled natural causes in the death
Miller was born in Newport and moved to Crosbyton in 1939 from Kilgore. He married Gleda Graves on March 14, 1936, in Jacksboro. She died March 13. He worked for the Crosbyton school system, and worked for Crosby County for 20 years. He was a deacon at First Baptist Church where he attended the Senior Adult Men´s Sunday School class.
Survivors include three daughters, Joyce Hargrove and Bettye Odom, both of Crosbyton and Debbie Swift of Plainview; a brother, W. A. "Pistol" of Lubbock; six grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren; and a great grandchild.
Lubbock Avalanche Journal, August 6, 1987
Record provided by Crosby County Pioneer Memorial MuseumPictures on this site courtesy of Bettye Odom
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Crosby County TXGenWeb Project
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