Chelsey and Cleopatra Stuart Dozier
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Chesley and Cleopatra Dozier
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Biography

War clouds were becoming darker and darker at the beginning of 1942 when the Chesley Dozier family decided to cross the Dickens County line to Ralls. A. J. or "Papa" Dozier had left Afton several months prior to this time and he was living in Ralls and working at Starch Blacksmith and Welding Shop. Papa Dozier had followed this line of work since he was a young man and had apprenticed his three sons, Clifford, Fred and Chesley, in this work. Chesley secured work in the shop with his father and worked there until 1945, when he decided to purchase a combine and truck and follow the wheat and maize harvests.

Our move to Ralls was complete - "lock, stock and barrel" for we moved a two room house which we had built two years before. When I say we built, that is a literal statement. With a hand saw, I fashioned each piece of lumber according to plans which Chesley had drawn for the house. The location for the house in Ralls was a 50 foot lot at the corner of 5th and Elm which was purchased from Otho Reed for the price of $25. We resided at this location 19 years.

Our home was blessed with one child, Lanelle, who was educated in Ralls; then married Gerald Baisley here in 1957.

Lanelle enjoyed school and was always eager to participate in extra-curricular activities. She was a member of Jackrabbit Band six years and was salutatorian of her graduating class in 1955.

As a family we have always been glad we chose to locate in Ralls. Chesley had lived at various locations prior to Afton and he always detested making a move and encountering strangers. I, Cleoptra, am the eldest child of a Baptist minister and wife, George and Laura Stuart, and our moves were constant, every year or, at the longest, two years, in the same location. It has been the crowning pleasure of my life to live in Ralls these 35 years and recall the first families I knew here and trace their descendants to the present.

When my father retired from the ministry, my parents moved to Lorenzo in 1950 and lived there until 1957 when my father died. My mother then moved to Lubbock and is still active at age 96.

Chesley continued to cut and haul grain; also he hauled cotton and cotton seed until his health failed in 1960. He passed away in 1961 and is buried at Ralls.

My years in Ralls are truly cherished ones when I recall only a few of the pleasant incidents connected with my 23 years of teaching in Crosby County. These years took me from second grade on into high school and the last 12 years I was teacher librarian in Ralls junior and senior high school.

During these years my extra-curricular activity was sponsor of the annual. It was indeed a joy to work with the staff from year to year and one staff I accused of not being capable of counting the pages correctly. To appease me, they inserted a page of snapshots near the front of the book, but when the book was printed this page contained a picture and dedication to me.

These were quite fruitful years for me and I trust that they were beneficial years for the students.

Evidently I inspired my daughter to teach for she and her husband are teaching in a government school on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Bloomfiled, New Mexico. They have two daughters, Kathi and Kim, in school and Kristi who is pre-school age. All of these girls enjoy Ralls as much as my family always has, for they spend a greater part of each summer here.

As a family our chief activity was always centered around church. We were all members of First Baptist Church and at various times participated in posts of leadership. (by Cleoptra Dozier)

Source: "Crosby County History Book 1876-1977", Crosby County Historical Commission, ©1977
Transcribed by Cheryl McDonald

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Obituary

Services for Cleoptra Dozier, 89, of Farmington, N.M., and formerly of Ralls were held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, November 18, 1997, in the Ralls First Baptist Church with the Rev. Jim Morrow, pastor, officiating.

Burial followed in the Ralls Cemetery under direction of Adams Funeral Home of Ralls.

Mrs. Dozier died at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 14, 1997, in Life Care Center of Farmington, NM following an illness.

She was born Feb. 7, 1908, in Mount Pleasant. She married Chesley Dozier on May 29, 1937, in Dickens County. He preceded her in death on Aug. 23, 1961. She was a member of Ralls First Baptist Church and the TEL Sunday School Class. She moved to Ralls from Afton in 1941.

She taught school from 1926 to 1966 in Canadian, Dalhart, Patton Springs, Crosbyton and Ralls.

Survivors include a daughter, Lanelle Baisley of Bloomfield, N.M.; a sister, Judy Parsons of Lubbock; three grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.

The Crosby County News & Chronicle, Friday, Nov. 21, 1997




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