By 1947 we persuaded her to sell the Herald and her home. She did so very reluctantly. She moved to Wichita Falls, where Emet and I knew of a triplex she could buy to live in and have some income. In Wichita Falls she missed the life of the small town, missed contact with business associates, her church, and her friends - all the Paint Rock people in fact.
How true this quote is by Mrs. LeFevre of Eden, Texas from her History of Concho County: “The editor of a small weekly newspaper has a box seat in life. He or she records the happiness, humor, tragedy, and other emotions that make up the life of citizens and thereby makes history, week by week."
Who wouldn't feel out of place in a city even as large as Wichita Falls, Texas after such an important occupation in Paint Rock, Texas?
In Wichita Falls our staunch mother settled down to start life anew! She moved everything "lock, stock, and barrel." Many things were stored in her garage. The apartment wouldn't hold everything. The Broyles family library to the last book was replaced in the bookcases which filled one wall of the apartment living room. Those books were the essence of unity to her. We children too enjoyed the familiar sight of those book-filled cases each time we entered her apartment.
Broyles and Jacelyn Hall have those bookcases filled with books in their study room of their home at 4515 Dunbarton, Wichita Falls, Texas. Billy John and Betsy Hall have their share of the Broyles Library on several shelves in their game room in their home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mama was a flower lover. She brought her houseplants with her. She soon had beds of blooming flowers in both the front and back yards. She attended a prayer group in her block as long as it lasted. She made friends in her area. She transferred her church membership to the First United Methodist Church here in Wichita Falls. She tried attending both Church and Sunday School but she was sensitive to cold and drafts especially on her feet and neck.
Nile, Evelyn, and Linda came to visit her here. Ovella and Dodson came, and Llewellyn came. One evening Dodson was staying with Mama, the others in our home. A bad storm was approaching. Emet went after them and it was nice to have them all bedded down under the same roof in our home, then on Beverly Drive.
As time passed our mother was hospitalized several times here in Wichita Falls, Texas. She entered a hospital here on November 13, 1957. She crossed beyond the mystic veil November 22, 1957 after being in intensive care for nine days with a stroke - thirty years to the month since we laid away our father. Her children gathered in our home here in Wichita Falls. The entourage to Paint Rock included her stepson, John S. Broyles and wife, Catherine, of Shreveport, Louisiana; Dodson Broyles and wife, Ovella, of Houston; Llewellyn Brown of Modesto, California; Nile Broyles of Corpus Christi; grandsons Broyles Hall and wife of Wichita Falls, Texas; and Billy John Hall and wife of Dallas, Texas.
In Paint Rock longstanding friends of church, Eastern Star, and the community rallied to pay their last respects and expressions of love for Mrs. Bertie D. Broyles. They had collectively brought in delicious foods to serve in the Paint Rock Community Hall. The roomy and attractive hall also served as a place to relax, commune, and visit until time for the funeral services which were held in the First United Methodist Church of Paint Rock. Reverend J. Frank Blackburn of Wichita Falls, assisted by Pastor Homer Weimer, officiated.
My dear mother was laid to rest by the side of our father, her beloved Professor Broyles, on November 21, 1957 in Paint Rock, Texas.
It has only been since I have matured and had a family of my own and have been thinking back over the scenes of my child hood and scenes all along the highway of life that I have come to truly appreciate the fine qualities of my mother and father.
They each had love for, faith in, and belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They had trust and confidence in the One Supreme Being. Their theology was staunch, strong, and firm. Their daily lives were an example to all.
Our home life was pleasant and gratifying. We children had a happy childhood. Our parents were clean spoken; there was no rough language, no smutty, common or coarse jokes in our home. Papa adored Mama and she adored him. The relationship between them was ideal - one of love and understanding. There was companionship and compatibility. They were helpmates one to the other. They were generous, big-hearted, loving and kind.
My parents reached out especially to help young people who needed assistance in obtaining an education, or who needed a home. They showed love and charity to Mama's baby sister Cornelia (Nelia) Conner when they brought her into our home as a member of the family, also to Papa's twelve-year-old son John Summerfield Broyles who came to live with us and was a welcome member of our household.
It was Papa's personality and his friendliness that reached out to Ross Powers, the school drop out. It was Mama's patience and help that taught him to read. Both parents helped Ross get a high school education and become a useful citizen. Some other relatives that used our home somewhat as a refuge were Papa's sister, Florence Cope and son, Findley; Mama's sister, Leta Livingston and daughter lone; and Millard Taylor, a nephew of Mama's who came to us after his father's death. The most outstanding act of love and charity was accepting Mama's grandmother, Martha Richardson, who lived in our home thirteen years. "Grandma"" as she was called by all, had two daughters that could not get along with her. But in our home she received love and special attention as long as she lived. She died November of 1919 and was buried in Junction, Texas. No one could have been better to Grandma than Papa and Mama.
Papa was one who both formed and directed the minds and character of the youth who were under him as students. His eyes, voice and manners expressed his love to and for us. His nephew, Findley Cope, said, "When you crossed the threshhold of his home, you could feel the spirit of love and congeniality." Findley should have known as he and his mother were in and out of our home many years.
My father was a family man. His home was his castle. He was content to sit and read by the hour. His happiest hours were spent in the confines of his home with Mama and his children. Papa was always willing to join us in the parlor singsongs, or other fun activities.
The following are quotes from the Concho Herald's "Memorial" edition printed on November 17,1927:
Under Professor Broyles as a Teacher, Emsy Swaim wrote the following in his article:
" Professor Broyles had an abiding faith in the average man, and he was happy to spend his days laboring with him."
" His life's passion was to serve others. He who leads in the school room is one of the most useful men of his day and generation."
" He still lives in the minds and in the hearts of the men and women of his old pupils who were taught by him in bygone days."
" He was certainly one of God's prophets in the school room……He was the Greatest Power For Good that I Have Ever Known. He was 'A Man to Whom Teaching is a Passion as Well as a Profession.'"
Under the heading Judge D. C. Broyles, Mr. J. A. Wilhelm wrote:
" It is very seldom that we find a man so pure and clean in word, deed and thought, physically, morally, mentally, and religiously clean according to his conceptions of every duty whether it be to his God, his neighbor or his country."
" His motto was: 'Abhor that which is evil: cleave to that which is good.' And his abhorrence was as utter as his cleaving was tenacious."
" He was admired and respected by all, because he could reprove an error without hatred for the offender. "
" He had great affection for the youth of our country, knew their needs and so far as was in his power provided for them."
" He was never found on the fence when any important question came up. On moral issues he only desired to know that he was right."
Our Uncle was the heading used by Findley Cope:
"His dear presence is missed in the home, but the sweet influence of his beautiful life will live, ever, as a blessing and comfort to his dear ones."
"He has been a father to me for more than twenty years. His counsel was always to do right and as you would wish to be done by."
One quote from Bill Gray, columnist of the San Angelo Standard Times on February 14, 1940 is:
"D. C. Broyles had a keen attraction about him that made boys under him want to get all the knowledge they could. Students of the Tennesseean found in him a man with several talents - a keen inspiration to study."
Further on Bill Gray says:
"In Junction he met an attractive girl there and they were married. His bride was his classroom student - and became his student in life, learning from him his business of newspapering, and continuing to publish the paper they owned since his death in 1927. And perhaps the Tennessee man of several talents learned from his student too, because she has shown her ability as a newspaper woman in operating the Herald for thirteen years."
Thanks to Bill Gray for thus complimenting my talented mother.
Updated Quotes
March 15, 1977, in a letter from William Dodson Broyles, Jr. great grandson of David Crockett Broyles, and editor of Texas Monthly, he says:
"I am very interested in the Broyles family. One of the clippings Lisa (brother Dodson's granddaughter) gave me was a full-page obituary of your father, David Crockett Broyles. Since I am an editor and my father has been a surveyor, we both feel a real kinship to him. He must have been a formidable and impressive man."
August 2, 1978 in letter from William Dodson Broyles, Jr. to the writer: William writes in regards to his first child - a son."Last weekend we baptized William David Broyles at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Austin. I'm glad you were pleased we had named our son after your father. From everything I have been able to discover, he was a man in whose footsteps I would be proud to have my son walk."
As I sit and ponder the many qualities which made up my mother's character I am overcome with awe and wonderment. The grandparents who reared her were very illiterate. Mama's good usage of our English language was acquired as she grew up. Papa was an abiding influence. But Mama was a person that persevered in any enterprise or task undertaken.
Though my mother did not have as much formal education as Papa, she was a well-educated woman. She loved poetry and read it and prose to us as we were growing up. She was an excellent speller - a talent I did not inherit. The other children were good spellers as she was. She could write up all kinds of news articles using the proper wording for any subject.
She was a good cook but did not like kitchen work. So Llewellyn and I took over the cooking and Mama sewed for us. We lived somewhat frugally from year to year. Even after I began to teach school I would buy material and Mama made dresses prettier than I could purchase. She did lovely embroidery and occasionally enhanced our dresses with some pretty hand-stitching. Mama had a "green thumb" and loved growing flowers in pots or in the yard. She taught us to keep the premises around us in good order. Our front porches were clean and clear except for porch furnishings or a stand to hold flowers. Our yards were kept free of litter.
My mother was a beautiful woman of medium build and size. She had pretty brown eyes and a beautiful medium-fair complexion. Her hair was a lovely shade of brown, thick and long. She wore it in braids wound around her head but fluffed it someway right in front to make a pretty frame for her face. Her hands were ever busy with some kind of hand-work. The tone of her voice and laughter were delightful (Her daughter-in-law, Ovella Broyles, wrote most of this paragraph.). How accurate and well worded were her comments!
Mama was patient, loving, and understanding. We children knew we could tell her our troubles. She would pray with us and that was the end of our problem. She trusted us and that attribute really made me appreciate her. She never held our mistakes or errors against us. She was kind and did things to make us happy as we were growing up. My left-handed brother, Dodson, could kill rabbits by throwing a rock and hitting them. Mama would dress and fry them and let us have a picnic lunch under a huge live oak tree in our yard. She was artistic and clever and drew a rabbit on our beautifully colored Easter eggs as the three of us handed them to her. She made beautiful bookmarks from grossgrain ribbon for us and on them printed with a crayon the rhyme: "Not mine to tell if the book is good, but to keep my place as a marker should."
Mama was artistic in much larger things, also. She was an excellent seamstress. During World War I she made skirts with bibs and straps from Papa's discarded woolen trousers. My mother was a person of deep intellect, a woman of noble character, and one with exceptional intellectual business attainments.
My parents had little in the way of an estate (material goods) but they left us a spiritual estate which was incalculable.
What more could any children want?
Thus this final tribute is to two wonderful, God-fearing persons who have now taken their places with the saints of the heavenly home, written as a means of preserving the great heritage we have to appreciate, and to pass on to future generations.
"The being of each of us is saturated with those little nameless, unremembered acts of kindnesses and love." Wordsworth.
I am deeply indebted to William Broyles, editor-in-chief of the TEXAS MONTHLY for having this article typed and bound for the posterity of my relatives and friends.
Grace B. Hall