Samuel Eric Curry was born in Lancaster, Texas, January 12,1901. His father was J. W. Curry who had been born in Virginia and came to Texas as a teen-age boy to make his way in life. Sam’s mother was Lucy Angeline Greene of Lancaster, Texas. The family was active in church and civic affairs in Lancaster.
Sam’s maternal grandfather, Jones Greene, had come to Texas from Greene County, Illinois, in 1844. Jones brought a young colt tied behind his covered wagon. This colt became the famous quarter horse named Steel Dust.
Steel Dust founded a new line of horses which became known all over West Texas. One of the last projects of Sam Curry before he suddenly passed away was to get a Texas Historical Marker for Steel Dust. He wrote many letters concerning this matter and got the ball rolling.
His nephew, Charles Curry Pierce of Dallas, took up the project and in October, 1971, a Texas Historical Marker was dedicated to Steel Dust in front of the livestock pavilion on the State Fair Grounds in Dallas, Texas. There was a Dallas Junior High School Band to play to a large group of descendants, Dallas civic leaders, members of the Texas Historical Association and county officials. The dedication was made when the Texas State Fair was being held.
Sam was the youngest of a large family. When he was 19 years old, he started “west” and arrived in Plainview about October 27, 1919. His oldest sister, Mrs. Charles A. Pierce, lived with her family in Plainview, where they owned Plainview Mercantile Company. They met him at the depot when he arrived on the Santa Fe Train.
R. A. Underwood, president of First National Bank in Plainview, had told Charles Pierce that he was planning to hire some young men at the bank. He hired Sam and Harold Hamilton, John Logsdon, Hitch Henderson and Claude Terry.
In a few years, Sam left the bank and went on his own in real estate, insurance, oil leasing and farming. His first office was on the east side of Broadway, where Payne’s Jewelry is now. Clara Neis was his efficient secretary for many years and still remains in the family business.
There was a large group of young people in Plainview who were very active and had many good times together. Among them was Faye Marlin. Faye had moved with her parents, J. P. and Flora Cox Marlin, to Plainview in 1906, from El Dorado, Oklahoma. They came by covered wagon because there was no railroad here at that time. The trip took three days and nights.
J. P. Marlin had bought land from Will Clubb and his wife Susie, in the East Mound community, east of Plainview. The land was already broken out and there was an orchard around the house. There was a “natural” grass (buffalo grass) lawn, which was pretty and well kept. There were many beautiful vines, bushes and flowers planted in the yard. The Marlin girls, Faye, Naomi, Mozelle and Eula Bea, had a happy childhood. Their mother did a great deal of sewing for them. In those days, stores would have stacks and stacks of bolts of material to choose from. The girls would go to town and select materials, patterns and trimmings, and their mother would sit for hours at the treadle machine, making pretty clothes for them to wear.
Faye went to school at East Mound the first year after they moved to Hale County. Later the Marlins bought a house on Denver Street in Plainview and the family would move into town during school term, then go back to the farm during the summer.
Faye went to West Side School for 2nd grade, where a schoolmate was Mary Effie (Murphy) Boyd. For 3rd grade, she went to Central with Leia B. (Slaton) Hooper, Clara (Craig) Silverthorne and Garnett Reeves. After high school, she went to West Texas State Teachers College for a year but became ill with flu and could not go back. While she was in Canyon, the football team played Wayland. She came down with all her schoolmates and they stood in the snow to watch the game.
Mr. Marlin bought a Bush and Lane piano. The Marlin girls were in the first group of piano students taught by Miss Bettie Clements. She went to the Marlin home to teach them. Her classes grew larger and larger. At recitals, Naomi and Faye would play duets. During the summer, the Marlin girls sometimes took piano lessons from Mrs. Louella Sharp Heard, whose brother, Seth Waddill, was their neighbor.
The Marlin family used to join the W. L. Cox and B. F. Cox families for the Bible Readings held in their homes on Sunday afternoons. Everyone present would take turns reading a verse, then W. L. Cox would explain it. B. F. Cox would lead the singing. The children enjoyed it, because they could play together after the services.
Places of entertainment in Plainview while they were growing up were Dr. Dye’s Olympic Theater, south of the Ware Hotel, the skating rink that would be set up under a tent, Buffalo Bill shows, Chautauquas and Harley Sadler tent shows.
There were lots of parties and picnics, too. Faye saw Sam Curry for the first time when he came to a Halloween dance a few days after he came to Plainview. They started going together and were married in her family home at East Mound September 1, 1923.
It was a morning wedding and Sam was late for it because he realized, when he and the preacher, Harlan Matthews, had driven about half way out to the Marlins, that he had forgotten the flowers. So they had to turn around and go back to Keys Floral. Faye’s dress was brown, with knife pleats all around the skirt. She got it at Mrs. Ball’s store in Plainview.
After a honeymoon trip to Lancaster, Sam and Faye lived in an upstairs apartment in the home of his sister, Mrs. Pierce. Faye worked during the afternoons at the Pierce store, Plainview Mercantile. She loved the pretty clothes, especially the hats, that they had in the store. The millinery department was always an important part in stores at that time. Later, Faye and Sam bought a duplex in the 600 block of West 7th Street and lived in the east side of it. Their daughter, Ramona, was born while they lived there. Then when their son, John, was born, they bought a home in Hillcrest.
This was a new, restricted district, developed by Knoohuizen, Boyd and Davenport. The houses had to be brick. But at first there was no pavement and no electricity. Sam liked to go by the A. E. Boyd home on East Alpine and tease them about having to use kerosene lamps in their brand new brick home. But the electrical lines were soon run into the addition. Sam liked to tease and he played a joke on Ray Knoohuizen, who was a neighbor to the west of them. Mr. Knoohuizen had some chickens he was proud of and he would brag about them downtown. Faye had dyed some Easter eggs to use as table decoration, so Sam took some of them over to Mr. Knoohuizen’s and put them in the nests. He did this for two or three days before Mr. Knoohuizen finally figured out who was playing the trick on him. Sam enjoyed people and took a great interest in everything that was going on. He loved the land and was always trying something new. He put some bee hives on his farm and had one in their back yard. He would rob the hives himself. He stocked his Running Water farm with one of the finest flocks of Suffolk black-faced sheep in the country. Every year he went to Salt Lake City to buy stock for his herd.
He loved horses and took a great interest in the 0. B. Jackson show. He and Faye were in the group who would stage barbeques at their homes for out-of-town guests who came to the shows. He was always conscious of the need to preserve irrigation water and helped to organize Water, Inc. He wanted to grow pecan trees and planted them many times, but was never successful. He loved to talk on the telephone and spent many an hour doing so. Long distance was no problem. He would just pick up the phone and call anyone, anywhere, any time. He liked to travel and he and Faye made many trips. He hunted with his brown and white bird dog, “Spot,” fished, and golfed.
Ramona and John attended Plainview schools and Sam and Faye always enjoyed having their school friends in the family home. Ramona graduated from Plainview High School. John graduated from high school at Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. John served in the United States Army from June 11,1954 until March 2,1956. After receiving an honorable discharge, with the rank of First Lieutenant, he attended Texas Tech at Lubbock, graduating in January, 1957.
He farmed in Hale County from 1957 to 1968. He has been in the brokerage business since 1969. He has two children, Cynthia Ann Curry and Thomas Marlin Curry. After graduating from Hockaday Girls School in Dallas, Texas, in 1949, and Southern Methodist University in 1951, Ramona married J. B. Roberts in Plainview in 1951. They have three children: Randall Curry Roberts, Sarah Faye Roberts Estes, and Drury Bonds Roberts. They live in Plainview. Sam was a long-time member of Plainview Rotary Club and Sons of the American Revolution, and a member of National Association of Realtors and National Association of Insurance Agents. He served as president of the Plainview Cemetery Association and the Plainview School Board. Following their marriage, Faye joined the First Baptist Church with Sam and they were always active supporters.
Faye sang in the church choir and has been a Sunday School teacher and pianist in the Primary Department for thirty years. They sat in their usual place in church on Sunday, April 26, 1970, before Sam’s sudden death on Monday, April 27, 1970.
In the last few years, Faye has been interested in painting, and she spends a great deal of time at the Station House on South Broadway that Sam bought for her to paint in. She is a member of the Plains Art Association, Beta Delphian Study Club, Mary McCoy Baines Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Hale County Genealogical Society and Chapter CZ of P.E.O. She is a charter member of Hale (County Historical Commission.
By Ramona Curry Roberts
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