James Henry Myers died 62 years ago on February 13th

Last Friday marked the 62^nd anniversary of the death of my grandfather James Henry Myers -- February 13, 1953. I will tell my story of that day, a day that was burned in my memory, because I lost not only “Granddaddy Myers,” but my friend. My dad lost his dad and his best friend, too. Keep in mind that my memories were captured through the eyes of a young boy as I share them with you.

James Henry “JH” Myers

This is the face that I remember – look at that smile! I looked into those smiling eyes many times. I went through bouts with rheumatic fever and had to spend a lot of time in bed and every time he came through the door to see me, it was those smiling eyes that I first saw.

Now, I will tell about the last day of his life. It happened on the day of my Cub Scouts meeting. My mother, Gladys Ward Myers, was one of the Den Mothers. I don’t remember seeing granddaddy earlier that day, but I am sure I did. He worked with my dad at Myers Plant Co. which was located at our house. Below is a map of my world as a child – Erie Street (between Boone Street & Ramsey Street).

House #1 is our house and House #2 is where my grandparents (JH & Alberta Harless Myers) lived. House #3 is where my dad’s sister Pauline and her husband Ezra Banks lived.

My scout meeting was at House #5, the home of Weldon & Faye Ard, she was a Den Mother with my mother. Lewis Ard was my age and we were in the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts & Sea Explorer Scouts together (along with Paul Corbin and James Owens who also lived very close to the Ard home). On the way to the meeting we walked by House #4 which was where Mr. & Mrs. Ferguson lived. I always stopped and petted his two horses if they were close to the fence. Mr. Ferguson always plowed our field with those horses and I would follow along behind him watching and listening to him talk to the horses.

We were I the meeting when someone came running up shouting that there was an ambulance down at our house. I think I beat everyone outside and ran into the street to see what was going on. Mother, carrying my little brother Glenn, came running up behind me. We ran home and the next memory I have is standing in the kitchen looking through the door into dad & mom’s bedroom and seeing granddaddy laying in the bed with the men from the ambulance and dad bending over him. He was unconscious and not moving. They put him on a gurney and carried him to the ambulance, dad was in there with him and it sped away with lights flashing and the siren going. The hospital was only a few blocks away (left on Ramsey Street). That was the last time I ever saw my grandfather alive.

Sometime after midnight dad woke me up and with mom standing there, he told me granddad had died at 11:30 pm. All I remember is how bad he was hurting. Mom asked him what he was going to do and he said he was going to clean up and go down to the funeral home and stay with his dad for the rest of the night. Back in those days, a family member stayed with the body until the funeral (24 hours a day). By the next morning all my aunts and uncles arrived at my grandparent’s house and they took shifts of staying with JH. Here is the obituary from the Cleburne Times Review.

I don’t remember if the funeral was on Monday or Tuesday, but here is the brochure from the service.

I have flashes of the service, seeing granddaddy in the casket, and being surrounded by all of the family and a lot of other people. I never realized my granddad had so many friends. I remember my grandmother Myers and feeling her pain that day. From that day for the remainder of the time she lived next door to us, dad would be there to take care of his mother.

Below are a couple of pictures of my grandparents (James Henry Myers & Alberta Harless Myers):

(I always wondered what he was thinking in this one.)

There are those smiles again.

Here are a couple of pictures in his Sunday clothes:

(I think that shoulder at the bottom belongs

to my cousin “Billy” (William Claude Myers.)

As I said above, my dad and granddad worked together every day. Below is the day they put the first sign up and launched Myers Flower Shop, which became Myers Plant Company.

The year was 1936.

This is a great picture of dad (James E. Myers, Sr.), mom (Gladys Geraldine Ward Myers), granddaddy (James Henry Myers) & Snowball.

Two final pictures. I included this picture to show you granddaddy’s greenhouse. We grew and sold lots of tomato plants every year. Besides selling to our local customers, dad had a contract with the Santa Fe Railroad to supply 50,000 (at least that’s the figure that stuck in my mind) every year. The railroad took them to South Texas where they were planted in field and the tomatoes they produced were shipped all over the country.

Anyway, the way we grew the plants was in hotbeds, glass-covered beds with heaters in them. The plants grew in the ground. When we sold any plants we would simply pull them out of the ground (the minimum was a dozen plants for 10 cents), wrap them up in a piece of newspaper, dunk it in water and give the plants to the customer.

I can’t remember if it was my grandmother or grandfather that came up with the idea – putting one tomato plant in a small container (called a band) and selling the plants individually – for a nickel. Dad thought that was nuts. I can remember him saying why would anyone pay them 60 cents for a dozen tomato plants when they could buy them from him for a dime! Anyway, his parents ignored him and built the little greenhouse in the picture below:

Look closely and you will see a panel just to the right of the door that is leaning out from the wall. They pulled it out when it started to get too warm inside and closed it up when the weather was cold. Those two fine looking young men in the picture are (from the left) my brother Glenn Carl Myers and me (James E. Myers, Jr.).

The last picture is of the one room in their house that was off-limits to us kids – their living room. We only got to go in there on Christmas or when there was a big family gathering. Over on the left is the radio that the family (when dad was still living at home) would gather around to listen to programs at night. Dad was in charge of keeping the right station tuned in. Back then the signal would drift and someone had to keep moving the tuner around to say up with it.

That’s my little sister – Linda Gayle Myers Point –

& our cousin Ronnie Livingston.

Writing this has brought lots of good memories back to my mind. James Henry Myers & James Edgar Myers, Sr. also provided me with the model I have used in my “grandfathership.” I hope I can give my grandkids (and great grandkids) memories like my granddad and dad gave me.

I hope you enjoyed the memories about my grandfather.