We built our first house - still in Paris, TX

We sold our house on 33rd St. and moved to this small, 2 bedroom house at 2227 Cleveland Ave. while we built a new house at 555 Wilburn, on the street behind our old house. We had to store much of our furniture and buy a stove and space heaters for this house. Ronnie was away in college in Kilgore when we lived here for 7 months. This house was near the East Paris Elem. school playground and James liked to go there and play.
James was attending a sheltered workshop at the Jr. College nearby.

We lived there during the winter and I remember a big ice storm and tree limbs breaking in our yard.


In May, 1975, we moved to our new home we designed. We had a great room with cathedral ceiling in the center of the house and a fireplace. There were 3 bedrooms and 2 baths on the left side and dining room, kitchen with breakfast room, study and sewing room on the right side.

When Ronnie was home in the summer from college, he used the study for his bedroom.  This photo was taken in 1977 and a For Sale sign was in the front yard. Jim got a promotion and transfer to Minneapolis, MN and we were about to move again.

This is a photo of our house taken this summer.









This was the back yard of our new house. There was an alley for us to get to our garage. Our old house was located on the other side of the alley, a couple of houses down. We had a nice cement patio and natural gas grill which we had to leave with the house.

While living here, I returned to college and got my B.S. degree from East Texas State Univ. (now Texas A&M at Commerce) , 40 miles southwest of Paris. It was a long commute every day - but I made it and graduated in May 1976.


Bill graduated from Paris High School in May 1976. Here he is with his Mustang convertible which he bought with money he earned one summer helping roof houses (in extreme Texas heat). He totaled his car one day coming home from his part-time job at a music store, running underneath a big truck when it stopped suddenly in front of him. Later he bought the little red MG in the top photo.

In 1976-77, Ronnie was going to school at Galveston at the A&M Maritime Academy.

We moved to Minneapolis in May 1977, leaving both Ronnie and Bill in school in Texas. They didn't want to leave Texas.

Both graduated from college in Texas and Ron is still living in Texas, at Austin. Bill left Texas when he graduated in 1981 and has not lived there since.