First House

Gordon (Gene) & Mary Edith Gilleland bought their first house at the end of 1945. It was a few steps from the house where my mother was raised and it lacked some of the amenities of many of their neighbors. But it was theirs or would be when all the payments were made.
It’s quaint look not compromised with incoming electrical wiring or worrisome plumbing. Not shown here is a little house behind the house. Mom was used to making that trip and dad had been before his Army/Air Force service. Air circulation was provided by the open windows and even when they were closed there was plenty of fresh air. That is a north facing front door….in west Texas. I am also pretty sure that the stack coming up from the roof was a wood stove.

A few months after they moved into this house I was born. We lived here for at least two years but moved to Cisco at some point because that is where my sister Cricket was born. After Cisco it was back to Haskell but to which house is lost to time.

When this photo was made we must have been visiting my Grandmother Gilleland because that is her yard in Dublin, TX. By the way she is also in the photo of our house. I was three and in short sleeves so it was the summer of 1949. That makes Crickett almost one since her birthday was September 4th. Interesting fact … both grandparents homes were like our own…without plumbing and with electrical recently added. Life was really getting good. Seriously, it was.