I was born at home in Lea County
New Mexico, near Lovington, in a wood house with adobe insulation on January
29, 1919. The Doctor was named Smith and
the preacher was Rev. Donley so that is the way I got my name. I was the 10th child. Mama (Sarah Jane Garner) had 6 boys, I was
the 6th, and 5 girls. They
were: Exie, Gerald, Tommie, Maude, Myrtle (twin to Maude died at birth),
Bernice, Herschel, Clayton, Verdie (Sis), Smith (Buddie) and Docia. I was told I was a pretty baby with curly
hair. My hair didn’t get cut until I was
over 2 years old. Pretty ringlets.
It was a
dry year so we went to Hagerman to pick cotton.
We lived in a tent. My youngest
sister Docia was born there in November 1921 when I was about two and a half. When she was born I ran into the field and
said “Mama has a little one and it’s black headed”.
My folks homesteaded the place in Prairie
View New Mexico. Papa (William Thomas
Littlefield) was a farmer and Rancher.
They raised sugar cane and made their own syrup. The syrup making was a community
project. We used a mule to turn the
press. I remember chasing around after
the mule. I started to school
there. We walked a mile and quarter to
school. Mama told me to tell them my
full name. I said “Brother Smith Donley
Littlefield” my family teased me about that.
Then we
sold all our cows and moved to Meadow Texas about 1924. I met Johnnie Martin and his family
there. We worked pulling cotton for
them. We have been good friends ever since.
In 1926
my father bought out some fields of cotton to pick. Thanksgiving Day it came a bad sandstorm and
ruined the whole crop. The next year he
rented a farm to farm. The next year he
rented a different one. That crop was
pretty good so he rented a better place near Ropesville Texas. It was the Berry place (no relation). I walked three and a half miles to school
there. I was 9 then. I stuck a limb in the ground that made a big
tree. We had used that stick for a stick
horse all that day. It was a wonder that
it grew! We farmed a section of land
there (640 acres). We stayed there 4 years and then moved to Tokyo Texas. I went to school there and played on the
basketball team. I also graduated from
grade school there. (8th grade).
I was the first one in the family to get a diploma. I was so proud and bragged about it. But… I went off and left my cap there, the
family never let me hear the end of that.
It was a small school.
Then we
moved to the Black place, it was near Happy Texas. We lived there til I was 17 years old in
1936. I moved to Pep New Mexico after
that and stayed with Exie my oldest sister and her husband Ed Martin. I worked some for Mr. Asa Lee Williamson and
that is where I met Katie his youngest daughter. While I was there I went to county dances with
Katie and her brother Jim. Maybe Martin
brought me to some of the dances. They
were a lot of fun. One night Katie had
to go shut up the chickens. I decided to
“help” her. While she shut the latch I
put my arms around her while she turned the wire, and I kissed her for the
first time! I stayed there on the ranch
and worked a while and then went to California with 4 boys. I decided I really
wanted to keep in touch with Katie. I was in the Bunk house packing and she
came out to bring me some laundry and I kissed her good bye and asked her to
write. I think she liked me and hated to
see me go! When we got to Tucson 2 of
them got work in the mines. I was too
young to work in the mines. We were in
their car to Tucson so I got a Freight train to Las Angeles. I accidentally got on one going to Mexico
with about 10 more men. They stopped us
at the border and made us walk back. (60
miles) Then we did catch the right one to Las Angeles. We went to Hartley Days
(?) sister’s house in California. I got
a job working on a dairy. There I bought my first car, it was a 1928 Model A 2
door sedan, black. I finally had
wheels!!
Clayton
came out to see me. He got a job on a ranch driving a 4 horse team hauling
dirt. I decided to quit milking and get
a job on the ranch. At first no luck so
I got a job washing dishes in a café. I
opened it up each morning and then did dishes.
After a little while I did get on at the ranch. They were cleaning out the bar ditches to
drain the water off. I helped the man
that ran the dredging machine when I started working there. Clayton another man and I decided to batch…
we got a little house. I remember
cooking rice. We started out with a
little and soon had all our pots full!
We
decided to go to New Mexico on December 15th for Christmas. On December 1st I got laid off so
we started for NM then. Another boy
wanted to go with us, he went on to Arkansas.
We planned to just drive daytime and camp out at night. But it started raining so we drove straight
through. We went on to Brownfield TX, I
stayed there a few days with the folks then went to NM to see Katie. I could hardly wait to see her. That January I turned 18, Katie was in
College in Portales. She lived in a dorm
out on the Elida Highway. I didn’t know where the college was so asked for
directions to the Elida highway in a gas station. I took her to a show then spent the night in a
hotel and went to see her again the next day.
The next day I went back to the same station. They said I thought you
were going to Elida? I said no I changed
my mind. She was just as sweet as I
thought she would be. We had a great
time.
When I
went to work for Mr. Williamson I knew I had met one of the finest families in
the world.
I sold
Ed Martin (Exie’s husband) my car. Then
went to Brownfield and worked for farmers and saved all my money. Then I bought a Plymouth Coupe for $20. Then I made a deal with Ed Martin to farm
with him in Pep in 1940. I did the work
and got paid part of the crop. I also
worked for Mr. Williamson and other people in my extra time.
I hadn’t
seen Katie for quite a while and on my birthday here she came on a little horse
with a card that said Happy Birthday, it wasn’t signed but I knew who it was
from. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. So I
went to see Katie again. The year before she had made me a cake for my birthday
as I was working on the ranch. So I knew
she knew when it was.
That
fall I went back to Brownfield. I wanted
to get married but couldn’t afford to. I
bought half of a quarter section with Clayton in Brownfield. Clayton was to farm it for one year and I
would go to the Army, then I hoped to get married to Katie and farm it the next
year. Then Clayton was to go to the Army
while I farmed. When I got my draft number it was #13 so I wrote to the draft
board and volunteered for 1 year. They
wrote back to report in 2 days! So Tommy
took me over there to NM. I didn’t get
to see Katie as she was teaching in Miami NM.
She gave me a radio for my birthday on January 19th. I went in on January 21st
1941. So I didn’t get out til after the
war and Clayton never went in. They
stamped my papers “for the duration plus 6 months”. I didn’t want to get married and leave her and
she wanted to teach a year so we decided to wait.
I first
went to Ft. Sill Oklahoma, then to Ft. Bliss near El Paso for 4 months then to
Abilene. I had been in almost a year and
couldn’t get out so I gave Katie an engagement ring for Christmas and she gave
me a Bulova watch. She came to see me in
Abilene in April and we were finally married on April 4, 1942. I was supposed to be there for a year. We were married on Saturday night at
9:15. I was sent to Massachusetts on
Monday!
--See Katie’s story for the next years.
