19	Winter	95
PO Box 522	PAMPA, TX	79066-0522
Volume 5	of the family, by the family, for the family	Issue 3
806 669 6009	Honey Wagon | Season's Greetings | Tunnels Introducing... | Kinfolks? | Merry Christmas	puzzler@pan-tex.net

The Honey Wagon t the time of this writing, Sunday, November 26th, I am sitting in the Intensive Care Waiting Room at High Plains Baptist Hospital in Amarillo. We've been here since Wednesday evening. Mama had surgery to drain a cyst and some of the infection got loose and spread through her body. This caused her body to go hay-wire and they lost her, but after working 45 minutes, they had a faint heart beat and a slight blood pressure. So, that is the reason for ICU. Yesterday, we found out that she has a rare infection, one they haven't seen before in this hospital. Anyway, they are trying to find an antibiotic that will work that she's not allergic to. Other than that, she seems to be coming around nicely. Daddy is doing pretty fair. He had some bad days earlier this month, spending a few days in the hospital, but after we got him home, he perked up quite a bit. Hospice wanted to take over his care, but their idea of keeping him comfortable was to give him Morphine, so we decided to stay with Home Health Care. They can come more often - they genuinely love Daddy and he loves them. Monta Faye has been volunteering out in the Lab at the Veteran's Hospital two days a week. She really enjoys it and it keeps her skills up to date. She hopes it will turn into a permanent job. Here lately she has been making jelly - lots of jelly. I've talked to all my brothers and sisters recently. Everyone is well and doing good. We will all get together on Saturday, December 16th for a Christmas Dinner at Jerry Bob's. Dale and Frances came up recently for a long weekend visit. They were breaking in a beautiful new FORD pickup. It's always good to see them. Dale and I were taling about Grandpa's Honeywagon or Bee-wagon. I remember riding all over the farm on that "homemade" vehicle. I was thinking that it was the "Honeywagon" that ran over Loretta that time. Does anyone remember that? (see Karen's Story) I guess we were having a family get-together at Grandma & Grandpa's. Anyway, Dale had brought down his dune buggy and someonee mentioned going for a ride. However, Loretta was still in the process of getting on when the driver took off. The tire ran over her but the doctor verified that she was ok. For the longest time, I felt like I had helped to squash her since I was sitting on that side. Do ya'll remember Grandpa's bees? I know for sure that he thought a whole lot more of those little creatures than I did. Every summer, Grandma & Grandpa would come fetch me and round up some of the neighbors. Then we would gather in Grandpa's shop and prepare to rob the bee's. Grandpa would put on a spacesuit looking outfit, arm himself with the bee smoker, get in the Honeywagon and off to the pasture he would go. Soon, he would return with lots of rectangular forms filled with honeycomb and honey. Grandma and the neighbors shaved a thin layer off either side of the honeycomb and placed the forms in the spinner. The spinner container was hooked up to electricity and when it was turned on, it would force the honey out of the honeycomb. There was a spigot at the bottom of that container where you could drain the honey out. I remember there were lots of large crock jars in the shop, also, that were used to help process the honey. I helped where I was needed, but my main job was wiping the rim of the jar, putting the lid on, cleaning the jars, sticking the labels on and packing the jars in boxes. After all the process was complete, Grandpa would take the honey to the North side of the court house square in Wheeler where he would sell it a quart jar of beautiful amber colored honey with or without the honeycomb for a dollar. One day, during the processing procedure, I was trying to put a jar in a box that was up higher than I could easily reach. By that time, the honey on my hands had dried and my fingers were slick. I dropped the jar and every time I would grab for it, it slipped right through my fingers. On the third attempt, I was successful, catching the jar of honey just inches from the ground. Grandpa immediately got out his billfold and handed me a dollar bill and said, "You did good, Sis!". Every time Grandpa went back to the hives, he didn't come back alone. Lots of honey bees ewre either on the honey itself or following closely behind that Honeywagon. Grandpa would say, "Now sis, don't swat at em or they will sting you." Well, that was easy for him to say cause he had on that spacesuit. So, by the end of the day, I not only had a stiff bony tail (from swatting those little critters away from my hair), but I had a few stings as well. We love you all, Nancy & family Season's Greetings to the Watts Family I'm sorry I missed the deadline to get our news in the Fall issue of the Watts Newsletter. It was an excellent issue. This will be my Chrristmas letter this year and I will not do my usaual one. I really appreciate it being printed and mailed to all family members. A few weeks ago I received my copy of the Watts family genealogy book from Fred Rutledge and it is a masterpiece. Many thanks, Fred, for all you have done for the entire family. Both of us are doing well. T.J. seems to be doing exceptionally well, especially this Fall. He spends many hours in his shop and we're glad he has a nice, warm place for him to work. Since my last contribution to the Summer edition of the Watts Newsletter, we had a wedding in our family. Our granddaughter, Shannon, married Kenneth Vensen in a beautiful outdoor wedding on June 24th. The newlyweds honeymooned in Southern Califonia at Disneyland and many other places of interest. Shannon is continuing her education at Idaho State University in Pocatello and commutes. Kenneth is a busy farmer/rancher with his Dad and will soon be into calving season. Perhaps Shannon will send an aricle soon to introduce her new husband to the family. Our friends, Selina and Kenneth Howard from Desert Hot Springs, Califonia, spent a few days with us in September and we had a most enjoyable time together. Barbara and Dennis are doing well, always busy with something. Barbara works part time and also enjoys tole painting and other crafts that she does so well. Barbara is a very devoted daughter and we are comforted to have her and her family nearby. She and Dennis and some friends spend some time each year traveling the backroads to visit historical and unusual places. Also they like to go camping and not only have they traveled nearly all the secondary roads in Idaho but some off the "beaten path" roads as well. Dennis is now working four 10 hour days per week and enjoys his extra day off. A couple of times he went steel head fishing, no luck fishing but enjoyed getting away from it all for a couple of days. They did a lot of relandscaping in their yard this year and recently redecorated their kitchen. Barbara and Roger enjoyed their trip to Texas together over Labor Day and were glad to be able to visit so many relatives on both sides of the family. Roger flies mostly to Japan with an occasional trip to Cavacas, Venezuela aand buenos Aires, Argentina. During Christmas time he is bringing his good friend Pattie Reid and her 2 children Claire, age 16 and Lucas, 12 from Orlando, Florida to visit us. They and Barbara and Dennis are going snowmobiling in Yellowstone Park for a couple of days. This should be a wonderful trip for them, especially the kids. Lucas has never seen snow! Roger says he'll write an article for the Spring issue of the newsletter about their trip. I think our family will have a great holiday. All of us are really looking forward to having Roger, Pattie, Claire and Lucas with us during the holidays. Here's wishing everybody a Happy Holiday Season. Virginia Patterson Tunnels When I was growing up I had unusual methods for getting into trouble. To boot, I would enlist the help of my brothers to do it. One such method was digging tunnels. I would pick a spot that might go unnoticed for a week or two then sell the idea to my younger brothers. "We could even dig a small room for holding meetings!" I would tell them and before you could say lickety split, we were constructing tunnel #1. Needless to say we never got very far on any of the five attempts. Once discovered, we had to bury it. This extra work, for some odd reeason, made it increasingly difficult to get my brothers to help me. Oh, I also remember attemting to dig into a bank of sand along a river bed. There wasn't any water in the river but that's beside the point. We took turns digging. No tools were needed as sand is easy to dig. We would just scoop out the sand witth our hands, hold our hands together and drag out armload after armload. When my little brother, Steve, went to digging, the bank caved in on him. All you could see of him were his kicking legs and feet. Terry grabbed one leg while I grabbed the other and we tugged him out of his dilema. I told the Millers about the incident and we were instructed not to do that aggain. Me an my big mouth! *grin* The family scribe, Roy A. Watts Introducing... Great news! As some of you know by now, Jeanne has accepted a marriage proposal. She will marry Cecil Hart (could be a long lost relative-ha?!) in July 1996. More details to come in the next two newsletters (see Mark your Calenders! and Life goes on!). Cecil was born and raised in Wichita Falls and works for the US Postal Service as a mail sorter. He has a 19 year old son, Billy and a 17 year old daughter, Melinda, neither of whom live with him. Cecil is a scratch golfer and enjoys fishing, cooking and watching football. Cecil and Jeanne met in church on July 9th and believe God brought them together in His appointed time. The are busy with wedding plans - not wanting to be rushed at the last minute. Sharon will graduate from a two-year RN program in early May after much hard work, study and stress. Her boys, Jason and Jeremy, will return to Altus right after Christmas after spending several months with their dad in Missouri. We sure have missed them. Louada stays busy with her pecan harvest, as well as some home improvement efforts. A new wall heater will keep her warm and a new cook stove awaits installation. Otherwise, nothing is out of the ordinary. Jeanne Watts KINFOLKS? While in the process of dispossing of some unnecessary accumulations in Curt's mother's house recently, they found a letter written by Charles Allen Hogle, 568 E. Fairview Bl., Inglewood, CA. and addressed to Mr. J. Wesley Leitner of Cheyenne, OK, dated April 29, 1966 and Linda thought it might be of interrest to our family. Mr. Leitner is Curt's maternal grandfather. Charles Allen Hogle was born August 8, 1888 near Dennison (or Manilla) in Crawford County, Iowa. His father Herbert Samuel Hogle (5-4-1867) was born in Scott County Iowa. With this background, I will enclose an excerpt from the letter. My father's mother was a Winey. She was the daughter of Mary Watts Winey, who belonged to the Watts family, of which Isaac Watts was a prominent member. I may find some traces of Isaac in the vicinity of London. A postscript handwritten on the back states: J Westley Leitner was born Feb. 6, 1880 about 6 1/2 miles southeast of Vail, Crawford County, Iowa on "my" grandfather's place. Oldest of seven children. Cyrena, one of the sisters died in Custer County and was buried by Father and Mother. One baby boy died in infancy. The family came to Oklahoma, 3 miles north of Custer city with folks in January 1899. It is assumed this hand written part was written by J. Westley Leitner for the future reference of his descendents. Merry Christmas, Everyone! After a few inches of snow we recently got and still have on the ground, it is now easier to think "Christmas." The weather had been so warm some flowers were still trying to bloom, in spite of the hard freeze and a light snow in November. It rained all day Sunday before turning to snow that night. It had been so long since it had rained, the dogs seemed to think I had the sprinkler on. They sat at the back door, looking out, then back at me, whining, as if to say, "Turn the sprinkler off, I need to go-o-o!" I really enjoy my 2 days per week in the lab at the Veterans Hospital and stay busy at home playing with my crafts. After his most recent critical illness, Ed is doing much better than anyone ever expected, so we feel richly blessed. From our house to yours, we wish you the best of Christmas Blessings and a Glorious New Year! Monta

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