July 8, 2004

Since I have been reviewing the census from 1930, and following Mrs. Ada Allen’s path as she conducted the census, many people have volunteered many historical facts about their families at this time.

Recently Leroy Phillips made his annual visit, and much to my surprise he was looking better than the last time I saw him. I stopped what I was doing because I wanted to spend my time and give my undivided attention to this alert former resident. He speaks well and accurately about the times that he remembers when he came to town when he was a youth.

Leroy was fifteen years old when the 1930 Census was recorded. They lived diagonally across the street from my grandmother and grandfather. The Phillips’ cellar was larger than everyone all of the neighbors’ cellars and it had room for everybody in the neighborhood.

He said that my grandparents, the Holmes, the Edwards, the Lanfords, the Hendersons, and the Maddens would always come over to the Phillips house when a storm was approaching. He says as a fifteen year old, he really enjoyed it because all of the neighborhood girls would also come to stay in the cellar.

He says he almost enjoyed the storms because it was like a great big family get together. He also remembered how everybody called their elders Uncle and Aunt. He says the people were good people and he said that he could seriously say that they were the finest people. He says that all of the 289 people, were all just like kinfolks, and it was a close-knit community and when there was a problem in a family, all of the neighbors came and helped in the time of need.

At the time of the census in 1930, Leroy’s parents, Thomas Lee Phillips was 47 years old, and his wife, Florence A. was 48 years old. The couple had five children: Marjorie L. age 18; Leroy, age 15; Marion, age 12; Mary L., age 12; and Annette E., age 7. Leroy said that all of the children of this couple are still alive, and some of them are in their nineties. Even Leroy is near ninety years old.

Thomas Lee Phillips was born around 1882, in a log house that the family owned in the Loyd Community. His mother and father came from Kentucky while Florence’s family came from North Carolina and Mississippi. Florence was born in Mississippi around 1881.

The family owned their home in Aubrey which was a Victorian design home and was valued at $1,400 in 1930. Mr. Thomas Lee Phillips did not serve in the military.

Leroy remembers the Henry Lanford family who lived in the only other house in the block. He said that Mr. Henry Lanford owned a Studebaker automobile. As we were reminiscing about Mr. Lanford’s car, I told Leroy that I remember when Mr. Lanford would come by our house in his Studebaker, and would take my mother to Denton about two times per month to do some shopping for our family.

Leroy remembers that when they went up the hill at the Clear Creek bridge that the car would have to be brought down into low gear so that it could make it up to the top of the hill.

I laughed and told Leroy how Mr. Lanford’s old Studebaker had to drive up the hill in reverse, because the engine didn’t have a fuel pump to move the gas up to the engine when it went up the hill forward. Most of the other cars had the gas just above the dash and in front of the wind shield.

We continued to laugh as we were talking about the highlight of making it up that hill as we went on our way to Denton. We talked about many other happenings when we were young people.

One thing that we remembered was the small trails on the long steep road that was landscaped by the students of Texas Womans University. They spent a lot of time raking and planting flowers and shrubs all of the way up the hillside and created trails with stair steps. These trails were frequented often by the university students.

Leroy is so interesting to talk to. He is very knowledgeable about the Aubrey business area during this time and remembers the Jones Hotel as it stood on the east side of the railroad track.

My friend and local historian, Leon Melton, remembers when Leroy’s father was the song leader and member of the Methodist Church. Leon said that Lee Phillips was such a good singer. He remembers how he directed the music with his arm and hands.

The Phillips family contributed one of the large life-size stained glass windows located in the west wall of the church today. The building was constructed after a storm in 1918. The value of the windows was tremendous at the time the church was built, so I can just imagine the value of the windows today.

I have more to share from our visit, but will save it for later. I think that we were both definitely impressed with how loyal the people of Aubrey were to each other and how they helped each other out in difficult times.

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