It was different from the past Halloweens where pranks such as setting outdoor facilities up on top of the business district buildings, or oiling the streets which caused slippery streets for the trick or treaters surprise.

The old house stood proudly in the middle of the street. It was used for a haunted house for the teens during that period. Teenagers included Bruce Popko, Paul Wilson, and Miss Scarlet Popko and Onor Goin and all my teenagers and the other friends of that bunch. The old house stood so stately in the middle of the street. It apparently had an all seeing eye because it did not encounter any damages that were noticeable while it was parked on the middle of Main Street. No parking violations were cited during that period of nightmares in my life.

The hold up for moving the house was due a cable that was running across the Main street that supposedly fed phone service to the eastern half of Aubrey. The phone company wanted in excess of ten thousand dollars to move the cable so the line would clear the steep top of the part of the house that was going to be cut off. After I cut the top ten feet off the house, the house remained for a long time in the middle of Main Street. The traffic on the north part of town was a very polite and courteous group of people because they understood the problem confronting the house’s journey for a couple of blocks east.

My legal advisor researched a number and told me to get the Mayor (which was Lewis George) to call the number and politely ask that the house be permitted to proceed on further to it’s intended location without any further interruptions. Because of its almost permanent-looking location in the Middle of Main, the Mayor was very happy to go to the phone with me. The person on the other end of the line was almost expecting the nice call that the Mayor was making and I could hear only the part that Mayor Lewis spoke which was "will you please allow me to clear the Main Street," and then the Mayor said "yes, I will be there promptly at 8:00 am tomorrow morning." And it was then the Mayor said "Thank You" with a very courteous reply.

I was still in suspense because I didn’t expect anything good to come from the phone company. The next morning, the one-man crew from the telephone company, promptly at eight o’clock climbed up the pole and snipped the line. The house mover came on through from the long halted position of the old house and on up Main Street to the Hill Street location, and within two hours the house was unloaded on it blocks and the movers were on the way to another project.

I thanked the phone man very graciously and promised that I would never buy another house and have it relocated. He laughed big and said, "well, if so give us a holler". My work was all cut out to repair the top ten feet and restore the rest of the house as Mr. and Mrs John Welch immediately bought the house and moved in with their two daughters Amy and Gay, they were about two years older than our youngest son Sam. Oh incidentally the phone line was dead from the beginning and was never reinstalled..

My relationship with Mayor of Aubrey, Lewis George was always one of a pleasant and enjoyable nature and I found that the same courtesy from him was very widely accepted. He did a marvelous job in the town and getting all of the streets paved with the help of the county commissioner Chester Sparks.

The Mayor’s attitude with me was always the same and his leadership is one example that this community was greatly in need of when he took that job. I will always be grateful to him for his help in such a trying time. I discovered that he had a way of resolving nightmares.

Now to get back on the history of the 1930s. Across the street from the old Tobin house as it set on Main Street was another landmark Victorian home. It was one that belonged to Aubrey’s own cattleman by the name of William L. Holman. The house was later occupied by Mr and Mr. Bill Pettit. The Pettits were long time Grocery store and house rental landlords from the 1940's until his passing some few years after we started the hardware business next door during the 1960's.

William. L. Holman was in the cattle business and out north on Main Street on a large spread of land that has become part of the Veneable Ranch. Mr. Holman’s wife was Ida C. The value of the home was listed as worth $1800 and they did not possess a radio. They had a boarder by the name of Pearl Hammons who was 31 years in the 1930 record. Mr. Holman was 56 and his wife Ida was 63. Pearl Hammons’ parents were from Mississippi while the Holmans’ parents were from Kentucky. He was not a veteran of the Military.

Across the street on the east side lived Mary J. Simpson who was 74 years old and her parents were from Tennessee. Her son Walter Webb was 48 years old and lived with her. The house was later owned by Buster and Edith Hunn. Buster and Edith did extensive work on the old house but the basic structure on the front still holds the original appearance.

Walter D. Hodge lived to the south of W. L. Holman. Walter Hodge was 47 and his wife Stella M. was 47. They had been married since they were 19 years of age. Walters parents were from Alabama while Stella‘s parents were from Missouri. The Hodges had three children in 1930, a daughter by the name of Mary P., age 25, along with Walter O., a son age 22, and a daughter Mildred, age 11.

Walter D. was listed as the County commissioner while his daughter Mary P. was a Music teacher in the Public school. Walter O. was listed as a farmer and did general farm work. He was not a veteran of the military.

My photo for the week is the Tobin House after it was moved and relocated on its present location. It is now occupied by my son-in-law, John Hunnicutt, and his wife, Deborah Goin. They have one daughter, Holly Ann Hunnicutt, who is a Sophomore at Aubrey High School.