From a Letter written by Lena Faye Webb, wife of
Elma Webb.
In December 1984 she wrote:
"We moved to Yoakum county in either '31 or '32 - in January and it was a cold and cloudy day. I'll never forget it, from Brownfield to Plains it was a dirt road, so much sand we could hardly get through at times. When we finally got to the farm about night, the house was full of sand and so cold, first thing we did was put up a wood stove and get a fire going. Then a couple of beds. Don't remember what we ate but am sure that it wasn't much. Took the kids to school next morning and then back to cleaning the house and getting the furniture in.
The population of Plains was about 300 and there were no paved roads in the county, one telephone in town in the back of the grocery store. No entertainment of any kind, occasionally some rancher would have a dance and we would attend once in a while. This was during the depression. We had enough to eat but no money to spend. Of course everyone was in the same boat so we didn't think much about it, but I was happy when they struck oil in the south part of the county, on section 392 I think, and we moved there in 1940.
We had the only drug store for some time, had a pharmacy and a liquor store in the back, sold by prescription only. Some people thought it was sinful to sell liquor, but I didn't care. We made a lot of money and the oil field rough necks, and also the big shots bought a lot of it. Anyway I was tired of not having money and doing without. So I just kept on selling whiskey. Elma worked in the Post Office during some of this time. In 1942 the State Legislature passed a law against selling liquor by prescription and so that was the end of that era."
Lena Faye Ballenger, 91, of Kingsland, died April 2, 1997. Funeral services were held April 4, at 10:30 A M at Trinity Episcopal Church with Rev Bob Talbert officiating. Burial followed at Lakeland Hills Memorial Park under the direction of Waldrope-Hatfield-Hawthorne Funeral Home. She was born September 4, 1905 in Tarrant County. She moved to Kingsland in 1976 and was a homemaker. She was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Marble Falls and a former member of the American Legion Auxilliary. She is survived by her son Billy Rex Webb and wife Geraldine of Austin and sister Geraldine Hancock and husband George of Lovington NM. She was preceded in death by two husbands, Elma Davis Webb in 1953 and Lawrence Ballenger in 1987 and son Woodrow Webb in 1947.
