GERTRUDE S. CAREY

The following bio was taken from page 142 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Mrs. Gertrude Spencer Carey was born in Benton, Illinois on December 23, 1889 to William and Mary Summers Spencer. Her early education was in the public schools of Illinois. After graduation from the University of Illinois, she moved with her family to Oklahoma, where she taught school for a number of years. It was in Okmulgee, Oklahoma that she met John Frederick Carey, a successful, self-taught geologist whose family had moved to Oklahoma from Oregon. They were married and had one daughter, Allene (Mrs. Frederick Rimes Files).

I am that daughter and am so thankful for my early home life. My parents were very well suited, both interested in everything in the early part of this fast-changing century, both ambitious and energetic, using their time and talents in the church wherever we were living at that time. My father’s business took him into the oil fields in a number of the western states. These trips some times necessitated my enrolling in a private school in another city in order to have proper schooling. We lost my father at an early age; he had contracted a heart disease. He is buried in Oakley, Kansas.

Mother moved to Kilgore in 1931, although I did not move with her at that time. I finished high school in Pampa and then went on to Texas Tech at Lubbock. It was plain to see, however, that Kilgore was going to be home. Having lived in the west for so many years, with few trees and no possibility of a small garden, Mother had fallen in love with the beauty of east Texas. Everything she planted not only grew but thrived. This reminded Mama, I am sure, of her beloved home state of Illinois.

Mother had not taught school since she married, and she thought that teachers were not paid well enough to take care of the many expenses. Remembering her early training from her father, and applying the aggressive spirit she had learned from my father, she set out on numerous business ventures and was amazingly successful. The areas which gave her the greatest pleasure were the antique shop she opened in Kilgore, and later, a real estate firm in Dallas.

Mother’s health started failing in the sixties, so we added a wing to our home in anticipation of getting her to make her home with us. It was 1976, however, before she was willing to make it a permanent arrangement. Her health was further impaired by a paralytic stroke in 1980, and she now resides at The Hearthstone in Tyler. Our son, F. R. Files, Jr., a practicing attorney in Tyler, his wife Robyn and their children, Jennifer and F. R., III, are most attentive. Mother is fortunate to still be mentally alert and able to enjoy her grandchildren. We are planning her ninety-second birthday party in December!

Mother has always enjoyed her genealogy study, devoting much time in tracing and recording the family history of the Spencer’s and Careys, providing an invaluable insight into the past for generations yet unborn.

Submitted by Allene C. Files