HAROLD AUGUST SANDERS

The following bio was taken from page 381 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

I, Edna May Petty, am a native Texan and have lived all my life within its boundaries. I was born in San Antonio, Texas, September 4, 1911. My parents were John Henry and Annie Laura (Sims) Petty. There are two other daughters, Katie Lee Hunt of Henderson and Mary Vivian Adams (deceased), also of Henderson.

My Texas heritage comes from my great-great-grandfather, Job Williams, who arrived in Texas in 1828 as one of Stephen F. Austin’s colonists, receiving a league of land near what is now Edna, on the Navidad River. He played a big part in the Texas Declaration of Independence and the ensuing war that won that independence from Mexico.

My husband, Harold Sanders, was born June 18, 1906, in Franklin, Iowa. His parents were August Jacob and Alvina Catherine (Martin) Sanders. The family later moved to Kansas and then to Texas when Harold was three. They settled in Aransas Pass where Harold grew up. When he was thirteen, he worked on an oil tanker as a cook’s helper and deck hand, hauling crude oil out of Tampica, Mexico. At nineteen, he went to the oil field at Mirado City, Texas, where he worked on various drilling rigs. In March, 1926, he went to work for Sun Oil Company. He continued with them until his retirement July 1, 1964, due to disability.

Harold and I met at Mirando City and were married at Crystal City, November 24, 1927. We had two children, Betty Lois and Harold (Gus), Jr. In June, 1932 the company transferred Harold to the Henderson area. We built what was known in the oilfield as a "shotgun house," two rooms and a screen porch, on the Cooper Lease at Carlisle (now Price).

Our children attended Carlisle School until the ninth grade. We then moved to Wright City in 1944. They attended Salem School, then transferred to New London, where they graduated in 1947 and 1948, respectively. They were not attending there at the time of the explosion.

Betty Lois married Hulan Ray Herring at Wright City, September 14, 1947. They had one son, Harold Franklin, who married Nancy Elliott. Hulan Ray died January 6, 1978. Betty Lois then married Clarence Robuck in January, 1980. They live near Henderson.

Gus attended A & M College four years, graduating as a second lieutenant in the Air Force, spending two years in active duty, one of them being in Korea. In his senior year, he married Patsy Sue Shindler of Overton. They had two children, Scott and Laura Sue, both of whom are married and reside in Bethany, Oklahoma.

The company transferred Harold and me to Forsan in January, 1953 and back to Rusk County in 1961, where we brought our first home in Kilgore. Until then we had lived in company houses.

We celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary November, 1977 with a reception hosted by our children and grandchildren. We plan to spend our remaining years here, surrounded by our family and friends from all over the area.

Submitted by Edna May Sanders