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Note: Smith County, Texas Registry of Births, Vol. 3, page 12, #473, filed 7/1/1918
_ _ Childers (sic), no given name, born June 30, 1918 in Arp, Texas. Father, W.T. Childers (sic) 43 years old, born in Texas; mother Fannie Speer 42 years old, born in Alabama.
(The following biography is from this writer's genealogy publication of 1995, slightly updated and edited.)
John Franklin Childress was born late in life to his parents, both of whom were in their mid-40's when he came along. He was a mere six months older than Robert Stephenson, his nephew. Daddy dropped out of school when he was in the eighth grade and cut wood with his father Will for a living. He drove a truck for a while, and then became a maintenance man and bus driver for the London Independent School District. He hired on with the premier local oil company, Humble Oil & Refining, as a roustabout, later moving up to a "pumper's" position. Daddy worked for Humble (later to become part of Exxon) for more than 30 years, taking early retirement at age 58 due to the onset of terminal cancer.
John was somewhat the "strong, silent " type, from my perspective, anyway. He was a very sensitive individual, and I can remember him shedding tears at those events in life that would be less than "significant" to me, I think. He was an extremely honorable person, and never wavered when it came to meting out discipline for us three boys. I can remember like it was yesterday, for example, when my twin and I decided not to take his order to stay in the bus stop, out of the rain, until our school bus came. As soon as Daddy pulled out in his truck, we ran outside. I recall the sinking feeling I had in seeing his red '52 Chevy pickup truck turn slowly and return to the bus stop. Then, he passed down the dreaded sentence that we would receive several "licks" upon our return to the house after all day classroom studies in third grade classes. Of course, the thought of the punishment far surpassed the actual deed, but I'm sure he knew exactly what was happening, and probably had a good chuckle during his day.
Anyway, Daddy was very much a big part of our growing up, and taught all of us boys respect for other people and, above all, the need to be absolutely honest. He also taught us a great deal about the outdoors, including hunting (primarily "bird" hunting, as in "quail") and fishing (all kinds of fresh water fishing, particularly largemouth black bass). Daddy had lots of friends in his peer group, and it happened all too often that one of his buddies would show up at our house about supper time, which would agitate my mother a little bit, as John's supper would usually get cold as he stood outside and shot the breeze with "Nub" Freeman or somebody else.
Daddy was always into something new, like selling custom golf clubs, trading boats, farming or radio repair. He and my mother got along great, and the only time I can remember any differences between them occurred when he delved into the golfing world. My mother was still into the skiing/fishing times at Lake Tyler with us kids, and my dad had moved on into golfing with his buddies. I suppose they agreed to disagree, and my mother and twin brother and I would head to the lake as Daddy headed to the golf course.
Later on, he ran for various civic offices in the small community of New London, such as mayor (I don't think he ever got that office - why I can't imagine) and School Board member, which he filled for several years.
I could write a book about Daddy and Mama, and maybe I will before it's all over. They were the best - the absolute best.
View a photograph of this individual by visiting the online family photo album at:
<a href="http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jpcfamily/">Childress/Mathi s Photo Album</a>
Photographs of many other related individuals also are in the above album.
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