Evelyn Virginia BIRD Linton Oral Interview

Evelyn Virginia BIRD Linton Oral Interview

(with Son Ken Conducted in September 2010 and Updated in June 2012.)

Ken Linton © 2014

Linton Research Fund Publication © 2014

LINTON & BIRD Chronicles, Volume VIII, Issue 4 Winter © 2013, ISSN 1941-3521

I was born on May 17, 1922, in the Riverside district of Fort Worth, Texas, in a wood framed house at the corner of "Jeff" and "Grace" Streets. My father's name was Jeff Augustus Bird ("Gus" to most people), Daddy helped his father, build the house that I was born in. Daddy was a journeyman plumber. My mother's name was Claire Myrtle GRAY Bird. I was the fourth child to be born of a total of 16 kids (eight boys & eight girls).

In 1924,  the family moved to Dallas were Daddy had found work. We had a border collie dog named "trixie". I remember flying a kite one day with my father and my older brothers, the cord got wrapped around my left leg causing a real bad burn. I still have a scar on that leg to this day. My brothers Albert & Donald were born while we lived in Dallas.

In 1927, we moved to Brownsville where Daddy's Mother and Father had just opened up a grocery store. Daddy found work as a plumber. My sister, Margaret, was born down in Harlingan, on April 17, 1928. I remember that the whole family went to a lake to swim and fish for the weekend. The kids camped out in "the back of the pickup truck"; while mom and dad slept in the car.

Daddy moved us to Galveston for a while, in 1928, for work. I remember all of us going to a beach to swim and play in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1929, Daddy found work in Austin. There I attended Stephan F. Austin Elementary School, on Rio Grande Street, for grades 1^st through 3^rd (1929-1931).  I remember taking part in the May Pole Dance in either the 2^nd or 3^rd grade. This was the depression years and Daddy could not find work as a plumber, so he took a job as a laborer doing odd jobs for the city and he was paid 25 cents/day. The Salvation Army provided us with a Thanksgiving dinner in 1930. In early summer of 1931, we had to move out of our city house into an old house in the country because we did not have money to pay the rent. This old house had no in-door plumbing and no electricity. Momma cooked over an open fireplace in the house. Kerosene lanterns and candles were used for light. We kids had to bring buckets of water from the nearby creek every day. The Salvation Army provided us with clothes.

In 1932, I remember Momma having a nervous breakdown due to the "hard living conditions" out in the country. Daddy decided to drive Momma back to her family home in Norfolk, Virginia to help her to recover. To help pay for the trip, Daddy received a "lump sum pension" payment from the government for being a World War I veteran.  So, all ten of us kids went to live with Uncle Johnny (Daddy's brother) in Austin for several months. Then, it was decided that Uncle Johnny would take all of us kids (except baby brother Buster) up to Fort Worth to live with our grandmother, Drucella Gay Bird, and Uncle Frank (19 yrs old). They lived in the Oakhurst district of Fort Worth on Buff Street. Baby Buster (Carlton), was to stay with Aunt Lilly in Austin for a while. During the driving trip to Ft. Worth, our dog "trixie" ran away and couldn't be found.  I attended Oakhurst Elementary school at this time (1932 & 1933).

Momma & Daddy returned from their Virginia trip after several months (I don't remember the month). Then we all moved into a house on Race Street in the Riverside district of Ft. Worth. I attended Riverside Elementary School. Sometime in 1933, we had to move into a house on Channault Street in Riverside because Daddy couldn't pay the rent. The twins, Francis & Franklin (Cissy & Buddy) were born at this time. And then later that year, we had to move into a 2^nd house on Channault Street. I think that we even had to move again into a house on Paradise Street for several months.

In 1935, we moved into a house back on Race Street, in the Riverside district of Fort Worth. I remember walking many times from our house to the apartment of my brother Eddie and his wife Tommie there on Race Street. Tommie had a sewing machine that I learned to use to make school clothes for myself and the kids.

Sometime in 1937, we moved into Daddy's newly finished plumbing company's workshop (Bird Plumbing & Heating) located on Blandin Street. The warehouse-like workshop was divided into five rooms. The boys (Earl, Snookum, Albert, Buster, Donald, & Buddy) shared a room with Momma & Daddy. The girls (me, Sister, Potsy, Margaret, Cissy, & Mary) shared a separate room. I learned to ride a bicycle there in the shop area. I remember that we used to play dominos and football there also. The family lived there until sometime in 1944. I started attending Riverside High School about that time.

Sometime in 1939, Daddy was in a very bad car accident. I think it was on a weekend, and he was taking Uncle Tom (Thomas Jefferson Bird), my brothers Albert & Donald, and a family friend (Pete Hollingsworth) frog hunting. I think an on-coming car lost control and swerved towards them forcing Daddy to steer off the road (I don't remember the road's name) and hitting a concrete barrier. The impact forced the car's steering wheel into Daddy's chest. Uncle Tom suffered a broken leg; Pete Hollingsworth was killed instantly; Albert & Donald, who were in the back seat, were thrown out of the car and into a field and got wrapped in barbed-wire. Daddy was taken to a hospital in Ft. Worth---I don't remember the name. He was placed in an "iron lung" to help him to breathe---we were told that he was the first patient in Ft. Worth to be on one. That's when Earl (Mom's older brother) had to support the family for a while by running the family business (BIRD Plumbing and Heating, "Don't cuss call gus").