Opal Avarilla Brooks Rue
Explanation
The following notes were written by Opal Rue, in early 1975, as a Christmas present. Another account of her family's early life, written by her sister, Rotha Lee Brooks MacKay, is also available here. TSR
I, Opal Rue, was born Opal Brooks on September 26, 1909 in Giles Texas. My mother was Clara Ada Morrow Brooks and my father was Joseph Winfield Brooks. He was a itinerant salesman, preacher in the Christian church, and general jack of all trades. I had a sister, Rotha Lee, who was two years younger than I. When I was four, in September 1913, I was badly burned with boiling coffee and was taken to my grandmother's house who lived in Hedley, Texas. My grandmother was Martha Bell Fuqua Morrow, and my grandfather was James Alphus Morrow. While my mother, sister and I were at my grandparents' house, still in September, my father was at his brother's wheat ranch near Silverton, Texas. He was cutting feed with a jack knife and throwing it in a wagon when a storm came up and lightning struck his jackknife. He was killed and my mother was left with two little girls and a new baby boy who was born in March 1914 after my father was killed. She was 24. She had a rough time bringing us up and made many mistakes. She took on a homesteading project (after a divorce from my stepfather) outside Endee, New Mexico and an oil well was drilled on that property with no results. After that, we bought a house in Tucumcari and I went to school there not graduating until after I met and married Arthur.
I was working as a baby-sitter in the local minister's home when Arthur came as a visitor and stayed to work in a local restaurant. I met him on Valentine's Day in 1926 and we were married in September 1927. Arthur went to Kansas City, Kansas and got a job in the spring and sent for me. We were married in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in a small apartment on Kansas Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. Arthur worked in a box factory for 25 cents an hour. I got pregnant right away and on July 23, 1928 I had a baby girl. I had gone back to Tucumcari to have the baby and then went back to KC again. The baby died when she was six months old of cribdeath.
The depression started and Arthur was out of a job. He got a job on a road construction project and we lived on the job in a tent, but then he decided he might get a job in Cleveland and so we hitch-hiked there. We arrived there with $3.00 and late in the day with no place to stay. Arthur took me to the police station for a place to sleep. I was pregnant at the time, and when Arthur came to get me the next day the police wouldn't let me go. They thought I was a runaway girl. He got our marriage license from the post office, where we'd mailed our papers, and they let me go. In November 1929, I had a miscarriage and lost the baby I was pregnant with.
I went to school at Central High School on 55th St. and Arthur had a job with Hupp Co. In August 1930, Bill was born and I left him with the landlady and continued my education. In November 1931 Hupp Corporation moved to Detroit. They gave Arthur a letter and, thinking he might get a job, we took a bus to Detroit. Bill was just a year old. He learned to walk just after we got to Detroit.
The mayor of Detroit had made the factories promise not to give jobs to outsiders and so Arthur couldn't get a job. We had arrived in Detroit with $75.00 and Arthur got a job at Goodwill Industries selling books. They sent him to Boston to learn more about the business and because they'd pay our expenses after we got there, but only his fare, we took the money and hitch-hiked, leaving Bill with out landlady. We spent five days in New York City and the rest of the summer in Boston where we had a wonderful time.
When we returned to Detroit, Arthur decided he'd like a book shop and started buying books and storing them. When he decided he had enough, we rented a shop on Warren and Junction for $25.00 a month. We ran the book shop for eight years.
In the meantime, Arthur was looking for a place where we could build a house and have a garden. We bought an acre in Livonia in the 1930s. In 1934, Clyde was born; and in February 1936, Robert was born. We moved from the shop on Warren to one on Livernois with an apartment attached in 1937. Arthur had started working for Ford Motor Co. in 1935, leaving me the running of the book shop.
We started work on construction of a house and garage, and during the big Ford strike we moved in (upstairs) at Easter time with no stairway. Steps had been put like a ladder. The only windows were upstairs. We used a little oil stove for heat and cooking. By fall we had it sealed in and moved downstairs. Arthur and the children and I did it all, except for a roof, the back porch, and stairway. We also later had asbestos siding put on.
In 1959, I took a Licensed Practical Nurse course and got a job at Plymouth State Home, where I worked for 12 years.
Opal B. Rue, 1974, in a NJ cornfield.
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FAMILY WRITINGS
