| |
A life of hardshipsby
Bob Bowman | |
When
you start worrying about the hardships life has thrown at you, consider the plight
of the Clyde Thurman Owens family of Henderson County.
Clyde was a hardworking
East Texas road builder who had to
travel where the jobs were available.
In 1936, he met and married the
love of his life, Anna Louise Schuyler.
While in Little Rock, Arkansas,
in 1940, Clyde took his family to see Boomtown Annie, when his wife went into
labor and was rushed to a hospital. That’s where Linda Ann was born even though
her Uncle Speck wanted to name her Boomtown Annie. Clyde nicknamed her Punkin.
The
Owens finally wound up three years later in Waco
where Larry Elton Owens was born. But when he was a year old, he became sick with
scarlet fever and doctors found out he had Cystic Fibrosis as well.
Larry’s
parents found out they were carriers of Cystic Fibrosis and doctors told the couple
if they had any more children, they would likely have Cystic Fibrosis as well.
It was a hard blow because Mrs. Owens was already expecting. When Barbara
Sue arrived, she, too, had Cystic Fibrosis. But the family tried to make the best
of the bad luck.
In 1947, life became more complicated for Clyde. An accident
took the life of his beloved wife and Linda Ann was unconscious for a month. When
she awoke she could not walk, see or feed herself. She had to re-learn how to
walk and feed herself.
Clyde moved his family to Henderson County where
he had grown up. His parents helped him take care of his kids while he worked.
In 1947, Linda was accepted at the School for the Blind in Austin
where she learned to read and write in Braille.
Larry lost his battle
with Cystic Fibrosis in 1955 and his sister Barbara succumbed to the disease in
1963.
Clyde lived until November 12, 1976, when he died from a Brain Aneurism.
He tried to fight it, but was not strong enough to pull through the operation.
“I miss him very much,” said Linda Ann Phillips. “He raised me and I give him
the credit for how I turned out. I didn’t give up when I became blind, I just
kept trying,” she recalled.
Bob
Bowman's East Texas May 3, 2009 Column
A weekly column syndicated in
70 East Texas newspapers
Copyright Bob Bowman | |
|
