The following by William C. Wessels:
As a child, my grandfather spent a lot of his time working in the fields picking cotton in the summer and attending school in the winter. When not doing one or the other, baseball was likely his favorite sport. He had learned to play the violin, but I guess he was not much for performances as I only heard him once. I believe he and his brothers did not care for field work as all pursued other occupations when old enough. This seemed to be the generation that wanted to move from the farm to the city. In addition, most rarely spoke the German language they learned in childhood and embraced the freedom provided by the increasing availability of the automobile.
Upon finishing school, he went on to higher education in the nearby town of Yoakum to learn office skills, such as shorthand. He then married and settled in Houston to work as a secretary for the vice-president of the Southern Pacific railroad. As I look through the pictures taken over the years, I see he attended many business luncheons and took several business trips. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge as many of his friends were as well.
His favorite pasttimes were working crossword puzzles and listening to the baseball games on the radio. While waiting to take the bus to work, he would buy the newspaper. After catching up with current events and baseball scores, he took great pleasure in doing the crossword puzzles. Some of these were quite challenging and required a great deal of trivia knowledge. He could complete even the large ones in record time. After dinner, he often would retire to his bedroom to lie on the bed and listen to the ball game. Even though we would hear him snore at times, he always insisted he was listening to the game.
When I was just a child, he would take me and my brothers and sister to visit his sister (Annie Frers) and husband, Henry in West Point, which was just down the road from the farm house he grew up in. While there, the kids would play outside while they spent time catching up on whatever while having coffee around the kitchen table or in the living room.
A visit to the farm was always a treat. I would enjoy sleeping upstairs in the room that was his and would imagine what his childhood years were like. On occasions, we would go out to collect pecans. One time he took me and my brother on a nighttime walk through the woods for a coon hunt with several friends and relatives. This was a favorite sport of his generation as many of his friends would gather to take the dogs out hunting until after midnight. After a small campfire with a snack of coffee, bread and sausage, we would return to the farmhouse around 1-2 in the morning. I recall another time we were having breakfast in the kitchen and could hear armadillos beneath the house making a lot of noise.
During my high school years, he had bought land by a lake just north of Conroe. They built a house there with a pier that went several yards out over the water. Many family gatherings were spent there over the following years.
Along with my parents, he and grandma helped me financially throughout college. For this and many other acts of kindness I shall always be grateful. I admire my grandparents for all they had accomplished and am thankful for how they helped and inspired me to succeed in life.
He is the father of George Fred Wessels Jr., Donald Franklin Wessels and Kathryn Reaves.
As a child, my grandfather spent a lot of his time working in the fields picking cotton in the summer and attending school in the winter. When not doing one or the other, baseball was likely his favorite sport. He had learned to play the violin, but I guess he was not much for performances as I only heard him once. I believe he and his brothers did not care for field work as all pursued other occupations when old enough. This seemed to be the generation that wanted to move from the farm to the city. In addition, most rarely spoke the German language they learned in childhood and embraced the freedom provided by the increasing availability of the automobile.
Upon finishing school, he went on to higher education in the nearby town of Yoakum to learn office skills, such as shorthand. He then married and settled in Houston to work as a secretary for the vice-president of the Southern Pacific railroad. As I look through the pictures taken over the years, I see he attended many business luncheons and took several business trips. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge as many of his friends were as well.
His favorite pasttimes were working crossword puzzles and listening to the baseball games on the radio. While waiting to take the bus to work, he would buy the newspaper. After catching up with current events and baseball scores, he took great pleasure in doing the crossword puzzles. Some of these were quite challenging and required a great deal of trivia knowledge. He could complete even the large ones in record time. After dinner, he often would retire to his bedroom to lie on the bed and listen to the ball game. Even though we would hear him snore at times, he always insisted he was listening to the game.
When I was just a child, he would take me and my brothers and sister to visit his sister (Annie Frers) and husband, Henry in West Point, which was just down the road from the farm house he grew up in. While there, the kids would play outside while they spent time catching up on whatever while having coffee around the kitchen table or in the living room.
A visit to the farm was always a treat. I would enjoy sleeping upstairs in the room that was his and would imagine what his childhood years were like. On occasions, we would go out to collect pecans. One time he took me and my brother on a nighttime walk through the woods for a coon hunt with several friends and relatives. This was a favorite sport of his generation as many of his friends would gather to take the dogs out hunting until after midnight. After a small campfire with a snack of coffee, bread and sausage, we would return to the farmhouse around 1-2 in the morning. I recall another time we were having breakfast in the kitchen and could hear armadillos beneath the house making a lot of noise.
During my high school years, he had bought land by a lake just north of Conroe. They built a house there with a pier that went several yards out over the water. Many family gatherings were spent there over the following years.
Along with my parents, he and grandma helped me financially throughout college. For this and many other acts of kindness I shall always be grateful. I admire my grandparents for all they had accomplished and am thankful for how they helped and inspired me to succeed in life.
He is the father of George Fred Wessels Jr., Donald Franklin Wessels and Kathryn Reaves.
The following by William C. Wessels:
As a child, my grandfather spent a lot of his time working in the fields picking cotton in the summer and attending school in the winter. When not doing one or the other, baseball was likely his favorite sport. He had learned to play the violin, but I guess he was not much for performances as I only heard him once. I believe he and his brothers did not care for field work as all pursued other occupations when old enough. This seemed to be the generation that wanted to move from the farm to the city. In addition, most rarely spoke the German language they learned in childhood and embraced the freedom provided by the increasing availability of the automobile.
Upon finishing school, he went on to higher education in the nearby town of Yoakum to learn office skills, such as shorthand. He then married and settled in Houston to work as a secretary for the vice-president of the Southern Pacific railroad. As I look through the pictures taken over the years, I see he attended many business luncheons and took several business trips. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge as many of his friends were as well.
His favorite pasttimes were working crossword puzzles and listening to the baseball games on the radio. While waiting to take the bus to work, he would buy the newspaper. After catching up with current events and baseball scores, he took great pleasure in doing the crossword puzzles. Some of these were quite challenging and required a great deal of trivia knowledge. He could complete even the large ones in record time. After dinner, he often would retire to his bedroom to lie on the bed and listen to the ball game. Even though we would hear him snore at times, he always insisted he was listening to the game.
When I was just a child, he would take me and my brothers and sister to visit his sister (Annie Frers) and husband, Henry in West Point, which was just down the road from the farm house he grew up in. While there, the kids would play outside while they spent time catching up on whatever while having coffee around the kitchen table or in the living room.
A visit to the farm was always a treat. I would enjoy sleeping upstairs in the room that was his and would imagine what his childhood years were like. On occasions, we would go out to collect pecans. One time he took me and my brother on a nighttime walk through the woods for a coon hunt with several friends and relatives. This was a favorite sport of his generation as many of his friends would gather to take the dogs out hunting until after midnight. After a small campfire with a snack of coffee, bread and sausage, we would return to the farmhouse around 1-2 in the morning. I recall another time we were having breakfast in the kitchen and could hear armadillos beneath the house making a lot of noise.
During my high school years, he had bought land by a lake just north of Conroe. They built a house there with a pier that went several yards out over the water. Many family gatherings were spent there over the following years.
Along with my parents, he and grandma helped me financially throughout college. For this and many other acts of kindness I shall always be grateful. I admire my grandparents for all they had accomplished and am thankful for how they helped and inspired me to succeed in life.
He is the father of George Fred Wessels Jr., Donald Franklin Wessels and Kathryn Reaves.
As a child, my grandfather spent a lot of his time working in the fields picking cotton in the summer and attending school in the winter. When not doing one or the other, baseball was likely his favorite sport. He had learned to play the violin, but I guess he was not much for performances as I only heard him once. I believe he and his brothers did not care for field work as all pursued other occupations when old enough. This seemed to be the generation that wanted to move from the farm to the city. In addition, most rarely spoke the German language they learned in childhood and embraced the freedom provided by the increasing availability of the automobile.
Upon finishing school, he went on to higher education in the nearby town of Yoakum to learn office skills, such as shorthand. He then married and settled in Houston to work as a secretary for the vice-president of the Southern Pacific railroad. As I look through the pictures taken over the years, I see he attended many business luncheons and took several business trips. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge as many of his friends were as well.
His favorite pasttimes were working crossword puzzles and listening to the baseball games on the radio. While waiting to take the bus to work, he would buy the newspaper. After catching up with current events and baseball scores, he took great pleasure in doing the crossword puzzles. Some of these were quite challenging and required a great deal of trivia knowledge. He could complete even the large ones in record time. After dinner, he often would retire to his bedroom to lie on the bed and listen to the ball game. Even though we would hear him snore at times, he always insisted he was listening to the game.
When I was just a child, he would take me and my brothers and sister to visit his sister (Annie Frers) and husband, Henry in West Point, which was just down the road from the farm house he grew up in. While there, the kids would play outside while they spent time catching up on whatever while having coffee around the kitchen table or in the living room.
A visit to the farm was always a treat. I would enjoy sleeping upstairs in the room that was his and would imagine what his childhood years were like. On occasions, we would go out to collect pecans. One time he took me and my brother on a nighttime walk through the woods for a coon hunt with several friends and relatives. This was a favorite sport of his generation as many of his friends would gather to take the dogs out hunting until after midnight. After a small campfire with a snack of coffee, bread and sausage, we would return to the farmhouse around 1-2 in the morning. I recall another time we were having breakfast in the kitchen and could hear armadillos beneath the house making a lot of noise.
During my high school years, he had bought land by a lake just north of Conroe. They built a house there with a pier that went several yards out over the water. Many family gatherings were spent there over the following years.
Along with my parents, he and grandma helped me financially throughout college. For this and many other acts of kindness I shall always be grateful. I admire my grandparents for all they had accomplished and am thankful for how they helped and inspired me to succeed in life.
He is the father of George Fred Wessels Jr., Donald Franklin Wessels and Kathryn Reaves.
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