Patsy Ruth (Booker) Brown was the daughter of Conder Asbury Booker, Sr., and Estella (Stella) Mildred Fish. She was born September 19, 1933 in Newton County, Texas, very close to the Louisiana border, in the family home in southeast Texas. Their street at that time had no name but the old homeplace was on what was in 2002 the site of the nursing home in Newton.
Patsy was the fourth of five children; her siblings were Condor A. Booker, Jr., Frank Martin Booker, Mildred Faye Booker, and James Henry Booker. Each was born at one of two family homes between 1926 and 1935. The children all grew up in the Methodist church and regularly attended both Sunday School and church service. Patsy recalled one particular Sunday School teacher, a war veteran who preferred relating his war experiences to teaching them about Baby Moses and Baby Jesus. The church Patsy attended is the same one she was later married in.
Her father was born in Shelby County, Texas, just north of Newton; he worked as a laborer for the Texas Highway Department. During World War II, Mr. Booker was assigned by his employer to Orange, Texas to guard the intercoastal canal and to operate the opening/closing of the bridge over the canal. He remained in Orange, Texas after that; when the children visited him, they were fascinated by the bridge operations. Mr. Booker died about 1963 in the hospital at Beaumont, Texas.
Patsy's mother was a stay-at-home mom until World War II when she began working as a salesperson in the drug store and variety store. Patsy's parents divorced when she was in her late teens. Her mother later remarried after Patsy had already left home, then engaged in real estate sales.
Patsy's childhood was a happy one; the family was poor but since everyone else was too, they did not notice. They lived about a mile outside of Newton and she was an outdoors girl from the beginning -- a characteristic which lasted her whole life. She enjoyed playing and tromping in the woods nearby, picking berries or just enjoying nature. The only time she even considered playing dolls or paper dolls was when the weather was rainy and she couldn't play outside; during bad weather days, she and her sister either played with paper dolls or played in the barn.
Patsy's mother always had a milk cow and a vegetable garden and chickens. Patsy's chores included gathering eggs, picking the garden, and milking the cow. Patsy's brother, Jimmy, shared the cow-milking chore. They had a red wagon and would pull that wagon under the cow; each child would sit on one end of the wagon and milk the cow on that side. Patsy also churned the milk to produce butter. During her jaunts in the woods, she picked blackberries and huckleberries which her mother used to make homemade cobblers and jelly. One chore she managed to escape was canning. Although the Booker children helped pick the vegetables and shell the peas, Mrs. Booker did all the canning herself. One chore which was a regular family project was the laundry. The family home did not have electricity, running water in the house nor indoor plumbing for toilet facilities, so both laundry and baths required that water be drawn from the well and heated. The laundry was done in a big black wash pot over a wood-burning fire in the backyard; this was very hard work and took all day long. They were blessed with a good well which produced very good water for drinking, cooking, and laundry.
The Booker family was blessed with a mother who was a good cook. Patsy's favorite dish was her mother's homemade banana pudding, which she made from scratch the old-fashioned way, cooking and cooling the custard before adding sliced bananas, then spreading the top with actual meringue and browning it in the oven. She raised chickens for both eggs and food and added her homegrown vegetables for good, nutritious meals for her family. The family also raised hogs for food; on slaughter day her mother fried up a special treat for the children -- "cracklings" from the hog fat.
For years, Mrs. Booker tried to get access to city water and to have electricity installed at the Booker household. They eventually did get water access and were able to discontinue baths in the #3 washtub when Patsy was a teenager. However, they lived a mile from the courthouse square and were barely outside the city limits so the city had no interest in providing utilities to them. The rural electric co-op (REA) also did not want to provide electricity to them because they were too close to the city. The city finally did come through about 1950 or 1951 and gave them them access to electricity when Patsy was about 18 years old. Up to that time, she had bathed in a washtub and studied by kerosene lamp. It was not until after she had left home that they installed an indoor bathroom and abandoned the outhouse and #3 washtub for bathing. The Booker family felt they had finally "arrived" when all utilities were available to make life a little easier.
When Patsy was about 18 years old, she and her sister worked several jobs to make ends meet for themselves. They both worked in the movie theater at night, switching every other day between ticket-selling and ushering so each could see all the movies free. One night when she was ushering, Patsy was immediately attracted to a handsome customer named David Brown, a young soldier stationed in Ft. Polk. They started dating, became serious and made plans to marry, but David was 4 months short of 21 years old, the legal age for men to marry. Patsy forged his mother's signature so they could get a marriage license, and they married on 2 August 1953 in Newton, Texas. It should be noted that David's mother wanted him to marry, so she was thrilled with the match.
In their early marriage years, David and Patsy lived near the Texas Gulf coast and had their four children -- Byron Douglas, David Weldon, Jr., and twins, Cheryl Gwen and Darrell Glen. The kids grew up in small towns in that area, such as League City and Dickinson. David and Patsy were an industrious, enterprising and adventurous couple, who entered various other business enterprises, including a Western Auto store in Colorado for two years, where they also purchased and ran an 80-acre beef cattle ranch. Their young son, David Weldon Brown, Jr., died in Colorado in 1967. They eventually went north to Alaska, including Kenai and Fairbanks, before returning to the lower states about 1979. As they moved, Patsy worked in banks in each of their Alaska home cities. The twins, Darrell and Cheryl, moved to Hawaii and Cheryl died while living there in 1988. Their oldest son, Douglas, remained in Alaska and reared his family there.
After leaving Alaska, Patsy and David moved to Kerrville, Texas and took a year off. In 1980 David drove a truck for 6 months. In 1981-1985 they built and ran a travel trailer park in Dickinson. They sold that business and purchased a tractor-trailer rig and for a few years David drove an eighteen-wheeler truck for Mayflower and Graebel Trucking Lines; Patsy became his driving and traveling partner, driving enough to give him rest and relief ... but steadfastly refusing to back the rig up!
In his youth David had learned to love the Devil's River area near Del Rio, Texas, and in 1983 David and Patsy purchased 20 acres of land on the Devil's River and drove their RV there for vacations to enjoy this beautiful, remote area and to fish and hunt. They eventually decided to build their retirement home there and moved on site on Devil's River in 1993.
They lived on the river until David developed terminal cancer. Their years on Devil's River were some of the best of their life, as they both enjoyed the isolated and rugged beauty of the land and river, the good catfish fishing hole they had on the river, as well as good hunting. Living there required a lot of planning, especially for Patsy, as the roads were not good, the mailbox was about 50 miles away in Del Rio, Texas and a trip to the store was no easy task. Patsy used her deep freeze a lot, not only to freeze fish she had caught, but to stock up for long spells between visits to town. Toward the end of David's life, they found it advisable to sell the property and move into San Angelo, Texas where his oncologist was. David died in 2001 in San Angelo and Patsy remained there in their apartment after his death, then moved to a rented condo iin College Station for a few years. There she re-established a close relationship with her sister-in-law, Totsie, and the two single women enjoyed adventures and traveling together.
In 2006 Patsy and her son, Darrell Glen ("Mo"), moved to Apache Junction, Arizona, a place where her oldest son, Doug, owned a summer home where he brought his family during Alaskan winters, so the family enjoyed more time together.
Before Christmas 2014 Patsy was diagnosed with colon cancer in Arizona and was treated with chemotherapy. Always a fighter, Patsy survived and had a good life before she died in January 2021.
Patsy was the fourth of five children; her siblings were Condor A. Booker, Jr., Frank Martin Booker, Mildred Faye Booker, and James Henry Booker. Each was born at one of two family homes between 1926 and 1935. The children all grew up in the Methodist church and regularly attended both Sunday School and church service. Patsy recalled one particular Sunday School teacher, a war veteran who preferred relating his war experiences to teaching them about Baby Moses and Baby Jesus. The church Patsy attended is the same one she was later married in.
Her father was born in Shelby County, Texas, just north of Newton; he worked as a laborer for the Texas Highway Department. During World War II, Mr. Booker was assigned by his employer to Orange, Texas to guard the intercoastal canal and to operate the opening/closing of the bridge over the canal. He remained in Orange, Texas after that; when the children visited him, they were fascinated by the bridge operations. Mr. Booker died about 1963 in the hospital at Beaumont, Texas.
Patsy's mother was a stay-at-home mom until World War II when she began working as a salesperson in the drug store and variety store. Patsy's parents divorced when she was in her late teens. Her mother later remarried after Patsy had already left home, then engaged in real estate sales.
Patsy's childhood was a happy one; the family was poor but since everyone else was too, they did not notice. They lived about a mile outside of Newton and she was an outdoors girl from the beginning -- a characteristic which lasted her whole life. She enjoyed playing and tromping in the woods nearby, picking berries or just enjoying nature. The only time she even considered playing dolls or paper dolls was when the weather was rainy and she couldn't play outside; during bad weather days, she and her sister either played with paper dolls or played in the barn.
Patsy's mother always had a milk cow and a vegetable garden and chickens. Patsy's chores included gathering eggs, picking the garden, and milking the cow. Patsy's brother, Jimmy, shared the cow-milking chore. They had a red wagon and would pull that wagon under the cow; each child would sit on one end of the wagon and milk the cow on that side. Patsy also churned the milk to produce butter. During her jaunts in the woods, she picked blackberries and huckleberries which her mother used to make homemade cobblers and jelly. One chore she managed to escape was canning. Although the Booker children helped pick the vegetables and shell the peas, Mrs. Booker did all the canning herself. One chore which was a regular family project was the laundry. The family home did not have electricity, running water in the house nor indoor plumbing for toilet facilities, so both laundry and baths required that water be drawn from the well and heated. The laundry was done in a big black wash pot over a wood-burning fire in the backyard; this was very hard work and took all day long. They were blessed with a good well which produced very good water for drinking, cooking, and laundry.
The Booker family was blessed with a mother who was a good cook. Patsy's favorite dish was her mother's homemade banana pudding, which she made from scratch the old-fashioned way, cooking and cooling the custard before adding sliced bananas, then spreading the top with actual meringue and browning it in the oven. She raised chickens for both eggs and food and added her homegrown vegetables for good, nutritious meals for her family. The family also raised hogs for food; on slaughter day her mother fried up a special treat for the children -- "cracklings" from the hog fat.
For years, Mrs. Booker tried to get access to city water and to have electricity installed at the Booker household. They eventually did get water access and were able to discontinue baths in the #3 washtub when Patsy was a teenager. However, they lived a mile from the courthouse square and were barely outside the city limits so the city had no interest in providing utilities to them. The rural electric co-op (REA) also did not want to provide electricity to them because they were too close to the city. The city finally did come through about 1950 or 1951 and gave them them access to electricity when Patsy was about 18 years old. Up to that time, she had bathed in a washtub and studied by kerosene lamp. It was not until after she had left home that they installed an indoor bathroom and abandoned the outhouse and #3 washtub for bathing. The Booker family felt they had finally "arrived" when all utilities were available to make life a little easier.
When Patsy was about 18 years old, she and her sister worked several jobs to make ends meet for themselves. They both worked in the movie theater at night, switching every other day between ticket-selling and ushering so each could see all the movies free. One night when she was ushering, Patsy was immediately attracted to a handsome customer named David Brown, a young soldier stationed in Ft. Polk. They started dating, became serious and made plans to marry, but David was 4 months short of 21 years old, the legal age for men to marry. Patsy forged his mother's signature so they could get a marriage license, and they married on 2 August 1953 in Newton, Texas. It should be noted that David's mother wanted him to marry, so she was thrilled with the match.
In their early marriage years, David and Patsy lived near the Texas Gulf coast and had their four children -- Byron Douglas, David Weldon, Jr., and twins, Cheryl Gwen and Darrell Glen. The kids grew up in small towns in that area, such as League City and Dickinson. David and Patsy were an industrious, enterprising and adventurous couple, who entered various other business enterprises, including a Western Auto store in Colorado for two years, where they also purchased and ran an 80-acre beef cattle ranch. Their young son, David Weldon Brown, Jr., died in Colorado in 1967. They eventually went north to Alaska, including Kenai and Fairbanks, before returning to the lower states about 1979. As they moved, Patsy worked in banks in each of their Alaska home cities. The twins, Darrell and Cheryl, moved to Hawaii and Cheryl died while living there in 1988. Their oldest son, Douglas, remained in Alaska and reared his family there.
After leaving Alaska, Patsy and David moved to Kerrville, Texas and took a year off. In 1980 David drove a truck for 6 months. In 1981-1985 they built and ran a travel trailer park in Dickinson. They sold that business and purchased a tractor-trailer rig and for a few years David drove an eighteen-wheeler truck for Mayflower and Graebel Trucking Lines; Patsy became his driving and traveling partner, driving enough to give him rest and relief ... but steadfastly refusing to back the rig up!
In his youth David had learned to love the Devil's River area near Del Rio, Texas, and in 1983 David and Patsy purchased 20 acres of land on the Devil's River and drove their RV there for vacations to enjoy this beautiful, remote area and to fish and hunt. They eventually decided to build their retirement home there and moved on site on Devil's River in 1993.
They lived on the river until David developed terminal cancer. Their years on Devil's River were some of the best of their life, as they both enjoyed the isolated and rugged beauty of the land and river, the good catfish fishing hole they had on the river, as well as good hunting. Living there required a lot of planning, especially for Patsy, as the roads were not good, the mailbox was about 50 miles away in Del Rio, Texas and a trip to the store was no easy task. Patsy used her deep freeze a lot, not only to freeze fish she had caught, but to stock up for long spells between visits to town. Toward the end of David's life, they found it advisable to sell the property and move into San Angelo, Texas where his oncologist was. David died in 2001 in San Angelo and Patsy remained there in their apartment after his death, then moved to a rented condo iin College Station for a few years. There she re-established a close relationship with her sister-in-law, Totsie, and the two single women enjoyed adventures and traveling together.
In 2006 Patsy and her son, Darrell Glen ("Mo"), moved to Apache Junction, Arizona, a place where her oldest son, Doug, owned a summer home where he brought his family during Alaskan winters, so the family enjoyed more time together.
Before Christmas 2014 Patsy was diagnosed with colon cancer in Arizona and was treated with chemotherapy. Always a fighter, Patsy survived and had a good life before she died in January 2021.
Patsy Ruth (Booker) Brown was the daughter of Conder Asbury Booker, Sr., and Estella (Stella) Mildred Fish. She was born September 19, 1933 in Newton County, Texas, very close to the Louisiana border, in the family home in southeast Texas. Their street at that time had no name but the old homeplace was on what was in 2002 the site of the nursing home in Newton.
Patsy was the fourth of five children; her siblings were Condor A. Booker, Jr., Frank Martin Booker, Mildred Faye Booker, and James Henry Booker. Each was born at one of two family homes between 1926 and 1935. The children all grew up in the Methodist church and regularly attended both Sunday School and church service. Patsy recalled one particular Sunday School teacher, a war veteran who preferred relating his war experiences to teaching them about Baby Moses and Baby Jesus. The church Patsy attended is the same one she was later married in.
Her father was born in Shelby County, Texas, just north of Newton; he worked as a laborer for the Texas Highway Department. During World War II, Mr. Booker was assigned by his employer to Orange, Texas to guard the intercoastal canal and to operate the opening/closing of the bridge over the canal. He remained in Orange, Texas after that; when the children visited him, they were fascinated by the bridge operations. Mr. Booker died about 1963 in the hospital at Beaumont, Texas.
Patsy's mother was a stay-at-home mom until World War II when she began working as a salesperson in the drug store and variety store. Patsy's parents divorced when she was in her late teens. Her mother later remarried after Patsy had already left home, then engaged in real estate sales.
Patsy's childhood was a happy one; the family was poor but since everyone else was too, they did not notice. They lived about a mile outside of Newton and she was an outdoors girl from the beginning -- a characteristic which lasted her whole life. She enjoyed playing and tromping in the woods nearby, picking berries or just enjoying nature. The only time she even considered playing dolls or paper dolls was when the weather was rainy and she couldn't play outside; during bad weather days, she and her sister either played with paper dolls or played in the barn.
Patsy's mother always had a milk cow and a vegetable garden and chickens. Patsy's chores included gathering eggs, picking the garden, and milking the cow. Patsy's brother, Jimmy, shared the cow-milking chore. They had a red wagon and would pull that wagon under the cow; each child would sit on one end of the wagon and milk the cow on that side. Patsy also churned the milk to produce butter. During her jaunts in the woods, she picked blackberries and huckleberries which her mother used to make homemade cobblers and jelly. One chore she managed to escape was canning. Although the Booker children helped pick the vegetables and shell the peas, Mrs. Booker did all the canning herself. One chore which was a regular family project was the laundry. The family home did not have electricity, running water in the house nor indoor plumbing for toilet facilities, so both laundry and baths required that water be drawn from the well and heated. The laundry was done in a big black wash pot over a wood-burning fire in the backyard; this was very hard work and took all day long. They were blessed with a good well which produced very good water for drinking, cooking, and laundry.
The Booker family was blessed with a mother who was a good cook. Patsy's favorite dish was her mother's homemade banana pudding, which she made from scratch the old-fashioned way, cooking and cooling the custard before adding sliced bananas, then spreading the top with actual meringue and browning it in the oven. She raised chickens for both eggs and food and added her homegrown vegetables for good, nutritious meals for her family. The family also raised hogs for food; on slaughter day her mother fried up a special treat for the children -- "cracklings" from the hog fat.
For years, Mrs. Booker tried to get access to city water and to have electricity installed at the Booker household. They eventually did get water access and were able to discontinue baths in the #3 washtub when Patsy was a teenager. However, they lived a mile from the courthouse square and were barely outside the city limits so the city had no interest in providing utilities to them. The rural electric co-op (REA) also did not want to provide electricity to them because they were too close to the city. The city finally did come through about 1950 or 1951 and gave them them access to electricity when Patsy was about 18 years old. Up to that time, she had bathed in a washtub and studied by kerosene lamp. It was not until after she had left home that they installed an indoor bathroom and abandoned the outhouse and #3 washtub for bathing. The Booker family felt they had finally "arrived" when all utilities were available to make life a little easier.
When Patsy was about 18 years old, she and her sister worked several jobs to make ends meet for themselves. They both worked in the movie theater at night, switching every other day between ticket-selling and ushering so each could see all the movies free. One night when she was ushering, Patsy was immediately attracted to a handsome customer named David Brown, a young soldier stationed in Ft. Polk. They started dating, became serious and made plans to marry, but David was 4 months short of 21 years old, the legal age for men to marry. Patsy forged his mother's signature so they could get a marriage license, and they married on 2 August 1953 in Newton, Texas. It should be noted that David's mother wanted him to marry, so she was thrilled with the match.
In their early marriage years, David and Patsy lived near the Texas Gulf coast and had their four children -- Byron Douglas, David Weldon, Jr., and twins, Cheryl Gwen and Darrell Glen. The kids grew up in small towns in that area, such as League City and Dickinson. David and Patsy were an industrious, enterprising and adventurous couple, who entered various other business enterprises, including a Western Auto store in Colorado for two years, where they also purchased and ran an 80-acre beef cattle ranch. Their young son, David Weldon Brown, Jr., died in Colorado in 1967. They eventually went north to Alaska, including Kenai and Fairbanks, before returning to the lower states about 1979. As they moved, Patsy worked in banks in each of their Alaska home cities. The twins, Darrell and Cheryl, moved to Hawaii and Cheryl died while living there in 1988. Their oldest son, Douglas, remained in Alaska and reared his family there.
After leaving Alaska, Patsy and David moved to Kerrville, Texas and took a year off. In 1980 David drove a truck for 6 months. In 1981-1985 they built and ran a travel trailer park in Dickinson. They sold that business and purchased a tractor-trailer rig and for a few years David drove an eighteen-wheeler truck for Mayflower and Graebel Trucking Lines; Patsy became his driving and traveling partner, driving enough to give him rest and relief ... but steadfastly refusing to back the rig up!
In his youth David had learned to love the Devil's River area near Del Rio, Texas, and in 1983 David and Patsy purchased 20 acres of land on the Devil's River and drove their RV there for vacations to enjoy this beautiful, remote area and to fish and hunt. They eventually decided to build their retirement home there and moved on site on Devil's River in 1993.
They lived on the river until David developed terminal cancer. Their years on Devil's River were some of the best of their life, as they both enjoyed the isolated and rugged beauty of the land and river, the good catfish fishing hole they had on the river, as well as good hunting. Living there required a lot of planning, especially for Patsy, as the roads were not good, the mailbox was about 50 miles away in Del Rio, Texas and a trip to the store was no easy task. Patsy used her deep freeze a lot, not only to freeze fish she had caught, but to stock up for long spells between visits to town. Toward the end of David's life, they found it advisable to sell the property and move into San Angelo, Texas where his oncologist was. David died in 2001 in San Angelo and Patsy remained there in their apartment after his death, then moved to a rented condo iin College Station for a few years. There she re-established a close relationship with her sister-in-law, Totsie, and the two single women enjoyed adventures and traveling together.
In 2006 Patsy and her son, Darrell Glen ("Mo"), moved to Apache Junction, Arizona, a place where her oldest son, Doug, owned a summer home where he brought his family during Alaskan winters, so the family enjoyed more time together.
Before Christmas 2014 Patsy was diagnosed with colon cancer in Arizona and was treated with chemotherapy. Always a fighter, Patsy survived and had a good life before she died in January 2021.
Patsy was the fourth of five children; her siblings were Condor A. Booker, Jr., Frank Martin Booker, Mildred Faye Booker, and James Henry Booker. Each was born at one of two family homes between 1926 and 1935. The children all grew up in the Methodist church and regularly attended both Sunday School and church service. Patsy recalled one particular Sunday School teacher, a war veteran who preferred relating his war experiences to teaching them about Baby Moses and Baby Jesus. The church Patsy attended is the same one she was later married in.
Her father was born in Shelby County, Texas, just north of Newton; he worked as a laborer for the Texas Highway Department. During World War II, Mr. Booker was assigned by his employer to Orange, Texas to guard the intercoastal canal and to operate the opening/closing of the bridge over the canal. He remained in Orange, Texas after that; when the children visited him, they were fascinated by the bridge operations. Mr. Booker died about 1963 in the hospital at Beaumont, Texas.
Patsy's mother was a stay-at-home mom until World War II when she began working as a salesperson in the drug store and variety store. Patsy's parents divorced when she was in her late teens. Her mother later remarried after Patsy had already left home, then engaged in real estate sales.
Patsy's childhood was a happy one; the family was poor but since everyone else was too, they did not notice. They lived about a mile outside of Newton and she was an outdoors girl from the beginning -- a characteristic which lasted her whole life. She enjoyed playing and tromping in the woods nearby, picking berries or just enjoying nature. The only time she even considered playing dolls or paper dolls was when the weather was rainy and she couldn't play outside; during bad weather days, she and her sister either played with paper dolls or played in the barn.
Patsy's mother always had a milk cow and a vegetable garden and chickens. Patsy's chores included gathering eggs, picking the garden, and milking the cow. Patsy's brother, Jimmy, shared the cow-milking chore. They had a red wagon and would pull that wagon under the cow; each child would sit on one end of the wagon and milk the cow on that side. Patsy also churned the milk to produce butter. During her jaunts in the woods, she picked blackberries and huckleberries which her mother used to make homemade cobblers and jelly. One chore she managed to escape was canning. Although the Booker children helped pick the vegetables and shell the peas, Mrs. Booker did all the canning herself. One chore which was a regular family project was the laundry. The family home did not have electricity, running water in the house nor indoor plumbing for toilet facilities, so both laundry and baths required that water be drawn from the well and heated. The laundry was done in a big black wash pot over a wood-burning fire in the backyard; this was very hard work and took all day long. They were blessed with a good well which produced very good water for drinking, cooking, and laundry.
The Booker family was blessed with a mother who was a good cook. Patsy's favorite dish was her mother's homemade banana pudding, which she made from scratch the old-fashioned way, cooking and cooling the custard before adding sliced bananas, then spreading the top with actual meringue and browning it in the oven. She raised chickens for both eggs and food and added her homegrown vegetables for good, nutritious meals for her family. The family also raised hogs for food; on slaughter day her mother fried up a special treat for the children -- "cracklings" from the hog fat.
For years, Mrs. Booker tried to get access to city water and to have electricity installed at the Booker household. They eventually did get water access and were able to discontinue baths in the #3 washtub when Patsy was a teenager. However, they lived a mile from the courthouse square and were barely outside the city limits so the city had no interest in providing utilities to them. The rural electric co-op (REA) also did not want to provide electricity to them because they were too close to the city. The city finally did come through about 1950 or 1951 and gave them them access to electricity when Patsy was about 18 years old. Up to that time, she had bathed in a washtub and studied by kerosene lamp. It was not until after she had left home that they installed an indoor bathroom and abandoned the outhouse and #3 washtub for bathing. The Booker family felt they had finally "arrived" when all utilities were available to make life a little easier.
When Patsy was about 18 years old, she and her sister worked several jobs to make ends meet for themselves. They both worked in the movie theater at night, switching every other day between ticket-selling and ushering so each could see all the movies free. One night when she was ushering, Patsy was immediately attracted to a handsome customer named David Brown, a young soldier stationed in Ft. Polk. They started dating, became serious and made plans to marry, but David was 4 months short of 21 years old, the legal age for men to marry. Patsy forged his mother's signature so they could get a marriage license, and they married on 2 August 1953 in Newton, Texas. It should be noted that David's mother wanted him to marry, so she was thrilled with the match.
In their early marriage years, David and Patsy lived near the Texas Gulf coast and had their four children -- Byron Douglas, David Weldon, Jr., and twins, Cheryl Gwen and Darrell Glen. The kids grew up in small towns in that area, such as League City and Dickinson. David and Patsy were an industrious, enterprising and adventurous couple, who entered various other business enterprises, including a Western Auto store in Colorado for two years, where they also purchased and ran an 80-acre beef cattle ranch. Their young son, David Weldon Brown, Jr., died in Colorado in 1967. They eventually went north to Alaska, including Kenai and Fairbanks, before returning to the lower states about 1979. As they moved, Patsy worked in banks in each of their Alaska home cities. The twins, Darrell and Cheryl, moved to Hawaii and Cheryl died while living there in 1988. Their oldest son, Douglas, remained in Alaska and reared his family there.
After leaving Alaska, Patsy and David moved to Kerrville, Texas and took a year off. In 1980 David drove a truck for 6 months. In 1981-1985 they built and ran a travel trailer park in Dickinson. They sold that business and purchased a tractor-trailer rig and for a few years David drove an eighteen-wheeler truck for Mayflower and Graebel Trucking Lines; Patsy became his driving and traveling partner, driving enough to give him rest and relief ... but steadfastly refusing to back the rig up!
In his youth David had learned to love the Devil's River area near Del Rio, Texas, and in 1983 David and Patsy purchased 20 acres of land on the Devil's River and drove their RV there for vacations to enjoy this beautiful, remote area and to fish and hunt. They eventually decided to build their retirement home there and moved on site on Devil's River in 1993.
They lived on the river until David developed terminal cancer. Their years on Devil's River were some of the best of their life, as they both enjoyed the isolated and rugged beauty of the land and river, the good catfish fishing hole they had on the river, as well as good hunting. Living there required a lot of planning, especially for Patsy, as the roads were not good, the mailbox was about 50 miles away in Del Rio, Texas and a trip to the store was no easy task. Patsy used her deep freeze a lot, not only to freeze fish she had caught, but to stock up for long spells between visits to town. Toward the end of David's life, they found it advisable to sell the property and move into San Angelo, Texas where his oncologist was. David died in 2001 in San Angelo and Patsy remained there in their apartment after his death, then moved to a rented condo iin College Station for a few years. There she re-established a close relationship with her sister-in-law, Totsie, and the two single women enjoyed adventures and traveling together.
In 2006 Patsy and her son, Darrell Glen ("Mo"), moved to Apache Junction, Arizona, a place where her oldest son, Doug, owned a summer home where he brought his family during Alaskan winters, so the family enjoyed more time together.
Before Christmas 2014 Patsy was diagnosed with colon cancer in Arizona and was treated with chemotherapy. Always a fighter, Patsy survived and had a good life before she died in January 2021.
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