Dick's best friend growing up was Curtis Gorman, the younger brother of Jesse and Artie Gorman who were married to his older sisters Josie and Texas Owen. According to family legends, Dick and Curtis were quite spirited as teenagers and prone to making mischief. The story goes on that before the boys were of legal age, Dick's father Richard Owen and Curtis' older brothers Artie and Jesse drove them to Fort Worth and signed the papers enabling them to join the Army.
Dick served as a truck driver for General Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WW I. He saw a truck blown up in front of him by an artillery shell but managed to get through the war unscratched.
On returning from the Army, Dick married Luella Whatley of the Rankin-Byrd Community on September 24, 1921. He initially went to work for his older brother Jim in the East Texas oil fields. While working on a drilling rig, he caught his right hand in the machinery and lost most of the fingers on his right hand. He loved to tease his nieces and nephews with his "claw" and told them "stories" about how he lost the ends of his fingers in heroic action in the War.
He returned to Rankin were he worked for his father in the retail grocery business. When his father died, Dick took over the business and ran it as a combined grocery store, filling station and garage. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell.
In the fall of 1941 Dick got a job working briefly as a civilian employee of the US Gov't installing military defenses in the Panama Canal Zone. After WW II started, Dick and Luella went to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Moline, Illinois, where Dick received civil service training as a technician for the US Army's heavy guns.
That training was followed with his employment by the US Army at what was then "Camp Hood". He and Luella moved to Belton for a brief time, then to Hood Village on the Camp Hood Reservation. After the war, they moved to Killeen. Dick continued to work at Fort Hood until his retirement in the late 1960's.
Dick was an avid bird hunter. He owned several Browning automatic shotguns and raised hunting dogs. Everything Dick did he did with enthusiasm and a sprit of excellence.
Dick served as a truck driver for General Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WW I. He saw a truck blown up in front of him by an artillery shell but managed to get through the war unscratched.
On returning from the Army, Dick married Luella Whatley of the Rankin-Byrd Community on September 24, 1921. He initially went to work for his older brother Jim in the East Texas oil fields. While working on a drilling rig, he caught his right hand in the machinery and lost most of the fingers on his right hand. He loved to tease his nieces and nephews with his "claw" and told them "stories" about how he lost the ends of his fingers in heroic action in the War.
He returned to Rankin were he worked for his father in the retail grocery business. When his father died, Dick took over the business and ran it as a combined grocery store, filling station and garage. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell.
In the fall of 1941 Dick got a job working briefly as a civilian employee of the US Gov't installing military defenses in the Panama Canal Zone. After WW II started, Dick and Luella went to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Moline, Illinois, where Dick received civil service training as a technician for the US Army's heavy guns.
That training was followed with his employment by the US Army at what was then "Camp Hood". He and Luella moved to Belton for a brief time, then to Hood Village on the Camp Hood Reservation. After the war, they moved to Killeen. Dick continued to work at Fort Hood until his retirement in the late 1960's.
Dick was an avid bird hunter. He owned several Browning automatic shotguns and raised hunting dogs. Everything Dick did he did with enthusiasm and a sprit of excellence.
Dick's best friend growing up was Curtis Gorman, the younger brother of Jesse and Artie Gorman who were married to his older sisters Josie and Texas Owen. According to family legends, Dick and Curtis were quite spirited as teenagers and prone to making mischief. The story goes on that before the boys were of legal age, Dick's father Richard Owen and Curtis' older brothers Artie and Jesse drove them to Fort Worth and signed the papers enabling them to join the Army.
Dick served as a truck driver for General Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WW I. He saw a truck blown up in front of him by an artillery shell but managed to get through the war unscratched.
On returning from the Army, Dick married Luella Whatley of the Rankin-Byrd Community on September 24, 1921. He initially went to work for his older brother Jim in the East Texas oil fields. While working on a drilling rig, he caught his right hand in the machinery and lost most of the fingers on his right hand. He loved to tease his nieces and nephews with his "claw" and told them "stories" about how he lost the ends of his fingers in heroic action in the War.
He returned to Rankin were he worked for his father in the retail grocery business. When his father died, Dick took over the business and ran it as a combined grocery store, filling station and garage. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell.
In the fall of 1941 Dick got a job working briefly as a civilian employee of the US Gov't installing military defenses in the Panama Canal Zone. After WW II started, Dick and Luella went to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Moline, Illinois, where Dick received civil service training as a technician for the US Army's heavy guns.
That training was followed with his employment by the US Army at what was then "Camp Hood". He and Luella moved to Belton for a brief time, then to Hood Village on the Camp Hood Reservation. After the war, they moved to Killeen. Dick continued to work at Fort Hood until his retirement in the late 1960's.
Dick was an avid bird hunter. He owned several Browning automatic shotguns and raised hunting dogs. Everything Dick did he did with enthusiasm and a sprit of excellence.
Dick served as a truck driver for General Pershing's American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WW I. He saw a truck blown up in front of him by an artillery shell but managed to get through the war unscratched.
On returning from the Army, Dick married Luella Whatley of the Rankin-Byrd Community on September 24, 1921. He initially went to work for his older brother Jim in the East Texas oil fields. While working on a drilling rig, he caught his right hand in the machinery and lost most of the fingers on his right hand. He loved to tease his nieces and nephews with his "claw" and told them "stories" about how he lost the ends of his fingers in heroic action in the War.
He returned to Rankin were he worked for his father in the retail grocery business. When his father died, Dick took over the business and ran it as a combined grocery store, filling station and garage. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell. In 1933 he sold this business to his nephew, Elliott Gorman and opened a similar business in nearby Bardwell.
In the fall of 1941 Dick got a job working briefly as a civilian employee of the US Gov't installing military defenses in the Panama Canal Zone. After WW II started, Dick and Luella went to Minneapolis, Minnesota and Moline, Illinois, where Dick received civil service training as a technician for the US Army's heavy guns.
That training was followed with his employment by the US Army at what was then "Camp Hood". He and Luella moved to Belton for a brief time, then to Hood Village on the Camp Hood Reservation. After the war, they moved to Killeen. Dick continued to work at Fort Hood until his retirement in the late 1960's.
Dick was an avid bird hunter. He owned several Browning automatic shotguns and raised hunting dogs. Everything Dick did he did with enthusiasm and a sprit of excellence.
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