A CHAT WITH PAT

6

I have certainly enjoyed getting acquainted with Patty Hoopes/Pat Preston since we have had the Paradise Blog. She and I have had several e-mail's going back and forth and she has contributed much to the Blog.

Through a few if our conversations, I'm sure you will enjoy knowing what Pat is doing 50 years later . . . . . plus some of her memories.

Her first e-mail came to me on June 5, 2008.
(She e-mailed me, rather than Commenting on the blog. It is great that she contributes with Comments now - and . . . I still enjoy her e-mail's.)

Subject: Are you there?
Enjoyed looking at the pic's and I do remember Jon Bach. He scared us plenty of times. Dad had him help dig a cistern for us, he ate at our table and he was there when I fell into the bottom of the cistern. Mom ran the Paradise Cafe and many of times we had to wait for supper cause he wouldn't leave the cafe so Mom could come home. My mom missed a lot of basketball games and other activities we Hoopes were in because of Bach. But she catered to a lot of people of Paradise. Jon was so dirty all you could see was the white of his eyes and he would just look at you. Many a times we hated to walk home at night after a game because we knew he was down there sitting in front of the cafe or Tom Harrells Hardware store. We ran like the dickens and then we had to cross the old bridge of Paradise with the wooden walk and ran like blazes across it cause there were hobo's that stayed under that thing and the wooden bridge would creak. Does any body remember the old Billy Groover house in Paradise that we use to go in and the old pipe organ and all the stuff that was in there?????Paths all over it.The old house out on some road by the dip where we had our MYF ghost parties????Pat Hoopes Preston

She then sent me a picture of her family, which is on the blog, and I asked her about her family.

Subject: My family
The picture was taken when Jim Grimes died and that's all of the family from the first group that could come. The grand kids and cousins and other were there also Sharon Dwinelle was there also. Of course cousins.

Terry lives in New York. Delphan lives in Fla. Larry lives in Wichita, Kan,Glen and Linda in Colo.Velma lives in Woodston and Jack lives in Russell Kans. I live in Wolfforth Tex. Of course Marjorie died of cancer so that's the lot of the Hoopes Family.. 9 of us. Made Paradise proud for the basketball teams boys and girls.
Talk to you later.
Does any body Remember Mrs Ringler???? Millard ???????Hey wake up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My response

Subject: Thanks to YOU!
Millard is back to woodcarving. He has a Woodcarving Show coming up in a couple of weeks. Has a lot to do to be able to sell anything. His ole' fingers will be stuck to the knives by the time he gets through.
I taught with Mrs. Ringler. She was there for many years, wasn't she? I think she was probably the only one that had been there for several years when I started teaching. All the rest of us were new.
Pat, we truly appreciate your support and interest in the blog. We don't know whether anyone else is reading it or not. I hate to bug them by repeating so many e-mail's about it.
If you have addresses, we would certainly appreciate it if you would email them about it.
Also . . . . do you have any more pictures? All of our pictures are Harrell or Dodson related. We would like to get pictures of others also.
I'm just about to run out of pictures. I still have pictures from the last Paradise reunion that I will put on in a week or two. Then, I won't have any more . . . . . unless I can dig deeper in some boxes or an old trunk or something.
Thanks again for your comments. And . . . . . . PLEASE keep it up.
I would love to hear more about you and your family.
Onnalee


Subject: Re: Our Family

Oldest -James is a preacher now a District Supt. in Chicago Ill. Has his masters. Over 50 - 60 churches.
2nd Lee is a psychologist and teaches in a college in San Antonio Tex. Also has a private business in the church to help people with problems. Has his masters.
3rd Branda is a teacher of English and has her masters now is a counselor at Eddy Tex schools.

All doing great . All my kids have their Masters, which I have no college education but I worked in the school for 28 yrs teaching computers and running a computer labs of 120 computers. Don't that just ring your bell me running and fixing computers after having a classes of Jr. High kids in the room for a day. I loved it tho. Jr. High students are such a joy their hormones would kick in and one day great kids and next bad day at flat rock.

We have 4 grand children and they are such a joy. But some times I love the red tail lights as they leave Mee Mee 's house. I have a Austic grand son and he is so smart but has a time of keeping friends. Kids don't understand him he so logical and memorizes all the books he reads and knows all about trains, and dinosaurs. We think he got this from his shots as a baby. He wasn't that way when he was a baby and we could see the change in the pictures as he has grown up. He is 11 yrs old. The oldest is 14 and is a girl I worry about her the time gets away from us and it won't be long until she is out of School hope she goes to college. I always wanted my children to go to college because I didn't have the chance.

My husband is semi retired and works for Warren Cat Tractors. Works out of the home.We have been married for 48 going on 49 years the old 50 is coming up soon. We live in Texas a little town called Wolfforth but school goes by Frenship. It growing we live in the country but Lubbock is growing and its almost out to us so our country life may be no longer. Where these people are coming we don't know. As for me I am retired and enjoy being at home and work in yard and work out at the body works. Do water aerobics, which I hate swimming but its a work out for me. We had 3 children and all have their masters and like I said I didn't have the money to go to college and became a beautician first and worked in a shop and put up with ladies from 7am-7pm . When the kids came along I quit and stayed at home until they were school age and started sub teaching in the schools and they offered this job of computer work. I found this very festinating and it turned out to be more of a job and got more interesting to me. I loved the kids (Jr. High) but running these computers and keeping them in tip top shape for 28 years I and my legs wore out. I retired and have really enjoyed it of course miss the kids but we still go to all the foot ball and basket ball games and participate in school functions. We are the Frenship Tigers. My kids all graduated from Frenship. What we did in my time in high school is what they did in grade school and now they have college credits when they graduate. These children are really highly educated and my grand children are taking things in school that we did in high school so it's all much farther along, don't know whether this is good or not but I do know they will be running the country long after we are gone and God help them.


I left home May of 1958. As it was said, my plate was broken and my brother took me in to go to school, which was Beautician school, that summer. Good for my brother to take me in. He was stationed at Reese Air Force base here in Lubbock. The town I live in is where Weldon ( Husband) was raised and its just 10 miles outside of Lubbock. He had gotten out of the Navy in the 1960's. While I was working, my friend introduced us cause she was from here. And the rest of it is history. My husband graduated from this town we live in and was raised here.

You shouldn't ask me to tell you about my family !!!!! Thanks for asking.

Thanks again for the blog I've enjoyed and I know my brothers and sisters have to the ones with computers. Pat
Pat Preston

We have had many other e-mail's, but these are the one's that tells about her family. Through all of these e-mail's, she did not tell me about Larry - that is, what he is like. Since she read about what he did at the reunion though, she said "It sounds just like my brother."
And, she added . . . . . "Oh yes, Larry was a stinker growing up but all the Hoopes were .. but me.. haahaa Pat"