Mr. John Henry Watson Jr.

John Henry Watson Jr. was born February 23, 1936. He was born at Parkland Hospital at 2 AM on the coldest day of February. His mother, Mary Etola Watson and father, John Henry Watson, would have preferred a better time.

He grew up at 908 Walton Street, just off Elm St., which is now referred to as Deep Ellum. He would soon have a sister named Joan Marie, a beautiful girl. John and Joan would soon have more siblings to join them: Linda, Mary, Robert, Alice, Billy and Kathy. A nice happy family.

His dad was a bootlegger on the side and would later have to take time off when he was serving time. The family would go on to move in with his grandparents, Jesse Briscoe and Lille Dean Briscoe. They had a garden and chickens; and one awry goose that liked to chase John around the yard. When John's dad returned from service, the family relocated to 3909 East Side in Dallas. Eastside was a three-room shack with a toilet in the back (toilet, not tub!). All eight of them had to take a bath in a larger metal wash tub with their feet sticking out.

John attended Stephen F Austin school for the next twelve years when there were few middle schools. Before he graduated - they moved again! His dad raised hogs on the city dump and when the war ended he got a good price for them, and they moved into a house on Parnell Street in South Dallas and they all moved in. It was a large house with an inside bath and toilet, heaven!

John graduated from N. R Crozier Tech High School with honors and was a member of the National Honor Society and Salutatorian of the class. He made a speech at graduation and his daddy bought him his first suit for the occasion. By this time, John was already throwing newspapers for the Times Herald and had been for five years, but he decided it was time for a real job with L B Price Mercantile Co. They sold door to door - five dollars down and five dollars a month for a bible, a set of sheets, an iron and so on. His first boss was Lynn Gunn who trained him to be an office clerk. Lynn later became John's best friend, and they had many adventures together. One of them involved Barbara Beeler, John's cousin. Barbara married Lynn Gunn. Soon after, Lynn quit and went to work for the Postal Service. John decided to be a postman too and soon followed. Both of them worked long hours as a substitute and were on call night and day. They decided to quit so they could spend more time with their girlfriends. John and Lynn moved into the dairy business. John drove a milk truck for Cabell's and Lynn drove for Oak Farms. He delivered three days to Highland Park and two days to Mesquite. Mesquite was 'way out in the country' and John almost hit a cow one day while driving, he stopped so fast that all his milk flew forward and many notable events happened to him in 1960.

John met Ann Stanifer whom he married in 1961 and was soon drafted shortly after. He went to Kansas for basic training and on to Fort Hood for advanced training. In the meantime, Ann informed him that he was going to be father! John was then shipped to Germany and ended up in Stuttgart. There he became a company clerk and worked in the office with the first sergeant. John received a telegram that he had a baby boy! He was so happy he bought a whole box of cigars to give out to his buddies in the barracks. His name is James Michael Watson- his son.