Dusty (Vida Mae Hilliard) Emery

I am hedging a little bit on this site, since Mom requested no public obituary.

She requested an immediate cremation.

She did not wish to have a church funeral or service.

A private memorial will be held in Haskell, Texas on August 17, 2013.

I would like to apologize in advance concerning any spelling errors or fuzzy memories.

My Mom was born in Haskell, Texas to Horace and Villa Hilliard. I'm sure my Mom, and her brothers and sisters referred to them as Mama and Papa. All the grandchildren called them Grandma Mama and Grandpa Papa. Had a nice ring to it. I hope she is visiting with friends and family right now, as I put these thoughts to paper.

She grew up on a "red dirt" cotton farm just outside of Haskell, and there was plenty of hard work to go around besides going to school. There was Aunt Virgie, Uncle Jessie, Uncle Son, Aunt Sis, my Mom Dusty, Uncle Tex and Aunt Ellen. I don't think the farm had electricity until sometime around 1960 when the dam was built nearby. As for plumbing, lets just say you didn't have to worry about clogged drains, or flushing the toilet.

I sincerely doubt there will be another generation like the one that grew up and lived through The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl years and World War II as well as other hardships. You learned how to make do, share and to take care of others. One man said, "I may have grown up poor, I just didn't know it." I do know that there were many good times as well.

According to her "Autographs" book, from 1941, it seems she was a bit of a "tomboy" and athletic in sports such as volleyball and basketball. Uncle Tex tells me while she was attending Paint Creek High School, she was the first person in the area to have served twenty one straight points during a volleyball game. She told me how much she enjoyed rebuilding a Ford Model A or T engine with Uncle Son, and was amazed with how it worked. She also mentioned riding into town in an old Model T or A that was a little bit embarrassing... but it sure beat walking.

I loved going to Haskell with my Mom and Dad, visiting with all the relatives and going out to the farm. What an adventure for me and my sisters (city kids I guess). I always remember seeing a couple of big old brown mules on the left hand side of the road "down yonder near the tank," and the farm house, bunk house, barns, sheds and miscellaneous farming equipment nearby on the right as you pulled up to the farm gate.

Grandma Mama would be wearing a bonnet, long dress with long sleeves and an apron... If my memory isn't playing tricks on me, I seem to recall Grandpa Papa always wearing a tan hat, tan pants, thin belt with suspenders, long sleeve shirts and sturdy work boots or shoes. As you walked into the kitchen through the back door, who could forget the 10 gauge shotgun hanging over the door to the left? The wood stove, ice box, kerosene lamps, home made lye soap, and water dippers... the sounds and tastes and smells. Chickens running around the yard. Mostly good farm scents. When the sun went down, sometimes you would hear coyotes off in the distance. There were no city lights. Don't even mention taking shelter in the tornado cellar. I don't recall anyone ever using the front door.

You might be invited to "run down yonder" and pick some wild fruit, passing a huge jack rabbit with foot long ears along the way, or seeing a couple of tarantulas marching along through a field... and you might even get to find out what chiggers are. "Yawl like to try a taste of this chew?" You also had to learn to speak Texan.

Anytime Son, Tex and Ellen were around, you were subjected to some dry wit and lots of laughter. Aunt Ellen made everyone feel like they were the most favorite person in the world to her. How about a nice tall glass of sweet tea from a ten gallon stoneware crock at Aunt Virgie's house, with Aunt Ellen, Uncle Tex, Aunt Jean, and others providing some live Country music? Uncle Tex mentioned he had played with Ernest Tubb. Somebody needs to sit down with him and record some of his memories.

My Mom met my father (Robert J. Emery) through Uncle Tex in Oakland, California, and later married him in Reno, Nevada about the time he was discharged from the Navy. He and Uncle Tex served together for a time on board the aircraft carrier, USS Boxer. Both were Radio Men.

My sister Barbara was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1949. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1951. They moved to Denver in 1952, and Terri and Tammy were both born in Denver in 1955 and 1961.

My Dad told me that he had travelled through Denver and Colorado Springs on a Troop Train and fell in love with the Rocky Mountains. Mom and Dad drove a 1937 Hudson, Terraplane from Brainerd, Minnesota to Denver in 1952. I don't think his mother, as well as several others, thought they would make it to Denver driving the Hudson.

Mom has lived in the same house they originally rented and later purchased in Littleton, since 1952. My Dad was remarried, retired and living in Phoenix when he passed away in August of 2006.

Mom became an RN (Registered Nurse), at Saint Luke's Hospital in downtown Denver. Nurses were still wearing white hats, dresses, stockings and shoes at that time. Later she became a surgical nurse providing instruments to the surgeons during surgery. I remember her coming home from work and being "on call." Sometimes she'd get a phone call, turn around and go right back to work.

She also drove "modified" Ford Model A Coupes in "Powder Puff" Stock Car Races at Lakeside Amusement Park Speedway along I-70.

In the late sixties she was sitting on an off ramp from 6th Avenue onto Sheridan Blvd., waiting for the light to turn green when she was rear ended at high speed by another driver. She wound up in the back seat of the car. Following several neck surgeries she was no longer able to withstand the long hours on her feet and retired from nursing. I can't remember a time when she didn't work. Right up through 2011.

She loved Country music and she always had her radio tuned to 1600 AM KLAK (Clock Radio On Your Country Dial!). As kids, we were always listening to it in the background without realizing it. Seems I loved it too, I just didn't know it yet.

She loved animals and always had an ample supply of dogs and cats (and other assorted rascals, varmints and critters hanging around the house), thanks to her (4) children, (10) grandchildren and (9) great grandchildren. The doors were never locked and lots of neighborhood kids were welcome as well.

I'm going to miss her.

I would also like to thank the Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary & Cemetery folks for being so kind, understanding, and providing this web site.

Take care,

Butch