ROBERT BERRY HOME

WILLIE HOWELL BERRY was born on February 22nd 1882 in Henrietta, Clay County Texas. Willie Howell Berry died on November 7th 1958 in Amherst, Lamb County Texas. Willy Howell Berry and Sarah May Benham were married on February 21st 1909. Sarah May Benham was born on April 29th 1882 in Bloomfield Indiana and she died on October 22nd 1979 in Littlefield Texas
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MY GRANDAD

The name brings back floods of the most beautiful and wonderful memories of a child hood long past. I remember bib over-alls and striped dress shirts. I remember the huge round table with my grandad shaving from a pan of hot water by lamplight.I remember him tilting the straight-back chair against the wall and lighting his pipe.He would then tell us stories by the hour, in the flickering lamplight, of the days when he was a cowboy and drove cattle up the Old ChisholmTrail.

He would sometimes sing to us about lone prairies where the coyotes howled and the wind blew free.
Then he would sing about * little dogies * that were supposed to * git along to 8 somewhere. When Saturday came he would hitch the horse to the old wagon and take all us kids into Amherst to buy peppermint sticks. They came in all colors, red.yellow.green and lavender. To this day peppermint has never tasted as good to me as those little sticks did.

In the picture on the left:
Willie Howell Berry Sr
His wife Sarah May Benham Berry
Their son James Alexander (Alec) Berry
Their daughter Hettie Prescilla Berry

I remember the smell of him.... I would sit on his lap and the smell was of horses, leather and tobacco. It was of legends and dreams. There was always the feeling that he had done things and knew things that no one else knew but God. He always seemed so close to God that I often wondered if he might be an angel on vacation from Heaven. He would take me to the cellar to get vegetables for supper where the smell of raw earth.the overbearing dampness and the closeness took your breath away.
It was as if we were back at the beginning of time.
The shelves were stacked high with Mama's canned fruits and the vegetables grown in her own garden.
The sugar-cured hams hung from the ceiling braces in bags.

I remember the red bandana handkerchief that was his,
tucked safely away in the corner of my dresser drawer.
I remember the sound of the chickens in the early morning and the fresh smell of rain.
I remember flowered wallpaper and the storeroom in the old house with no paint.
I remember the window curtains tied in knots to let the sunshine in.
I remember sand and the sound of a distant train.moaning across the plains, through the damp morning air, going to places that he would never see.
When I remember my grandad, the feeling of warmth and security flood over me and I feel safe no matter what the world is doing around me.

He wasn't a large man in stature, but even as a child I knew he was a giant among men. The two weeks each summer that we spent with him were like being in another world. There were no troubles, no problems, just a loving refuge from the modern world and it's fast growing terrors. He left me with the memory that once I knew a truly Godly, man.. My grandad...
WILLIE HOWELL BERRY
Joyce Clark Foster 1978

There are three known children born to this union.

• CHILDREN of WILLIE H. AND SARAH BERRY

• James Alexander Berry b. Dec. 11 1909 d. Jun 22nd 1989

• Hettie Precilla Berry b.Apr.9th 1912 d. Feb 5th 2003

• Willie Howell Berry Jr. b. Jun. 2 1917