Page 361 - Foy
P. 361
Wanting to see and photograph those tomb stones my wife, Sally, and I went to
Rochelle, Texas. We stopped at one of the first stores we found on the edge of town
which turned out to be an antique store named Barr Teques owned by Gloria Barr.
There were many treasures in that store but the most valuable treasure for us was
Gloria herself for she knew members of the RENFRO family and knew a little about
their story.
Gloria told us how to find the cemetery and explained that for years the Cowboy
Cemetery was maintained by a preservation group headed up by a woman named
Dorothy Gamblin. Dorthy Gamblin, it turned out, had married Sim W. Gamblin one
of MISSOURI’s grandsons. SIM’s mother was one of MISSOURI’s daughters, ALICE
ELIZABETH RENFRO.
In 1996 I wrote to Dorothy Gamblin, who was then living in Streetman, Texas 75859
and sent her a photograph of Aunt Sis. That same year she called me and we
discussed the RENFROs. The following comes from notes I took during that
conversation:
The photograph of Aunt Sis I sent to her is the MISSOURI OWEN FOY RENFRO
who was married to THOMAS C. RENFRO. Dorothy related MISSOURI died only
two years after she had married MISSOURI’s grandson, Sim Gamblin, so she did not
know MISSOURI well and, of course, had never met THOMAS RENFRO as he had
died years earlier.
Dorothy related that MISSOURI lived her final years in two places. She lived for a
time in Mason, Texas with her son BOB RENFRO and she lived in Ft Worth, Texas
with a daughter named ROXIE JACKSON. Dorothy did not get to visit with
MISSOURI much and does not recall her ever mentioning having relatives living in
the Cisco, Texas or Anson, Texas areas. She said MISSOURI did not talk much about
her side of the family in her presence.
Dorothy said MISSOURI had at least five children she knew of. (It turns out she
actually had nine children.) They were three sons named ROBERT (or BOB), JOHN,
and WILLARD; she was not sure about the name WILLARD. MISSOURI had two
daughters; ROXIE and ALICE ELIZABETH RENFRO to Dorothy’s recollection.
BROTHERS & SISTERS OF JOHN ELON FOY 6