Reflections of My Life by JL Byars – page 26

As a member of the Scurry County Genealogy Society Doris was doing research to find information regarding my Dad.  He had left Tennessee at the age of 13 and had never mentioned his parent’s names or where he was born.  Doris’ search lasted 10 years.  She learned my grandfather’s name and the location of a Byars cemetery.  In 1991, shortly after our 50th wedding anniversary, we drove to McMinville, Tennessee to look for the cemetery where my grandparents and great grandparents were buried.  On the way there I told Doris, “It is well and good to learn where my relatives are buried, but I would like to find some living relatives.”  She reminded me that it had been over a hundred years since my Dad had come to Texas and no way could there be any of the family still there.  How wrong she was – we found “cousins by the dozens.”  They also had been searching for relatives of my Dad.

We also learned that the Byars relatives had an annual reunion each June in McMinville.  The next summer Doris and I and our children attended.  On Sunday we went to the little Church of Christ, whose records read that W. F. Byars (my Dad) had gone to Texas in 1869.  We sat on the same wooden benches he had sat on, all those many years before.  We and some of our children have attended the reunion every year except one.  It has been so great to “trace my roots” and to get to know all the cousins and to see how much we have in common.

After Doris retired we enjoyed traveling.  Almost every month you could find us going to the Dallas-Fort Worth area to see our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  We usually managed to get lots of garage sales made and stopped by a flea market or two.

In 1996 we sold our home in Ira and moved to Snyder.  We spent lots of enjoyable hours at our “#10 Swap Shop” and made lots of good friends.  We have gone to Robert Pruitts’ Auction in Big Spring every Thursday night for over ten years.  The people there are like family.