The Marriage of Burl and Ruby - 1934

Burl Bales and Ruby Lane met late in 1933.  There weren't many jobs around Hico, but there were a few people of means who were still able to afford a turkey dinner for Christmas.   Burl and Ruby both found temporary employment plucking the feathers from the dead turkeys that were scheduled to be served on Christmas dinner tables.  They didn't get much money for their efforts, but that was where the two of them met.

A very brief courtship followed.  Sometime in January of 1934, they decided to marry.   They never told me how they made the decision.  Papa had a lot of mouths to feed during the depression, and my mother was anxious to get out on her own.   Daddy was lonely and tired of eating his own cooking.  He was a terrible cook.  He once served me a jackrabbit that he killed and cooked.   I had two experiences with that jackrabbit.  It was my first and my last.

Daddy was considered an “eligible bachelor” and everyone was trying to hook him up with somebody.  Stanley Gieseke was the preacher for the Hico Church of Christ, and he told Daddy that he would do the ceremony for nothing if we ever found a wife.  The county clerk even offered him a free license.  By this time Murl had married Etta Mae Latimer, so Daddy was batching it on his own.

They decided to marry on January 19, 1934.   Daddy took Stanley up on his offer to perform a free wedding.   He reminded the county clerk of his free license offer, so they got married moved into their new home.  I'm not sure exactly where they lived when they were first married.

I do know that there was a custom among the people of that area to “shivaree” a newly married couple, which usually meant a dunking in the horse trough.   It was January, and Daddy had no intention of their getting dunked in the horse trough.  He issued threats to all of his so-called friends. He was known to display a high temper, and he was not above getting physical with his fists.  He had something of a reputation as a boxer (at least according to his own accounts).    His buddies must have believed him because they passed on the shivaree.