The Citizens Journal (Atlanta, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1949 Page: 1 of 32
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SEVENTIETH YEAR
ATLANTA, CASS COUNTY, TEXAS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1949
NUMBER FIFTY-ONE
:
Letter from Lula
Mae Ledbetter
The following letter was receiv-
ed by Mrs. Horace Thomas from
her daughter, Lula Mae Thomas
Ledbetter, who lives on Guam with
her husband. It very interestingly
tells of the storm that hit the is-
land recently:
Sunday, Nov. 19
Dear Ma and D. H.
The hurricane or typhoon or
cyclone (I fread that they all mean
the same thing) anyway it's over,
and we are all safe and sound.
Our house stood the winds of 120
miles per hour, but so many did
not. It is hard to believe that not
a person was injured, after one
drives about over the island and
sees the condition of houses that
did not stand up and household
tilings scattered every where. But
every one left the houses they
were in doubt about and went to
typhoon shelters, concrete houses
or visited friends who lived in the
ranch type houses. Many of the
ranch houses around us lost their
shingles and we wondered as we
saw their shingles ruffling up and
blowing away, if ours were com-
ing off.
We were very lucky, I believe
that our house, being set ri^ht
near the foot of a mountain, and
below a high ridge, the hill pro-
tected us, any way we just got
our beds and things in the bed-
room soaked with water, and some
of the pictures blew down and
broke, my hooked rugs are about
done for, they are a wet, faded
mess right now. If it would clear
up so things could dry, but it is
still raining and our electricity
has been off since Thursday. With
only electric stoves, it is a bit
rugged trying to cook outside
high winds and wet wood.
Johnnan's school was almost
completely demolished, most of the
huts beyond any hopes of repair,
but the High school was untouch-
ed. I suppose I'll be teaching Mon
day and Johanna will be setting in
my classes until her school opens.
This experience has been great;
we watched roofs fly off quonset
huts, etc. until it got dark Thurs-
FRESIDENTIAL CHRISTMAS TREE . . . This was the annual com-
munity Christmas tree in Washington, D. C., as it blazed with light
last year. President Truman, at his home In Independence, Mo.,
pushed a button to turn on this holiday brilliance by remote control.
The White House shows dimly In the background, framed by the tree
and huge Christmas candles.
day night. I have never seen any
thing which compared with the
sound of the winds roaring and
the speed with which it whipped
the rain along the ground, per-
fectly horizontal with the ground.
I don't know what the damage
was in dollars, but the east side
of the island caught more of the
winds than we did. The dense jun-
gles are just barren strings now,
with leaves ripped off. The coca-
nut trees and breadfruit, in fact
all the useful plants and weeds
are ripped down.
We spent most of the night of
the strongest part of the storm,
"sleeping" or at least resting in
our hall closet floor. I put a mat-
tress in it, and we all lay down
on the mattress, because it was
the driest, thing in the house,
(Johanna had "Poochie" in a most
comfortable place, and she and
"poochie" got insulted if Wm. or
I crowded them that night).
Our house has big windows with
aluminum shutters which pull up
We kept one of the windows down
and watched the storm in progress
At the height of the storm we
all had to laugh, we have a
neighbor who has a pet cockatoo
(a white polly parrott-with a yel-
low top knot), he whistles the
"wolf whistle" at times and once
the wind let up for a few seconds
and we could hear old Jaco whistl-
ing over our house tops (Things
were flying over our house tops
about then).
They say our electricity won't
be back on for over a week yet
and our clothes all got pretty wet|
(with no ironing to be done for a
week yet!).
Ben and Leon came over as'
soon as the storm subsided to J
clean up the wet mess. Their|
quonset hut stood the wind, ex-
cept it was moved over several
yards. Th&y really came in at |
good time, we left them cleaning
up the mess and we took pictures
the sea was really raging and roll
ing and smashing against the reef
and in places came up and destroy
ed the highway. Wo pickcd up a
jeep load of young coconuts. Since j
we have been here we have learn-j
ed that the local people here,(nor,j
in the Phillipines) eat ripe coco-l
nuts (as we get back home) theyj
say they are too old, they eat
green, young coconuts. They are
delicious and can be served many!
ways, for breakfast or mixed with!
crab meat or as a salad, but they
are real good, just halved, and
pour cream and sugar in them in j
the half-husk and scoop the meatj
out. They make a good tasty
breakfast dish that way and we
will be eating them often now,
until the electricity comes on, also
the breadfruit if I can get enough
fire to boil them.
Our post office was partly
youfkf
blown away, so I don't know if
you all will get the letter and the
pictures T sent you last Wednes-
day. I hope you do get them be-
cause the vegetation will not be
very pretty for some time now.
Wm. has been playing a lot of
chess (before the typhoon) and
has lost interest in pictures.
I am really working hard at
school now. I have big classes and
a lot of lessons plans, etc., report
cards, papers to grade, etc.
I'll probably talk you all cross-
eyed when I do get home—
telling you about our doings out
here. One good thing, or was it so
good? anyway we knew 3 days
ahead, and every hour where the
storm was and what hour it would
be strongest here. The center of
the storm actually missed Guam
by about 20 miles but what we
got was enough! We were just
hoping we wouldn't get a tremor
while the storm was in progress,
but we didn't.
So now when our electricity
comes back on we will all be set-
ting back to normal, altho' most
of my students lost their homes.
They seem to take typhoons in
their stride and started the next
day building back.
These people could teach many
stateside people much about pati-
ence and endurance and courage
even tho' their skins are brown
LULA MAE
SING WHILE YOU DRIVE
At 30 miles sing—
"Highways are Happy Ways."
At 55 miles, sing—
"I'm but a Stranger Here, Heaven
Is My Home."
At 65 miles, sing—
"Nearer My God to Thee."
At 75 miles sing—
"When the Roll Is Called Up Yon-
der, I'll be There."
At 85 miles, sing—
"Lord, I'm Coming Home."
&
fJlay 'Vour
XeNWry
3rd
J!* =:'•
: mQ
■ m
Kfv (n)
w:
HAPPY HOLIDAY
k to all of you.
f May no cloud
appear to'disturb
its serenity.
BEST WISHES
1949
22 TAXI — PHONE 22
Give
A
Lovely "Miss Liberty"
17 jewels. #0075
Rich design.
It's not only
most. WANTED
also Amenta's
tch VALUE!
Exquisite "Beverly"
17 jewels. —
Expansion
bracelet.
s\
His Excellency" 21
jewels. New
style expan- $59^®
sion band.
"Standish". Handsome
design. Pre-
cise 17 jewel $42^®
movement
A afy/!a{c/i
c\fbfeute'
Price* Include Federal To*
G. G. PYNES & SON
SINCE 1910 — ATLANTA, TEXAS
OPEN UNTIL 9:00 P.M. AT NIGHT
...
As a partial measure
of our friendship
we express the sincere
hope that this year
holds for you
a perfect
Christmas.
May it be touched
with the same kind
of serenity that
accompanies a
Christmas Eve
snowfalL
T. J. HOPKINS MEMORIAL STUDIO
T. J. Hopkins Toland Meredith M. B. Hurt
Atlanta, Texas, West Main Street Since 1910
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Harrell, D. P. The Citizens Journal (Atlanta, Tex.), Vol. 70, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 22, 1949, newspaper, December 22, 1949; Atlanta, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth348033/m1/1/?q=wichita+falls: accessed June 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Atlanta Public Library.