Thomas Emmett Roach Family

Thomas (Tom) Roach’s parents were Emmett Dillard Roach, born November 14, 1874 in Lynchburg, Virginia and Myrtle Ada Kerley, born January 24, 1879 in the Lebanon Community, Collin County, Texas. Tom had two younger sisters, Mary and Rena L. Mary never married and was a life-long teacher starting at Wink, Texas, High School and ultimately retiring from Odessa College in 1972. Rena L. married Cecil Hight of McKinney, was a housewife and mother, raising four children. Tom was born June 30, 1905 in Frisco.

As a young boy, Tom worked with his father until he met and married Irene Curtsinger. Irene was born November 5, 1905, in Bolivar, Denton County, Texas. They were married March 10, 1928, in Eden, Concho County, Texas, at the home of Ruby Mae McVay, Irene’s sister. Irene was teaching school at Melvin, Texas, after attending Mary Hardin Baylor College for one semester. Tom and Irene lived in Frisco and struggled to make ends meet since their marriage essentially coincided with the beginning of the depression. Tom acquired some trucks and hauled grain and cottonseed to Houston/Galveston. He also had school busses that were used to transport students to and from school. He had a 1929 International truck that they named ‘Cleo’. That old truck remained in the family for almost 35 years. They also ran a tailor shop during that period. Tom & Irene had two children, Patrick, born February 25, 1931, who lived only for a few hours and Samuel (Sam), born August 7, 1935, who still lives in Frisco. Tom missed Sam’s birth because he had taken a group of Boy Scouts to Arkansas for camp.

Everyone had a rough time during the depression, but Tom & Irene worked hard and were able to purchase 180 acres of land on Preston Road about one mile north of Main Street in 1936. Tom was so proud of the purchase and could hardly wait to take Irene out to see the property, which was basically a big white rock hill with a few trees scattered around in the pastures. Irene, a rather reserved woman not known to say anything off color observed the property. When asked what she thought, Irene said that they would name it the ‘Nudist Ranch’ because it didn’t have a damn thing on it. For many years thereafter, everyone in the area knew about the ‘Nudist Ranch’. They paid $25 per acre, with a small down payment and a 20-year note. They had a terrible time making the payments.

Tom & Irene continued with the trucking business and some farming/ranching until Tom’s father, Emmett, died suddenly of an accidental fall in 1938. At that time Tom had to step into his father’s shoes, to keep all of those farming and ranching activities going. He formed a partnership with Myrtle, which lasted almost 25 years. Thomas expanded the farming and ranching operations and ultimately operated between 3000 and 4000 acres during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Irene kept the books and Myrtle made it quite clear that they were partners when the crops and cattle made money but not when losses occurred. This really made for an interesting partnership between Tom and his mother, Myrtle. All the while, sister Mary was telling Tom that he was going broke and Thomas was telling Mary that she had been educated beyond her intelligence.

Tom and Irene lived in Frisco all of their married lives and contributed to the growth of the community in various ways. As an example, when the citizens decided to build the Youth Center, Tom worked to help raise funds for that project. Irene loved her piano and would play by the hour. She couldn’t read music but could play anything she heard on the radio. She enjoyed playing for the Lion’s Club during their sing-a-long at every meeting.

Tom and Irene worked hard to get to the point where they could relax and travel a little, but it was not to be. They took one trip to Europe in the mid 1960s but were not able to enjoy it because of Tom’s health problems. His health continued to decline until his death February 5, 1974, when he died of cancer. Irene continued to live at the home place on Preston Road, north of Panther Creek until cancer claimed her life January 20, 1977.

I (Sam) have many fond memories of growing up on the farm and of my parents. We moved to the old Sneathern place north of town when I was about 3 years old. No running water, no electricity, and no phone. I distinctly remember helping wire the home for electricity when REA come into being in 1939. Our old house has two roofs on it and the crawl space in the attic was about 12 to 16 inches. Since I was 4 or 5 years old, they put me in the attic and told me to pull the wires to certain points. I still remember when all was done and the first switch was flipped on. The 25-watt bulb hanging from the ceiling in the room provided more light than I had ever seen in my young life. We finally got plumbing but it was the mid 1940’s before the 8 party phone line arrived.

Tom believed in hard work and I had to work long hours as a kid. There were no air-conditioned tractors or combines in those days. Dad had me driving every thing on the farm at a very early age, including trucks.

I remember the time that my mother let me out at the movie in Frisco on a Saturday night with exactly 11 cents. When I gave the lady my money she advised that prices had increased to 12 cents. As an 11-year-old, I nearly panicked. I ran down to Curtsinger’s Drug Store where I told Uncle Claude of my dilemma and I can still see him open the cash register to get a penny so that I could go to the movie. Saturday nights in Frisco were special. All the adults visited and shopped until midnight because all stores stayed open. All us kids went to Curtsinger's Drug Store after the movie, if we had any money and then played hide & seek in the downtown area. It was a time I cherished and would not have missed for anything in the world.

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Written by: Sam Roach, August, 2001