Page 78 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS
Dixie Barron
ust before the turn of the last
Jcentury, Rufus Finch was born
in Denison, Texas to George
Washington and Narcios Delia
Finch. Rufus’ father worked for the
railroad, and the family followed
the jobs all the way to Tahoka,
Texas. Little Rufus attended schools
in Old Glory, Haskell, Gillespie and
Aspermont, Texas. When he finished
the sixth grade, he went to work
on a ranch north of Tahoka. He
later moved to Tatum, New Mexico
where he worked for Russ and
Bill Anderson - two brothers who
owned several ranches. He lived in
a half dugout, and most of his time
78 Lubbock Senior Link
FROM PRAIRIE
TO PROSPERITY
by Dixie Barron and Jane Bromley
was spent out on the open prairie
as a chuckwagon cook for the cattle
drives. Rufus was my father.
He acquired the nickname “Bow”
because he once used the bows from
the wagon to build a fire to cook
supper for the cowboys on the cattle
drive from Tatum to Roswell.
He worked as a rancher and cowboy
for a long time before meeting my
mother. It came as a surprise to
many when he asked her to marry
him and move from Hubbard, Texas
all the way to Tatum. He was 43,
she was 42, and neither had been
married. Two years later, my dad
got a small house about 15 miles
northeast of Tatum near Ranger
Lake. His wife was expecting, and
she did not want to live in a half
dugout with a small baby.
My mother Zelma (Murphy) Finch
got a room in a boarding house in
Lubbock close to the hospital, when
it was time for the baby to come.
My father drove to Lubbock each
weekend to see her. When I was
born, my mother and I stayed in
Lubbock for a month before moving
back to Tatum in February 1940. My
early years were happily spent on
a ranch with a cow, a horse, a dog
and some sheep as my playmates.
One of my favorite memories is
of Daddy taking me to Tatum to
“The Sweet Shop” for ice cream. I
remember him singing me songs
like “Jack o’ Diamonds” and “The
Cattle Call Song”.
When I was five years old, he took
a job with Atlantic Refining Oil
Company, and we moved to Denver
City, Texas. It was so much fun
for me to live in town where there
were other children to play with.
Some of my first friends were Judy
Wyatt and Sharon Kidd. We went
to all 12 grades together in Denver
City. After graduation, Judy and
I came to Lubbock to Draughon’s
Business College. I then moved back
to Denver City and married my