On this date in our family history . . . the 7th day of September . . . in the year 1964 . . . Emma Patience Muston nee Nettles dies in Rockdale, Milam County . . . in the family photo in this collage, Emma is standing between her daughter, Ima Lois Pounders nee Muston (1906-1999), and Ima's son, Forrest Lee Pounders (1926-1996) . . .
Forrest Lee -- aka Fuzzy -- is my dear Dad, and Ima is the grandma who lived right next door during my entire childhood . . . Ima never learned to drive (though I do have memories of my Dad trying to teach her), and she was widowed in 1957 . . . on Sunday afternoons (after church) we (being the entire family of Mom and Dad and us three girls) frequently took Grandma to Lexington to visit her mother, Emma, and other family members . . .
Emma and Ima and Fuzzy are all at rest in this little country cemetery, as well as Emma's parents, Joseph Helidorah Nettles (1832-1890) and Mary Annie Nettles nee West (1852-1939), and a multitude of assorted kith and kin . . .
Funeral services for Mrs. Emma Patience Muston, 82, were held Tuesday [08 Sept 1964] at the Phillips & Luckey chapel in Rockdale. Burial was in the Tanglewood cemetery, with Rev. James M. Frazier, of the Methodist Church, Lexington, officiating. Mrs. Muston died Monday [07 Sept 1964] at the Richards hospital in Rockdale. For the past two and one-half years she had been in a Rockdale rest home. Most of her life was spent in the Cole Springs / Tanglewood community and in Lexington. She was born June 18, 1882, in Lee County, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Nettles. She was married to Charlie G. Muston, who preceded her in death when the children were young.
Surviving are seven daughters, Mrs. Joe Tomkins, Mrs. Alvin Jones, Mrs. Ben Reynolds, and Mrs. B. R. Taylor, all of Houston; Mrs. Dean Quinney of Lexington, Mrs. John Taylor of Lexington, and Mrs. J. E. Pounders of Rockdale; and one sister, Mrs. Oscar Peebles of Houston; also 18 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren. Pall bearers were [grandsons] F.L. Pounders, K.D. Quinney, E.P. Lerche, A.D. Quinney, A.D. Pounders, and S.D. Quinney. Rockdale Reporter, September 1964
Rockdale Reporter
Rockdale, Texas
May 4, 1939
Monday, May 1 at 1:10 p.m. marked the passing of one of earth's dearest and sweetest little mothers, Mrs. M.A. Nettles. She was born near Starkville, Mississippi, October 24, 1852, daughter of Richard and Sarah Mildred (Carter) West, and christened Mary Annie, but known practically all her life as Mollie. She was nine years old when the Civil War began and many were the interesting tales she told concerning it. In 1869 her family, together with several other families, came to Texas in wagons drawn by oxen and settled in and near Lexington.
The following year she married Joseph H. Nettles who had a woodworking shop in connection with the Hester Blacksmith Shop. They soon moved to Williamson County, but a few years later moved back to Lee County and bought a home in the Cole Springs community, near Tanglewood, where a son, Will, still lives. On May 1, 1890, her husband passed to his reward, preceding her by forty-nine years to the day. Of the ten children born to this union, six survive her, two boys and two girls dying in infancy. The surviving children are --
She had lived on the home place with her eldest son, Will, until February of this year, when she went to Lott to make her home with her youngest child, Joe, and family. It was here, following an illness of bronchial pneumonia, that she passed to her reward. The last six or eight months of her life was spent mainly in bed, but she was given loving and careful attention and was a sweet and patient sufferer. From the wisdom of her years she gave counsel, advice and help to all who sought it, and truly will she be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
All of her children, all but five of her twenty-seven grandchildren, and many of her forty-four great-grandchildren were present for the last rites, besides a great host of other relatives and friends. Services were conducted at the Baptist Church in Tanglewood Tuesday afternoon, May 2, 1939, by the Rev. O.J. Morgan, a former pastor of hers. She was a member of the Baptist church, joining in her early girlhood. Interment was in the family plat at the Tanglewood cemetery with Phillips & Luckey of Rockdale in charge. Those coming from Lott for the funeral were --
- Mr. and Mrs. Ed Phillips
- Dr. and Mrs. Patton
- Mr. and Mrs. Luther Reaves and daughter, Dorothy
- Mrs. Claud Day
- Mrs. Grover Stucky
- D. Watkins
- Judge Smith
- Pat Carter and son, Pat Jr.
- Dewey Wright
- Miss Annie Lou Gibbs
The last named was her constant attendant after moving to Lott, and truly a grand-daughter could have been no sweeter to her own grandmother than Annie Lou was to Grandma, who lovingly called her my girl. Present also was Mrs. Richard Mundine Sr. of Taylor, an old friend of the family.
