The Casey-Terry House

This house was built in 1928 for Sam H. and Willie Lee (Johnson) Casey. Mr. Casey had become the postmaster of Olney back when it was an appointment from Washington, D.C. from the political party in the majority. Both of the Casey’s were from well-known early day families with Mr. Casey being born in Jean. Mr. Casey died in the early thirties and his widow lived in the house for several years. In 1944, Mrs. Casey sold the house to Roy Childress. Mrs. Casey needed a way to make a living so she partnered with her sister, also a widow, Xera (Johnson) Drum who was running a boarding house in the 600 block of Oak Street. There were three places in town to eat Sunday lunch-The Hamilton Hotel Coffee Shop run by the Gus Kuehns, The Shamrock Inn run by the John Wrights (Mrs. Wright was an Atchley), and Mrs. Drums. Willie Lee and Xera had a deal with the OISD to board athletes from the nearby area so that Olney could have good athletic teams. Mrs. Casey had a day job with the school to keep the study hall and the high school library.

In 1945, W.L. and Lillie Mae (Guimarin) Hallman became the owners. Mr. Hallman and his brother, Emmett Hallman, owned the Dr. Pepper Bottling plant and Mrs. Hallman was the niece of J.K. Thomas

In 1947, the owner became Mrs. Abijah (Dunn) Anderson, the widow of Rhea Anderson, a long-time druggist and so the house got its first remodeling. Mrs. Anderson had been buying houses and updating them and selling for a profit.

In 1948, Hayden and Edith Farmer became the owners after Hayden’s return from service in World War II. They became the parents to two boys: Jim and Lewis. Hayden was an independent oil producer. Hayden and Edith were very engaging people and Edith was a popular pianist who could play anything by ear.

In 1959, George Hall and Peggy (Bridges) Roach, Jr. had to have a place to live while their new house at 501 West Elm was built on their previous house’s location. Pardue, Reed, & Dice of Wichita Falls was employed to be the architect. (A strange occurrence of this is that later Hayden and Edith lived their last years in the house the Roaches built.)

By 1961, the Roaches had moved into their new home and sold this house to Lewis D. (Don) and Luella (Dietrich) Terry to begin one of the longest ownerships of this house. Mr. Terry was an independent oil producer and had worked and partnered with several other oil producers in this area. Don and Luella had three daughters-Donna, Deeon, and Diann. Mr. Terry is now deceased, but the house is still in the family’s possession.

If you have any relevant information you would like to add or subtract from this article, please contact Clifton Key at 940-564-2979