The Neff-Hammond House
Leol Marvin Neff, Sr. (1895 – 1959) and wife Gladys (1905-1948) (Tate) bought the lot in 1930 and took out a mechanics lien for $5,400 to erect a five-room house on the lot. Mr. Neff ad come to Olney in the early twenties to open a dry good store on East Main in the early oil boom days, having come from McGregor in McClennan County. He and Gladys married in Burkburnett in 1926. Only one child came from this union—Leol Marvin Neff, Jr. (1928-1986). Mr. Neff was a native of Illinois, and Gladys was born in Miami, Roberts, County, Texas. Neff was a Mason and a member of the Maskat Shrine Temple in Wichita Falls. In 1943, Mr. Neff returned to McGregor to go back into his father’s store. As a side note, Mrs. Neff died in 1948, and the obituary listed her father, B.L. Tate as a resident of Eliasville.
In 1944, Albert Foster Richmond, Sr. (1916- 1993) and Dorothy Price (1921-2011) became the owners of the house. Foster was from Seymour and Dorothy was from Megargel and they married in 1940, I remember Foster being a referee for sixman football in Megargel and Dorothy as being the most beautiful girl in MHS in the late 1930s so this could be how they met. Foster ran a jewelry store in Olney for more than 40 years and was active in farming and ranching. He was a former president of the Olney Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the Olney Rodeo Association, Olney Rotary Club, Olney Riding Club, member of two cutting horse associations, a Mason and a 27-year member of the Olney Fire Department. Foster and Dorothy were the parents of Albert Richard, Jr., and Kay Richmond and Dorothy worked in the jewelry store after the children had left home. After Foster’s death, Dorothy married O.M. Smith, Jr., a fellow classmate from MHS who was a widower.
In 1949, Floyd and Sarath Beth Key became the owners. Floyd was the son of George and Margaret (Campbell) Key and Sarah was the daughter of Spencer and Betty (Dawson) Mays of Graham. While living here they adopted a son, John, now a lawyer in Wichita Falls in a firm with his cousin, Tom Key.
In 1956, William Sherrill Burba (1924-2012) and Joan (Tulley) (1928-1984) Burba became the owners. They married in 1950 after they had finished the Denton Universities—UNT and TWI. Sherrill came to Olney after service in World War II as a teacher of a Veterans class. He became the business manager of Lovett-Meredith Clinic in the 50s after Pete Huey retired. Joan and Sherrill were active members of the Olney Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and Sherrill served as an Elder and church treasurer. Joan taught in area schools and the last 12 yeas in OISD. The Burba children are Jo Lurill Dahl, Adele Mooney, Teresa Clerihew and Bill Burba.
In 1963, Floyd and Ruby Owens became the owners. Floyd was one of the barbers at the Palace Barber Shop and he was also a member of the Olney Riding Club. Ruby died in1975, and Floyd remarried Lena (Stowe) (Fields), and when the house was sold to Jerry Don Gandy in 2005, the Owens girls, Betty Lanford, Joanne Wright, and Barbara Hobbs had to sign on to the transfer.
Jerry Don Gandy was the son of Raymond and Doris Gandy and was born in 1938 in McCarney, Texas who moved to Olney from Garden City in the 50s as he worked for Reno Oil Company. Larry Gandy is a brother and his wife is Judy.
In 2007, Freddie L. and Judy A. Hammond assumed ownership. The Hammonds came from Athens in East Texas and today their front yard is filled with blooming wild flowers.