The Patrick-Garcia House

In 1925, Erasmus Black (1894-1978) Patrick purchased the lot and entered into a mechanic’s lien with Shamburger Lumber for the building of the house. Patrick married Moree Boren (1902-1978) in Post in 1920.

In 1927, the Patricks sold the house to Gerald P. (1905-1983) Groves and his wife Willie Belle (Strealey) (1907-2002). Gerald was the son of Smith Groves (1858-1934) who was the brother of John Wilson Groves who was the founder of Olney. Gerald and Willie had two daughters—Anita and Linda Tom and a son Leon Groves who was in the OHS Class of 1944 and is a resident of Archer City. Leon also graduated from Texas A&M University, and has spent his adult life in the oil patch.

In 1930 the Groves sold the property to L.C. Boyd (the head of Olney Federal Savings) who flpped the house to Marion Askey. In 1935, Askey and wife Ola sold the house to R.T. Spaulding. Spaulding’s wife Cordelia died shortly after the purchase and the next year Spaulding individually and executor of his wife’s estate sold the house to O.M. Ellis and wife Jeanette for $1,625. The Ellises took out a mechanic’s lien in 1939 for improvements to the property.

In 1948, when the Ellises sold the property to O.M. Smith, Jr. and Mary Alice Bridges the consideration paid was $7,000. O.M. was the son of O.M. Smith, Sr. of Megargel who managed the Morrison Smith Lumber Company in Megargel and Mary Alice was the daughter of B.B. and Maude (Avery) Bridges of Olney. (Later in life after his wife’s death, O.M. married Dorothy (Price) Richmond, the widow of Foster Richmond.)

In 1950, the Smiths sold to James W. O’Brien and wife Nola (Hewett) for $6,500 and in 1954 they sold the property to L.E. Perkins, Jr. for $5,500. L.E. was reared in this block on Elm and his mother was a sister to Mrs. Mildred (Glenn) Atchley. L.E. was a 1945 OHS grad and also in the 1950 class of Texas A.&M. His siblings were Bryan and Evelyn, who married an Olney Aggie, Buddy Die. L.E. married Rex Ann Ward of Longview in the early fifties and she died in 1957. He then married Sally, his wife’s nurse, which turned into a sixty-year marriage. L.E. worked in the oilfield all his adult life as owner of Shangri’La Oil.

In 1959, the Perkins sold the house to Clois A. Pinner and wife Virginia. In 1960, the Pinners sold to H.C. Phelps and wife Velda Louise, who in 1963 sold to Arlan Crosthwait (1927-2006) and wife Doris (Pitts). Their children were Tony and Aurlie Ann and Kay with the two girls marrying brothers Tommy and Jimmy Strealy, the sons of DeWayne and Eva Joy (Butler) Strealey. Doris died in 1967 and Arlon married Gwen Stinnett Tatum in 1969. Arlan worked as a contract pumper with his principal bosses being W.F. and F.W. Palmers.

After Arlon’s passing in 2007, his children conveyed their interest in the property to Gwen. In 2009, Leatha Tatum acting as attorney-in-fact for Gwen, conveyed the property to Catherine Marie Robertson. In 2010, Robertson conveyed the property to Johnny D. Edwards who in 2011 conveyed the property to the current owners—Cesar Hernandez-Resendiz and Maria Hernandez Garcia.