From A History of Coleman County
and Its People, 1985 edited by Judia and Ralph Terry, and
Vena Bob Gates - used by permission --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albert Edwin LeMay was born in Rice, July 21,
1902, came
to Coleman in 1908, when his father and
mother,
Albert and
Emma LeMay, moved to the county (see Albert H.
LeMay). As the family moved
about, Ed attended school at Stacy, Brown
Ranch, Water Valley, and Valera,
where he finished high school as
Valedictorian. In school he participated in
athletics, including baseball, basketball, and
track. After graduation he
continued to play basketball, a member of the
Voss-Valera team. Later he played
polo with a group in Coleman. He farmed one
year; then in 1922 he moved to
Coleman and took a job in the Central State
Bank, where he worked as teller and
bookkeeper until the three Coleman banks
closed in 1931. In 1932, after the
stockholders of the three banks organized the
First Coleman National Bank, Ed
took a job in the new bank. He worked there,
except for the four years he was
in military service and defense work during WW
II, until he retired, February
15, 1968. Ed spoke many times of his most
frightening experience during the
“big Coleman bank robbery” of February 2,
1934. The stocking-masked robbers
made all the personnel squat or lie on the
floor and constantly threatened
them, one with a sawed-off shot gun, while
they forced several employees to
attempt to open the vault. This, of course,
was not possible, since the vault
had a time lock on it. After what seemed to be
an eternity, and was
indeed a harrowing experience for the
employees, the robbers with about
$23,000 made their getaway. However, one was
caught the next day, and Ed, with
Clyde Edens, went to Austin and identified
him. One-third of the stolen money
was found in the man’s car.
About
1926, Ed joined the Texas National Guard where
he gained knowledge of the
military. During WW II, when his brother, who
was married and had an infant
daughter, was about to be drafted, Ed
volunteered in his place, September
8,1942. After serving about a year in the
United States Army Air Corps in
Midland, Ed asked for and received a
discharge so that he might go into
defense work. He was immediately employed by
Consolidated Aircraft Corporation
near Fort Worth. It was while he was at
Consolidated that he and Theatus
Johnston (see Rufus Johnston) were married,
November 26, 1943. They began their
life together in a government housing project
called Liberator Village. This
village, outside White Settlement, was built
to house the workers at
Consolidated and at the day nursery where
children of mothers who worked at the
plant received care. No sooner had the LeMays
settled in their “home” than Theatus
was asked to work at the day care center. The
work with the children was
refreshing, an escape from the constant
reminder of war, for the bombers were
constantly roaring over the village. In 1945
when word was broadcast that the
Japanese had surrendered, there was a great
celebration in downtown Fort
Worth. Immediately Liberator Village seemed to
begin its demise as people moved
away. Ed and Theatus, who had lived most of
their lives in Coleman, decided to
come back home.
Theatus
was born in her Grandmother Ruth Jones’s farm
home near Chalk Mountain, Texas,
in 1907, and had been brought to Coleman some
five months later (see Jones-Childress).
As she grew up she took piano lessons, as well
as some speech and art. After
graduating from high school in 1925, she
attended North Texas State Teachers
College, where she received a B. S. Degree.
While teaching and working toward
this degree, she, besides attending summer
school at North Texas, took
correspondence and extension courses from
Daniel Baker, Howard Payne, and North
Texas State Teachers Colleges. She also
attended one most enjoyable summer
session at the University of California at
Berkley. Most teachers obtained
their degrees in this manner during the
depression of the thirties. After
Theatus and Ed returned to Coleman at the
close of the war, she earned an M.A.
Degree from Hardin-Simmons University. For the
first several years of her
thirty-eight year teaching career, thirty-five
of which were in Coleman,
Theatus taught second and third grades. When
the art and writing teacher in
South Ward married during the war, Theatus was
asked to teach art and writing
in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, as
well as U.S. History in her sixth
grade home room. After the war she taught art
and English in West Ward until
the stork decided to pay her a visit. Ed was
again working in the First Coleman
National Bank. He and Theatus were delighted
when they learned they were to
have an addition to their family. On a very
frigidly cold January 14, 1948,
Nancy Allene made her appearance. Nancy had
her daddy’s brown eyes and olive
complexion and her mother’s brown hair. Nancy
and her daddy were very close.
She loved helping him “mow” the lawn with her
little mower, assisting him when
he made a ladder for the chicken house, having
tea parties with him, and going
with him to mow the cemetery lots at Valera.
She was always very active. She
swam, rode her bicycle, skated, took part in
Little Olympics, and was
cheerleader four different times.
Theatus
and Ed had been members of the Methodist
Church since each was about seven
years old. Together they attended church
regularly. Ed enjoyed morning coffee
and fellowship in the Friendly Fellows Sunday
School Class. Besides serving on
the official board of the church, Ed served
many years as the treasurer, and
for a few years he taught a Sunday School
lesson one Sunday a month at Holiday
Hill. Theatus often worked with the younger
children, but most of the time
attended the Nichols Bible Class, which she
joined several years before she
married. Nancy, besides attending Sunday
School and church, enjoyed activities
in the Methodist Youth Fellowship. She became
a member when she was about
twelve.
When
Nancy was planning her wedding, Ed was quite
happy helping her with her guest
list. He would laugh and talk about what a
good looking fellow a short person
like him would be walking down the aisle in a
tuxedo to give the bride away.
But he was not to see Nancy graduate from
college or to be in her wedding. In
January of 1970, he became ill and had
surgery, but was unable to recover. He
died March 7, 1970, in West Texas Medical
Center in Abilene, buried in Coleman.
Nancy married David Noll June 6,1970, in the
First United Methodist Church. She
has two fine boys, Christopher
and Geoffrey. She, like her mother and
grandmother, is a teacher.
Theatus, who had returned
to teaching when Nancy was three, continued to
teach until she retired in 1973.
She still resides in Coleman. With
organizations, activities, and friends to
keep one busy, there is no time to be bored
and very little time to be lonely.
(Images to be added)
Theatus, Nancy, Ed LeMay-Baby, Alan
Daniel, Nancy ‘s cousin