MY FATHER'S WORLD

by Molly Noble Bull

The Heavens and the earth were created by my Heavenly Father. But I had an earthly father, too.
His name was Sam Noble.  

                                                                Sam Noble

After over a year of planning and building, the Sam Noble Park was dedicated in Sarita, Texas on Wednesday afternoon, February 15, 2012. The next two photos were taken at the park on the evening the park was dedicated. 

However, the original park was started years earlier when my father was a county commissioner in Kenedy County, Texas.

I called Sam Noble Papa, and there is nothing Papa and Mama liked more than church, children and ballroom dancing. I only wish they could have been there on the night the park was dedicated to see the children, their parents and others enjoy that wonderful park.

Papa was born on December 18, 1904 in Hallettsville, Texas, the youngest of eleven children. His father was a county sheriff, and Papa was eleven years old when his father died. His widowed mother moved her younger children to Kingsville, Texas. Some of Papa's older brothers and sisters lived in Kingsville and worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and my grandmother bought a home in Kingsville where Papa lived during his early years in the area.

My father was always interested in cowboying and had worked on a ranch near San Antonio, Texas before becoming a Kingsville city fireman. It was while he was working for the Kingsville Fire Department that he met and married my mother. Mama was the daughter of a Texas cowboy and ranch manager who ran the Santa Rosa Ranch in Kenedy country Texas for almost forty years. 
Papa became interested in serving his community while working for the Kingsville Fire Department. At the same time, he began spending weekends and summer vacations working cattle with my grandfather on the Santa Rosa Ranch and gaining still more ranching experience. 

When I was five years old, Papa moved us to the Santa Rosa where we lived for one year, and Papa worked for my grandfather, punching cattle. My grandfather retired from the ranch around 1952, and Papa was hired to run the Santa Rosa. Soon after that, the Santa Rosa Ranch was divided between the owner's three sons, and Papa became the first foreman of the La Paloma Ranch where he worked until he retired at age sixty-five.
While working on the La Paloma, Papa was elected Justice of the Peace and then County Commissioner of Kenedy County, Texas. He continued as county commissioner after he retired. 

I am an only child, and I married my college sweetheart. We have three sons and six grandchildren, and all three of our sons are involved in ranching in Texas today. Our grandchildren are involved in 4-H and FFA. 
My father died in a nursing home in Kingsville on December 25, 1989, and he and my mother are buried in the cemetery in Riviera, Texas.   
#
The Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities by Margaret Daley, Ginny Aiken, Jane Myers Perrine, Ruth Scofield, and me, Molly Noble Bull, was published by Westbow Press in late 2011. Recently, we learned that The Overcomers is a finalist in the 2011 Women of Faith contest for Christian writers. The Overcomers is a popular book title right now; so when looking my book, write in the entire title. The Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities.

To find all my books and novels, write Molly Noble Bull in the search slot at online and walk-in bookstores.