Linda Kennedy Watson, 2021 Thornton Homecoming Queen

I, Linda Kennedy Watson, was born on Saturday, January 17, 1942, in Marlin Texas at Torbett Hospital to Coleman and Marguerite Kennedy. In those days Saturday was a very busy day in Thornton with all the farmers coming to town for groceries, visiting, and generally catching up on local goings-on. My mother and daddy owned and operated Kennedy Grocery, Feed, and Fertilizer from the 30’s til I closed it in the early 80’s.

Actually, I came to work and live in downtown Thornton at the age of six weeks. In all the years I made many friends and acquaintances. Even some of the salesmen and their families sent me cards for years. Our store was first located under the Masonic Lodge, then after World War ll my father purchased the old Thornton Hospital building. Upstairs was our apartment and downstairs was the grocery which we all worked in. People ask questions like “Is the building haunted?” The operating room is very identifiable by the skylight still there.

Can you imagine growing up in downtown Thornton? My friends and I played “cowboys and Indians” and built “forts” behind the store. At one time we had a treehouse in a nonbearing Spanish mulberry tree which I fell out of - ending our treehouse adventure.

During my school years, I attended Thornton Methodist Church. I remember our Sunday School teacher having us a costume party at her home. I went as Little Bo Peep dressed in a long yellow dress carrying Daddy’s walking stick with a large yellow bow. As my girlfriends and I grew older we had sleepovers at my house. We would lay in bed with the blinds open and light off and watch everyone coming and going at night. Boy, sometimes we saw some unusual couples that did not really need to be seen. They would leave one car parked on the street. I was always cautioned not to tell what saw - Thornton was just a little Peyton Place made over.

I attended all twelve years in the one school building. There are lots of good memories and a few we’d like to forget. I had all good teachers and I feel like we got an excellent education. Some of the best times were mid-term. If you had good grades, you were exempt from taking most of the tests. We would all pile in a car and head for Ft. Parker Lake with loud music like Fats Domino singing Blueberry Hill. Those were the days, not a worry in the world. If we had known then what we know now, our lives would have been different.

I graduated Valedictorian on May 26, 1960, with thirteen classmates. The night we graduated it stormed so badly, as I looked out the windows of the back of the auditorium and I almost forgot my speech. After graduation, I landed a job in Houston beginning in June with the telephone company. “Country girl” moved to town and lived alone in a duplex. I believe I earned $47.50 per week. Not a fortune but I bought furniture and a “55 Ford Fairlane. Over a period of years lived in several cities - Houston, Waco, Odessa, Pecos, and always Thornton was home.

My jobs ranged from soda jerking for Black Drug Store, PBX operator, telephone long-distance operator, State School attendant, and an eighteen-wheeler driver from coast to coast. My CB handle was “Ramblin Rose”.

I was a 4 H’er, Methodist Youth Fellowship, class officer, pep squad for four years, and Library club for three years. I didn’t play sports except for a little volleyball in junior high.

Over the years Thornton has seen changes. People moved to the city turning cotton patches to cattle pastures. We still have three churches, a new convenience store, and a new community center with a playground, water park for children. Downtown we still have a store, funeral home, and post office. There was a time I knew everyone in town; now I don’t recognize even two people at the post office.

For several years I have been retired and my husband is semi-retired. Many thanks to the Homecoming Ex-Students Committee for selecting me to represent Thornton as Homecoming Queen. I appreciate the honor.

Sincerely,

Linda Kennedy Watson