Person:Luella Dewitt (1)

According to the Sallie DeWitt 1981 Genealogy, Boss and Deedie were 15 months apart in age, and were inseperable as laughing, giggling children. They were specially fond of their aunt Mary Ellen, who was about eight years older than them. Pa Amos, her grandfather, called her "Good Deedo, the fighter", and the name Deedie stuck for life. As young ladies, Boss and Deedie double dated. Deedie was the fun loving sister and encouraged Lucille, who was always the shy one, to be more aggressive. They used crepe paper to color their cheeks and lips after their face had been powdered with a little flour. Eyes were outlined with charcoal from burnt match sticks. Their choice in clothing ran to horsehair hats, silk chiffon dresses and satin shoes -o ften worn while walking the dirt roads in the country as there was very little paving.

Their life on the farm ocurred before rural electrification, which took place in 1936. There was no running water, and a wooden box hung on the wall where "two longs and a short" (rings) were used to summon a telephone conversation with neighbors. One memory the girls spoke of was when Pa Lee allowed them to take the family Dodge to Ft. Smith, Arkansas to purchase outfits. The outfits included $50 hats and they wrote a check from their father's accountto cover the purchases. Pa Lee was not upset with the purchases, but he was chagrined when a letter arrived stating that the girls wrotet he check with "insufficient funds on deposit". It seems they wrote the check on the wrong bank. They had to return their purchases to the Boston Store, but their father soon relented and they drove back to get their much-wanted items.

Luella attended schools at Grand Prarie, Branch and Fort Smith Arkansas. She also attended business school in Jacksonville, Florida. She was widely traveled during her marriage to Elmo Simpson. She saw most of the glamor capitals of the world, stayed at the world's finest hotels, and shopped the finest fashion shops. While she was married to Mr. Simpson, they lived at various times in New York, Los Angeles, Arizona, Houston, St. Louis, and other cities where Mr. simpson worked as a chemical representative for drug companies.

In 1932 the Simpsons had their Graham-Page automobile shipped to Europe for their world tour. They traveled countries in most every continent including Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, Russia, the Phillipines, Hawaii and Canada. During WWII Luella worked in offices, modeled clothing and worked at Sears in Jacksonville, Florida. There was a shortage of workers in every field during this time period.

In the 1950's Luella lived in Corpus Christi, where she remained "very companionable" with her sister Lucille. Since girlhood she had wanted to be a nurse. She eventually fulfilled this desire by seeing to the comfort of others, and to those in her own family. When she moved to Raymondville, from Corpus Christi, in the 1960's, she helped care daily for her mother, who had suffered a stroke which altered her personality. When her motherClaudia was placed in Retama Manor, Luella made fresh apricot and apple fruit pies daily, which her mother loved.

Luella died 4 1/2 years before the death of her sister, Lucille Hodgens. She suffered from back problems which seemed to stem from hemmorhoid surgery in 1967, and eventually lost 37 pounds. She was seeing a neurologist at Hermann Hospital in Houston, but she reached a point where she could no longer bear the burden of ill health with no hope of recovery. She took her own life at her home on 10th Street, in Raymondville. The funeral service was at the First Christian Church, and the internment was at the Raymondville Cemetery.

1. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   ppg. 25, 34, 93.
2. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   ppg. 25, 34.
3. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   ppg. 19, 25, 93.
4. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   pg. 34.
5. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   ppg. 25, 34, 93.
6. ↑ 1920 U.S. Census Sebastian Co., Beverly Twp., Arkansas
   Roll T625_81, sheet 2B.
7. ↑ 1910 U.S. Census, Franklin Co., Hurricane Twp., Arkansas
   Series T624, Roll 50, Part 1, Sheet 2A.
8. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   pg. 32.
9. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
   pg. 34.
10. ↑ Sallie Lee DeWitt. Research by Sallie DeWitt. (1981)
    pg. 34.