Well, I'm going to shake that old family tree and let my readers know what my brother and I have found by just doing a little research and piecing together some historical data and some pieces of actual facts along with a few rumors, and to keep it simple we are going to stay on my Mother's' side of the family; so here goes.

My mother's maiden name is Noggle, which from all indication's links historically to Germanic lineage. But no, I'm not going to venture back any further than the American Civil War in my research. My Grandmother, on my mother's side of my family, is the source of the info from the move from Georgia that ended up in Rosebud, Arkansas. It seems my Great Grandfather was an officer in the Confederate Army, and according to my Grandmother, that is why the family moved to Rosebud, Arkansas. I heard my Grandmother say numerous times that he was mentioned on a Confederate Memorial in Atlanta. I have not been to Atlanta to verify that. In my conversations with Grandmother, I asked her why the family moved to Arkansas, and I quote "The Damn Yankees burned our house down!" That is the only curse word I have ever heard my saintly Grandmother say.

After the Noggles moved to Arkansas, they evidently became fairly successful farmers, and according to my research, they expanded their small farm. However, the extra farmland was financed and when the Great Depression of the 1920s hit, the Bank called in their loans, and that reduced the family's farm holding down considerably. The family could no longer afford extra help, and Annie Sue and Rosa Lee, the two Noggle teenage girls, had to work in the small remaining field. Evidently the hard work in the field was something the girls hated and both of them got married, just to get out of the field. Annie Sue stayed married for less than a year.

When they returned home, both divorced, the young girls announced they were going to college, and they moved to Little Rock. I have not seen any records of either girl attending college, but evidently Rosa Lee took some businesses courses, because after she re-married, she got a business job in New York City. However, both girls remarried within a couple of years. Rosa Lee married Joseph Villasenor and the newlyweds moved to New York City where he worked. Rosa Lee was hired by Benney/Smith Crayola Company and worked for them until she retired and moved to El Dorado.

Annie Sue married Jack Lavelle Mason, from Malvern. He hated "Lavelle" and he dropped the Lavelle and just became Jack Mason. Annie Sue dropped Annie and went by Sue Mason. Rosa Lee remained childless, but Sue quickly became pregnant. She had two pregnancies but lost both full-term babies. However, she quickly became pregnant again, and birthed Richard and five years later William was born.

The boys had normal childhood, but both of them were aware that Jack, their Father, had a drinking problem and with a high-strung mother, the boys spent countless nights trying to keep the screaming arguments from getting physical. As the boys matured Mother, Sue, made it clear the boy's education was not going to end with High School, and Richard enrolled at the University of Arkansas after graduating from Norphlet High School. Richard had just started his Sophomore year, when he got a call that his father had been in a serious car accident. A week later he died, and with the accident settlement the south Arkansas Mason family was left penniless with only Mother Sue's small department store salary as support. If Richard and William were to continue their education they would not only have to contribute, but they would have to earn enough during summer vacation and work part-time jobs while attending college. Mother often said, "Get an education because they can't take that away from you." I worked during the summer as a Roustabout at MacMillian Refining Company, and one summer on an offshore drilling rig. When I was in College, I worked at the University Bookstore, The University Museum, and I was the Student Manager of Brough Commons, the Dining Hall...all at the same time. William held various jobs, including working for LSU archaeologist Robert Neuman on the Great Plains of South Dakota, and later as a deckhand on a Mississippi River riverboat between his freshman and sophomore years in medical school. Despite these challenges, both boys achieved their academic goals, with Richard earning an M.S. in Geology and William obtaining an M. D. Degree.

We worked our way through college, with the help of good family friends, I will always be grateful to C. H. Murphy "Charlie" Murphy for making that phone call to get me a job on an offshore drilling rig. I was desperate, because when I finished that first semester of Graduate School, I was totally broke, and I had knocked on every door in town looking for a summer job. That job, working 12 hours a day for 14 days and then with a week off, allowed me to save enough money and with the part time jobs at the University and Vertis working at the Baldwin Organ factory soldering organs allowed me to graduate with a Master's Degree in Geology.

Yes, I have been successful, but the work ethic that came with struggling and being persistent has had a lot to do with my success, and of course, having a wife who worked just as hard as I did, and supported me every step of the way, had a lot to do with it.

© El Dorado News Times