Guest Post
TRIBUTE TO MARGARET RUTH RICKETTS DOUGHERTY
By Wylie R. Dougherty
Middle Son and Middle Child
Born in Jumbo Community, Castro County, Texas in 1907, oldest child of a family of six children. Lived a complete pioneer life after marrying Archie Dougherty in August of 1928 in Hereford, TX.
The Dougherty family, Archie, Margaret and Archie’s Mom & Dad, Will and Emma drove their cattle and horses from Hereford to a ranch 20 miles north of Clovis, homes were built in the Frio Draw. Margaret drove their Chrysler with a chuck-wagon along with the herd so the cowboys would have food and a camp as they drove to the KD Ranch.
Thus began the arduous life on the Frio. From 1929 thru 1936 5 children were born, two daughters and three sons, the two oldest were born at Hereford, the next three were born at KD Ranch.
Margaret had the job of helping tend the herds and raising the brood, which she did with a vengeance. While Archie built fences, corrals and barns, she built a home out of a little two bedroom bunkhouse. When I was about to be born, the Frio flooded and Archie stepped out of bed into cold water up to his ankles.
Wherever Margaret lived, she had gardens, vegetable and flower gardens galore. Even when water had to be carried, the gardens had to be watered. The gardens provided food for the table and beauty to the eyes. Archie prepared the gardens each spring with a team of horses and a mold-board plow; he worked the horses by commands with the reins over his shoulders, a real teamster.
NEXT CHAPTER--YESO
In 1941 the Archie Dougherty family moved from the Frio Draw to Yeso, a water stop for the Santa Fe Railroad, between Ft. Sumner and Vaughn, where we lived during the WW II years. The ranch was home to cattle and sheep and the older kids were the combination cowboys and sheepherders. Margaret managed to have her gardens and fed us throughout the war years. Archie was deferred from military service by virtue of being in a critical industry, ranching, and at age 40 maybe a bit older than the needs of the Army. Many adventures there as we chopped Loco Weed, necessary because when blooming, cattle, horses and sheep would get high as it was a kind of narcotic which could drive the animals LOCO, crazy. Margaret had a Maytag washing machine, with a little one cylinder motor which Archie would kick start before he left for ranching chores. We had a windmill which provided water for the house and for the stock. We also had a wind-charger which provided power for a few lights and powering a radio. A favorite memory was sitting around watching radio, that’s right, the radio had a green light that lit up when tuned, and we sat around watching radio at night. Two more children, a girl and a boy, were born in a Ft. Sumner Hospital, which was more civilized than the first five who were born in the wild.
NEXT CHAPTER—BACK TO THE FRIO
After the war, in 1945, the family sold the herds and moved back to the Frio Draw where the permanent home was built. The house was moved from Clovis and set upon a foundation of concrete blocks, and then workmen added an additional wing doubling the size of the moved house. This house was greatly influenced by Margaret’s wanting the kids to have good surroundings. The boys' room had four bunk beds built into the walls, with a small closet for Levis, shirts and boots. Two chests of drawers were built into the walls, one opening into the boys' room the other into a hallway. The girls' room also had a bunk bed and a regular bed, with another bunk built into the kiddies room, next to our parents room to accommodate the new baby boy and girl, which rounded out the family of nine.
THE UNIQUENESS OF MARGARET
Anytime Margaret was asked how she found time for nine kids, she answered “one kid takes all your time, nine can’t take any more than that”. Frontier logic, but it worked, the older girls took care of the younger four, which Archie dubbed as the “volunteer crop” as there was a five year gap between the fifth child and the sixth.
The big house was a house filled with love, with something that our city friends could only dream about—we had two indoor bathrooms, a boys’ bathroom with a shower and a girls’ bathroom with a tub. Margaret was a dreamer insisting on the bunk beds, two bathrooms and a huge garden, which was plowed by Doc and Glen, one white and one black work horse which Archie skillfully put through their paces. Several big Chinese elm trees were in the back yard, providing swings and climbing for all.
Margaret raised nine kids, but also an endless supply of beans, squash, tomatoes, corn, cauliflower, peas, okra, rhubarb etc. truly a bounty of wonderful eating. This was supplemented with beef and pork which was raised for food. Margaret was a regular member of the Claude Rainy Day Club, a ladies club for swapping recipes, making quilts and learning arcane things like flower arrangements, trading designs for shirts, dresses and other home made things. None of the neighbors were rich in money, but all were rich in knowledge and love of country.
As the kids grew up, married and moved out, Margaret took up some activities like flower arranging and painting, as well as teaching others through clubs and the County Extension system. When my wife-to-be, Ruth, first went to the ranch for Christmas 1956, she was stunned by nine kids and the constant activity that went on. After we married the next year, Margaret became Ruth’s dearest friend, in fact Ruth told me “if we ever split, I’m not going back to my Mother—I’m going to go back to yours”. Margaret thought that was one of the nicest complements she had gotten. Over the years, Ruth learned more about proper diet, nutrition and home management and raising kids just by watching Margaret.
Margaret became noted for her horticultural skills and use of native plants in flower arrangements, taking many blue ribbons at the Curry County Fair. She along with her dear friend Christine Long Hardisty, a classmate of Wylie’s and Curry County Home Extension Agent, traveled the State of New Mexico together, putting on demonstrations and teaching flower raising and arranging and vegetable gardening. Margaret was named Horticulturist of the Year in New Mexico for the outstanding work and teaching that she did.
THE FINAL YEARS
After Archie had a stroke in 1970, Margaret moved from the ranch into Clovis and cared for him until his death in 1974. During the next years she continued working with the Senior Center in Clovis continuing to teach and enjoy the garden that she had on Sandia Street in Clovis.
She continued to be a role model for her children and the next generations until she passed away in 2003. We were truly blessed to be in the presence of our parents and especially our Mother, Margaret Ruth Ricketts Dougherty.
Son Wylie, Margaret, Daughter Ruth, Son Noel
Guest Post by Wylie Dougherty, CHS Class of '53
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