My Father and Mother were Charley and Hazel Lucas. They came to Irving in 1920 and bought a lot at 410 S. Jefferson St. They raised 3 children there, Charles, Jerry and Martha Jo. Charley worked for The Texas Pipe Line (Texaco) for 40 something years and Hazel was a homemaker. In the early 40’s she bought a lunchroom called the Tiger’s Den across the street from the school located on Jefferson Street.

World War 11 came and Charles joined the Navy Air Corp. Jerry went to work at North American, a defense plant, in Grand Prairie. While they were doing the war effort I was just going into middle school. Life in Irving was peaceful and small. We walked everywhere and went to the Post Office to get our mail. Hans Smith had the movie theater in downtown and folks used the drug store to socialize then. Main Street, with the businesses, was two blocks long. Everyone went to the football games and the High School had a Halloween Carnival that the town turned out to see.

Life progressed, the war ended and my brother, Charles, came home. Jerry married Grady May and they had five sons. I graduated from Irving High School in 1948 and married Mickey Watson. We have three children, Dellanne, George, and Jody. We have lived at 3714 W. Cranston Ct. for 42 years. The nicest complement that I can pay my Mother and Father is, “I had a very happy childhood here in Irving.”