Erva Thaxton

Biography written by Shari Diane Thaxton:

My dad was born in the last house, a wood frame house, on West First Street in Las Animas, Colorado, on August 24, 1915. Dad attended his first four years of school at Frey school.  When Dad was in 5th grade, they moved to a farm north of Cornelia School. Dad and Leona attended Cornelia School (Dad attended 5th and 6th grades at Cornelia) until Leona was ready for high school when the family again moved to town. When Dad was in junior high, they moved to 819 6th Street, the former parsonage of the First Baptist Church.  Dad played the drums in the junior high band at Columbian Junior High School through the 8th grade and remembers bringing home the drum sticks to practice.  During high school, his parents lived at 805 7th Street, a home that would house several of the Thaxton families over the next thirty five years.  The lot south of the house had a two-car garage, which Dad, Archie and their friends turned into a gymnasium.  The garage was insulated and papered--a nice, warm place for the boys to practice their gymnastics.  Grandfather Thaxton lost the house during the Depression, but because of the garage's location on a separate lot, the garage was kept, remodeled, and lived in by Grandmother and Grandfather.  Later when Grandfather Thaxton began working at the air base in La Junta, Colorado, he could afford to make it a home.  He and Grandmother lived there until they died.  

During the Depression from the 7th grade through the 10th grade, Dad mowed lawns and was a handyman to help his folks financially.  Dad began working at J.C. Penney Co as a salesman when he was a sophomore in high school (1930) and worked for the company for 15 years, including his time in World War II. He graduated from Las Animas High School in 1933. Dad lived with his parents until he married Barbara Crays in Raton, New Mexico, on May 29th, 1938. 

They paid $15 a month rent.  Dad was making $75 a month.  They budgeted $15 a month for food.  Because they had no furniture, they bought three rooms of furniture--a kitchen table and chairs, a bedroom set, and a living room set and paid $5 a month on it until it was paid for.  They had no car, so when I signaled my upcoming arrival, Dad called Don "Pooch" Colvin to take Mom to the hospital.  Dad helped deliver me along with Doctor Hageman's help.  Mom said that Dad thought, after seeing me born, that childbirth was truly a miracle. 

When Roy Shenk came to Las Animas as manager of J.C. Penney Company, Dad's salary greatly improved.  Roy was so impressed with Dad's work that he gave Dad a $10 a month raise every six months.  When Dad was making $90 a month (1940), he decided to build a home.  He borrowed $250 from the bank to buy the lot and $2300 to build the house.  Grandfather Crays helped him with the foundation.  It took two weeks to frame it.  Grandfather Thaxton found a man to plaster it who had been working on houses at Caddoa during the building of John Martin Dam.  The plaster was so hard and so well done that it never cracked.  Hardwood floors were laid throughout the house.  The money borrowed paid for everything except the kitchen cupboards and the picket fence.  

In 1941 Dad was transferred to the Lamar, Colorado, J.C. Penney store as assistant manager. In 1943, Dad sold the house to Mrs. Ella Hageman.  We lived in Mrs. Sunday's basement apartment in Lamar until Dad was drafted into World War II in 1942.  Dad and Mom had joined a Methodist church in Lamar.  While Dad was in the Navy, Mom and I lived with Grandmother and Grandfather Crays.  

Erva received an honorable discharge from the United States Navy as a radar man second class at Shoemaker, California, on December 13, 1945.  He had been inducted into the Navy on March 23, 1944, in Denver, CO.  His job while in the Navy was to operate radar equipment aboard the USS Cecil, a troop transport.  He received his radar training at Point Loma, San Diego, CA. His ship delivered Marines to both Iwo Jima and Okinawa for attacks. When he returned from the war, he resumed his job at Lamar, and we lived in a house in Lamar.  He also bought a secondhand Model A Ford so that we would have transportation. 

Dad was not happy working for J C. Penney Co after the war.  He wanted to be his own boss, so in May, 1946, we returned to Las Animas. Mom and Dad transferred their church membership from Lamar to the First Methodist Church in Las Animas on October 6, 1946.  We lived with Grandmother and Grandfather Crays.  Dad borrowed money from Grandfather Thaxton and bought Jerman's grocery store (lockers and fruit stand) on June 3,1946.  One of my first lessons in honesty and thievery happened at the store.  Dad worked hard and spent long days there.  The store was open from 7 A.M. until 6 P.M. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 7 A. M. to 9 P.M., and again on Sunday.  Because Dad hired minimal help, he was the one who did all the ordering and book work.  Many a night he would come home for supper, eat, and go back to the store to "check up".  Sometimes, to relieve Mom, he would take me with him.  While he did his bookkeeping, I had the run of the store.  One particular December evening (I was probably six or seven years old), I was admiring the Christmas candy, a traditional long table of bulk candy that Dad ordered and sold just before Christmas.  He sold the candy to schools, churches, and individuals for the filling of Christmas stockings and children's tummies!  There were usually around twenty boxes of hard candy, chocolates, peppermint canes, caramels, and kisses--every kind of candy a kid would want!  As the evening drew on, I decided I needed some lemon drops.  My little mind began to argue with itself.  I knew that if I asked Dad for candy, he would probably let me have some; however, there was the possibility that he would say "no"!  Devilishly, I helped myself without asking.  I had just about finished my mouthful when Dad came out of the office to go home.  I quickly swallowed the last bite and headed to the car for home, convinced that I had not been caught in my thievery.  Once in the car, Dad simply said to me, "Diane, are the lemon drops good?"  No spanking, no reprimands, just a simple question.  I didn't answer--I was so ashamed.  I'm sure that I took things that didn't belong to me after that.  But that simple experience taught me that my dishonesty was a great disappointment to my father, and I needed to work hard at living as honestly as I could.  He owned and operated the store, Thaxton's Market, for thirty-one years before retiring and selling the store to his sons, Ken and Rob.  During that time, he remodeled and added space three times. 

Ken and Kathy were born September 7, 1946, and Rob was born November 3, 1947.  

Dad retired in 1974, but still helped unload freight on Monday and Thursday mornings. After retirement, Archie Thaxton, Dad and Don Chandler remodeled 28 old houses in Las Animas over a ten year period.  From 1984 to 2000, Dad volunteered at the Las Animas Golf Course.

In 1985 Dad had triple bypass surgery.  Mom and I went up with him, he recovered beautifully, and Mom and I had a great opportunity to share our adult lives during the five days he was in the hospital.  Mom died in 1990, and Dad lived alone.  He learned the basics of cooking, had a housekeeper, and even though legally blind, worked hard at making a new life for himself.

  Dad married Geneva Carrica on March 6th, 1995, and they resided at his home. He continued to golf although his eye sight was gone from macular degeneration; he had the course memorized!  He served on the MYCOM Board of Directors for the golf course from its start until the city took over the course.  Besides golfing, he has enjoyed hunting and fishing.  During his life he has been President of the Las Animas Chamber of Commerce and was selected Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year.  He has served on the Board of Directors of the Senior Citizens in La Junta, and the Board of Directors of Senior Housing in Las Animas.  He has been a trustee of the First Methodist Church.  When asked about favorite hymns, he mentioned "In the Garden".  He remembers Phil Hoskins working for Grandpa Thaxton in the campground store when Dad was a boy.  Dad loved to hear Phil sing the song as he worked.

Dad entered the Bent County Health Care Center in February, 2008.  He had carotid artery surgery, recovered, but never regained the strength that he had prior to that.  Because of the prostate cancer, the macular degeneration (blindness) and his hard of hearing, it was difficult for him to stay at home.  He died at the Bent County Health Care Center on July 8, 2011.  His funeral service was held July 13, 2011 at 10 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Las Animas with Pastor Amy Baker officiating.  The casket bearers were his grandsons: Tim Baublits; Shad, Luke, Brent and Casey Thaxton; and Heath and Rhett Proctor.  Burial was in the Las Animas Cemetery with military honors.