Bob was still working with Western Union, as he would for the rest of his life, when he went to Borger, Texas to fill in for another Western Union employ. It is not known at this time how Bob and Babe both came to be in Borger where they were introduced by mutual friends. What is known is that they did meet there and after a short two weeks they were encouraged to marry by these friends. Maybe it was that he was being sent to Gallup, New Mexico, next and rather than be apart they decided that they would stop at Panhandle, Texas on the way to Gallup and get married there, on July 16, 1939. Bob, the confirmed bachelor and Babe, dutiful daughter, had found a love to last them their lives. He sent his sisters telegrams the next day, “Married last night, wish us luck.”
They set up housekeeping with two each of forks, knives, spoons, plates, cups and a few sauce pans and saucers, and a world full of love. Children were not in their plans as Bob figured that at 33, he was a little old for children, and that Babe would be better not going through pregnancy with her health. Famous last words.
Ten and a half months later on June 7, 1940 Patricia Jeanne was born, in Gallup New Mexico. Babe and Bob were happy and their life was complete. They traveled from one assignment to another, until nearly time for Pat (Kitten, as she was called) to start school. There was an opening for a manager in Lamesa, Texas, where Bob had been filling in and they decided to bid on it. He had about 20 years seniority with the company and there was a chance he might get it. Babe, having been raised devoutly Catholic, began a Novena. This is something she would do in all times of crisis and need for the rest of her life. Her faith in God was without limit and her devotion without bounds.
World War II was going on at this time. Bob wanted to enlist and tried. His position with Western Union was considered vital to nationally security. He would not be allowed to enlist as long as he worked in communications. In order to enlist he would have to work 90 days in another industry.
They stayed in Lamesa until a more attractive position in Tucumcari, New Mexico, came open. He bid on it, she prayed and they moved to Tucumcari. There Pat would attend school until ninth grade.
Babe had been told she was not likely to have any more children due to the position of her uterus after the birth of Pat. However she had taken a hard fall, and unknown to anyone, things had changed. Judith Ann was born on Nov.8, 1949. Bob gave this daughter a nickname also, Stormy. It was, he said, “because every time he picked her up, he got wet one way or the other” Bob had a knack for giving everyone a nickname, even calling Babe, Butch, for some unknown reason. It did not have the connotation it does today.
The family did everything together, and the girls loved the excitement of the spur of the moment trips they would take to the horse races or camping. Sometimes they would go to Sante Fe and visit Babe’s family there. It was always great to see all the other cousins, and the grown-ups would play cards till the early morning hours. It was like an adventure to the two girls.
Grandma Eggert would spend about six weeks with each of her children and their families. She rotated between them all and the grandkids all looked forward to her visits, and her stories of growing up at Ft Union. Sometimes they found it hard to really believe her tales of “fighting Indians” and “marrying under the swords” or the other incredible, to them, things she had experienced. Tiny in her youth, she was barely four foot nine in her old age. She refused to interfere in any of her children’s lives, whether it was their marriages or their child rearing. As a baby, Pat had a severe case of colic during one of Grandma Eggert’s visits. After Babe and Bob walking, rocking and doing everything they could think of to soothe her, Bob turned to Grandma and asked her what to do. Standing firm in her conviction to not interfere, she told him, in her quiet, gentle voice, “Bob, I raised mine and you have to raise yours.” Frustrated, Bob turned to walk away, then turned back, “Well, Grandma, if it were YOUR child, what would YOU do?”
”Well, Bob, I would fill her bottle and put about half a shot of whiskey in it.”
So Bob got her bottle and put about a half shot of it in the bottle, noticing that only a few drops were left he added that, too. He and Babe gave Pat the bottle and it wasn’t very long before she was cooing and laughing and went to sleep.
Christmas was really neat every year. Starting before Thanksgiving, Babe and Bob would begin making candy for Christmas. They made fudge, divinity and a special favorite was a rich, melt in your mouth confection called Penuche. It had a flavor a little like maple, caramel and butterscotch mixed together. There would also be a fruit cake baked in a tube pan and wrapped up, with rum poured over it and a shot glass full of rum set down in the hole in the center. This was allowed to age and was so good. There was another dish they made called Suet Pudding, made from suet, raisins, and nuts. It was steamed all day in a coffee can then topped with a hard sauce made from powdered sugar and milk. Oh it was so rich and so good!!
The Christmas tree was always put up about two weeks before Christmas and they had a special way of decorating it. Every evening after supper Babe and Bob would hang tinsel on the tree. Starting at the bottom of the tree, where the branch came out from the trunk, each piece of tinsel was carefully looped over each little branch, until the entire branch out to the tip was covered. They worked their way up to the top of the tree until the entire tree was covered in this fashion. When the lights were turned on, every color of the lights and the decorative bulbs would reflect and shimmer among the tinsel. On top they placed a beautiful White Star with a light in the middle. Never was there a more beautiful tree.
Easter was another special holiday. Being a very devout Catholic, Babe made sure the girls had new Easter dresses and of course, like every other Sunday of the year, they would go to Mass. But this was always a more special Mass because it was Easter.
Early 1956 was a very sad time for both Babe and Bob. Bob’s dad passed away on Feb. 1, 1956. After the loss of his wife, Mattie in 1935 he had taken a caretakers job at Belvedere Cemetery where she was buried. He was buried beside her and later their daughter Ruth, when she passed away on Feb. 9, 1987 The funeral was in San Angelo, Texas and Bob and Babe were living in Borger, Texas at that time. They drove to San Angelo for the funeral. On the return to Borger, there was a terrible snow storm in West Texas and they were snowed in at Lubbock, Texas for three days. When they left Lubbock, the snow had not yet cleared and the roads were still covered in snow and ice. Their daughters would always remember seeing tractor-trailer rigs, milk trucks, busses and other cars off the road, on the shoulder and even some overturned all along the highway. How they made it safely home no-one ever knew, but Bob was determined to get there.
Barely less than two months later, Grandma Eggert also passed away. The entire Eggert family gathered in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the funeral. It was then that her children all discovered that the indomitable little pioneer woman had saved the gifts of money that her family had always given her on birthdays, Christmas and Mothers Day. No-one was ever quite sure what to buy for her so in the hope that she would buy herself something she really wanted they gave her gifts of cash most of the time. She had saved most of that money and used it to pay for her own burial services, plot and cemetery maintenance. There were no such things as perpetual care cemeteries at that time and the cost of caring for the loved ones grave-site usually fell to her next of kin. She had even paid for that, so that it would not be a burden to her family. The family had lost their Matriarch but not all the lessons she had given them right up to her last days.
Babe had come close to death that winter and her health was failing even more. She had suffered a near fatal pneumonia complicated by an allergic reaction to the combination of medicines that had been prescribed for her. Her recovery was slow and Bob, ever the devoted husband, cared for her constantly through her recovery. Slowly she regained strength and returned to all the many incredible thing she managed to accomplish in spite of her crippling arthritis. Her home had always been so clean it was said, “you could eat off her floor, it was so clean.” In addition, she made many of her daughters clothes, including the pretty mint- green dress that Stormy wore on her first birthday. Quite often the Easter dresses were made by Babe. She also tatted lace, a lost art even in that day, as well as crocheted doilies for their home. Some of them were layered and stood up in big ruffles after they were starched and ironed.
As for ironing, she ironed everything, including the pillow cases. There was no such thing as ‘wash and wear.’ Babe had a routine for ironing. She had a “sprinkler” bottle and would “dampen” the things to be ironed on one day and iron on the next. Steam irons were new then but, she was unable to use them as she was not strong enough to lift it. Her hands had been ravaged by the rheumatoid and she was unable to open them. To lift her iron, she faced the iron towards her, then reached around with both hands and hooked her fingers together. Then, using her left hand to straighten the fingers of her right hand, she would move her hand to the handle of the iron and allow her fingers to close around it. This was repeated every time she picked the iron up.
Pat married Roger Dale McCarty on January 19, 1957. That summer Babe began teaching her to crochet, and together they put crocheted trim around the blankets that Pat would use for her baby. That baby, Rodger Dale, was born on Sept. 4, 1957. Bob and Babe had become grandparents. Dale’s birth was followed sixteen months later by the birth of his brother, William Allen, on January 26, 1958. True to form, Bob gave them nicknames, Buster for Dale, and Willie for Allen.
Babe’s health continued to worsen, she had developed an ulcer on her ankle that the doctors had no idea how to cure. Bob took her from doctor to doctor, trying to find help for her. She began to have spells in early 1960, where she seemed almost drunk. They both became very frustrated at the inability of the doctors to even give a diagnosis. She was heard to call them a bunch of “dumb ninnies.” This and “Hell’s bells” were her only curses and these only at the utmost aggravation. Finally, on July 1, 1960, after receiving the last sacrament from her nephew, she lapsed into a coma and passed away. Father Frank, the son of her brother Bill, performed her service and Mass as well, and she was buried in Mt Calgary Cemetery, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Bob was devastated. He had lost his beloved Butch. He left Stormy with Mary, Babe’s sister and returned to Hobbs, New Mexico, where they had lived since 1957.
When summer was over Stormy returned to Hobbs, to live with her father. He was much changed, still in grief. In time Bob’s sense of humor began to return and he often teased Stormy in various ways. One was to tell her she was “pretty twice, pretty ornery and pretty apt to stay that way.” They settled into a new routine and time passed. Summers Stormy would spend with various relatives then, through the school year she would return to Hobbs and her Poppa, as she came to call him. This came about from her teasing him and calling him "Poppa Daddy Dear" when asking for something she particularly wanted. Sometimes they disagreed and she was not always as kind as she should have been, but they we very close. Many were the times she would climb into his lap to watch TV with him and laying her head upon his shoulder, fall asleep. These times he would carry her to bed, still his little girl.
Pat and her family moved to California and there on Dec. 11, 1963 a third son, Robert Chance , was born to them. He was a happy, mischievous little guy and was given the nickname Bobbie, by Bob. Two years later on Feb. 2, 1965 a girl, Stephanie Dawn was born and when Bob saw her, she became Stevie to him. They now had the daughter Pat had so longed for.
Stormy was growing up and had fallen in love herself. On May 26, 1966 she married Shelton C Jones. She had known that her Poppa was lonely quite often, but his loneliness after she married, became so much worse for Bob that he decided to give up his position as manager of the Western Union office in Hobbs and return to being a relief manager, as he had been when he met Babe.
As he told Bill, Babe’s brother, in August of 1966, “it started here, it will end here.”
He joined his beloved Babe on Sept. 29, 1966 and was laid to rest beside her in Mt Calgary Cemetery, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Here we are nearly at the end of our story.Click on the picture of Bob and Stormy to read the conclusion of our story in the Prologue.
