[byrne.ftw]
!add P.O. Box 2618 Show Low, Az. 85901 Ph. 602-537-5801 Carl Hicks
and Bertha Blitch first met in Vance, Texas in 1925. Carl came into
the store where Bertha worked several times. The store belonged to
Doc Pannell, a brother to Ellis Pannell. After that Bertha moved to
Bisbee, Arizona and graduated from high school. She was then employed
by a plumbing company as a bookkeeper. In 1929 she went to lunch at
the local drugstore and Carl was there. Bertha learned that Carl was
working at a copper mine in Lowell, Arizona. A few days later Carl
came into the plumb- plumbing company and ask Bertha for a date. Three
months later they were married by Judge Sames in his home. Mrs Sames
played the organ and sang "I Love You Truly". Carl and Bertha did not
have a ring but Judge Sames found one in his den for them. Bertha's
sister, Mildred O'Bryant and Tom Hightower were their witnesses. They
returned to Lowell to set up housekeeping but it wasn't long until the
depression hit and the copper mine shut down. Carl's brother, Nelson
Hicks had a pool hall in Duncan, Arizona and asked Carl to come manage
it for him. They moved to Duncan and it was there that their first
child, a son was born. Times were hard then and when Carl heard of
the potash mines opening in Carlsbad, New Mexico, he and Bertha and
their son moved there. Edmond was three years old then. They lived in
a tent in the beginning and Bertha was the envy of all the other
ladies there as Carl had built cabinets and a floor in their tent.
Carl went to work selling the salt for the Potash Company of America.
This was 1933. He retired in 1964 after 31 years of employment. He
was the dynamite and ventilation man at the time of his retirement.
Carl had a stroke in 1984 and died on January 5, 1985. Carl and
Bertha's son, Ray, died a year later on January 8, 1986. Ray played
his music all his life and was well known in Carlsbad for his musical
ability on guitar and fiddle. He and his band played for many of the
local events. After the death of Carl and Ray, Bertha went to live
with her son, Edmond, in Show Low, Arizona. She also spends a lot of
time in Phoenix, with her daughter, Judy.