09/05/2022
I wrote this article a couple of months ago.
Friendship
Have you ever found an old picture and wondered who the person was and what kind of life they lived? I have.
Several years back, prior to 1998, my husband and I traveled to San Antonio, Texas to see his grandmother. While we were there, we drove across town to see my Uncle Malcolm Munson. He showed me an old photo album that belonged to his mother. Graciously, he allowed me to take it and get copies of the pictures made.
His father, Joseph Christopher “Kit” Munson have given the photo album to his wife, Eva 1904, as a Christmas gift. At the time they lived in Hope, Lavaca County, Texas.
There were a lot of family photos throughout the album. However, one particular photo caught my interest. It was of a beautiful young woman named Myrtle Thrift. I did not know whether she was family, or a friend of Eva’s. I was not able to find her among family, so I turned to friendship. Many years passed without knowing how she was connected with Eva Munson.
Over the years, I would take a chance at trying to find her several times, and then I would let it sit. While going through the album once again, I decided to take another look. I found a Myrtle Thrift in the 1900 census of Lavaca County, Texas. She had a marriage record from 1909 in Gonzales County, Texas. This was promising since I knew Eva Belle Airhart was born in Lavaca County, Texas. I pulled up the census document and located Myrtle Thrift. I took a chance and looked at the pages before and after, and sure enough I located Eva Belle Airhart and her family.
Eva Belle Airhart, 8 years old, was born August of 1892, and Myrtle Thrift, 7 years old, was born February of 1893. They were six months apart in age. Since Myrtle was in Eva’s photo album, I assume they were childhood friends. Unfortunately, my great grandmother, Eva Belle Munson passed away at the age of 36 on July 14, 1929.
Myrtle Thrift married Thomas Shelton Southerland White on May 26, 1909, in Gonzales County, Texas. They had one son, Hurst White. She later remarried, and passed away on October 26, 1973, in San Antonio, Texas as Myrtle T. Deviney.
