Remember Well

This week’s Remember Well comes from longtime Palo Pinto resident Martha West. It’s a photo of her mother, Iris Wells Ottmann (top right), age 19, in the 1944 Mineral Wells Fourth of July parade.

Martha said Iris’s dad, Clarence Wells Sr., didn’t want her wearing “short-shorts” in the parade, because that just wasn’t acceptable back then. So, as you can see in the photo, Iris tucked them up a little higher!  

“And I just thought that was cute,” Martha mused. “This one of my favorite photographs.”

Iris was newly married to 1^st Lt. William (Bill) E. Ottmann at the time of this picture.

Following her graduation from Mineral Wells High School in 1942, Iris got a job as a telephone operator in town. After work she and her friends would hang out at Dan’s Venetian Club where there was an officer’s club upstairs. Martha said the young women would flirt with the officers from Camp Wolters and that’s how she met Bill.

“He would bring her little gifts and flowers,” said Martha. “And they fell in love and got married out at Fort Wolters.”

Tragically, Bill was killed in the Korean War in 1952 when he was 31 and Martha was just 18 months old. Iris remarried and was the sister of the late Mike Wells of Mineral Wells.

The nearly 80-year-old snap is in front of the old Doss Grocery store. If you look closely you can see the Baker Hotel peeking up over the buildings in the background.

Also in the photo is Patsy Vaughn (top left), Jo Moore Thompson (front left) and Elizabeth Massengale Vaughn (front right). Martha said her mother and Jo were best friends their entire lives and bridesmaids in each other’s weddings.

If you have a Remember Well send the photo and the story behind the photo to news@palopintopress.com. Please include Remember Well in the subject line.