Life History

Notes

• Lou Ila's family tend to call family members by both names.  She wentby Lou Ila most of the time, and preferred that even with the public.  She was, however, often called simply Lou by some people.
  
  Andy and Rettie Gregory lived in the Pike's Peak community in Garvin County in the 1930s.  Lou then lived with her parents in the See Chapel rural community, near Cox City, in Grady County, Oklahoma.  Her cousin Dave (David Milton) Tugman and wife Mary Ruth later also lived in See Chapel until Dave died in 1975.
  
  They lived about a mile from Andy's brother Tom (George Thomas) and family.  She finished grade school in the See Chapel School, then rode the bus into Cox City for High School.
  
  When Lou was in the 12th grade, Andy moved his family to Purdy.  So Lou would not have to change schools in her last year, she stayed with her Uncle Tom and Aunt Fannie Gregory in See Chapel.  This was necessary only for about two months, however, because Andy decided to move back to Rocky Point, near enough to Cox City that she could stay with them and ride the school bus.
  
  Lou Ila graduated from Cox City High School in 1940, as salutatorian of her class.
  
  Lou Ila met Orville Lee Jenkins in Chickasha, Oklahoma, where she worked in the Grady County Hospital.  Their marriage license/certificate was issued 27 August 1946 in Grady County, Oklahoma.  They were married 1 September 1946 at Calvary Baptist Church, Chickasha, by Pastor Paul R Morgan.  Witnesses at their wedding were Orville's brother Asa Jenkins of Anadarko and Lou's sister Dessie Gregory of Lindsay.  The marriage was recorded 5 September 1946 in Grady County Marriage Record Book 31, page 550.
  
  They lived in Chickasha until 1951, when they moved with their first son Orville Boyd to Quanah, Hardeman County, Texas.  Quanah is only 8 miles across the Red River, southwest of Altus, Oklahoma.  The family lived in Quanah until summer 1963, when they planned to move to Faulkner County, Arkansas.  A divorce occurred in 1964 and Lou remained in Quanah with the two younger sons, Greg and Gary, while Orville and 15-year-old son Orville Boyd moved to Arkansas, where they had already arranged jobs.
  
  Lou moved later to Vernon, Texas, where she lived until about September 1973, when she moved back to Lindsay, Oklahoma, where most of her family lived.  She continues to live there in 2008.

Sources

• 1. Lou Ila Gregory Jenkins, personal communication
• 2. Alpharetta Mae Gregory, names in a Bible
• 3. 1930 Federal Census, Garvin County, Oklahoma
  • 12 April, Lindsay, District 10, page 7B, Hse #92, Fam #109
• 4. Orville Boyd Jenkins, Personal Knowledge
• 5. Marriage License
• 6. Quanah (Texas) Tribune-Chief, 24 February 1966
• 7. Divorce Decree, Lou Ila Jenkins and Orville Lee Jenkins
• 8. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
• 9. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997
• 10. Lou Ila Gregory Jenkins Personal Communication, May-July 2007