By Winnie Moore
Hood County News – August 5, 1989
Edward Woodrow Ward, better known as Ed Ward, is one of those who has lived all of his life in the same place – at least within a “stone’s throw” of where he was born on Nov. 22, 1917.
Alva Clay and Beulah Denning Ward moved to that farm from Tolar in about 1915. Their families had settled in the Tolar area when they came to Texas from Tennessee.
Besides Ed, the Alva Wards were parents of one other son, Howard, who was killed in an automobile accident in 1950 and a daughter, Lemora Joyce McCarty, who resides in Hood River, Oregon.
Of course, Ed attended school in Lipan. He remembers that he was in the first grade when the bank in Lipan was robbed. In the chase that followed, bullets were fired and some of them went through the windows of the first-grade room. None of the students were injured and Ed says that they were not really frightened because it was over before they knew what was happening.
After graduating from high school in 1935, Ed began farming. He did attend Texas A&M for a short period of time but decided that farming was what he wanted to do. He was one of the first ones in the community to purchase a tractor.
On Dec. 9, 1939, Ed married Pauline Elsie Tipton. She was born at Morgan Mill on April 25, 1920. Her parents were William Otis and Lucy Elsie McKenzey Tipton. The family lived for a while at Albany. She attended school there and in the Hassel community and later at Lipan. Pauline has two brothers, Charlie Tipton of Granbury and William Tipton of Waxahachie, and one sister, Martha Bell Queen, who spends most of her time traveling.
Otis Tipton owned a feed mill in Lipan after moving back to this area from Albany.
Ed and Pauline are the parents of four children. Kevon lives on the original Ward farm east of Lipan, Eddie resides in Fort Worth, Nanetta Carol Pridgeon in Burleson and Edwisa Kay Queen in Arlington. There are eight grandchildren now and another one due by Christmas. There is also one great-grandchild.
Through the years besides farming, the Wards were also in the egg business for about 40 years. Deliveries were made twice a week to Fort Worth as well as other places.
Looking back, the Wards remember Lipan as a bustling little town, especially on Saturdays. The stores were crowded. They remember the store that was owned by Mr. Rippetoe which was located along where Lambertson’s store is presently located. It was in that store where people gathered to listen to prize fights, etc. on the radio.
Rastus Cook owned one of the first cafes and also an ice house. A block of ice could be bought for 5 cents. The Bean store is also remembered as well as the “picture show” upstairs. Admission was 5 cents.
Ed remembers when his parents purchased their first car, a Model-T, when he was a young man. There were not many cars at that time. People mainly came to town in wagons that had to be parked behind the stores.
Ed and Pauline enjoy traveling. They are members of a travel club but enjoy traveling to other places. They are presently making plans for a trip to the Northwest in the near future.