2. Great-Grandparents
 Oliver Herbert (O.H.) Spradling
 Born: March 1, 1897
 Died: June 25, 1977
 Private in U.S. Army during WWI
 Youngest of two sons
 Lived in Wolfe City, Tx

3. Great-Grandparents
 Nona Belle ‘Payne’ Spradling
 Born: January 3, 1895
 Died: December 20, 1980
 One of 5 children
 Lived in Wolfe City, Tx
Nona Payne on right and sister, Hester on left

4. Great-Grandparents
 Married January 20, 1920
 Had one son, Howard.
 Lived and worked on a farm in Wolfe City.
 Cash crop was cotton.
O.H. & Nona holding
granddaughter (my mother)
Hazel

5. Grandparents
 Howard Payne Spradling
 Born: October 20, 1920 Wolfe City, Tx
 Died: January 21, 2008
 Attended Texas A&M in 1939
Howard in the Corps of Howard, Fall 1923
Cadets at TAMU

6. Grandparents
 Erma Beatrice ‘Cook’ Spradling
 Born: May 19, 1921 in Chriesman, Tx
 Died: October 14, 2001
 One of 2 children

7. Grandparents
 Married: October 4, 1941
 Had 4 children; 2 boys and 2 girls
Howard with daughter, (my mother) Hazel

8. Parents
 Robert “Bobby” Lynn Fairchild
 Born: September 20, 1951
 From: Oklahoma City, OK
 Graduated from Sam Houston St.
 School Teacher/Principle
 One of 4 children

9. Parents
 Hazel Marie ‘Spradling’ Fairchild
 Born: October 13, 1954 in Pasadena, Tx
 Youngest of 4 children
 One of 2 adopted by Howard and Beatrice
1973
Hazel and Nona Spradling 1957

10. Parents
 Married: October 2, 1976
 Have 3 sons: Robert, Reagan, and Ryan
Reagan, Robert, Hazel, and Ryan Fairchild

11. Myself
 Ryan Payne Fairchild
 Born: September 15, 1992 in Sulphur Springs, Tx
 Expected to graduate TAMU in 2016
 Works part-time while attending school

12. Social Class
 Great-grandparents generation was a hard working
farming people. School was not a priority, but a
luxury.
 Grandparents generation went through an
intergenerational mobility and moved to the middle
class.
 My parents and myself have stayed in this middle
class so far.

13. Race & Ethnicity
 All of my ancestors and myself have considered
ourselves to be white.
 However, my grandparents went through the
segregation age in the middle of their lives.
 “We were integrated, but there were no African
Americans in my school in Pasadena. There was still
an active KKK group in Pasadena in the 70’s.” (H.
Fairchild, personal communication, November 23,
2014)

14. Gender Roles
 In the great generations, men made majority of the
decisions and provided all financial support.
 In my parents generation, women had more of a say
in financial and other family decisions. My mother
was still considered the house maker.

15. Religion
 All generations were church going, and have gone to
the same type of church.
 Church was not a choice growing up.
 “Church was a thread in our lives, and an important
thread. There was a time in my life where I quit
going to church, but then came back and it’s
importance increased in my life.” (D. Spradling,
personal communication, November 23, 2014)

16. Agriculture
 Agriculture was the way my great-grandparents
made their living.
 My Grandfather paid for his tuition to Texas A&M
through the money he got for selling the crops he
grew.
 I have continued to learn about agriculture through
my studies at Texas A&M.
 “Visited both sets of grandparents and they both
farmed (plowed) with horses.” (B. Dawson, personal
communication, November 21, 2014)

17. Agriculture cont.
 “My dad raised cotton for a while, and then for
many years soy beans up until 6 or 7 years until he
died. He also grew sugar cane, and had a huge
garden.” (R. Dawson, personal communication,
November 21, 2014)

18. Language
 Since coming to the United states, English has
always been my ancestor’s and my primary
language.