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Odle Family Coley Coe Odle (1882-1964) and
his first wife, Nora Ellen Johnson Odle, (1887-1960) are listed at 1306
W. Woodard St. in the 1927 Denison City Directory. It was
compiled in late 1926, which means that the Odles moved in earlier that
year or at the very end of 1925 when the Robersons
moved out.
Born in Kentucky, Coley was not yet 18 years old when the 1900 census found him in Tom Bean in Grayson County, Texas. Nora was born in Mississippi, and she was still living there at the age of 12 on July 2, 1900, according to the 1900 census eumerated that day. Her family must have come to Denison soon after that, because the obituary of her brother, Grover, born in 1884, said he came from Mississippi when he was 15. Nora's obituary said she attended Denison schools. On Christmas Eve in 1905, ten days after her 18th birthday, she married Coley. Their first child, Charles Franklin Odle, was born in Denison nearly 5 years later. Charles was 15 or 16 when the Odles moved to Woodard St. from 1326 W. Main St., near the other end of the block on the next street over. His Denison High School 1928 year book suggests his favorite song was "Me Too, Ho-Ho! Ha-Ha!!". It was first recorded in late 1926, not long after the Odles moved to Woodard St.  The 1925 Denison City Directory
shows that C.C. Odle operated a dry cleaners at 110-112 N. Rusk Avenue.
In the 1927 Directory the address of the business was
shortened to 110 N. Rusk. Next door at 112 was shoe repair
shop. In 1919 the building at 112 had become a meat market.
C.C. Odle probably still owned the building at 112 N. Rusk
because the 1934 Directory lists it as a cafeteria run by Nora Odle and
her son, Charles. But, oddly enough, by that time Nora and
Coley had divorced. They were ex-spouses but still close
business neighbors.
 Coley, Nora and Charles are all
listed at 1306 W. Woodard in the 1930 census. The next city
directory, published in August of 1934, lists only Nora, Charles and
his wife, Dorothy, at that address. Charles and Dorothy
married in 1932.; She graduated from Denison High School two
years ahead of Charles, although she was just 11 months older.
She was the daughter of Burton William Baldwin, longtime
partner in the Koeppen-Baldwin plumbing supply house and contracting
business. She attended Draughon's Business College and,
beginning in 1932, worked as a cashier at Odle's Cafeteria.
Charles and Nora opened their cafeteria around the beginnig of April 1932. Charles was the manager, and Nora baked the pies. She had begun supplying local restaurants with her pies in the late 1920s. The 1929 City Directory lists her as a baker operating out of her home. Once she and Charles opened the cafeteria, it became the exclusive outlet for her pies. Before he went into business with his mother, Charles had worked next door as a salesman at his father's dry cleaning business. The only address listed for Coley Odle in 1934 is the one for his business. He may have lived in the back. The Denison Press of August 1, 1934, carried an article, stating that as of the end of July 1934 C.C. Olde had been operated his business in Denison continuously for 29 years. Research notes on the Find-A-Grave memorial for Nora say that the research inferred from the 1940 Census data that she and Coley must have divorced between 1935-1940. However, the census data actually points to the divorce occurring before 1935. Other sources also suggest an earlier divorce. Beginning around 1932 she began to be mentioned in the newspaper as Mrs. Nora Odle instead of Mrs. C.C. Odle. In 1934 she bought a car in her own name. Nora sold 1306 W. Woodard in 1936. Since she was the only seller mentioned in the newspaper, she must have gotten sole possession of the house when she and Coley divorced. She sold her delicatessan and cafe to Bill Starford in July 1934 and moved to Pilot Point, Denton Co., Texas, to take a position as "field executive for a rest cottage," a traveling position for the rescue home for girls. Around the time that she left Denison, Charles and Dorothy moved to Greenville, Hunt Co., Texas. They moved back to Denison after World War II. Nora later moved from Pilot Point to Sherman. When she died in 1960, she was living in Denison again at 517 W. Woodard. She is buried at Fairview Cemetery in the family plot with her son and his wife. At the time the 1938 Denison City Directory came out, Coley was the only one of the Odles still in Denison. He married his second wife that year. The 1940 census lists his name as C. Clarence Odle. The small circled "x" beside second wife Mollie's name indicates that she was a member of the household who talked to the census taker. It appears she did not know her husband's name was Coley Coe. Either that or Clarence was her affectionate nickname for him. Odle's Cafeteria was succeeded at 112 N. Rusk Ave. by Moore's Drugstore and then the Post Office Drugstore. After World War II it became Carl's Cafe. Odle Cleaners at 110 N. Rusk Aven. became Sunshine Cleaners after the war. In 1953 the building was occupied by J.R. Handy Insurance. Coley and his second wife, Mollie R., are buried in West Hill Cemetery at Sherman, Texas, along with his parents and siblings. The couple who bought 1306 W. Woodard from Nora Odle in 1936 would live there for the next 21 years.  Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |