Individual Details
Worthie Harwood Briles
(17 Oct 1894 - 27 Jul 1979)
Some family records spell his first name as "Worthy" and some spell it was "Worthie." The Social Security Administration Death Index spells his first name as "Worthie," agrees with the birth and death dates and death location given above, says his SS card was issued in Texas, and gives his SS Card # as 459-18-5733.
The Notes in bold below were from the original Briles genealogy files that I (Susan Briles Kniebes) imported into Family Tree Maker on March 21, 1999, from an older genealogy program. Source was family history and records.
WAS A VERY GOOD PAINTER, WHO ATTENDED THE ART INSTITUTE
IN CHICAGO AS A YOUNG MAN. [Worthie had attended the Art Institute in Chicago some time before his marriage to Leona Hays Connally on March 1, 1917.] HE MADE HIS LIVING AS A SIGN
PAINTER. WHEN HE GOT OLDER, HE PRIMARILY PAINTED SIGNS
ON TRUCKS.
HE DID NOT KNOW UNTIL HE WAS EVIDENT ALLY A YOUNG MAN THAT
HE WAS A BRILES RATHER THAN THE SON OF MR. [Joseph P.] GRAVES, HIS
MOTHER'S SECOND HUSBAND. ALL OF HIS SIBLINGS WERE THUS
HALF BROTHERS AND SISTERS. AFTER HIS DEATH, HIS WIFE [Leona Hays Connally] FELT THAT THIS MADE HIM A SOMEWHAT UNTRUSTING PERSON, BECAUSE HIS MOTHER KEPT
THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS FATHER FROM HIM FOR SO LONG.
In a taped conversation with her granddaughter Sara Briles Moriarty on July 24, 1980, Worthie's wife, Leona Hays Connally Briles, says that he was born on the farm of his grandparents, George and Frances (Judia) Porterfield near Italy, Texas, in 1894.
For information on Worthie and his family as of Jan. 5, 1920, see the information on the Household of Enoch Elwood Briles in McMurtain County, Oklahoma, in the Notes for Enoch Elwood Briles.
In a phone conversation with Don Scott (the son of Worthie's wife Leona's sister Opal Connally Scott) on February 24, 2003, Don said that Worthie's son Jack Briles told him the following story about how Worthie got the nickname "Jack" (and, thus, how his on Jack Briles got his first name): Worthie was going to work at a new job. His new boss asked his first name. When he said, "Worthie," his untactful boss said, " 'Worthie' is a sissy name. I'm going to call you 'Jack.' "
The list of attendees of the August 4, 1974 Briles Reunion in Italy, Texas, indicates that Worthie, his wife Leona, their son Van, and their daughter Bonnie and her husband J. D. Spencer were all in attendance.
Worthie's grandson David Elwood Briles wrote the following poem on July 5, 1982, for an adult-education poetry class. Worthie died on July 27, 1979.
This Is Not My Grandfather
Aunts, uncles, cousins, stands of flowers
Fill the room.
The talk is hushed.
Chrysanthemums bordered his garden.
His shrubs were sculpted spheres and cubes.
In his upstairs room,
Disembodied heads, carved in chalk,
Stared like theater masks from behind sketches and photographs.
His walls carried the images of his past.
Yet his sense of art is not apparent here.
Not in these flowers or on these walls.
And this face,
It is not quite his.
My grandfather's skin was very old.
This skin is smooth and has a youthful hue.
And where is that small blue scar?
In its place his forehead is slightly tanned.
And his mouth.
It can not be his.
Its corners are not tobacco stained.
This could not be the mouth that told children
Stories of his youth.
This is not the Pappy on whose knee I sat.
And these eyes so tightly shut,
Can not be his.
His eyes always glistened
When we were near.
These eyes are dry and still.
They cannot be the eyes that framed the Rio Grande,
And helped me watch for shooting stars.
These can not be the eyes that saw the first motor car in Abilene,
And watched the black smith forge the iron's glow.
And these hands,
With their fingers thick and square,
Thought they resemble his, they can not be.
These hands are still,
And his were always quick to grasp, when time allowed,
An artist's brush and pen.
These cannot be the hands that lifted me as a child,
And carried my bags when I arrived by train.
These limp hands are not the ones that butchered hogs,
Built a farm,
Worked in town,
And still stole time to put a world on canvas.
These are not his hands.
The grandfather I came to bury
Is not here.
July 6, 1982
For more information on Worthie, see the Notes elsewhere in these Family Tree Maker files for his sons Worthie Elwood Briles and Connally Oran Briles.
The Notes in bold below were from the original Briles genealogy files that I (Susan Briles Kniebes) imported into Family Tree Maker on March 21, 1999, from an older genealogy program. Source was family history and records.
WAS A VERY GOOD PAINTER, WHO ATTENDED THE ART INSTITUTE
IN CHICAGO AS A YOUNG MAN. [Worthie had attended the Art Institute in Chicago some time before his marriage to Leona Hays Connally on March 1, 1917.] HE MADE HIS LIVING AS A SIGN
PAINTER. WHEN HE GOT OLDER, HE PRIMARILY PAINTED SIGNS
ON TRUCKS.
HE DID NOT KNOW UNTIL HE WAS EVIDENT ALLY A YOUNG MAN THAT
HE WAS A BRILES RATHER THAN THE SON OF MR. [Joseph P.] GRAVES, HIS
MOTHER'S SECOND HUSBAND. ALL OF HIS SIBLINGS WERE THUS
HALF BROTHERS AND SISTERS. AFTER HIS DEATH, HIS WIFE [Leona Hays Connally] FELT THAT THIS MADE HIM A SOMEWHAT UNTRUSTING PERSON, BECAUSE HIS MOTHER KEPT
THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS FATHER FROM HIM FOR SO LONG.
In a taped conversation with her granddaughter Sara Briles Moriarty on July 24, 1980, Worthie's wife, Leona Hays Connally Briles, says that he was born on the farm of his grandparents, George and Frances (Judia) Porterfield near Italy, Texas, in 1894.
For information on Worthie and his family as of Jan. 5, 1920, see the information on the Household of Enoch Elwood Briles in McMurtain County, Oklahoma, in the Notes for Enoch Elwood Briles.
In a phone conversation with Don Scott (the son of Worthie's wife Leona's sister Opal Connally Scott) on February 24, 2003, Don said that Worthie's son Jack Briles told him the following story about how Worthie got the nickname "Jack" (and, thus, how his on Jack Briles got his first name): Worthie was going to work at a new job. His new boss asked his first name. When he said, "Worthie," his untactful boss said, " 'Worthie' is a sissy name. I'm going to call you 'Jack.' "
The list of attendees of the August 4, 1974 Briles Reunion in Italy, Texas, indicates that Worthie, his wife Leona, their son Van, and their daughter Bonnie and her husband J. D. Spencer were all in attendance.
Worthie's grandson David Elwood Briles wrote the following poem on July 5, 1982, for an adult-education poetry class. Worthie died on July 27, 1979.
This Is Not My Grandfather
Aunts, uncles, cousins, stands of flowers
Fill the room.
The talk is hushed.
Chrysanthemums bordered his garden.
His shrubs were sculpted spheres and cubes.
In his upstairs room,
Disembodied heads, carved in chalk,
Stared like theater masks from behind sketches and photographs.
His walls carried the images of his past.
Yet his sense of art is not apparent here.
Not in these flowers or on these walls.
And this face,
It is not quite his.
My grandfather's skin was very old.
This skin is smooth and has a youthful hue.
And where is that small blue scar?
In its place his forehead is slightly tanned.
And his mouth.
It can not be his.
Its corners are not tobacco stained.
This could not be the mouth that told children
Stories of his youth.
This is not the Pappy on whose knee I sat.
And these eyes so tightly shut,
Can not be his.
His eyes always glistened
When we were near.
These eyes are dry and still.
They cannot be the eyes that framed the Rio Grande,
And helped me watch for shooting stars.
These can not be the eyes that saw the first motor car in Abilene,
And watched the black smith forge the iron's glow.
And these hands,
With their fingers thick and square,
Thought they resemble his, they can not be.
These hands are still,
And his were always quick to grasp, when time allowed,
An artist's brush and pen.
These cannot be the hands that lifted me as a child,
And carried my bags when I arrived by train.
These limp hands are not the ones that butchered hogs,
Built a farm,
Worked in town,
And still stole time to put a world on canvas.
These are not his hands.
The grandfather I came to bury
Is not here.
July 6, 1982
For more information on Worthie, see the Notes elsewhere in these Family Tree Maker files for his sons Worthie Elwood Briles and Connally Oran Briles.
Events
| Birth | 17 Oct 1894 | Italy, Ellis County, Texas |  | ||
| Marriage | 1 Mar 1917 | Waxahachie, Ellis County, Texas - Leona Hays Connally | | ||
| Death | 27 Jul 1979 | Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas | | ||
| Alt name | Jack Briles | ||||
| Burial | Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas | |
Families
| Spouse | Leona Hays Connally (1896 - 1980) |
| Child | Worthie Elwood Briles (1918 - 2016) |
| Child | Connally Oran Briles (1919 - 2010) |
| Child | Bonnie Bell Briles (1922 - 2014) |
| Child | Van Gordon Briles (1926 - 1990) |
| Child | Jack David Briles (1930 - 2005) |
| Child | Leona Jean "Jeanie" Briles (1935 - 2020) |
| Father | Enoch Elwood Briles (1861 - 1940) |
| Mother | Maggie Ora Porterfield (1877 - 1955) |
Endnotes
1. Original Briles Family Genealogy Information Collected by Worthie Elwood Briles, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes, Sara Jean Br.
2. Transcription of July 24, 1980, Tape of Conversation Between Leona Hays Connally Briles and Her Granddaughter Sara Jean B.
3. Original Briles Family Genealogy Information Collected by Worthie Elwood Briles, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes, Sara Jean Br.
4. Original Briles Family Genealogy Information Collected by Worthie Elwood Briles, Susan Marie Briles Kniebes, and Sara Jea.