Don grew up on his maternal grandfather James Kiser farm land north of Olton just up the hill north of the Running Water Draw.
Helen grew up on her grandfather William Alexander Miller farm land just 5 miles west of the Franks family.
The families of Don and Helen both attended the First Baptist Church of Olton. Don and Helen attended Olton schools where they graduated.
Why would anyone get married on August 1st, the hottest day of the year, in a church with no air conditioning! Well, they were planning to be married in the fall of 1954. However, Don was called up to the Korean War and was to report to El Paso for training. Helen decided that “he wasn’t going to leave without me!” so she moved the wedding up to August 1st. Helen’s mother, Jewel Dement Miller, made all the wedding clothes and worked overtime to get everything made on time. Jewel Miller had already bought all the heavy velvet fabric for a fall wedding and so the wedding party were very dedicated to stand with Don and Helen during the wedding ceremony. Helen moved the wedding to the evening, and opened all the church windows, and prayed for a nice breeze.
After Don’s enlistment, the couple moved back and settled on the family farm. His mother, Jesse Ruth Kiser Franks, inherited part of the Kiser land from her father up the hill from the Running Water Draw. Don was farming the land with his father, James Eldon Franks, and planned to build his home where his boyhood home had stood on the south-west corner of the Kiser farmstead. After 10 years, Don bought two old farm houses and planned to put them together for their home. However, he was unable to move the houses across the small Running Water Draw bridge. So Don bought 3 acres from his father-in-law, Joe Francis Miller, 5 miles west and even “on the blacktop”. He moved in the two farm houses, put them together, and built an additional new kitchen, garage, family room, and basement.
The couple raised their family in their home where they still reside. The couple raised 4 children. Michael Franks (deceased) family lives in Hereford, Mark Franks family lives in Germany since his Air Force enlistment ended, Tim Franks lives near Dallas, and Tammie Franks recently moved from North Carolina back to Texas. Don was happy to be farming the Franks and Miller and McDowell (Helen’s Aunt) farms with his father and father-in-law. It was a wonderful family farm life. In the late 80’s, Don began a career with the postal system commuting to Lubbock and Helen worked in the Olton Schools until their retirements.
Today, Don Franks, age 91, and Helen, age 88, are very happy to still live in the family home.
On August 1, 2024, Helen celebrated her 70 year class reunion from Olton High School during the annual Olton Sandhills Celebration. On Saturday, after the Olton Sandhills Parade, their family children, grand-children, and greatgrand- children celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary together at their home with lots of corn and vegetables grown by their grandchildren and a traditional decorated “wedding” cake commemorating their special accomplishment of 70 years of marriage.