Page "Denver City, Texas" Paragraph 10

Bickley's Grocery, owned and operated by Cecil Alonzo Bickley ( 1912 – 2004 ) and his wife, Peggy Patterson Bickley ( 1913 – 2007 ), was a popular business in Denver City from 1939 until the couple retired in 1974.

Thriftway Foods then became the only supermarket in Denver City.

The Bickleys met in the petroleum boom town of Kilgore in east Texas but moved to Denver City, when it too experienced oil discoveries.

Bickley was born to Mr. and Mrs. C. A.

Bickley, Sr., in the small community of De Leon in Comanche County in west Texas.

The senior Bickley was actually named " Columbus Alonzo " but used only the initials " C. A ".

Bickley's grandmother was born on a July 4 and given the unusual first and middle names " Americas Independence ".

For many years, Bickley was viewed as " Mr. Denver City ", a living legend in his small town.

Denver City, whose roots date only to 1936, was the last west Texas boom town to have been established solely on the basis of oil, still vital to the area economy.

He was a founding director of Yoakum County State Bank ( now Wells Fargo ), the first financial institution in the town.

He was a charter member of both the Denver City Lions Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

He was a Mason and a Shriner.

He served on the Yoakum County Hospital Board.

He promoted public schools, particularly athletics, music, and literary programs.

Bickley also served as a founding alderman, having been elected to a single four-year term in 1940.

He was named the " Outstanding Citizen of Denver City " in 1965.