I
OCTOBER 2015
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
t all began when Anna
Belle “Belle” Kelley’s family
moved to Quemado, Texas, where
her future husband (although she
didn’t know that’s what he was at
the time), Orvel Penny Stone, and his
family lived.
“We went to church that morning, and they had announced that
they were going to have a singing
at another church, the Methodist
church,” Belle said.
After lunch, a then 17-year-old
Belle asked her parents if she could
attend church to hear the group sing.
“My baby sister went with
me,” Belle said.
The two girls walked up to the
church where a group of teenagers
were congregated, and among the
crowd was a young Penny.
Penny was born in Westover
on Feb. 26, 1921, and moved to
Quemado in 1934 from the Seymour,
Texas area. Belle was born in
Clayton, New Mexico, on April 18,
1922, and moved to Quemado from
O’Donnell, Texas, in 1938 for her
father’s job.
Penny and Belle met Jan. 1, 1939,
at the Methodist church, where
a mutual friend introduced them.
Dating back then was different —
they were simple outings, mostly with
friends from church.
On their first date alone together
the two traveled to Eagle Pass, Texas.
Penny had borrowed his older brother’s truck so the young couple could
go to the nearest “big town” to see
a movie. A year later, he proposed.
Never one to mince words, Penny
simply asked Belle, “Are you ready to
get married?”
She was.
“I was just waiting for the right
man,” Belle said.
Theirs was not a long engagement. A few months later on June 27,
1940, they went to the courthouse
to get their marriage license in the
small town, and after that they had
a small wedding at the preacher’s
house. Belle’s boss from the emporium where she worked and the girl
who introduced them went with them
as witnesses. Penny and Belle were
dressed in their finest clothes for the
occasion.
The legal age for a man to be
27