HomeMy WebLinkAboutMiss LillieMISS LILLIE
The last time I pulled in to that big truck stop just east of San Antonio on I -10 I got
to thinking that there probably wasn't a rig on the lot that cost less than my house.
Then I got to thinking about the folks that drive those rigs and keep us supplied with
almost everything we use. About that time one of the drivers climbed down from the
cab and, after straightening her skirt, walked with grace into the dining room. It sort
of reminded me of that commercial that starts out with, "You've come a long way ... ".
And that, of course, made me think of Miss Lillie.
Back in 1897 they still called Hempstead, over in Waller County north of
Houston, "Six- Shooter Junction ". It seems that folks in those parts had ways of feud, foul
play, and frolic that kept the courts and undertakers busy and encouraged passengers on
the trains to sit on the floor with their heads below window level when the porter
announced, "Hempstead. Hempstead. Change cars for the Austin branch and be prepared
to meet your God ".
That's the way things were on January 9th when Miss Lillie came to town, a three -
week old "taken baby" from John Sealy Hospital in Galveston, adopted by Fannie and
George McGee. As time passed and Lillie grew, excitement seemed to follow her
wherever she went. She was a big child, looking older than her years, and she found her
way, with a child's inventiveness, into and out of enough of Hempstead's daily turmoil to
satisfy anyone. When George McGee died and Fannie nursed for a living, Miss Lillie
quit school and at age 13 became the youngest full -time night telephone operator in
Texas.
Lillie was happy. She supported her adopted mother by working all night.
Between calls she read to take the place of her lost schooling. In the mornings she slept
and in the afternoons and evenings joined the other young people of town in the round of
picnics, rodeos, and dances at the armory. Then came scarlet fever, a throat operation
that left her with a husky baritone voice, and the permanent partial loss of hearing that
often accompanied the sickness.
An early marriage to a traveling auditor didn't work out. Then came a second
marriage to Willard Drennan on July 17, 1917. For ten years both Willard and Lillie
worked hard just to keep food on the table and then came the oil boom from the Raccoon
Bend Field on the Brazos. Hempstead was transformed overnight. With an abandoned
and repaired Model T Ford truck the Drennan Truck Line began operation hauling
supplies to the oil field. Business boomed and the truck line grew. Miss Lillie kept the
books, rounded up business, and ran the office while Willard, and other hired drivers,
hauled the load.
Things were too good. Willard decided that with that much money coming in he
didn't need to work and began to play around in Houston and down in Mexico. Lillie's
second divorce was granted in 1929. That year Miss Lillie Drennan became the first
woman licensed by the State of Texas to operate a common carrier motor truck and the
first woman to receive a permit from the Railroad Commission of Texas to operate her
own truck line.
Talk about a legend, Miss Lillie was even bigger than that. She always wore
knee -high oil field boots, heavy cavalry riding britches, and a leather jacket, topped off
with a ten gallon hat in the style of Tom Mix and William S. Hart. She carried a .45
"New Service" Colt and had a reputation for delivering her loads no matter what the road
or weather or who got in the way. In the cutthroat hauling business she held her own and
prospered. Through the dark days of the Great Depression, Miss Lillie and the Drennan
Truck Line kept on trucking. Throughout the United States oil workers and truckers
knew of "Miss Lillie of Six - Shooter Junction ". When World War II broke out Brigadier
General John Porter used her help to plan for and train the first Women's Army Corps
transport drivers. From Model T's to the gender of the drivers, trucking has indeed come
a long way. For a great part of that distance, Miss Lillie led the pack.