Frederick Leroy Fite to Elizabeth Fite Thorne

Frederick Leroy Fite (William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes)
 Son of William Monroe Fite and Lucy Jane Elgar, was born May 10, 1889, in Hope, N. Mex. After his mother's death Roy was cared for mostly by his sister Effie, and his older brother, Flennoy and his wife, of La Luz, where he received most of his schooling. He was married June 3, 1917 to Evah Bell Tschappat, in Denver, Colo. Evah was born Dec. 4, 1890 in Denver, Colo. Roy worked in stores in Denver for several years, then for the Gates Rubber Co., making tires for five years. He moved to San Antonio, Texas in March 1924 and joined the L. E. Fite Realty Co. Inc., where he still works.
Roy and Evah have the following children :

•  John Martin
•  Elinor June
•  Charles Robert

The present address of Roy and Evah is:
  2438 Woodlawn Ave.
  San Antonio, Texas.

John Martin Fite (Roy, William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes)
 Son of Frederick Leroy Fite and Evah Bell Tschappat, was born March 22, 1918, in Denver, Colo. He moved with his parents to San Antonio, Texas in 1924 and graduated from High School in 1935, attended Texas A & M College in 1935-36.
John enlisted in the Army on June 26, 1940 and was assigned to Air Forces at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas.
He received promotions through several enlisted grades including Master Sgt.. While stationed at Pecos, Texas, as Base Sgt. Major, he received an appointment as Warrant Officer Junior Grade, Feb. 13, 1943. Seven months later he was appointed Chief Warrant Officer, and served in such grade until separated from the Army at Ft. Sam Houston, Tex., Oct. 19, 1945. As Warrant Officer he served as Unit Personnel Officer, Asst. Base Adjutant, and Rail Transportation Officer.
John was married July 4, 1942 to Mary Rilling. Mary was born in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 23,1921.
John and Mary have two children:

•  Carol Anne, born Oct. 22, 1943 in San Antonio, Texas
•  Linda Diane, born May 23, 1948 in San Antonio, Texas.

At present John is associated with Rains and Vernor Produce Co., distributors, jobbers and wholesalers in fresh fruits and vegetables, doing general office management and bookkeeping.

 The present address of John and Mary is:
  2531 Woodlawn Ave.
  San Antonio, Texas.

Elinor June Fite (Roy, William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes)
 Daughter of Frederick Leroy Fite and Evah Bell Tschappat, was born June 27, 1919, in Denver, Colo. She graduated from Southwest Texas State Teachers College, in 1942 with a degree in Home Economics. After graduation Elinor taught in San Antonio public schools for three years. She was married Nov. 26,1942 to Byron Earl Jones in Carlsbad, N. Mex. Byron was born April 23, 1918 in Shreveport, La. He graduated from the Mansfield High School in 1936. Byron enlisted in the army June 14, 1941 and served at Randolph Field until 1942. He attended O.K.'S. at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated Sept. 1942 as 2nd Lieut. He took Pilot Training at Tucson, Arizona, and Bakersfield, Calif. Was stationed at Lancaster, Calif., and promoted to 1st. Lieut. He was Squadron Adj. at Marana Army Air Field in 1944. Attended Adjutant General's School and became Personnel Officer. He was sent to Guam, in the Pacific in November 1945 and returned to the States and was discharged January 24,1946. He re-enlisted as Master Sergeant in June 1946 and served in Denver, Colorado and Los Alamos, New Mexico, and was discharged December 3, 1948.
Elinor and Byron have two children:

•  Earl Wayne, born April 6, 1944, in Lancaster, California
•  Martin Leroy, born September 28, 1949, in San Antonio, Texas.

The present address of Elinor and Byron is:
  2702 West Craig Street
  San Antonio, Texas.

Charles Robert Fite (Roy, William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes)
 Son of Frederick Leroy Fite and Evah Bell Tschappat, was born November 9,1922 in Denver, Colorado. He moved to San Antonio, Texas, with his parents in 1924, and graduated from High School in 1940. He served in World War II from 1942 to 1946 as follows: U.S.A.F, 685th AAF Band, Corporal C.B.I. Asiatic and Pacific Theatres. Discharged March 27, 1946, and returned to San Antonio where he entered Trinity University, studying Radio and Electronics. Presently in Civil Service - Communication. He is unmarried and lives with his parents.

Lewis Edward Fite (William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes) Youngest son of William Monroe Fite and Lucy Jane Elgar, was born September 30, 1893 in Hope, New Mexico. His Mother died when he was only seven days old and he was cared for in homes of friends of the family and by his twelve year old sister, Effie, until he was three years of age Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Smith ("Uncle Lum and Aunt Laura"), old friends of the Fite family, had no children of their own although they had reared three orphans. They persuaded "Brother Fite", as they affectionately called Lewis' Father, to let them take Lewis. The Smiths' and Lewis' lived at Mayhill and La Luz, New Mexico. In 1904 Lewis' young mind was very much impressed by a trip made from La Luz to Las Palomas Hot Springs, New Mexico, a distance at that time of about 175 miles. Three covered wagons was home to 17 people for six weeks, a part of three families - the Smiths, the Fites and the Basses. The trip required about a week each way and three weeks were spent taking the hot baths. Several of the elders had rheumatism - one so badly that he had to be carried to the bath house on a cot. When he left he climbed into the wagon by himself. That was Uncle Lum Smith, he lived to be 84 - 25 very active years after that without a recurrence of rheumatism. The only house then, in what is now Hot Springs, New Mexico, was a small adobe room built over the pit which was dug down to hot water - this was the bath house. You walked down steps into the hot water, stayed about six or seven minutes, then climbed out and rolled up in a blanket for about a fifteen minute sweat. Twenty-one baths were prescribed for everything and everybody took them. Some took hot mud baths by working themselves down into the hot mud where the hot water ran into the Rio Grande River. Lewis' older brother Roy was along and the two had a lot of fun hunting quail and rabbits. They had chores too -- taking the horses out to grass and hobbling them, rustling wood and bringing in quantities of "buffalo chips" , which were burned at night to ward off the swarms of mosquitoes that otherwise would have made sleeping impossible. In 1906 due to Mrs. Smith's bad health they moved to their farm on the Leon River, near Belton, Texas. This move was made overland by covered wagon. More than a month was required for the trip. And every night was spent in an open camp by the roadside. Fourteen head of extra horses were driven along at the rear of the wagon by Lewis who was 13 years old. After the first few days, they followed pretty well and he could rest by riding in the rear of the wagon. He shot lots of quail and rabbits for the evening meal along the way. Lewis graduated from the Belton High School and attended the University of Texas at Austin - studied law and majored in Business Administration. To help pay his expenses at the University, Lewis worked two summers as night clerk at the Grace Hotel in Abilene, Texas; another summer was spent with the Kincannon Mercantile Company of Eddy, Texas. After that he worked in the University Co-Op and the Land Office in Austin. Aunt Laura Smith died in 1912 and Uncle Lum in 1929.
Lewis enlisted in the Army during World War I at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, April 1917. He served as Master Sergeant in recruiting and troop distribution and in the Regional Supply Depot. Was discharged in May, 1919. Upon separation from the Army, Lewis became Sales Manager and later General Manager of N. S. Dickinson and Company, Sub-division Developers, of San Antonio, Texas. The City's population increased by 100,000 within the next few years, and the Dickinson firm prospered proportionately. In 1923, Lewis bought the business and continued it as L. E. Fite and Company, specializing in sub-division development, home building and insurance. Up to the close of 1949 the firm had developed 29 subdivisions in San Antonio and surrounding towns and built almost 2,000 substantial homes. Woodlawn Park, a 400-acre property, has been developed in the major part since World War II. Within this property are four new Churches and a Shopping Center, "Jefferson Village". Built in 1948, Jefferson Village was adjudged the best Shopping Center produced in the nation that year. It contains 50,000 square feet of merchandizing area and adequate parking space and is well landscaped. The contest was held in Washington, D. C., sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Urban Land Institute. It was photographed and written up by many national magazines. No liquor is sold in the Center. One block East is the $2,000,000.00 Thomas Jefferson High School on a beautiful 33-acre campus. Lewis is retaining the Shopping Center as an income property. He also has large farming interests near Taft, Texas, where he grows cotton, vegetables, feed and fine Herefords.

   Lewis has devoted a fair share of his time to Community Service and organizational activities. He was elected President of the San Antonio Real Estate Board in 1927 and again in 1928. During this period, members of the Board erected the 10-story Real Estate Building. In 1929 he was elected President of the Woodlawn District Association - a group of independent developers associated together for the purpose of advertising and in every way advancing the interests of what is now the famous "Woodlawn District". He was a member of the first Zoning Commission of the City of San Antonio. He was also a member of the first Planning Commission of the City of San Antonio, serving as its President for two years, and at present is a member of its Board of Directors. He served as a member of the commission which drafted the recently enacted new City Building Code, and was appointed by the Mayor to the Commission charged with administering the Code. He is President of the Student Loan Foundation of the Rotary Club, a revolving $50,000.00 fund, loans from which have enabled more than 350 girls and boys from Bexar County to go to College. In 1932 he was elected President of the Fiesta de San Jacinto Association - a Civic group of several hundred which sponsor the annual celebration of Texas Independence Day, April 21st. Its a week of brilliant Fiesta, climaxed by the great "Battle of Flowers Parade" viewed by an estimated 400,000 people. He was a charter member of the National Association of Home Builders and of the San Antonio Association of Home Builders. He served as the second President of the latter organization. During World War II he served as Vice-Chairman of the Ration Board of San Antonio and Bexar County, and as chairman of the gasoline panel. In 1949 Lewis was a Director of the following organizations : San Antonio Chamber of Commerce - The San Antonio Real Estate Board - The San Antonio Tax Payers Defense League, The Associated Employers, Inc. and The City Planning Board.
He is Chairman of the Streets Committee of the Chamber of Commerce - Chairman of the Board of Stewards of Jefferson Methodist Church and President of the Rotary Club of San Antonio.

Lewis was married October 14th, 1920 to Kathleen Elizabeth Roots in San Antonio, Texas. Kathleen was born August 31st, 1902, in Hallsville, Texas. She is the daughter of Walter Lott Roots and wife, Stella Bechtold. Mr. Roots was executive Vice President of the Dallas Joint Stock Land Bank until 1935 when he retired. He has ranching, farming and oil interests at Taft , Texas. Kathleen finished High School in San Antonio and attended CIA (College of Industrial Arts) at Denton, Texas. She has been the Interior Decorator in most of the Fite built homes particularly the large homes, where her talent has received wide spread acclaim. Her husband gives her most of the credit for the success of the Home Building Department of his business. She has been active in both Church and Civic groups. With a wealth of snow white, wavy hair since she was 35 and a  school girl complexion, she is a very striking and beautiful lady.
She is a member of Jefferson Methodist Church.
Lewis and Kathleen had two children:

•   Lewis Edward Jr., born July 11,1921 and died July 20,1937
•  Kathleen Elizabeth

  The present home address of Lewis and Kathleen is:
  2520 West Gramercy Place
  San Antonio, Texas.
 The office address is 1001 Donaldson Avenue.

They spend two to four months each summer at their summer home "Leisure Hours" , on the shores of Grand Lake, Colorado. Lewis and Kathleen are both fly fishermen and have pursued the elusive trout thru all the Rocky Mountain States. In studying Architecture and Building, they have traveled into every State in the U. S. A. and over a great part of Canada and Mexico.

Kathleen Elizabeth Fite (Lewis, William, Thomas, David, Leonard, Johannes) Daughter of Lewis Edward Fite and Kathleen Elizabeth Roots, was born March 26, 1926 in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1943. She was an honor student and Major of the Lasso Girls her senior year. This group of 150 Junior and Senior girls, selected by their teachers, make up a very colorful group in red skirts, blue blouses and 10-gallon hats. They were outstanding enough to have even made an appearance in Madison Square Garden, New York City.
 Elizabeth attended the University of Texas from 1943 thru 1947, majoring in English. She belonged to the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She was married August 31, 1946 to G. Clarence Thorne at the Fite summer home Leisure Hours in Grand Lake, Colorado. Clarence was born January 10, 1924 at San Angelo, Texas. He finished High School in San Angelo in 1940. He enlisted in the Navy December 7th, 1942 and served 37 months, principally in the South Pacific, separating from the Navy, January 3rd, 1946. He entered the University of Texas March 1, 1946. He continued at the University after he and Elizabeth were married until 1948, then he joined the L. E. Fite organization, subsequently he finished at a local Business College.
 He is now managing the Shopping Center and Apartment properties, doing some selling and in partnership with Wilber Fite doing some home building. Elizabeth and Clarence are members of Jefferson Methodist Church.

Elizabeth Fite Thorne married G. Clarence Thorne. They have one child, Nancy Elizabeth Thorne, born December 18, 1947, at San Antonio, Texas.

 Their present address is:
  440 Beverly Drive
  San Antonio, Texas.