By Betty Shirley

Barbara and I flew from San Jose California Thursday October 3, at 6:30 AM and arrived in Dallas Texas at noon. We drove a rented car to Little Rock Arkansas for the Shirley meeting the next day which was Friday. Following the meeting, we drove to Oklahoma City for a meeting on Saturday. We got caught in a storm for a brief time, but made it by 1 AM. It was hard to get up that morning, but we did it anyway. Following that meeting we left for Dallas and arrived Saturday evening and stayed with one of our Shirley Association members who went to England with us in 1986. On Sunday, we had another meeting and the next morning we flew home to San Jose, arriving about noon.

Yes, it was a fast trip, and we enjoyed meeting each and everyone of those who attended the meetings. We always meet new people, members whom we have never met. We appreciate the family info and photos you brought. Thank you for coming! If you were unable to attend, we hope we will meet you another time.

While we were in the Dallas Texas area, I decided that I wanted to try and locate SCYENE as this is where Belle Starr and her family lived when they left Missouri in about 1864.

What we learned is, the old school house no longer stands and there is nothing other than the name of the road named Scyene. We asked in the local city offices about a town of Scyene and most were very surprised to learn their area had been a town by another name. Eventually we found the exact location and talked to a lady who lived about 5 houses from where the old school house had stood. She was in her 80's and had lived here all of her life. She said her grandparents had been acquainted with the Shirleys and showed us where the house had been. It is bare land in an industrial area now.

We did not have time to see if we could find where Belle Starrs father, John Shirley is buried. It would be nice if somebody living in the area could spend a little research time on this for us!