People disappear

near Alamogordo. A.B. became a construction foreman and timber buyer.

Letters of recommendation from the Alamogordo Lumber Company praised his work as general foreman of railway construction, and later as superintendent of construction and road-master. In March 1927, he joined the Durango Lumber Company at $300 per month ($5,400 in 2014 dollars) and promised an annual bonus.

He returned to Georgia at least once. In 1928 he was seen at his mother’s grave, yards from his brother’s back door. He looked at the house, his boyhood home and returned to a waiting taxi. Although his brother was steps away, A.B. had bid his eternal “Good-bye” and it held. He spent the night with a cousin, lunched at a downtown Atlanta hotel and vanished down the rails.

At 65 years of age A.B. Phillips died and was buried in the American sector of the Guadalajara City Cemetery. His brother would die a year later, also at 65. Despite a generous salary his estate was very small, his personal items filled an envelope.

I have pictures of “Uncle Bomar,” his wallet, a pocket watch and letters showing his last address as a San Antonio, Texas hotel.

I’d like to visit his grave and wonder if I’ll be his first visitor since 1935. I wonder if any part of Otero County appears as he knew it. I plan to make that trip very soon.

A.B. “Bomar” Phillips is the broken limb of my family tree.

Joe Phillips writes his “Dear me” columns for several small newspapers. He has many connections to Walker County, including his grandfather, former superintendent Waymond Morgan. He can be reached at joenphillips@hotmail.com.