As many of you know Myrtle Phillips never married.  Well, I always wondered about that, but who do you ask?  Now, I believe, we can know some of the story.  According to Betty Lou, it seems that Myrtle was indeed once engaged to be married. 

Historically at the time the engagement would have taken place, this part of Louisiana was booming from the discovery of oil.  Spindletop and other wells were producing great quantities of crude and there had also been great advances in refining this ‘crude’ oil to make it profitable.

Jennings, Evangeline and other similar towns had a population explosion.  As with other boom towns this growth brought other industries and this included gambling.

Well, it seems that Myrtle’s fiance was a professional gambler.  Her mother, Mary Cosslett Phillips, was absolutely not going to let her marry a ne’er do well.  She resolutely put her foot down and forbade Myrtle from marrying, and as we now know today, she passed a ‘spinster’.

The top photo was sent by a ‘found’ cousin in England.  The back of the photo says “Your cousin Myrtle”.  It had originally been sent to her Grandmother.  The gentleman, who we can only presume to be her suitor/fiance, may be named Willis.  This information comes from a letter written by Lillian Cosslett Clayton in 1971 in response to a letter written by Margaret.  (This is the link to that letter.)