Jack and his foster mother, Hattie Brown, had followed the Theriacs (John Edward Theriac and Geneva Brown Theriac) from Helena Arkansas to New Orleans. The Theriacs moved to El Paso around 1926, as John had a job with the railroad. He was only in El Paso 2 years as a switchman when a rod that was sticking out from one of the cars tripped him and he was thrown under the train. He suffered severe injuries and later died in the hospital. This was 1928. As Geneva was now a widow with 5 children to look after, her mother, Hattie Brown, known to us as Mimi, moved down to El Paso from New Orleans with her foster son Jack (11 at the time) to help. That is how our branch of the Word family ended up in El Paso.
