A life, recovered / 1902–1983
Guy William Anderson
Papa Anderson: a Tennessee-born automobile mechanic, Tennie Lee Smith’s husband, and the father of Colleen, Patsy and Billy Guy.
Guy William Anderson in an interpretively colorized portrait reconstructed from a small black-and-white source. Exact portrait selected by Clayton Hollingsworth on October 25, 2026. Color and fine reconstructed details are interpretive; the original remains preserved privately.
01
The family connection
Guy William Anderson was the father of Billy Guy Anderson. He was my great-grandfather, Papa Anderson.
The name Guy continued through the family. Both Billy Guy and Guy William are among the people honored in my own name.
Sources: Clayton Hollingsworth’s family archive
Guy William Anderson wearing a jacket he borrowed that day. Lettering personalized to “GUY.”
View the source record →02
From Tennessee to Ellis County
Guy William Anderson was born on April 3, 1902, in Tennessee. By 1910, he was living in Ellis County, Texas, where much of his life would unfold. The family chronology places him in Justice Precinct 3 in both 1910 and 1920, and in Palmer by 1930.
His mother was Hattie Francis Hollandsworth Anderson. His younger sister Marie was born in Texas in 1908, and his brother James “Jimmie” Dee was born in Garrett in 1912. The family chronology records his father’s death in Ennis in February 1913, when Guy was ten.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1983 · Guy William Anderson — family-tree facts and source list · Hattie Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1962
03
Guy and Tennie
Guy married Tennie Lee Smith in Ellis County on January 16, 1931. They had two daughters and a son: Lula Colleen, born in Palmer on August 12, 1931; Patsy Ruth, born in Ferris on June 18, 1933; and Billy Guy, born in Palmer on February 17, 1941.
The family spent part of the 1930s in Wellington, in the Texas Panhandle. Their chronology places them there in 1935 and again at the 1940 census. By 1942, Guy was back in Palmer; the 1950 entry places him in Ferris.
Tennie died in Waxahachie on January 21, 1968, five days after their thirty-seventh wedding anniversary. Her grave marker carries a simple inscription: “MOTHER,” her married name, and the years 1910–1968.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — family-tree facts and source list · Guy William Anderson — family-tree LifeStory · Tennie Lee Anderson — grave marker
04
A mechanic in Palmer
Guy’s death certificate identifies his usual occupation as mechanic in the automobile industry. His 1942 Selective Service registration places him in Palmer, Ellis County, at age thirty-nine and names Mrs. Tennie Anderson as the person who would always know his address.
Together, those records give the outline of a working life in automobiles and a household rooted in the small towns south of Dallas.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1983 · Guy William Anderson — World War II Selective Service registration
05
Visits, family gatherings and a trip to Colorado
The family tree preserves newspaper entries that add ordinary days to the larger chronology. A July 13, 1961, entry records Guy and Tennie traveling to Colorado with Mr. and Mrs. Mike McKeever and their son Urbin. Entries from May 1962 describe visits and Sunday family gatherings, including time with the Birdwells.
Other entries list Guy among Ellis County men summoned for jury duty in 1954 and again in 1962. His mother, Hattie, died in Lancaster on July 14, 1962. Guy supplied the information for her death certificate.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — family-tree facts and source list · Guy William Anderson — family-tree LifeStory · Hattie Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1962
06
The later marriages
After Tennie’s death, Guy married Ida Jane Hobbs in Montgomery County on January 10, 1969. Their divorce was recorded in Ellis County on October 10 of that year.
He married Dorothy Marie Baker in Ellis County on March 11, 1972. His death certificate names his surviving wife as Marie Baker.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — family-tree facts and source list · Guy William Anderson — family-tree LifeStory · Guy William Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1983
07
Lancaster, 1983
Guy died in Lancaster, Dallas County, on February 25, 1983. He was eighty years old. His death certificate records his burial at Edgewood Cemetery in Lancaster on February 27.
Through Billy Guy, the Anderson name and the name Guy continued into the next generations. To me, he remains Papa Anderson.
Sources: Guy William Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1983 · Clayton Hollingsworth’s family archive
08
The portrait
Guy William Anderson in an interpretively colorized portrait reconstructed from a small black-and-white source. Exact portrait selected by Clayton Hollingsworth on October 25, 2026. Color and fine reconstructed details are interpretive; the original remains preserved privately.
Sources: Approved Anderson family portrait, October 25, 2026
Look a little closer
The photographs
hold more of the story.
Open any image to see the complete photograph. Captions name the people and places in each photograph.
Tennie Lee Smith Anderson, wife of Guy William Anderson. Portrait supplied by Clayton Hollingsworth.
View the source record →
Tennie Lee Smith Anderson’s grave marker. Its inscription remembers her as Mother.
View the source record →
Guy’s wife, Tennie Lee Smith Anderson, in a 1930s-inspired historical reimagining. The dress, lounge setting and cigarette scene are imagined.
View the source record →Continue through the archive
One life leads to another.
Behind this biography
Sources & further reading
These sources support the biography and its continuing research.
- Clayton Hollingsworth’s family archive
Tennie Lee Smith Anderson was Guy William Anderson’s wife.
- Approved Anderson family portrait, October 25, 2026
Family relationships and naming recollections are attributed to Clayton Hollingsworth. The color portrait is an interpretive reconstruction from a small monochrome source; colors and fine detail are not independently established.
- Tennie Lee Smith Anderson — historical reimagining
A 1930s-inspired scene based on Tennie’s portrait, created at Clayton Hollingsworth’s direction. Her adult appearance, cocktail dress, lounge setting and cigarette scene are imagined.
- Guy William Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1983
Certified copy supplied by the family. Records April 3, 1902; February 25, 1983; Lancaster, Dallas County; automobile mechanic; surviving spouse Marie Baker; and Edgewood Cemetery burial on February 27. The certificate’s father-name entry differs from the family tree and remains unresolved.
- Hattie Anderson — Texas death certificate, 1962
Supplied historical certificate for Guy’s mother, not Guy. Records February 9, 1878; July 14, 1962; Lancaster; parents Hiram Hollandsworth and Nannie Neely; and informant Guy Anderson.
- Guy William Anderson — World War II Selective Service registration
Supplied front of the registration card: Palmer, Ellis County; age 39; birth date April 3, 1902; Mrs. Tennie Anderson as contact. This is draft registration, not proof of military service. Small or uncertain handwriting is not transcribed.
- Tennie Lee Anderson — grave marker
Family-supplied photograph. Inscription: MOTHER / TENNIE LEE ANDERSON / 1910–1968. The marker supplies years, not an exact birth date or cemetery identification.
- Guy William Anderson — family-tree facts and source list
Family-provided Ancestry printout, October 25, 2026. A compiled research source for marriages, children, residences and newspaper references; the linked census, marriage, divorce and newspaper originals have not all been inspected for this biography.
- Guy William Anderson — family-tree LifeStory
Twelve-page family-provided chronology, October 25, 2026. Newspaper anecdotes are summaries attached to that tree, not independently reviewed transcriptions of the full clippings. Conflicting birthplaces and the father-name discrepancy are retained in the private research ledger.