Manuel Barto Wetzel was the youngest of 11 children born to Warren and Sarah Elizabeth ‘Sliger’ Wetzel.

Manuel was born on August 15, 1909 in Comanche, Texas.

On November 17, 1931 he married Fannie Mae Suiter and they had 7 children between 1932 and 1951.

Manuel also had a son by a previous marriage to Audrey Jones; Charles Ray Wetzel.

Manuel and Fannie had 25 grandchildren and numerous great and great-great grandchildren.

Manuel worked on the pipeline with his brother Wesley Armterd Wetzel, until a tragic accident took Wesley’s life.

Later Manuel opened a small grocery store/ mechanic shop in Winnsboro, Texas until he opened Wetzel Garage. Two of his sons, Kenneth and Raymond worked there with him until the mid-70’s.

When Manuel retired he got to enjoy Playing Dominoes with friends at the local Domino Hall where he could be found almost every day. He also enjoyed Bowling, fishing, coon hunting and family gatherings.

On the Friday before deer season opened he would go to the old home place in Ogburn and set up to make stew for everyone that wanted to come and enjoy. Family and friends would come and enjoy a good bowl of stew and some would even stay overnight and camp.

If you came to visit Manuel and Fannie at their home, chances were that he would either be listening to Texas Ranger Baseball on the radio in his room or watching wrestling on TV. He loved wrestling and if you were going to visit while wrestling was on, you needed to either really like wrestling or be opened to learning to like wrestling! He loved sweet milk and honey buns and ice cream was a staple in the house.  He was also quite the jokester and loved his family.