Joseph Owen (J. O.) Casey was born to John Caleb and Lucy Mandy (Cox) Casey at Novice, March 25, 1911, and has lived in and around Novice all of his life (see John Caleb Casey).  He was a farmer and rancher in his early life.  He married Berniece Thompson, October 30, 1936 at Ballinger, the daughter of Will and Ada Thompson of Silver Valley, (now deceased, buried at Silver Valley) born April 19, 1912 at Rock Crusher.  They have one son, Terry Gene, that died at birth in 1943, buried at Rough Creek.  A son, John Willie (Bill) born February 20, 1950, resides with his wife, the former Melinda (Kinney) and children, Sandra Beth, June 17, 1970; Tiffany Anne, February 1, 1972; John Blayne, April 8, 1975; and Jeffery Paul, September 7, 1976. 

     John has been with the Caseys in their business, which is Casey"s Mistletoe, all the time, with the exception of the time spent serving in the army during the Vietnam War.  He took his training at El Paso; Fort Huachuca, Arizona; Fort Benjamin, Indiana; and Ben Hoa, Vietnam, near Saigon, where he spent fourteen months.

     The Casey's Mistletoe business has proved to be controversial for a lot of people.  Travelers, as well as local visitors have visited us in the past and marveled at the things that can be useful that we always thought of as being worthless.  The mistletoe business was exciting around Thanksgiving and Christmas, for a lot of years around Novice, with the whole community becoming involved in the gathering, grading, and boxing, working from early morning until late at night.  The season lasted for three weeks, with mistletoe being delivered to the airport every night at Dallas with Bill hauling it in a large gooseneck trailer.  Berniece and Melinda did the booking and labeling as well as a lot of the grading.  This went all over the United States, with a lot of it to Canada.  With several thousand pounds of mistletoe going out that would call for a lot of kissin', don't you think?  Then came preserving the mistletoe, so it could be prepared earlier in the year.  It is still being prepared this way.  In 1969, a new part of the business was added that was just as interesting and amazing to everyone, the dried flower and wood shop business.  Just about anything that had a bloom that would dry prettily was used.  This had to be gathered, dyed and made into arrangements, boxed and shipped out all over, like the mistletoe.  The wood was made into blocks and mounted wood from cedar posts and ghost wood.  The broomweed is one of the main items in the dry materials; even used for Christmas trees.  At one time, the Coleman Bank had a beautiful Christmas tree made by the Caseys.

     Owen and Berniece have retired from this business and have turned the business over to the younger generations.  Owen has been Mayor of Novice several years, and Bill has served on the school board, and still is at the present time.