My Family

Velma was first, then came Eunice, Frank, Me (Myrna) then Clara. Mother was devoted to her family. During the depression years Mother and Dad did everything they could to keep food on the table and clothes on us. Actually they did quite well. They had very little, but Mother was very frugal and knew how to stretch a dollar. Dad did many jobs from delivering ice, to making hot tamales, and then working for the CCC and when it closed he became a blacksmith/mechanic. He repaired farm machinery, sharpened plows and made cotton wagons among other things.

We had our squabbles and fought like brother and sisters, but mostly we were a happy family. We had home evenings quite often. Many evenings we gathered around the fireplace in the living room and talked about our day, ate popcorn, nuts and other treats.

During the years we had many family reunions. These were always happy gatherings. As the familes grew there were more and more grandchildren, cousins etc. As time passed Dad died.
Mother was older and couldn't handle the noise of so many people so the reunions shrunk to just her and the five of us. We had some good times with her. She had a wonderful memory and told many stories of her life. She memorized many poems and loved to recite them. Then she got ill and the five of us joined together to care for her. She didn't want us to put her in a retirement home. We promised her we would take care of her and we did right to the end.

But we still have the reunions. We decided once a year wasn't often enough since we were all getting so much older. We have them 3 or 4 times a year. We do enjoy being together. We ususlly meet for 4 or 5 days and do "Holidays" like one day is Easter, the next day may be the 4th of July, then Halloween and Christmas. Just whatever one of us chooses. We always have a "White Elephant" party. Since none of us need or want anything we each bring a dozen or so "gifts" all wrapped up nice and take turns choosing and opening them. This takes care of Birthdays, and Christmas so we don't need to exchange gifts then. It's fun and inexpensive. All of us have been ill lately so we don't know how long we will all be around. We want to see each other as often as possible. We take care of family business, play games and laugh and have a good time. Other families may do more expensive or formal things but this is what we do.