> It was only a few years ago that I began to get angry at the twist of > fate that took my fun loving Daddy away from me at the young age of > 34.....He died of Leukemia, leaving a wife 2 months pregnant and with a > "Stair step" set of 8 kids to rear on her own. The hard life of a > sharecropper and growing up on a farm had prepared Mama for hard work, > but nothing she had experienced before could have prepared her for the > heartbreaking loneliness she suffered after the death of her fun loving > husband that she missed so very much.....I can only imagine how forsaken > she felt as she prepared to move her brood of fatherless children to the > big log home of her Mother.....The farm owner insisted we stay on in the > big farmhouse and he would rent the farmland out, but Mother knew that > was not the right thing to do, so she had Daddy's brother's build another > kitchen onto Ma's house and we moved up the little dirt road in the very > early Spring....Since Mama and Ma didn't get along at all, I am sure > Mother was glad she would only be staying there till the birth of my > brother. She had already set in motion the move to a little 5 acre place > nearby . > The farm's owner had arranged for us to get Welfare from the > county...about $80.00 a month for the 10 of us to live on ....and as we > got older we worked for area farmers picking strawberries and hoeing > cotton to buy our school clothes and shoes. I think if Daddy had lived he > would be proud of his huge family of descendents, and watch with glee the > antics of those Great Grandchildren going through the terrible two's ! > We were never allowed to forget our Daddy, and Mama talking to us about > him may have helped her handle her grief a little bit. There was never > anything bad said about him, and our memories of this colorful man were > kept very much alive through tales of the mischievous tricks he and his > horde of rough and tumble brothers got up to when they were young , and > other things she remembered . We older kids talked to the younger ones, > and Mother paid money she couldn't really afford to get a picture of her > and Daddy enlarged and framed to hang up where we could see our Daddy all > the time. She was so afraid we would forget him.. Over the years all > pictures of Daddy were copied and passed around in the family . > Ironically enough, the rest of his brothers and sister lived to be 80 > years old or more....and to our possibly prejudiced eyes, God skimmed the > cream off the top when he took our Dad ! I would not hesitate a minute to > say God may have thought more than once that he might have been just a > wee bit hasty in sending for Douglas Winchester , because I don't think > anything in Heaven or on Earth could keep my scamp of a Daddy from > playing tricks on others ! > He has been gone since 1946, and I have never got over sorrowing for my > Daddy who thought every weird thing I said or did was funny --- even if > it scandalized my more serious Mother .....Jeannie T...Clarksville, TN ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.