My daddy's name is Edwin Charles "Charlie" Forrest , he was born Oct 25, 1928. in Springfield Louisiana Daddy always thought his name was Charles Edwin Forrest Jr , until at age 16 he went to enlist in the service, and that's when they found out the doctor/midwife had put down the wrong name on the birth certificate! He wasn't able to join the service either, because at that time you had to have your parents signature, and his brother Hines Everitt , told Grandma if she signed him up , Uncle Hines would never come home again ( Uncle Hines was already in the service and didn't want his baby brother getting hurt) Daddy had left home at the age of 12 , to live with his older sister, his father Charles Edwin "Ned" Forrest was not a nice man. Daddy tells us stories of hunting alligators , mind you dad always has a tendency to exaggerate some , so we always looked to my mom when he was telling one of his stories. If mom gave the nod of approval you knew the story was true :) Speaking of mom, Dad meet my mother Sarah Jane Alice "Sally " White b. Dec 7 1931 Brooklyn NY , by a strange twist of fate. Mom left home at age 15 from NY and traveled south with friends , she had only been there for 2 weeks when she was struck and hit by a car , she was in a coma for 2 weeks , and a body cast for almost a year. That Dec (1947) a lady mom met in the hospital invited mom home for Christmas knowing mom had no family in Louisiana. Mom got the doctors ok , and hobbled out of the hospital for a day outing on crouches (at this time she only had one remaining cast on her leg) Mrs. Martin took mom over to visit her next door neighbor Mrs. Agnes Bourgue, who had 2 teenage sons ( one was very good looking according to mom) Shortly after their arrival , Agnes's teenage brother pulls up on his motorcycle. He had just got off of work and was very dirty( he was a roofer) Mom was very brassy and flirting with all the boys , so when they got ready to leave , she asked the sons if they wanted to see their Uncle blush. She walked up to the Uncle and asked for a kiss for Christmas , thinking the southern boy would tuck tail and run blushing away. She was in for a shock , because he DID kiss her. And left HER blushing, he then walked into the house and said "That one I will marry" Their courtship consisted of him visiting her daily at the hospital , and just how did he propose you ask? He told her that his newphews wanted to know when she was going to become their Aunt :) Daddy has always been a hardworking man , he started roofing as a small boy , worked a brief time on a drag line crew, until the boss wanted to go non - union , and daddy was having none of that! He came north to Michigan picking crops for cash , were he and the family settled in 1954. His first winter in Michigan he said "If God lets me make it through this winter I will NEVER see another one!" He saw over 50 more Michigan winters. As a young man dad went back to doing the trade he knew best , which was roofing , and its from that trade that he finally retired from in 2004. Even though mom and dad had lived in Michigan for over 50 yrs , Louisiana was still "Home" So when mom's cancer came back inoperable a year ago May , she wanted to go "Home " one last time. Dad lost his soulmate on July 7th 2006 after 58 yrs of marriage. Dad hasn't been back to Michigan since, opting to remain in Louisiana. My daddy will be 79 yrs old this year. And I love him dearly. Deb ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.