My mother, Lillamae Younger, was born May 28, 1913 on the family ranch outside of Fowler in Bosque County, Texas. She was the second child of Williamson Henry and Stella B. McKisick Younger. When she was a teenager, her parents moved to Dallas from Henrietta, TX, where Lil attended and graduated from Sunset High School in Oak Cliff. She was a cheerleader there and apparently fairly popular. Lil was musically precocious and could play the piano without the use of sheet music. She played professionally; yet, she couldn't read a note. "Just hum it; I'll play it." My uncle, Dr. Harold Younger [now deceased] of Dallas, was a budding dentist, and Mom helped put him through dental school by playing the piano for his singing group as regulars on WRR radio in Dallas. She danced, loved the theater, and aspired to be another Ginger Rogers, whom she saw win a dance contest in Dallas. That aspiration changed when she met my father, Grady Ellis, and decided to settle down with him instead. He was pretty cute! They married in '34, and a year and one month later I was born. Lil was a great wife, mother, and talented jack-of-all trades. Everybody loved Lil, and Lil loved everybody, especially my father. I remember her dark auburn hair and green eyes. She was a beautiful woman with legs that put Betty Grable's to shame. She was a stay-at-home mother when most of my friends' moms were working in the 50's. She was always so THERE that as a teenager I often wished she'd get a job or something. She had an instinct about what I was up to, and I never got away with anything. There she was! Hovering and waiting to pounce. Mom was vibrant, beautiful, talented, healthy, and fun loving. She loved card games and played bridge with a vengence every Tuesday night with the same bridge group from the time I was five years old until right before she went into the nursing home. We lost her to Alzheimer's in 1995. She had been sick for about ten years. When I see my children with their children, I wish she were here to see them, too. There are so many things I wish I could share with her now.

My mom Sylvia King, is my best friend! Not that it has always been this way. We had our rocky times when I was in the wonderful teenage years. When she retired, I worried that a woman who had been president of the National Payroll Association might get bored "down on the farm". So, I decided to coach her and encourage her to learn how to do genealogy. Wow! I need not have worried about her being bored. She and I have spent many wonderful hours traveling - in libraries, court houses, museums and cemeteries. In fact we have traveled to Bosque County two times. She answers queries for our webpage for the Eastland County Genealogical Interest Group (http://eastland.net/genealogical/). She also makes beautiful quilts...all by hand. Even the piecing is done by hand. She has done them for children and now is doing them for her numerous grandchildren. She is the voice of reason, when I am upset or discouraged. I always ask her advice when I face a difficult decision. And her advice is always valuable. What a mom! Donna Irby searching for KINGS, CUPPS in Beautiful Bosque