I took care of the cows; [Mom] did the milking. I helped her make the beds sometimes. That’s about what she did in the mornings. I really wasn’t home that much. I was out in the fields--we were--after we ate breakfast in the mornings, if we weren’t going to school, we were out in the fields somewhere, chopping cotton or that kind of stuff.
What made you love your mom?
Well, she was my mother. She used to always read the scriptures, every evening. She could prepare any kind of food and make it taste good. She was nice to everybody, and she was just a nice person. She didn’t have--I think she had a 3rd grade education. She went to the 3rd reader; I guess they called it that. My dad went to the 2nd reader. But he was working on the farm all the time.
She helped Aunt Julia--that was her aunt, my great-aunt. We’d always have dinners and all like that and she would go over there and work with them. That’s all we did, was just family. Course, after I went in the military, she was always sick when I came home. She used to have mini strokes all the time. She’d be sitting at the table, and she’d start moving her hand or something like that. Then she was having a mini stroke; then it would go away. She wouldn’t say anything during that time.
She was strong-willed. Yeah, she was tough. She liked to have things looking nice. I remember we had yellow roses and rows of flowers around the yard. Course you know back then we didn’t have any grass in the yard, you never had a lawn. Your yard was completely sand. Our yard was. A blade of grass grew, you’d chop that up quick!
These roses grow close to where Granddad JC grew up. They could have been planted by Grandma Laura.
Grandma Laura had roses like this in her yard
Me: You didn’t want critters!
[laughs] I remember one time I was out there doing something there was a stick laying there and I went up to that stick, and it wasn’t a stick--it was a snake!
But Mom, she really worked hard.
Grandma: Women worked hard. They had to take care of the cow, I remember I would help my mom with the cow, you’d have to take her out to where the grass was good and stake her out.
Granddad: Our cows were really gentle. I just took them out in the morning, out of the cow pen, we’d head out across the field to the pasture. I took them up to the pasture every day and take them back in the evening. I’d go and call, “Hey-oh, hey-oh!” you know, and the cows would come to the gate you know and I’d let them out.
How did your parents discipline you?
They used little switches. I remember one time, it was really--Dad didn’t understand it. I was riding a bicycle, and the road coming up to our house was two ruts. I was coming down in a rut, and Doug was walking in the rut, and Dad was on the other side coming up. Doug did like this, and I pulled to the right, between the two ruts, and he jumped to his left and I ran right over him. And my dad tore me up! *whew!* He reached around and he pulled up a big weed--I mean it was a long one, with leaves on it, and where the leaves were were little knots. He wore me out with that. Man. I broke loose running, and I didn’t think he could run so fast. I started running and slowed down but heard him behind me and said, “whoa! I gotta start running down faster now!” I ran down here to where the Cleve’s house is here. It was dug out. It was a big open pit. The county came and got some clay that they used on the road somewhere and I just jumped off of that, down there and up the other side. I turned around and he didn’t go down there. I mean, that was uncalled for, but it wasn’t my fault, because he jumped right in front of the bicycle, I was moving to bypass him and I ran right into him. I didn’t want to do that. It’s tough.
