I think I always felt like you need to be thankful for what you have.
And without realizing or thinking about it too much, I really was, I was pretty content.
It's really been a good life.
I got along good because I didn't pay a lot of attention to details.
Just breeze through.
The fact that I have a family makes all the difference in the world.
We came here from Illinois because some real good friends of my parents lived here.
So they wanted us here and that's what we did.
We packed up a big old Studebager touring car.
Packed everything we could get in it, that's what we brought.
I went to school, to Cooley School, and then after I got out of Cooley School,
I went to Hamilton Junior High, then to Reagan Senior High.
As far as I can remember, everything was always pleasant and happy with me.
I guess really one regret I have is that I didn't, maybe that I didn't apply myself to study anymore.
So you say you regret this, but let me ask you, the three hours from that week
that you were out living your adventures, you regret that versus studying and reading a book?
No. I had a good time.
We always had hard times, we didn't have a lot of money.
Growing up with nothing helped you learn how to get along and pretend you got something.
Boy, the depression, I can remember that. It was really bad.
The furniture store came and took our living room furniture out because we couldn't keep paying for it.
But we always made out. For $5, you could walk out of that grocery store with the Carlota groceries.
Mama would make some good food. My mother was a wonderful mother.
She took good care of me, ran the household really good. She was not a flashy type at all.
She was more of a quiet type. But as I think about it, like when the church would have a play or something,
Mama had a starring role in the thing she even sang and saw. My daddy was an easygoing guy.
A handsome guy. We didn't have any money, but my daddy always looked sharp.
He could even preach sometime. He'd fill the pulpit in church.
And I'm thankful I was brought up in the church.
I remember sitting in church on a pew with some of my friends.
Then we would sit there, get a rubber band, roll it up, put it on our nose.
And then we'd laugh out loud. The preacher would have to point to us.
When I would misbehave, which I would do sometimes, and I knew I was going to get a spanking.
Because they told me. And I'd just go outside and climb up in a tree.
Time to the top. There I'd sit. One day I was up there hiding from him and my brother came home.
And one brother, ten years older than I, they sent him up after me.
I really can remember to this day, squealing as he got closer.
He climbed that tree and got up there and drugged me down.
Later, he was a dentist and I worked for him. And I loved it. I loved it.
That's how I learned the dental business.
Where I met my husband was in church.
I was in a Sunday school class. I was about fourteen.
And his brother said he came home and said, I just saw the girl I'm going to marry. He did.
He had an old touring car. Rootbeer stands were all the go. And it was a big deal for me to get to go have a rootbeer.
That was something.
When we got married, I worked for a while. And he worked. He worked for some of the big architects here in town.
Later, he got some jobs on his own to get some of the big buildings here in town.
He loved to go down the street. And if he saw stuff in somebody's garbage he wanted, they were throwing away.
He'd bring it home.
So, our garage was loaded with all kind of stuff. Just full.
And he'd ask him some time to clean it out. No, he wanted all of it.
So, the way to go on with him is, I waited till he'd gone to work.
I called a great big truck. Had him loaded up.
I mean, they filled it. The whole big truck, I remember. And he pulled it away.
That's it.
Aubrey came home. He hardly missed it.
So, that's how to get along with a man.
And it was always fun around our dining room table.
When I had all the kids, we'd just have a real good time.
His favorite way to do them is to just knuckle. They always do a knuckle.
And just knuckle them right in the end. And at the table, you know, when they're all cutting up, he's like,
Quit that. Quit that.
And I can remember once all the kids sitting around, the little Ralph, my son.
He liked to cut up me. So, they were thinking he's being real cute sitting next to him.
And he's flipping peas at me at the table.
So, he thought I was going to holler at him.
But when he looked at me, I had my mouth full of food.
And I was like, put it all over his face.
He didn't shoot peas at me anymore.
So, we had a good time.
Really, I always thought I was having fun.
We had this big yard in Garden Oaks.
And of course, all the neighbors, kids, came over to play at my house.
They played baseball out there.
So, I'd have big spikes if they had for bases.
I really loved it. It wasn't a burden.
I was just kind of used to having all that hubbub.
Between my house and the neighbor, I had a big stone wall built.
When they all looked out, and my boy Don had him a big sledgehammer,
and he was cracking those things open.
I said, Don, what are you doing? He said, I want to see what's over there.
I think I had a next door neighbor.
I thought, oh, that would be hot. You're that family.
A lot of people think, oh, well, aren't you glad they're gone?
But I wasn't.
How sad I felt when they left.
So, then, then we started having grandkids fillin' the house up there.
It's always, it's always sad when you lose somebody.
Some days, the days are long, but life is very pleasant.
If you just got somebody around, somebody you're close to,
then I can't complain.
Julie and Bonnie said, come on, we're going to take a tap dancing class.
I always wanted to take tap dancing anyway, so I got in that tap dancing class,
and we took it all, and then they said there's going to be a poor recital.
I said, I'm going to get mad.
And they said, oh, yes, you are.
So I did. I got in the tap dance recital.
It was a lot of fun.
I think I would love to have been a dancer.
I still love to go fishing.
I love to go swimming.
I go over to the workout club, walk on that treadmill.
I'm looking for a good art class.
I'm going to do some painting.
I loved it here a while back.
I had the best art teacher, and I loved going over there all day.
And I've got some pretty good pictures to show for it.
I had to attribute it to the good lord in the first place.
I really think how I would love to hear him say, well done.
But having a positive mental outlook makes a lot of difference.
What is is, we were happy, and I thought, hey, you got your health, you got your kids.
I'm glad I had all those kids, all these darling grandkids,
and all my darling grandkids married all these great kids.
True, yeah.
I really wouldn't trade anything. I really wouldn't.
I think I'm happy with the way things have been,
and I've enjoyed my life so far,
and all the things that have happened to me and have come to me.
So I'm real, real thankful.
Thank you.
