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Name may be Frank not Fred per Aunt Agnes in 1978
The SSN of Earnie was set aside for railroad workers. 700-728
May have been born in Riola, Illinois per Aunt Agnes
Earnie's selective service registration card reads: "Ernie Edward Mingee,Metcalf, Edgar County, Illinois duely registered this 27 day of April1942. The signature of registrar was March Marlow, registrar for LocalBoard 1, Edgar County Illinois." per Kay McCabeThis is quoted from a Mingee Family Scrapbook put together by ImogeneMingee Cannon. It is more of a remembrance book after the death of bothEarnie and Lacy Mingee by their children and grandchildren.
"On August 26, 1893 - Lacy Mae was the third child born in a family offive other children, to Samuel and Theodosia Thornton. Reasonably sureshe was born in Kidley, Illinois. On November 5, 1891 - Earnie Edwardwas born to Alexander and Dora Mingee and was the fifth child of a familyof eight children, including a set of twins. Or so I have always beentold." (We only have knowledge of seven-Cathea) "Reasonably sure Earniewas born in Hildreth, Illinois.
"Lacy was courted and won by Earnie and they were married in Paris,Illinois on August 22, 1911. I wish I could remember who stood up withthem, but I can't. I do remember that Mom told me that she lacked alittle being 18 years old and she couldn't lie about it, so the witnessesthey took spoke for her when it came to telling her age. Mom justcouldn't lie, not even to get married a little early."
"Dad used to tell me about having to go to church when the weatherpermitted and sometimes he was allowed to ride the horse. This one A.M.,he said was so "day dreamy" that he decided to skip church and tell hisfolks that he had gone. He said he rode up and down the stream, watchedthe squirrels, and started running the horse. He had not seen alow-hanging tree branch and oh! It cut him across the forehead, andknocked him off the horse. The horse went on home and he was so painfulthat he liked to never got home. He said, "Now, the purpose of thisstory is to teach you that your sins will always find you out." All thetime I knew him, he believed that this happened because he had missedchurch and was having a good time instead, with the intention of lieingto his folks."
"Times were very rough for him and his family then. Both parents died ata very early age leaving so many children to 'do or die' as Dad used tosay. The older ones that could possibly work did so, and the ones tooyoung to work out, had the complete care of the still younger ones andthe responsibility of the house work, cooking, etc. till they were oldenough to care for selves. Dad said he had to do house work, cooking,care for the younger ones than he, until he was old enough to get a job.He said he made 35 cents a day. I have thought of this often andwondered how so many children existed alone. Dad said they had no oneelse. His dad died in December of 1903 at age 42 - his mother died inAugust of 1909 at age 45 years with asthma attack. I can't begin toimagine how she lived those three years being ill and having eightchildren left solely in her care. Dad said they all had to do a lot morethan their share to keep things going."
"Once, while I was living in Tolono, I kept noticing a mailbox with thename of 'Mingee' on it, and one day, I got brave enough to go up andknock, and when the lady came to the door, I asked her if she knew Earnieand Lacy Mingee, that they were my parents. She said, 'I sure do.' Shesaid she didn't know what she and her husband would have done withoutthem, and that they even took them to be married and Dad was the bestman. She said that her hair looked horrid and that she asked Mom ifshe'd cut it. Mom was afraid to as she had never cut hair before andthis was a rather special occasion. She told me that she finallyconvinced Mom and after she had cut it, she said it was just beautiful.She said it had never pleased her so much before or since, and she feltso good to be married with her hair looking so nice. She said, 'Your momcould do anything in the world that she wanted to do, and not only that,but she always did it better than anyone else could.' "
"I loved Mom's eyes. They were the softest brown that I had ever seen.Sort of like when she looked at you, that she could see right inside ofyour body. I always thought that it was because she was so caring toall, and her eyes showed the love, like the eyes of Jesus do in pictures."
"Mrs. Hires told me that she had known my mom for many years, and in allthat time, she had never heard Mom say one bad thing about anyone, orpeddle any gossip or be a part of it about anyone. Mom told me she gotinto trouble once, because when the ladies would gather, they would talkabout other neighbors and she wouldn't so they thought because she didn'tjoin in that she was in agreement with the other lady. I've noticedthat, too. When I am honest, it seems to always get me into trouble."
"I have a letter if it hasn't been destroyed, from Eve Shahan. TheGerman bride of Amos Shahan. It is almost all about Mom and how sheaccepted her into her home, a perfect stranger, and showed love, andcooked a big meal for her and she says, it wasn't like others. I knewyour mom was sincere and really meant it. Well, I am inserting 'TheLetter' that Bud (Leonard V) wrote to Mom, so no need to tell all thisnow, for the letter really says it all, not only for us kids, but for thegrand kids, neighbors and anyone that knew Mom and Dad."
"Mom said sometimes she would take a shortcut through the cemetery whenshe was coming home from school. One night she saw this huge ghost thatwas moaning. She turned white and ran all the rest of the way home andwas so out of breath that she liked to couldn't catch it. Later, shediscovered that it was her cousin, Ovie Harris, with a sheet over him.Folks took me to visit with the Ovie Harris' once and I was veryimpressed. All was spotless, but very old fashioned (even with thosetimes). There were fancy bed spreads and quilts, and baskets. I sowanted one, but it didn't work that way. There was the most beautifulstar quilt. Mom said that Ovie was mostly of Indian blood and shethought that was why he was so handy with his hands."
"One time Maude (Mom's cousin, whom she really loved) went fishing andtalked Mom into going with her. However, she couldn't talk Mom intobaiting the hook. Nor would Mom take a fish off. Maude caught a frogand bit its head off right there and Mom about fainted. She told her ifshe could bite the head off a live frog and it didn't hurt her, that Momcould bait her hook and take her own fish off without being hurt. Momsaid that she couldn't believe that Maude would ever do a thing likethat."
"I thought that Dad told me that my great grandparents came from Germany,but evidently it had to be his grandparents." (Isn't that the samething?) Mom's side came from England. She was real proud that theThorntons were direct descendants of Queen Victoria. I used to tease herabout Jack the Ripper also being a direct descendant. She'd say, 'well,he couldn't have been all bad.' That was Mom! Anyway, the identity ofJack the Ripper was never proved, and some thought it was the grandson ofthe Queen and some thought it was the Queen's physician, and others hadother ideas. Our first descendant in this country was John Thornton. Hesigned the Declaration of Independence with the rest of the big "JohnHancocks." Mom received a letter later in life from a young relativethat had been stationed in England during the war. Later, he had made atrip back to find out info concerning the Thornton Castle that he hadgone to see while there. He was writing to relatives as in his opinion,it was worthwhile to fix up into a tourist place by making it into ahotel, ballroom, and dining area. He had found that any Thornton couldown by paying the back taxes. Of course, the folks were on a fixed lowincome, and a lot of that had gone for others, so Mom felt very badlybecause she believed the castle, after all these years should remain inthe Thornton name. Don't know what became of this adventure, as theyoung man was killed in a cab on the way home from the airport afterobtaining necessary papers, etc. Don't remember what our crest was, butwas same as the Royal Family. I sent this info that I had been given tobe copied and it never returned, so is lost."
"I know by the age of 12, Mom was making all the clothes for herfamily and things for the house. Grandpa told me that she had to stayhome from school and sew clothes for the family."
"Mom used to get lots of laughs by telling about the time that her dadhad bought his first automobile. He brought it home, and being used tohorses all his life, proceeded to park it in the barn, and yelled 'whoa,whoa,' but the derned thing kept right on going and went through the endof the garage. It just hadn't been trained to what 'whoa' meant."
"After Mom and Dad were married, they settled in Humerick and therehad many good friends, such as Pounds, Browns, and others. They wereQuakers and taught classes at church. They were kept busy doing theLord's work. In my opinion, that is why they were so happy there. Dadhad an old box car set aside to be used for their house. Mom soon madeit into a home. While Dad was working on the railroad, Mom was paintingthe outside and inside of the box car. She made all the drapes andcurtains, took wood boxes and upholstered them into inviting seats, mademost of the furniture, and even was guilty of making Dad's overalls. Shesawed her own baseboard and round and nailed it down, and instead ofpaining it, very carefully sanded and stained it to look nicer. She evensanded the whole floor surface by hand and then varnished it. Outside,she planted honeysuckle and rose bushes. Mrs Brown told me that itlooked like a fairy tale 'doll house.' Now, you can't do all thiswithout putting a bit of your soul into it, so to speak. Dad was offereda job in Metcalf which would mean more money, a permanent location and hewould be foreman. He had to let the guy know right then or be out. Momnever forgave Dad for making this decision without talking to her aboutit first. On top of this hurt, she had to leave the home she had workedso hard on and put so much love into, plus her friends and church. Shewas disappointed with the people in Metcalf and they discontinued churchalthough they continued to live a Christian life. They had been Quakersand sincere and found very little but hypocrisy in the new church. Theyhad good neighbors like Tresners, Tuttles, Lucas, and everyone liked Momand Dad and had much respect for them."
"I know Charlie Tresner worked for Dad and they were real goodfriends. However, around election time, one would wonder. Charlie was a'red hot' republican and Dad would vote Democrat even if Satan wasrunning. They would fall out sometimes and things would get frosty tillafter the election, then all would be as it used to be with them. Momalways said they acted like a couple of little boys."
"When things were lonely for the folks and they couldn't get outmuch, Mrs. Brown wrote several times to try and persuade them to come toPhoenix and live with her. No money out, just so they could be closelike they used to be and keep each other company. Mom refused."
"Well, I remember when Mom and Dad had been together for 50 years.I knew that I should do something to honor them, but in all honestydidn't know how to go about it. I felt so badly then, and do now as ifany parents deserved a remembrance, it was them. However, some of theirvery old friends that had known them from early marriage and even beforemarriage remembered and they received lots of cards and letters. Itmade them feel so good."
"After Dad died, I took Mom around to some of their old friends.She really enjoyed that, and she loved ice cream so I tried to take herevery evening for an ice cream cone. We went to the Metcalf churchtogether and she would really sing. She felt so good in church then."
"The folks had four of us kids, and would have laid down and diedfor any of us if it were necessary or would help in some way. Dad diedin the Paris Hospital on March 8, 1967 of massive heart attack andhemorrhage. Mom died in a nursing home in Oklahoma City on October 24,1973. Both are buried in the Newman Cemetery where most of Mom'srelatives are buried also. Most of Dad's relatives are buried in the oldAllerton cemetery."
"You'll find that these statistics don't go along with some of the'summary' that I have written on Mom and Dad. I have been told that Dadwas one of eight children and also that his brother 'Lidge' had a twinknown as 'Lodge.'A Prayer written by Ernie E. Mingee
Standing at the portal of the coming New Year,
Words of comfort meet us, hushing every fear,
Spoken through the silence, by our Father's voice,
Tender, strong and faithful, making us rejoice,
He will never fail us, He will not forsake us,
His eternal covenant, He will never break.
Resting on his promises, What have we to fear?
God is all sufficient, for the coming New Year
AMEN
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"BY A RAILROAD MAN" BY ERNIE E. MINGEE
10 years ago this December 1, I started on my pension after 44 steadyyears on the 2 rail roads B&O known 44 years ago as the CH&D. and theNKP (not sure if that is an N) was known as the Cloverleaf.
I spent many nights in 17 to 20 below zero fighting blizzards and snowfrom a foot to 3 and 4 feet deep, and in 1936 at Mortimer the engineercould reach out of the cab and get a handful of snow. In 1916 the B&Owas shut down for 4 or 5 days acct of 4 to 5 feet of snow drifted on thetracks from Indianapolis to Montezuma Ind and west.
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Copy of "A Letter to Mother" by Leonard V. Mingee posted in thenewspaper...."Editor's Note: The following is a letter from LeonardMingee, Oklahoma City, Okla., to his mother, Mrs Lacy M. Mingee ofMetcalf. It was written last March 16, eight days after the death of hisfather, Ernie E. Mingee. Because the letter expresses what many feel fortheir mothers, we are including it in this special Mother's Day edition."Dearest Mom in the World:
Mom, you have had many trying periods in your life. When I recallyour struggles for the many personal things you needed and so unselfishlydid without, that others could have, it makes me very proud but sad.yet, this date when you have lost the finest mate that one could havetops them all for giving. Again you have shown the same sweet patternedpersonality that you have so faithfully portrayed through all your pastlife.
You have always been willing to give your soul, if necessary, to keeppeace and harmony among your children. I am confident that no one, nowor ever, could display such devotion to their loved ones. I crown youqueen, not for a day, but for all times and with all concerned andconsidered, and I love you very dearly, as do all others.
You have been so deserving of so much love, attention andappreciation from all, but it came back to you, though in 'shortness,' ascompared to your own unselfish giving.
Mom, I feel I know you as well as I knew Dad, and in my opinion yourgreatness as a mother and wife has been shamefully unnoticed, and notrecognized properly by our own members.
As I sit here and reminisce of these past years all I can comprehendis regretfulness that you have been so lightly appreciated by allconcerned, either knowingly or unknowingly. You were so unselfish inyour many duties that, I am afraid, you were many times just taken forgranted. You should have been put on the throne you so justly deserved.However, we are just human 'weaklings' but God above, I am sure, has beenmore observing of your many loving efforts and has already prepared foryou a throne of beauty to compensate for our shortcomings.
The world we live in today is fast moving; it moves at such a pacewe fail miserably to observe the fine, sweet loveliness of others'unselfish acts that were intended to make our lives better, happier andmore bearable. This does happen and sometimes beyond our control, but asI now slow down my daily pace in the face of our near past sorrows, Irealize many things and I am sure these same feelings are shared by allwho have had their lives 'touched' by you and Daddy. I am positive yourefforts will not have been in vain and that your unselfish kindness inothers will be likened to a mirror and will reflect in many generationsto come. This is a fact none can deny or even prevent from happening,because your seeds of kindness have been sown and fertilized with careand love and will bear like fruits. Your task and load of responsibilityhave been heavy and burdensome, yet you have done a tremendous job and weare all very proud of you untiring and well guided efforts, as yougracefully carried them with no malice toward anyone and an equal lovefor all concerned.
What I am trying to say for all of us, is that we love you (andDad), appreciate, admire and agree with anything you have ever done inyour role as parents, grandparents, or 'greats.' "
----------------------------------------------------LA FERNE'S CHILDHOOD MEMOIR.....
"Here I am in my 70th year and have been asked to write about my past. Atthis point in time, it seems impossible as I have trouble sometimesremembering what happened last week. But I'll give it a good 'college'try, as they say.
I want to say that our memories play tricks on us sometimes andmaybe we remember things different than they really are in another'sthoughts. Also, you can remember just bits and pieces and not get thewhole story together because of the gaps in your memory. I'm afraid thatmay be the case with we, but I will do my best.
I was born in Metcalf, Illinois and the doctor who brought me intothis world was Dr. H. I. Conn, who was home on a furlough from World WarI. Of course, I don't remember any of that period of my life exceptthings I was told later. I know that Leonard, my brother, was five yearsold when I was born and as I grew older, I named him Buddy, whicheveryone called him Bud most of his life. I was four and a half whenStella Pearl was born so I was too young to have much of a memory ofthat. I don't remember any of that period but I believe we moved aroundsome with daddy's work and ended up in a very small town called Humrick,Illinois. Imogene was born in Humrick when I was eleven. That completesa short history of our family and takes us up to Humrick, where most ofmy childhood memories are.
Daddy was a Section Foreman on the Nickel Plate Railroad. My momwas a great helpmate and mother and homemaker, all rolled up in one.When we first transferred there to Humrick, there were no housesavailable and we moved into a boxcar pulled off on the siding for sometime until we found a house empty. I don't think this was very longaccording to my memory.
Even though we lived in that very small town and times then werehard, we seemed to have lots of fun and find plenty to do to keep usbusy. When I was small, I was told I was 'dutchy' when I talked. I haveheard the stories from mom until I almost think I remember. She loved totell those tales and would get into making expressions with her face. Itseems everyone thought it was cute for me to talk that way and I gotteased a lot. Mom loved to tell the one about me coming in excited andtelling her about our neighbor. I asked her if she knew what Mr Chandlerwas planting in his garden. She said, 'No, what's he planting?' I said,"Him plantin' hoss hockey, that won't grow, will it mom?" She told alady neighbor the story and she offered me a banana to tell her what MrChandler was planting.
My childhood was a very happy one. We didn't have things to paywith like children have today. We made our own games and did thingssimple, like taking our sleds down to the hill when it snowed and runningraces. Also, I remember going for long walks in the woods to pick sweetwilliams for our mom and playing in the small streams to catch jars oftadpoles.......
I started to school when I was five years old. I had been climbing thefence and sneaking off to visit the school and I would always insist onsitting with Allen Brown who was in the third grade, and I had a crush onhim. Miss Georgie, as we called the teacher, decided that I was there somuch, I might as well have a seat of my own and start learning. Iremember the school house divided in two rooms, with each room havingfour grades to teach by one teacher. I went there until I was in theseventh grade, when daddy was transferred back to Metcalf, Illinois.
There was a few years between ages of us kids and it kept us frombeing interested in the same things but we were close and loved eachother a lot. We had great parents and we respected them. I rememberwhen I was growing up, mom always managed to keep us dressed nice eventhough times were hard. She was a wonderful seamstress and could sew upa beautiful dress in no time. She even made her own patterns. Iremember one red seersucker dress she made me that was really sharp and Iloved it. She made all my graduation dresses and they were great. Iremember worrying about it and telling her that all the rest were wearing'store-bought' dresses. But when I wore them, I was a very proud kid.Everyone thought I looked really super and we knew they were better. Mymom didn't have a selfish bone in her body. She did without so we couldhave things. I have fond memories of us swinging in our porch swing andmom singing songs to us. My favorite was 'The Preacher and the Bear'.Oh, how I loved that song.
My daddy was one of the sweetest men in the whole world. And he wasone of the most honest men I ever knew. I never in my life heard any onesay anything but nice things about him. Even when I was a child,whenever I saw him hurting, I hurt for him. I have never forgotten theheart attack he had when we lived in Humrick. The doctor lived inChrisman, Illinois, which was about fifteen miles away. Daddy wasactually turning blue and I was so scared I didn't know what to do.After what seemed like hours, the doctor arrived in time and gave him ashot which started his heart pumping. I was watching through a crack inthe door and heard the doctor say his big toe had moved slightly. I wasso relieved, I sneaked off to another room and cried my eyes out. I usedto go everywhere with daddy that he could let me. I always went into thestores with him to shop and loved to tag along with him anywhere.
I must have been a regular 'tag along' because I tagged along withmy brother Leonard, too. I was a tomboy and loved going along with himto hunt rabbits. Of course, I acted as his hunting dog and chased outthe rabbit and he'd shoot at them. I was a skinny little runt when i wasgrowing up and he nicknamed me 'Pin.' I adored him and in my eyes, hecould do no wrong. I wanted to learn how to shoot his gun so he took meto the junk yard and taught me how to shoot it safely. He teased me alot and got me to do things by daring me to do it. We never got to goswimming much and once when we did, he dared me to slide down a slideinto the deep end of the pool. I was scared to death but I did itbecause he dared me. I would always hide it from him if I got hurt, andthat was one of those times. His favorite thing, I believe, was to snapme with a wet twisted dish cloth. I knew he didn't do it to hurt me, butjust to show that he loved me. He always knew where to find the hazelnuts, walnuts, pawpaws and even horseradish that grew wild aroundHumrick. Living in Humrick was almost like living in the country. Inthe winter, all the kids in the town and around would go over the bighill and take their sleds along to slide down in the snow. It was suchfun. My dad would blow his railroad whistle when they wanted us to comehome and we'd head for home immediately. Occasionally, Leonard would letme tag along on his date. There wasn't much to do so we'd just sitaround in his old Ford and I would tell them jokes and 'funnies' toentertain them. At the time daddy got transferred back to Metcalf.Leonard was in high school at Ridgegarm, a near by little town. He had alot of talent in different areas and was well liked by everyone. Heplayed an Alto Sax and in the high school band, he was good in plays andwas very good in readings, which he competed in often. He liked thehumorous ones the most. He had a great sense of humor himself. When wemoved to Metcalf, he drove back and forth in his old Ford and took mealong so we could both start to school in our new town. Of course, hewould 'let' Pin crank up the old flivver. I can still feel how it kickedmy skinny little arm. Talking about his talents, in later years, heplayed the ukulele and sang along with it. His favorite piece was "FiveFoot Two" although he could play almost anything. He was so good, Icalled him 'Ukulele Ike.'
I'm sure all the kids in the Mingee family remember the Christmasparties when Leonard could come home to Metcalf for the holidays. He'dplay his 'uke' and everyone would sing and he would tape a program.
Leonard was like a second dad to me and he would 'taxi' me around toplaces I had to go to help daddy out too. I had to go to the dentist alot when I was growing up. Mom said the doctor said it was because I gotmy teeth so early I hadn't had enough proper food to make the teethstrong. I had two teeth when I was three months old. Leonard made someof those trips to the dentist to take me. Once I told the dentist I wasgoing to faint and he pushed my head down and I landed out on the floor.When I came round out of the faint, I thought Leonard was going to takethe dentist apart for hurting me.
I also remember when I was twelve years old, they had a promotionfor the Kodak Camera. It was their twelfth anniversary and they weregiving away twelve cameras to the first twelve year old children at thedrug store that particular morning. Well, I was excited that I might getone of them that I begged Dad to take me over to the next town. He hadto be at work and Leonard offered to take me to Chrisman. I was sothrilled I insisted on going at four o'clock in the morning so I could bethe first one in that store. We had to sit there a few hours before thestore opened but I was the first lucky one. I have wished many times Ihad kept that camera.
By no means do I mean to leave out my two younger sisters. I wasjust talking about one at a time to keep me from wandering all overdifferent time periods. Stella pearl was so cute with her little roundface. Mom cut her hair in a little 'dutch bob' with bangs. Everyone inthe town wanted mom to be their barber. Stella sang solo songs in churchwhen she was a very little girl. I remember her as a quiet and verythoughtful little girl, too. Once when daddy finally got a new car, hepiled us all in the car to take a ride. Everyone was so proud of if -especially daddy. He drove up over a railroad track and hit a bump whichbounced us up in the air. Stella hit her head on the top of the car andshe started crying "oh daddy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt thecar." I'm sure it had hurt her head but she instantly thought of daddyand his love of the new car. I'm ashamed to say now, as I think back,that I used to give her trinkets to get her to stay home when I wanted togo off with Irene. I really loved her a lot, as I always have, but Ithought she was too little. Irene and I were probably planning on doingsomething we weren't supposed to do or talking about boys and didn't wantit to be told. Stella always seemed to get everything done that shestarted and was so neat and orderly. We both started to take pianolessons at the same time. She went on to play beautifully and I gave upon it. I wanted to play the piano but didn't want to practice and takemuch time to learn.
I remember when Imogene was born. I had been sent to a friend'shouse to spend the night and when I could return, I saw this cute littlebaby there with mom. I remember she was a delicate baby and had to go tothe doctor quite a bit until they could get her food regulated. TheBailey's had a daughter at about the same time so Irene and I both hadbaby sisters at the same time. We used to laugh at the difference in theway they cried. One had a very deep voice and the other one had a veryhigh voice. Genie (as I call her today) was a little one when we movedto Metcalf. She used to crawl under the front porch and we had troublecoaxing her out. It certainly was too small a place to go after her. Ihave said she ate bugs under there but I really don't know that. I thinkI told that for a 'funny,' only it isn't funny! She grew up a prettylittle girl. She helped a lot with Glenda and Allen when they werestaying at Metcalf with mom and dad, while I was trying to get my lifetogether. But that is a whole different story and I'm supposed to betelling a little about when I was a child.
See More about Earnest Edward Mingee...for more about Lacy Thornton
From LV Mingee: Earnie and Lacy were both born around Sidel, Indianola,Rantoul - all around Newman" County seat may be Paris, Illinois
Children's names came from LaFerne Mingee Otto 1978.
Bill McNeese had another child - Edna Mingee, m. ? Pankey. This info wasfrom John McNeese (Simi, CA) Research
119. Charles Emmett , Jr. Mingee
Laferne Otto said he lived in San Lorenzo CA
When I got in touch with Uncle Kenneth in 1978, he was living in WalnutCreek CA (Cathea)
This was a note from Uncle Kenneth, the youngest of Alexander Mingee'schildren. Everyone said he would not answer my letter of inquiry back in1978. Not only did he answer, but he sent me the only known pictures ofhis parents. One was a tintype of his dad when he was young, and anotherone of his mother, Dora McNeese Mingee standing in front of a house.Here is the note:
"Dear Cathea, Will try and answer your letter and the questions. Yes,our parents died when we were very young. I went on a large farm southof Metcalf about 5 miles. I live with some people by the name of JamesRoth. I lived with them until I was 16 or 17 years old. They sent toschool. I got thru the grade school, and I took the 8th grade twice so Icould enter in the Edgar County track and field meet and it helped me asI got some things I missed the first time around. I was lucky in a way.My brother Emmett was 2 years older than I, went on a farm with my UncleAndy Julian, he got 2 years in high school in Hume, Illinois. After mysister, Stella, got thru school in Metcalf, our doctor got her in anursing school in St. Louis and she became a nurse, and the rest of thechildren were older and shifted for their selves, but we all had bad andhard times, but it seems like the Lord always find a way for you..."