Mother and Daddy were married in 1940. This picture was taken in 1945. Daddy was inducted into the Navy on May 21, 1945 in Oklahoma City. He was in the service for only five months and his date of seperation was October 21, 1945 in Norman, Oklahoma. If a serviceman had 3 or more children, he could get out early. Daddy always told me I was the reason he got to come home. Right before Daddy left for the Navy, he gave me a little chain that he fastened around my neck. Mother said it kept my neck green but I wouldn't let anyone take it off until Daddy came home.
I am wearing it in the picture below.
Daddy died of cancer on July 20, 1978. He was 60 years old. Mother died of a heart attack on January 11, 1980 at the age of 57. Daddy was born in Scranton, Arkansas and his family moved to Oklahoma when he was a child. He had five sisters and four brothers. Papa & Grandma Stacy were married for 54 years until Papa died in 1965. Grandma died in 1978.
Mother was born in Fame, Oklahoma. She had three brothers and one sister, who died at the age of two. I don't have a picture of her parents together. Her father was around 20 years old in the picture below and her mother in her 60's. Grandpa Needham died when Mother was eight years old. Grandma Needham never remarried and died at the age of 70.
Mother and Daddy met while Mother was still in school. Daddy was working on a farm near by where Mother lived. Mother graduated from high school with very good grades. Her brothers wanted her to go on to college. They said they would sent her, but she wanted to get married. All three of her brothers graduated from college.
I spent nearly every summer at Grandma Needham's house. It was actualy a three room log cabin with a screened in back porch and a big rock fireplace, as you can see in the picture below. That is Grandma's daddy and brother standing with her.
Grandma's cabin was old and run down, but I never knew it. I had rather been there than any place in the world. My very best memories as a child were all from her farm. It was on 160 acres in Oklahoma, just outside of Checotah. Grandma bought the farm right after Grandpa died and raised her 4 kids there alone.
We all ended up living in Texas. When Mother and Daddy died, Wanda, Jean, Phyllis and I, were all living within 8 miles of each other. Jan was living in Midland. We lost Mother and Daddy far too soon, but I think that may be why my sisters and I, and our children, are all so close today.
