Grandpa and grandma Lula married in 1919, and she raised Clarence and Elma as her own. Since Elma's kids were the first grandchildren I called Jamesetta Collins Newman in Fort Scott, Ks. and asked her if she remembered our grandparents. She has very fond memories of them and she shared some of the events that stick out in her mind. The following words are her own as of Oct. 23, 1997.

Quote: My brother Ed (Edwin) and I were the two oldest granchildren. When we were about three and five we would go to see Grandpa and Grandma, Grandpa would squat down and we would come running one into each of his arms. Grandpa got a childhood disease, I believe it was chickenpox. We would cry to go see Grandpa. Mother would tell us we could'nt go because grandpa would make us sick. After he was over the contagious stage mother took us over to see him. He squatted down in the floor for us to come to him. We turned and ran the other way. Tears were seen trickling down his cheeks as mother explained to us that he was well and we could go to him and we would'nt get sick.

Grandma was a worrier. She worried about all the family problems. She had a big family to worry about. If she could'nt find anyone in the family to worry about she would listen to the news on the radio, when she heard of some family that had had a tragedy she would tell everyone who came about the burnout, accident, or illness as though she knew them personally even though they may have been hundreds of miles away from where she lived.

Grandpa was known to be a gentle, kind, trusting and giving person. He would never turn a tramp away from his door without feeding them or giving them a place to sleep. One night he let a tramp sleep in their brand new car (with the keys in the car). Another time they let a tramp stay over and granma got concerned that he might harm them. Grandpa sat up all night to insure their safety. It turned out that grandma's fears were warranted. They had had a noted fugitive spend the night with them. (If I remember right he was called Pretty Boy Floyd). My mother recalls a night when a tramp came in the middle of the night and asked to sleep in the sandpile in the back yard. It was the cellar that he had seen. Grandpa had him go to sleep in the car. Of course all tramps who stayed overnight were given a good breakfast before being sent on their way. It was noised about among the tramps that the house up on the hill was a good place to go. The house was only a short distance from the railroad so they were visited often.

Grandpa always worked on the oil leases. He started his career with Prairie Oil and Gas. He then went to Sinclair Oil Company. He stayed with them until his retirement. Their houses were furnished by the oil company. In those houses were gas lights that were fastened up on the ceilings. They did'nt give off great light but we thought they were pretty neat compared to our kerosene lamps. I believe they also had kerosene lamps so they could put the light where it was needed.

Due to Granpa's good job with the oil company the Great Depression of the '30's did not effect the Littlepage family as hard as it did most families in that time.

Grandpa was one to always be getting the first of a new product on the market. He had one of the first cars in their area. I'm not sure of the make or model. When they would drive down the "roads" all the kids and sometimes adults would run out to see the car. When they stopped, kids would climb all over the car. Kids were known to be given rides by Mr. Littlepage. When there were youth activities in Cleveland, Mr. Littlepage would load the youth in the car and take them to the activity.

Grandpa was a Chevy man. He would buy a new car and drive it two years. He then would take it to Mr. Russell, a neighboring mechanic and have him go over the car and do any tune up necessary. Mr. Russell was known to say he never got a car any cleaner than Mr. Littlepage's. His daughter remembers him being very particular with his car. They were not allowed to eat in the car. One day he let them eat ice cream in the car and they could hardly believe he did that. At the end of the fourth year they had the car he would trade for another Chevy.

Another new item on the market which the Littlepage's purchased was the pressure cooker. Many of the women in the area were afraid of the new invention. They would gather, prepare, and put their fruits, vegetables, or meats in the jar. The Littlepage's would take their cooker to the family's house and pressure their food for them. When the time came to take it off the stove they would set it off to the side and leave. When the pressure had gone down (which sometimes might be in the middle of the night) they would go back and take the cover off the cooker as the other family was afraid to touch the cooker. They did the canning for people on shares. The Littlepages figured their share on how big the family neighboring family was and their needs. The little share they got helped to feed a large family the coming winter.

The Littlepages had a neighbor family that was a black family. They were always friendly and never had any problems with them. One day Grandpa was visiting with them and Elma, his oldest daughter, happened to be with him. She kept eyeing the black family's small child. When they left Grandpa said to Elma, "Don't you ever touch that black baby. No, child of mine is going to hold a black baby." (Oops! maybe there was a little prejudice there even though it was strongly denied.)

Everett Littlepage was ordained a deacon at the Cleveland Baptist Church in late 1937. His son-in-law Glenn Collins was ordained into the ministry the same day.

I can remember people saying, "Mr. Littlepage doesn't talk a lot but when he does people listen because they know he has thought it through." Glenn Collins used to say he thought Everett Littlepage is the only man he knew who had never had an enemy.

Everett's first wife was Maggie Birkes. She died during the flu epedemic in 1918. A year or two later he married Lula Bailey. After the wedding his sister, Ida, wanted to take his two children, Clarence and Elma, so they could have some time to themselves before starting their family. Lula gave a firm NO. "They were his when I married and now they are mine." My mother use to become irritated when other children would tell of their fears of going home and something being thrown at them or of getting a beating. She always spoke well of her stepmother. In fact, I think Grandma sometimes appeared to be partial to her step-children.

Grandma like to crochet. I can remember her making bedspreads, tableclothes, doilies, and chair sets (for the arms and backs of chairs and couches.) Her favorite pattern to make was the pineapple pattern.

She also collected salt and pepper shakers. In his shop class Ed made her corner graduated shelves that went from ceiling to floor. She had more shakers than the shelves would hold. She could tell you where she got most of them or who gave them to her. Each time she got a new set they were as special to her as the first set she got. When we would come to visit she would always have to show us her new shakers.

When Mother had trouble getting us to eat something she'd tell us "This is the way Grandpa likes it." I remember when we thought we were to big for her to cut up our pancakes she'd start cutting a certain way with a knife and fork and say, "This is the way Grandpa does it." We never argued with her doing it then.

Grandpa was a hearty eater. He used to say "I eat to live and live to eat." He never had a weight problem . He'd say, "I eat so much it makes me poor to carry it." I recall that he like cornbread and beans. (Grandma would usually have a big skillet of fried potatoes and sliced onions to go along with that meal.) Another favorite was biscuits and gravy. He had to have black pepper on his gravy. He also like cornbread and mild. Mother used to tell us he liked pickles with chocolate cake. I never was to sure about that and we sure didn't take that liking from him.

When one of the mothers would get on to one of his grandchildren for being a messy eater he would say, "Don't you know that chocolate cake (or whatever the food was) is not any good if you can't get it all over you?"

Their youngest daughter, Loretta, was only 28 days older than I, so they never had a time without little ones before having grandchildren around. But this diidn't keep them from seeing their grandchildren as special. One day Loretta was trying to get Grandma's attention. After calling "Mama" about three times to no avail she called "Grandma". Grandma turned quickly and said, "What? What honey, what?" Loretta said, "You can sure see who rates around here."

My mother tells that when Loretta and I were very young babies we had gone to Grandma and Grandpa's for Sunday dinner as well as the visiting preacher and his wife. In mid-afternoon the preacher's wife said, "Would someone please tell me which baby goes with which mother? I have been trying to figure out all day which baby goes with which mother. First one and then the other takes care of them so I can't tell who the babies belong to.

My mother tells of her most embarrassing moment. She and her boyfriend were sitting in the living room talking. Grandma comes through in her nightgown and her long hair, which was usually up in a bun, down. She said as she passed through to the kitchen, "I thought that boyfriend would never leave, the bedbugs are about to eat me up." The boyfriend didn't have much longer to stay and I'm not sure that he ever came back.

I really appreciate all these memories that Jamesetta sent to me about our grandparents. As my father was a career man in the Army, we were not around my grandparents that much. But I really have good memories of the times we were with Grandma and Grandpa. No matter how many grandkids they had they treated them all very special. I can remember the Sunday evening prayer session at their house. Us little kids would get under the table while all the adults got down on their knees and took turns giving thanks to God.

I can also remember them living on the lease and wash day with Grandma and the black kettle doing laundry. She never complained about the work, and let one of us kids not mind we were sent to get our own switch from the tree to get our bare legs swatted (never real hard) And I remember how hard Grandpa had to talk to get Grandma to agree to an inside bathroom. Even when it was finished, she still used the slop jar and Grandpa emptied it every morning. I only wish my children and grandchildren could have known these two great people.

Judy Littlepage Palmer