I grew up poor, on welfare, and raised by a single parent

My mother, the kindhearted, nurturing and nurturing person that she was, became exceedingly over-protective of us kids throughout the 1930's and 40's. She was raised through some strong strong times and, subsequent, the Great Depression. She had wise to be very cautious in life and was a super frugal person. Mother was born prematurely, a two-pound preemie in 1913, not anticipated to survive. Her mother was a juvenile south Louisiana native and her dad a seventy six-year-old Civil War veteran from Pennsylvania. He was U.S. postmaster at the Starks, Louisiana, post agency when mother was born.

It was a miracle Mother survived infancy. Births before her had all been premature casualties born to my grandparents. But she obviously survived and dwelled to be eighty-three years old. She dwelled out her mature individual life in Cass County Texas, beside McLeod. At Starks in Calcasieu Parish, her one and only sibling, a male sibling, was born a year after her.

My grandfather was born and increased up in Pennsylvania and served two stints in the Union Army throughout the Civil War. His family were Quakers and called themselves Pennsylvania Dutch. Years next the conflict discovered him in California employed with members of his family who had gone out west. He finally came back east and, while traveling over the homeland, determined to settle in south Louisiana. He subsequent obtained a government designation as postmaster in Starks. He was employed at that job when he contacted my grandmother, of the south Louisiana Clark family. They were wed in 1905.

In her youngest years, my mother recalled understanding her dad very well. She was twelve years vintage when he past away in 1925 in Illinois. After serving numerous years as postmaster, grandpa finally became disabled and was ...