"I AM letting go"

We had a big yard as a play ground when we were growing up.  When we were working in the field, if we were small enough, the field became a playground too.  If we were old enough, we were working.  In the background of this photo is our garage and a station wagon that held all 10 of us.  On the closer side of the garage were a few banana trees.  I'd take the leaves and strip them into dollar size pieces.  Then I'd play store.  Even Mother would play with me.  While Mother was cooking, I'd go into the kitchen and ask "Mrs. Lee" if she had any "butter" or whatever I was 'buying' that day.  "Mrs. Lee" (my home version of the corner grocery store) would take time to 'sell' me whatever I came to buy.  Of course the butter, or whatever, was all imaginary and I never carried anything out of the kitchen.

The south side of the back yard, garage in the background

There wasn't much room in the garage to play. Sometimes I'd be found in the back corner or behind it, playing with a new batch of puppies or kittens.  

The dirt in the driveway was a great place to play hopscotch, marbles, and other 'draw in the dirt' games.  Sometimes we'd have a good group of us and we'd play games like Red Light, Dum Dum Dum, and Red Rover.  

One rainy day summer barefoot day I was in the garage and wanted to make 'money'.  I noticed a partial roll of wallpaper tape in the garage, tucked behind the light switch wires.  I reached up to grab the tape and my whole life changed from that instant.  I had no idea what happened but I knew that I was stuck to the paper.  I was hurting all over, screaming, and dancing a jig.  Everyone around came running.  Daddy stopped outside the doorway, looking at me holding the paper that was wrapped around an electrical wire - obviously the wire was bare somewhere under the tape.  I was jumping and screaming and everyone knew there was a problem unless they were deaf.  Daddy and others kept saying, "Edith Ellen, let go"!  I'd yell back, hopping on my bare feet on wet concrete, "I AM letting go"!  Judy went behind me and knocked me loose.  I don't remember anything after that.  

'

Sandra on the sidewalk behind the house

Ever since my hand touched that tape, I have not been happy around bare electrical wire or any electricity that isn't behind a sealed wall.  I can hook up jumper cables and jump off a car if no one is around to do it.  Mentally, I know it's safe.  Emotionally, I turn into a wreck when I see an electrical spark. 

To this day, I will give a yelp if I see a spark from almost anything except a 4th of July sparkler.

... Mother came home with a school bus one day.

A school bus was a normal part of our everyday school life from first grade through near-graduation to graduation.  The first school bus driver I remember was Mrs. Lewis.  She was always patient with us kids.  

We were one of the first stops on the way home and one of the last stops going to school.  We were some of the first students off the bus and some of the last ones on the bus. This was handy when we didn't want to ride the bus a long time.  But when I 'forgot' to do my homework, it didn't give me much time to do it or to study on the way to school. School was just a few miles away, whether the elementary and middle school in Reddick or the high school in Sparr.  Most of my older siblings went to Reddick when the school went through the 12th grade. About Harold and Donald's time, North Marion High School was built near Sparr and the Reddick school went only to 8th grade after that.

On very cold mornings with heavy frost on the ground, we'd head out to the road to wait for the bus.  Wearing patent leather shoes with slick soles, it was fun to run and then slide across the frost,  It was almost as if it was a waxed floor.  We'd all take turns, in a competition to see who could slide the farthest on the frost. Of course, the young ones would never win but we each had fun taking our own turn.

On other cold mornings and on rainy mornings, we'd all wait inside.  One of us would stand inside the house by the window keeping watch.  Of course, no one wanted that job. Everyone else could be reading, playing, or whatever they wanted but the one by the window had to keep his/her eyes glued on the spot where the bus would first appear.  When the bus was first visible, 1/4 mile away, the one on watch one would yell "bus" and head out the door. We'd all hit the door just behind the watch kid, running out to the road and onto the bus.  Mrs. Lewis wanted us right there on the proper side of the road when she drove up.  She seemed to always understand rainy days and cold days.

Harold, Donald, Mother

Edith, Sandra, Stanley

It was quite a surprise when Mother came home with a school bus one day.  We scrubbed the seats, all of which had turned black with mold over the long hot humid summer.  Comet, bleach, rags, and scrub brushes were applied with a generous amount of elbow grease.  We cleaned and cleaned the bus, preparing for school.  It was exciting for the first half-hour or so. Then it was just plain old dirty work, accompanied with as much whining as we thought we could get away with.  For me, the first week of school was always exciting, no matter what grade. 

I'd normally ride all the way past our house and back to the house with Mother.  Later, Daddy had a school bus too.  Two buses were parked in our back yard for 8 or 9 months out of the year.  

On the way home, Mother would normally stop at 'George Woods'.  Mr. Woods owned a small grocery store in Lowell, a few miles away.  We always called it "George Woods".  We didn't go to the store, we went to "George Woods".  

If I had the trash picked up from the bus floor, the bus swept out, and I was ready to sweep the dirt out the back door, I could have a candy bar and cold drink.  When she turned off the motor at George Woods, I'd open the emergency back door and sweep out the dirt.  A candy bar and cold drink was good payment for the job.  I'd ride the whole trip just for the candy bar and cold drink.

Inside the store we'd go and I'd pick out my goodies.  

Back then, we never said 'coke' or 'pop' or any other name for a carbonated beverage. Every carbonated beverage was a 'cold drink'.  Water with ice in it was 'iced water'.  Tea with ice in it was 'iced tea'.  Coca-cola, Pepsi-cola, RC, Dr. Pepper; all of these were 'cold drinks'.  Even if it wasn't in the refrigerator and it was the middle of the summer, if it was too hot to drink, it was still a 'cold drink'.  

Dog with 3 Names - by Lila Jane Lee

Edith Ellen, the dog Donald is playing with was Granddaddy and Grandmother Lee's dog and also Mr. Bob's dog. That poor dog had 3 names. Granddad called her Teddy, Grandmother called her Peggy and Mr. Bob call her Frisky. The dog knew all three names and would run to each person when they called. This picture was taken at the back door of their house.

Donald's Dog Stories

(From Donald, who remembers the farm animals much better than I do!)

Farm Dogs;

Growing up on working farm there was always a dog or two around. Daddy did not like cats but liked dogs.

Before my time Granddad (Waddie) had a dog named G-Man. G-Man was a bird dog and loved to quail hunt. Daddy was not the hunter or a crack shot like Granddad was but Daddy did take G-Man hunting a few times. When you shot G-Man would run and bring back the quail, if you missed he would come back sit down at your feet, look up at you as to say “can't you do any better than that?” If you missed a few times in a row don't bother looking for G-Man, he went home and would be at the dog pen waiting for you to feed and water him.

Daddy and Mother had a dog named Rover when George was born and he became George's buddy. One day when George was a couple of years old Mother could not find him. She quickly called Daddy and they looked all around the house, tractor shed and yard but no George. Daddy said he was going crazy when they found Rover and George over the hill south of the house playing in the sand.

Daddy and Mother had a step-side pickup and one of the dogs would jump up on the step side on the driver's side to ride. Every week Daddy or Mother (or both) would go to town (Ocala) and the dog would go with them. One day they got ready to come home and no dog. They looked all around the square but no dog. They told the guard at the bank about the dog and come on home. The next week when they got to town the dog came out from a bush carrying a puppy in her mouth. The dog had a litter of pups under a bush on the square. They loaded up the puppies and the new mom in the back of the truck and brought them home.

Donald and a dog

Mother and Harold and a dog

The dogs I remember most were Spot and Dot.  They were both girl Terrier's that seemed to always have puppies. Every time you went out the door the dogs would go with you to the shop or a long walk. They would follow the tractor around the fields till they got too tired. If they found a rabbit off they would go but most of the time the critters had longer legs than they did. If a snake was to be found, one would grab its tail and the other its head and good-bye snake. You could say "sick-em" and they would jump on anything there was around.  If there was nothing there, they would fight each other. A 5 gal bucket of water would always stop the fight and they would be the best of friends again. Daddy would fuss if I got the dogs fighting too much.

There was Brownie he loved to chase cars till he caught one, the car hurt his back and he could not walk for a month or so. But Brownie learned to brace his body over his front legs and could walk on two legs for a short ways. Then one day he got hit again and one of his canine teeth was hanging loose. Daddy got a pair of pliers and call the dog over, Brownie would put his head on Daddy's leg till he felt the cold metal. After a few try's Daddy got the tooth out. Later Brownie bit one of the neighbors (Phillip Hooker). Phillips' dad did not believe him about getting dog bit as there was only one puncture mark.

Don't remember what dog it was but one of them would always run to the back corner of the shop every time it rained and if it was lighting he would put his nose in the corner and howl. After the rain he always had a sheepish look on his face.

There was a Husky one time and I had a Bloodhound for a week or so till the Lowell Prison came and got him.

We had many dogs but never remember buying any dog food.  The dogs ate what we did.  They survived and did well on left over people food.

After Lilli and I were married we had a German Shepard that would jump up on top of our car and ride. Then we had two Bulldogs that were big puppies, but the male dog would not let us correct Denver. If we raised our voice or grabbed Denver the Bulldog would grab our leg and look up at us as if to say, "that is my boy".

... they'd turn my head and hold it facing away ...

The Willie Lee and Eddie Briggs families had fun together!  There were 14 of us kids all together and shortly after this, another cousin was born, Karen.  A couple years after that, our brother Stanley was born. We were double first cousins; Mother's brother Eddie married Daddy's sister, Bertie.  Uncle Eddie and Aunt Bertie lived in Texas. 

The Lee and Briggs kids, minus the three oldest Lee kids

Karen Briggs was born the year after and Stanley Lee was born the year after that

The following year I started school in the first grade. I didn't cry when Mother left me in the classroom with my teacher, Mrs. Jones, and my new friend, Vicki Grimes.  I was content in school.  In September of '61, hurricane Carla took all of Aunt Bertie and Uncle Eddie's belongings. Karen was just born the previous month.  All they had was what was in their car and they headed to Florida with 6 children, the youngest only one month old.  

{From Aunt Bertie:  We are so glad your mother kept up with pictures and  shared some with us ... as we lost all baby pictures of the first five children and even had some Bell Howell home made movies of them that we lost.  We had an 8X10 of each in a frame that is lost forever.  Uncle Eddie did find his dad and mom's double frame 8X10 caught in a fence after the storm.  So happy it was found!}

 

Our big house could hold more and we kids were delighted to have more cousins around.  I'm sure the squabbling of kids wasn't always fun and I'm sure we had our share of differences.

George and Edith when Edith was in first grade

One day we kids started becoming sick with the flu. Imagine - a whole slew of us kids getting the flu!  Each time we became sick, Mother would take one of us to the doctor and Dr. Harrell would tell Mother what medicine and treatment to use for all of us.  Dr. Harrell understood farm finances.  

After a while, I was no longer able to walk.  I laid there, not moving.  When Jimmy came in from the school bus one day, Mother had him carry me out to the car and they took me to Dr. Harrell's.  He looked in my mouth and under my fingernails and sent me to the hospital.  Although normally accompanied with a visible rash, my scarlet fever rash was only in my mouth and under my fingernails.

My first memory of the hospital was of nurses trying to put in an IV.  My arm was strapped to a board and they failed, one by one, to get it in.  Mother said that Dr. Harrell had to put in the IV.  I was so sick that I never objected to any of it.  I remember them telling me not to watch and they'd turn my head and hold it facing away from my arm.

The Lee clan (without the Briggs) when I was in first grade

What I didn't realize (but my cousins made sure I knew later) was that they had to all get shots because I had scarlet fever.  When I had visitors, they had to put on a mask and gown to enter my room.  I was the only patient in my room.  I was in isolation.  Mother didn't have to wear the mask and gown and was there all the time at first that I remember.

Tomatoes were not my favorite food.  I ate them only in the form of ketchup.  Although we had fresh tomatoes from Daddy's gardens sometimes and from other farmers, I never ate one.  But when a nurse entered my room one day, she asked me what I wanted to drink.  She gave me choices.  Coca-cola, juices, and tomato juice were three choices that I remember. They desperately wanted me to drink a lot of fluids.  I always considered it a sign of how sick I was when I responded with "tomato juice".  I fell in love with the taste and to this day it's one of my favorite drinks. 

I received shots often.  In those days, shots were put into our bodies, not into an IV line.  Mother said that the first two days that I was in the hospital they gave me shots given again and again, I would never cry or even object.  I just laid there.  On the third day, I cried when the nurse came in to give me a shot.  Dr. Harrell told Mother that it was then that he believed that I would live and come out of the hospital again.  

I couldn't sit up at all for days.  Mother would lift me every day, helping me to sit upright, but I'd just flop against her without any strength.  Mother or one of the nurses would lift me enough to drink through a paper straw that had a crook in the end.  Those straws fascinated me.  The straws at school were straight.  These were wonderful!

Mother, Daddy, and Edith - first grade

I remember the day that I finally had enough strength to sit upright.  Mother hovered beside me, arms on each side to catch me, and proudly showed each visitor that I could sit up again.  I was proud that Mother was proud.  I was too sick to realize that I was really sick.

After coming home, I slept in a lawn chair in the living room, right outside Mother and Daddy's bedroom door.  When I needed to go to the bathroom, at first someone would take me.  As I gained strength, Mother would walk beside me as I used my hands to support myself as I walked down the hall.

Finally it was time to go back to school!  Mother left me and I cried.  Later I went into the school bathroom several times a day to cry. Mrs. Jones would open the door to find me sitting down, crying.  When I went in, I wouldn't come out until she brought me out.  Finally, she reached the point where she would ask another student to go tell me it was time to come back to class. She was always kind and gentle. It was weeks before I was content in school again.  I suppose all that attention left me spoiled and I became a spoiled brat.

{Aunt Bertie: When we were with you all after Carla, I had blood poison in my foot from the storm. Your mother took care of all while uncle Eddie took me into the doctor in Ocala. He wanted me put in the hospital. I cried and said no, had to be with Karen and rest of family and we needed to get settled so the kids could get back in school..... so he said he would give me a shot each day ... after the third day I went in all swollen and broke out in a rash... The doctor told me " no more penicillin for you"!!!   I had to keep my foot elevated, so your mother had all the work to do of feeding Karen (five weeks old) plus everything else for the entire family.  Your mother and dad were really special !!! (For some reason, after the storm  I mostly hung on to my new baby! I think Karen kept me sane at that bad time.  But you know, seems always something good came out of that time. We learned ' it isn't what you have, it is what you do with what you have... and memories and family and friends are more important than ever. We learned to appreciate our blessings.}

 

... rear end and back legs lifted high in the air ...

Brownie was a brown dog.  Spot and Dot were spotted dogs.  Mutt was, well, a mutt.  Some of our dogs names were very basic and descriptive. Even Mother's Daddy, Pop, had a black dog named Blackie.

Dogs were always a part of life on the farm.  Although Mother and Daddy didn't have dogs or cats the last years of their lives, as long as we were farming, they had dogs and cats.  

Dogs and cats were farm animals.  Although we knew a veterinarian, our dogs and cats weren't ever treated by one that I remember.  Mother and Daddy had enough expense paying for medical expenses for all of us young'uns.  

Back in those days, an animal like a farm dog or farm cat would die if it had a major medical problem.  Daddy didn't like animals to suffer so he would make sure the death was as quick and as painless as possible once it was clear that the animal wouldn't recover to live a good life.  

Jean, Daddy, Edith, Judy (behind hands)

Dog - maybe Brownie

From accidents like being hit by a car, truck, bus, or tractor to snake bites, animals didn't always live a long time in the country.  Brownie was one of the dogs that was bitten by a snake.  But unlike some snake-bitten dogs, Brownie lived a good life afterward. 

One of the oddest sights I remember (and I was so young that I barely remember it) was of Brownie after he was hit by a car.   For some time afterward, he walked on two legs - his FRONT two legs!  I remember watching Brownie, his rear end and back legs lifted high in the air, walking on the grass by the sidewalk in this photo.  He was the first dog I've ever seen walking around with his rear up high in the air.

It was some time before he walked normal again but he did recover!

Lila Jane Lee "Doing the wash at Grandmother Lee’s house"

Doing the wash at Grandmother Lee’s house by Lila Jane Lee

When I was a little girl Mother and I went over to Grandmother’s house to do the wash; it was called wash then, not laundry. We had to build a fire under the big black wash pot and boil the water for the old ringer type washer. We would then add cold water to make the temperature just right. We would add lye soap and let it run for a long time, it seemed to me. One day Mother let me run the clothes through the ringer and told me to be careful or I might get my hand caught in the ringer. I thought I was big stuff and started putting the clothes through ringer, so they could then go to the rinse water waiting. Well I did get my hand caught and my arm went too. I screamed and Mother quickly turned it off and I got my arm and hand out. I don’t remember it hurting, but was scared to death almost. We would then take the wet clothes back to the house and hang them on our line. I would pick the pieces up for Mother to hang on the line.

Then one day Mother got an electric washer of her own. She would wash the clothes and then we would take them out to hang on the line. One day I told her I didn’t want to go to the clothes line, she told me, “We don’t have to go to Grandmother’s any more to wash, as we have our own washer now. I then said, “Well I want one that will dry them too, so we won’t have to hang them up”. Needless to say, it came to that finally after I left home.

Now, I love hanging out clothes on the line. I still do it when the weather permits, but it hasn’t been letting me do it much lately.