For Lance

I'm really very excited; on one of the posts below, I heard from one of my relatives (whom I have never met). Obviously he must have some interest in the family, because he named Mother and Grannie by their real names.

Lance, here is the only picture I could IMMEDIATELY get my hands on. I moved to Houston about a year ago, but it's been a very busy year and all the photos, etc are packed up in boxes. There are tons, and I can go through them and find more.

Back in 1979, when I graduated from Baylor and hadn't started work yet, Mother decided she would take Grannie back to Tennessee to see what was left of her family. I didn't have anything to do so I was the designated driver. We left Tulsa (where they lived then) and headed out, stopping in Malvern, Arkansas to pick up Mother's Sister, my Aunt Paulie (prounounced "Polly"). We knew of one lady in Waverley, Tennessee, named Mamie, and called her asking if we could come meet them. Well good grief, they insisted we stay with them.

We drove up in their front yard and they started boiling out of the house; they had come from miles around to meet "Aunt Audie".

I should say that we all have a strong family resemblance. Mother, Aunt Paulie, and Uncle Horace looked like triplets. When you line all the male descendants of my generation---Jim, Glenn, Jeff, and I---you can absolutely tell we're related. We look just like Mother, Aunt Paulie, and Uncle Horace, who all looked just like their mother.

Imagine our surprise (because we really hadn't thought about it) when these people all started boiling out of that house---and they looked just like US! (or we looked like them....).

Anyway, this photo was framed in my den; I took it out and scanned it. I am pretty sure the year is 1974 (my lapels on that BURGANDY polyester coat stretched to the shoulder seam; how about that BOW TIE! What you can't see *thank GOD* is the pair of burgandy and white, houndstooth, bell-bottom polyester pants and stack-heeled patent leather shoes I was wearing with it. Marla had to IRON her hair to achieve that effect; Mother's and Grannie's has already been discussed in an earlier post. Dad's tie is as wide as a dinner napkin.

Let's see, 1974, we lived in Windcrest in San Antonio. Dad was 51 (my age now, yikes!), Mother was 48, I was 17, Marla was 12, and Grannie was 78. Grannie loved this picture; there was another one of just her. I have all of them, somewhere in these boxes.