Those of you that read this regular series know that I am from Hackett, Arkansas, just a mile or so from the Oklahoma border, and just about 10 miles south of the Arkansas River. It was a rural sort of place that did not particularly appreciate education, and just zoom onto my previous posts to understand a bit about it.
Uncle Richard was my father’s eldest brother. He was born in 1900, whilst my dad was born in 1919 (and he was NOT the baby). You can see right away that my grandfather’s family was really spread out over the years.
They lived in Illinois, so I did not see them really often, but they did come to visit enough that I got to know them fairly well. Uncle Richard was a bit talker and a big drinker, whilst Aunt Bess was quiet and dignified. My mum really liked Aunt Bess, and they were close as could be in the early 1960s with expensive long distance and no internet. They communicated mostly by letter, and postage at the time was around 6 cents.