In
the
summer
of
1941,
we
decided
to
add
a
room
to
our
home.
Our
5-room
frame
house
we
had
built
in
1928
was
too
crowded.
Our
three
boys
had
to
share
one
bedroom.
Harry
and
Charles
were
in
high
school
and
Frank
was
seven
years
old.
We
had
oversized
bunk
beds
and
an
oversized
single
bed
since
both
Harry
and
Charles
were
over
six
feet
tall
and
we
could
see
that
Frank
would
be
as
tall.
We
first
went
to
the
loan
company
that
held
our
mortgage
to
see
whether
they
would
finance
this
addition.
They
said
they
would
but
suggested
we
trade
our
present
house
in
one
already
built.
At
that
time
homes
were
at
rock
bottom
prices.
Loan
companies
had
empty
houses
to
sell.
Our
loan
company,
Adams
and
Leonard,
gave
us
a
list
of
those
houses.
We
found
one
at
556
(now
552)
South
Allegheny
in
White
City
addition.
This
house
had
been
overhauled
and
even
had
two
floor
furnaces.
The
inside
floors
had
been
redone
and
all
the
walls
had
been
repainted.
The
outside
brick
had
been
painted
white
and
the
brick
was
on
tile.
The
house
was
in
tip-top
shape.
We
bought
half
the
lot
which
was
70'
by
216'.
Later
we
bought
the
other
half
for
an
additional
$200
making
our
lot
measure
2/3
acre.
This
was
a
three-bedroom
house.
There
was
a
separate
garage
with
half
partitioned
off
with
gas
and
water
which
we
used
as
a
wash
room.
We
traded
our
5-room
frame
house,
then
13
years
old,
in
on
the
property
leaving
$3800
mortgage
with
monthly
payments
of
$38.
This
I
am
bringing
out
so
you
can
compare
prices.
After
13
years
we
sold
it
for
3
times
our
original
cost.
(We
traded
in
property
so
the
value
was
more
than
the
$3800.)
Today
houses
in
White
City
are
selling
for
$65,000
and
up.
Interest
rates
are
much
higher
than
we
ever
paid
anywhere.
When
Harry
and
Charles
were
in
high
school,
we
lived
on
Allegheny
Street
in
the
White
City
addition
of
Tulsa.
Both
boys
still
had
paper
routes,
but
they
had
bought
a
1937
2-seat-2-door
Chevy.
They
used
this
means
of
delivering
their
papers
instead
of
bicycles.
As
they
hadn't
had
their
car
too
long,
the
boys
were
anxious
to
make
short
trips.
Saturdays
I
would
fix
a
roast
with
all
the
trimmings.
Sundays
we
would
slice
the
roast
and
make
sandwiches.
Erwin
bought
an
ice
chest
for
lemonade.
When
the
boys
finished
throwing
their
papers,
we
would
all
go
somewhere
usually
taking
the
whole
day
to
drive.
We
would
find
a
good
spot
or
roadside
park
and
eat
our
lunch.
Most
of
Oklahoma
from
all
directions
were
covered
on
these
trips.
We
also
spilled
over
into
neighboring
states
going
to
places
such
as
Noel,
Missouri
or
Eureka
Springs,
Arkansas.
We
went
to
Turner
Falls,
museums,
such
as
Woolaroc,
lovely
places
to
swim,
such
as
the
clear
streams
in
Arkansas.
The
boys'
payment
on
the
car
was
$9.00
per
month
each.
This
they
paid
out
of
their
route
money.
We
paid
the
car
expense.
Many
happy
Sundays
and
vacations
were
spent
in
this
way.
Harry,
Charles,
Frank,
Erwin
and
I
decided
to
go
for
a
drive
one
Sunday,,
which
just
happened
to
be
December
7,
1941.
We
drove
south
and
west
from
town.
When
we
stopped
at
a
filling
station,
we
learned
of
the
bombing
of
Pearl
Harbor.
Radios
were
not
common
in
cars
in
those
days.
We
drove
on
to
Beggs
on
our
way
home
to
the
house
of
my
niece
Helen
and
of
course
we
were
all
excited
and
upset.
In
a
previous
chapter
I
told
you
about
gardens.
The
main
one
we
had
was
our
victory
garden
during
the
war.
In
the
spring
of
1942,
Frank
was
playing
at
the
back
of
our
lot.
Pretty
soon
I
looked
out
the
window
and
he
had
a
shovel
trying
to
dig
up
a
spot
on
the
newly
acquired
piece
of
land.
I
called
Erwin
and
Harry
and
Charles
and
we
all
laughed
watching
Frank.
We
decided
to
go
down
to
where
he
was
and
see
just
what
he
was
doing.
He
told
us
he
was
making
a
garden.
We
were
all
surprised
to
see
how
rich
the
ground
was.
The
outcome
of
this
was
a
hand
plow,
tools
to
make
a
garden,
and
a
100'
square
patch
for
our
family
victory
garden.
All
families
were
encouraged
to
start
gardens
because
our
fruits
and
vegetables
could
no
longer
be
purchased
at
the
local
grocery
store
without
using
our
ration
stamps.
Meats,
sugar,
coffee,
and
gasoline
were
all
rationed.
The
garden
was
a
godsend.
Each
year
I
canned
50
quarts
of
tomatoes,
about
the
same
amount
of
green
beans,
and
other
vegetables.
In
addition,
we
canned
dill
pickles,
sweet
pickles,
and
bread
&
butter
pickles.
We
even
had
a
strawberry
patch
about
25
or
30
feet
square
which
produced
enough
to
can
25
or
30
jars
of
jam.
We
had
fresh
green
corn.
We
raised
a
hybrid
corn
that
had
kernels
like
golden
bantam
and
tasted
like
golden
bantam
but
was
larger.
We
even
got
a
pressure
cooker,
but
I
didn't
have
much
luck
with
corn
or
lima
beans.
We
even
planted
soy
beans.
Harry
finished
high
school
in
1942,
went
one
semester
to
Tulsa
University,
and,
in
April
of
1943,
enlisted
in
the
Army.
His
tank
corps
was
involved
in
a
secret
tank-mounted
device
test
program.
This
was
a
restricted
group
since
it
was
the
very
latest
in
warfare.
Whenever
they
left
the
base,
they
had
to
travel
in
pairs
and
were
constantly
being
stopped
to
have
their
papers
checked.
On
his
furlough
home
from
Ft.
Knox,
he
and
Frances
Bailey
were
married.
They
had
gone
through
high
school
together.
She
was
a
football
queen.
He
was
an
all-state
conference
football
player.
Frances
went
back
to
Ft.
Knox
with
him,
but,
when
the
troop
was
sent
to
Blyth,
Arizona,
for
training,
she
came
back
to
Tulsa
and
lived
with
us.
Harry
was
shipped
to
England
and,
while
moving
the
tanks
for
shipment
to
the
mainland,
the
tank
driver
ran
into
a
hedge
row
and
the
tank
turned
over
catching
Harry's
left
arm
and
severing
ligaments.
Harry
was
tank
commander
and
was
standing
up
in
the
turret
holding
a
flashlight
so
that
the
driver
could
see.
This
was
done
because
England
was
being
bombed
at
the
time.
Frances
was
staying
with
us
while
Harry
was
away.
She
woke
up
in
the
middle
of
the
night
and
came
into
our
bedroom
and
waked
me
saying,
"Mother,
Harry
has
been
hurt.
Bad."
A
Quonset
hut
hospital
was
close
by
and
an
ambulance
happened
along
at
that
moment.
Harry
was
taken
to
this
hospital
and
was
there
for
several
months.
He
was
then
shipped
back
to
Temple,
Texas,
where
he
was
treated
as
an
outpatient.
While
Harry
was
there,
Frances
worked
in
an
office
at
the
hospital.
Charles
finished
high
school
in
1943,
went
to
what
was
then
Oklahoma
Agricultural
and
Mechanical
College--now
OSU--and
enlisted
in
April
1944,
in
the
Army
Air
Corps.
He
was
6'4"
and
was
too
tall
to
be
a
pilot.
Having
grown
up
with
ham
amateur
radio
and
being
interested
in
building
instruments
even
in
junior
high,
he
was
sent
to
Monmouth,
New
Jersey
for
training
and
ended
up
in
Communications.
As
I
learned
later,
he
was
in
the
group
who
always
went
in
ahead
of
the
infantry.
When
Harry
came
home
on
a
furlough,
he
brought
Frank
a
pair
of
black
bantam
chickens
which
had
feathers
on
their
legs.
We
called
them
Mr.
and
Mrs.
We
decided
then
to
get
a
dozen
chicken
hens.
They
weren't
Leghorn
but
a
cross
of
Leghorn
and
a
larger
breed
of
chicken.
Their
meat
was
good,
the
eggs
were
large,
and
they
laid
eggs
nearly
every
day.
We
couldn't
possibly
use
all
the
eggs
so
our
neighbors,
Helen
and
Burt
Mullins,
bought
all
our
excess.
Thus
they
didn't
have
to
buy
any
at
the
grocery
store.
Friends
of
ours,
Phil
and
Hazel
Morris,
had
a
son
Art
who
was
a
few
years
older
than
Frank.
This
was
the
same
Phil
Morris
who
had
boarded
with
my
family
years
before.
He
raised
pheasant
and
quail.
Harry
had
pigeons
when
he
was
about
ten
years
old
and
Frank
at
the
same
age
decided
he
wanted
to
raise
some.
I
talked
Frank
out
of
pigeons,
but
the
bantam
hen
decided
she
wanted
to
set.
Art
gave
Frank
a
setting
of
pheasant
eggs
for
the
hen
and
they
all
hatched.
We
fixed
a
box
with
a
screen
over
it.
As
they
came
out
of
their
shells,
they
were
on
the
run
and
we
had
to
be
quick
to
keep
them
from
slipping
by
us.
One
did
and
headed
for
the
foundation
of
the
house,
but
I
finally
caught
it.
After
Harry
came
home
from
the
hospital
in
Temple,
he
built
pens
for
the
pheasants.
These
were
wire
with
a
wire
top
and
a
front
opening.
Four
pens
were
made
and
in
each
was
a
rooster
and
about
six
hens.
He
built
boxes
up
on
legs
and
tarpapered
over
the
board
roof
for
water-proofing.
To
our
amazement
the
pheasants
would
not
go
into
the
boxes
but
stood
on
top
during
any
kind
of
weather--rain,
sleet,
even
snow.
In
the
spring
for
a
month
or
more
each
hen
laid
a
khaki
colored
egg
on
the
ground.
Some
of
the
hens
decided
to
set
so
soon
we
had
plenty
of
pheasants.
By
this
time
Frank
was
in
the
fifth
grade.
Mrs.
Freeman
was
his
teacher.
She
wanted
to
buy
some
of
Frank's
pheasant
eggs.
He
regularly
sold
them
for
25
cents
each,
wouldn't
take
any
money
from
her.
The
outcome
of
this
was
that
she
brought
him
a
pair
of
buff
colored
bantams
with
feathers
on
their
legs
like
the
black
ones.
The
first
way
I
canned
vegetables
was
by
what
was
called
the
'water
bath'
method.
By
this
is
meant
washing
and
stemming
the
green
beans,
peeling
the
tomatoes,
and
putting
them
in
sterilized
Kerr
or
Mason
glass
jars,
putting
a
teaspoon
of
salt
in
each
quart
jar,
covering
the
beans
or
tomatoes
with
water,
and
then
sealing
the
jars.
We
had
a
large
porcelain
kettle
made
especially
for
this
kind
of
canning,
having
a
rack
holding
six
jars
that
could
be
lifted
out
of
the
water
that
covered
the
jars
when
they
were
ready.
This
was
a
big
advancement
as
previous
to
this
time
everything
was
cooked
in
open
kettles
and
then
put
into
the
sterilized
jars
and
sealed
shut
At
this
point
in
my
canning
Harry
and
Frances
were
engaged.
Frances's
aunt
shower
for
Frances.
The
mother
of
Harry
and
Frances's
friends,
Bud
and
Bob
Siverson,
was
invited
also.
She
lived
two
blocks
from
us
so
she
came
by
for
me
and
we
went
together
to
the
shower.
We
were
gathered
in
the
large
den
of
Frances's
Aunt
Bubba's
house.
I
was
sitting
on
the
front
row.
Looking
down
I
noticed
I
had
left
on
my
garden
shoes.
I
was
horrified
to
think
I
was
meeting
Frances's
aunt
and
many
of
her
friends
for
the
first
time
and
there
I
sat
in
old
shoes.
I
had
left
the
shoes
on
because
I
had
beans
that
needed
to
be
lifted
out
of
the
water
bath,
and,
as
it
always
dripped
water
in
the
process,
I
didn't
want
to
spot
my
good
shoes.
When
Mrs.
Siverson
came
to
pick
me
up
a
bit
earlier
than
I
planned,
I
was
lifting
the
beans
out
of
the
kettle
and
at
the
same
time
I
was
getting
my
purse.
I
dashed
out
the
door
and
hurried
to
the
car
never
realizing
I
had
on
the
old
shoes.
I
started
laughing
and
then
had
to
explain
what
had
happened.
Several
other
women
then
told
of
some
of
their
experiences.
One
had
gone
to
the
Mayo
Hotel
to
give
a
talk
and
looked
down
at
her
feet
when
talking.
She
had
put
one
shoe
on
of
different
pairs.
We
later
bought
a
pressure
cooker
and
this
made
canning
faster,
easier
and
more
sanitary.
Now
with
our
deep
freezers,
vegetables,
fruits,
meat,
and
cooked
foods
and
many
things
prepared
and
frozen
with
only
the
washing
and
cleaning
and
putting
into
plastic
containers
or
bags.
Here
again
preserving
foods
by
the
quick
freezing
method
is
much
faster
and
easier
than
using
the
open
kettle
cooking
system.
Even
tomatoes
can
be
frozen
fresh,
but
the
frozen
ones
are
better
for
making
soups
or
cooking
some
way
other
than
for
eating.
We
still
have
dried
fruits
and
they
are
good,
also
easy
to
keep,
but
you
do
not
see
as
many
on
the
market
as
we
did
when
I
was
young.
When
Harry
was
waiting
at
home,
just
a
few
hours
before
his
train
was
due
to
leave
to
take
him
to
the
army,
the
family
was
all
at
home,
each
trying
to
conceal
their
concern.
Frank
was
nine
years
old.
After
Harry
left,
Frank
asked
whether
he
could
go
to
the
neighborhood
park.
He
was
pretty
torn
up
to
see
his
brother
leave
so
of
course
I
said
yes.
He
wasn't
gone
very
long
before
he
returned
saying
one
of
the
girls
in
his
class
at
school
was
at
the
park
and
had
some
Persian
kittens
to
give
away
and
could
he
have
one.
I
felt
this
would
give
him
something
that
would
keep
him
busy
and
pad
the
loss
of
Harry's
being
gone.
I
told
him
to
go
back
and
get
one
of
the
kittens.
The
one
he
brought
home
looked
like
an
ordinary
tabby
cat,
but
I
didn't
comment
since
he
seemed
satisfied.
When
she
had
kittens,
however,
there
was
one
like
her
and
the
rest
were
beautiful
Persian
cats.
As
Harry
was
tank
commander
of
an
M4
tank,
Frank
named
his
cat
M4.
After
Harry
left
in
April
of
'43,
Charles
finished
high
school
that
June
and
went
to
A
&
M
in
the
fall.
Charles
took
the
car
which
he
and
Harry
had
bought
in
the
spring
of
'39
to
Stillwater.
At
Christmas
we
had
deep
snow.
I
didn't
think
Charles
would
try
to
come
home,
but
he
did
and
brought
three
boys
with
him.
Before
they
left
Stillwater,
Charles
had
taken
a
shower
and
slipped
on
a
bar
of
soap
knocking
himself
out.
The
boys
told
how
they
had
poured
water
on
him
to
bring
him
to.
They
started
for
Tulsa
in
good
shape
although
the
roads
were
really
bad.
Later
Charles
said
he
didn't
even
remember
driving
home,
but
he
did
such
a
good
job
that
the
boys
with
him
weren't
aware
of
his
condition.
I
was
a
Cub
Scout
Den
Mother
for
Frank's
group.
Mrs.
Latting,
Billy's
mother,
and
I
took
turns
having
them
meet
at
our
houses.
This
brought
other
activities
to
our
house.
We
were
two
blocks
from
school.
Each
school
day
on
their
way
home
from
school
the
boys
stopped
for
a
game
of
football.
Grade
school
was
out
a
half
hour
before
Rogers
High
School,
the
older
boys
in
our
neighborhood
attended.
I
had
to
get
outdoors
and
supervise
the
younger
boys
or
the
older
boys
would
take
over
and
Frank
and
his
bunch
would
be
on
the
sidelines.
As
Harry
was
in
the
service,
Charles
at
A
&
M,
and
Erwin
at
work
until
almost
six,
I
made
it
a
point
to
be
free
so
I
could
spend
from
3
till
5
with
the
boys.
At
5:00,
I
sent
the
boys
home
so
I
could
finish
fixing
supper.
Sometimes
one
of
the
girls
in
Frank's
class
would
come
over
if
the
boys
weren't
playing
ball
or
were
not
at
our
house.
She
had
a
pony
she
kept
at
the
fairgrounds
not
too
far
from
our
neighborhood.
The
streets
were
blacktopped
and
we
had
a
big
yard.
She
and
Frank
would
ride
the
pony.
When
her
parents
moved,
Frank
really
hated
it.
I
was
never
sure
whether
he
missed
the
girl
more
or
her
pony.
One
evening
I
was
at
the
back
of
the
yard
with
the
two
of
them
and
the
pony
when
one
of
the
high
school
boys
came
back
to
see
the
pony.
He
wanted
to
ride
it
so
they
said
he
could.
When
he
got
on
the
pony,
he
became
frightened
and
got
off
as
quickly
as
he
could.
I
knew
I
wouldn't
have
to
supervise
the
pony
riding.
This
boy
had
been
one
of
the
worst
to
try
to
take
over
the
football
playing.