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SITTUN AND THANKIN

Also one of the stories that I heard on grandma Jones was that she was taking her weekly bath (or maybe monthly) in the old wash tub, the only bath tubs available in those times. She was undressed and some one knocked at the door and I guess she thought they were coming in so she jumped in the tub and sat down I'm guessing that she thought they would not be able to see her. These are the times when you pray for dirty water.

My father also told me that grandpa lived on the Fenton place, located on the Johnson bridge Road just south of where the De Queen Hospital is now located. The house is still there and is located about a mile west of Ninth Street Road on Elberta Avenue, somewhere near the 1500 or 1600 block. The west side of the house had windows all the way down the side just about as close together as they could fashion them. This was the air conditioning in those days.

When they lived in the Fenton Place Daddy was living with his mother. I don't have a clue as to the years. Bill Whitley was young and was also living with Grandma. Cousin Bill was very afraid of the dark and daddy and all his brothers did every thing they could every time they could to scare Bill. One day Dad took the screen off the window and set the rake by the window.

That night after grandma blew out the light dad waited a few minutes for everything to get quiet. Then he took the rake and reached out the window and raked the screen on Bills window. It was real quiet for a minute and he raked it again. This was more than ole cous could stand and he let out a blood curdling howl for grandma, telling her that some thing or some body was about to get him.

Grandma knew that one of the boys was scaring Bill and probably wasn't long coming up with which one. My dad and all his brothers and a few other members of our family always thought it was so funny to scare people. I think that Marvin Whitley must have chased me a thousand miles scaring me.

Gramps also lived in a house about a half mile east of the Fenton place that he called the John T. Garrison Place. This would also be just west of the Leeper house. Gramps owned this place and sold it to John Garrison when John moved to De Queen. Most of the property that the Hospital is built on was with this property at that time.

Grandfather also lived on what my father called the Will Meeks place. This place is located beside the house where Mildred Ramsey lives. At the time my father lived there he must have been very young. He said that the other kids would go to town on Saturday and he would want to go, but grandpa would give him a nickel to stay home and work in the garden. My father always called grandpa "PA."

I remember my father going to Aunt Leedy's Funeral, probably in June or July. Uncle Albert Russell and Aunt Jennie, my father's sister, had a Model A Ford with a Rumble Seat. My father and uncle rode in the back all the way to Norman Oklahoma. Marvin Whitley might have gone with them, and may be Lois Hughes. I am sure it was quite a trip on the old dirt roads. They traveled through Antlers, Coalgate, and Ada. On the way back they stopped somewhere in Oklahoma, which I believe might have been Stratford, and bought some peaches. I still remember how glad I was when daddy got home and how good I thought those peaches were because they were from Oklahoma.

TOMMY JONES