I have just redone the graphics for this page. Yellow roses was my last gift to her. I sent them to her for her birthday on May 13th, just 3 days before she died. So for this reason, this border set will always remain on this page.

My Grandma and Papa had 4 children, all boys. Leroy (my dad) Archie, Reynolds, and J. Lee (Bobo).

Being a girl and the oldest grandchild (on both sides), my Grandma spoiled me rotten. I have a lot of wonderful memories of time spent with Grandma. We didn't live very far from her house, about a mile down a dirt road. I was always going to stay with her, sometimes a week or more at a time. I'd pack my clothes in a big brown paper bag and down the road to Grandma's house I'd go. Boy, those were the good ole days.

I remember when I was a child, Grandma had one of the prettiest yards I'd ever seen. She really had a green thumb. There wasn't anything she couldn't grow. My sister, Sandra, and I was always helping her with her flowers. We kept her chicken coop clean and her flowers fertilized. It didn't matter if it was a flower in the yard or a pot plant they grew. How I wish I had her green thumb.

My Grandma taught me that hard work didn't hurt anyone. I grew up in the area of Myrtle Beach that is now known as Resturant Row but when I was a child it was farm country where a lot of tobacco was grown. At the tender age of 6, Grandma put me under the tobacco barn with her to work. She made sure I DID it right, too. I would hand the tobacco to her to string on the sticks. If I did it wrong, she'd slap me with it and make me do it right. Now she wasn't being mean to me, she was teaching me to do it right. From this point on, I did this every summer until I got married to earn money to buy clothes for school.

Even after I was grown, I still had a special relationship with Grandma. I moved away for a few years but then came back home to live. I worked right beside her house. So I could pop in everyday on my way to work or afterwards. Grandma got to where there was things that she couldn't do for herself. My thing to do for her was to cut her toe nails. And I did this when ever I could for the rest of her life. Even after I remarried and moved away again, I still kept in close touch with her.. I'd get back home for visits once or twice a year. You guessed it, I always cut her toe nails while I was there.

My Papa passed away Aug. 25, 1983. At that time I was in Okinawa, Japan. It hurt so much being so far away from home. I wanted so much to be there with her and to be able to say goodbye to my papa. Just to be able to give her a hug and say I love you, I'm here for you. But a phone call had to do until I came back to the states the next year. Bless her heart, she understood. During that time she wrote me a few notes, even if her hands did hurt so with arthritis. I still have those notes and cards. I'll cherish them always.

We had such wonderful visits when I'd go home. We'd have such a good time talking about the old days. On days when she felt good, she was sure to play her harmonica for us. She loved playing it for us, as much as we loved for her too.

As the years passed, it got harder and harder to leave. I'd always wonder if I'd ever get to see her again. I wanted so much to spend her birthday with her in 1993. Somehow, I felt this would be her last one. But I wasn't allowed to take time off from work to be with her. On the night of her birthday she went into a coma, never to wake up again. After this happen, THEN I was given time off to go see her. The night the Angels came to take her to Heaven, I was there with her holding her hand when she passed on to a life much greater.