I have come to realize that my family is my most precious treasure. When we all get together we have such a good time. Over the past several years we have been making an effort to get together more frequently. We all cook and have big dinners. We have some really great cooks in this family. My parents raised 8 children. Lorena is the oldest, and she lets us know it. She has a wonderful sense of humor. Her and hubby Joe live in Ohio. They come home regularly. She has 2 daughters, June and Terri. Terri is a true Kentuckian at heart. She comes down often and keeps in touch via e-mail.
Joan, we call her JoAnn though is next in line. She was always like a second mother to me. I was 4 years old when her and Lorena married and left home. Her and Lorena married brothers. JoAnn is married to Denny Brewer and lives in Wolfe Co., Ky. They have 3 children, Denny, Robbie, and Tammy.
Ellis Jr., we call him Jr. He has seen his share of bad times. His first wife Barbara died in 1986 at the age of 31, leaving him with two small children to raise. Becky and Scott have turned out wonderful and I know that Barb would be proud of them. Jr. remarried about 12 years ago to Beverly Spencer. Jr. is now a Pastor of a church in Wolfe Co., Ky.
Logan, a disabled Vietnam Vet. I am probably closer to Logan than the rest. For one thing he lives close to me. I have always tried to understand him. He married a girl from Baltimore, Maryland during the war and had one son, Logan Jr..She didn't like the country and choose to go home. They divorced, he later married Pearl Thacker, his childhood sweetheart. Pearl had been married before and lost a nine year old son to cancer. She was greiving herself to death. They divorced and she moved on. Where ever she is I hope she has found peace. I loved her and hold nothing against her. Logan is now married to Sharon, they got married last year. Hopefully this one will last. He deserves to be happy.
Walter, he looks a lot like our dad. He is strong and quiet. He has worked for Hinkles Construction since he got out of school. He and his family live in Carolton, Ky. He has three children, David, Christy, and Johnny Ray. I have a lot of fond memories and scars from our childhood. Walter and I are close in age and we roamed the woods as children. He taught me to be tough. he showed me no mercy when we would get into an arguement. I had several trips to the doctor because of him. One was over a chinning bar. I wouldn't get off when he told me to so he gave me a shove and I fell, breaking my arm. He taught me how to fish in a creek that ran by our house. How to escape from an old setting hen, and how to take a shortcut when asking mom and dad if I could do something. This is a story all in itsself.
Me, Martha, I'm the one that organizes things, get togethers, family reunions, cookouts, you name it, I'll do it. I have two children from my first marriage. Alan and Lisa. I have two beautiful grandchildren, Alana and Cody. I married when I turned 16. I guess as you get older you mature and your goals change. Unfortunately, I ended up in a divorce after 19 years. I wanted to be a nurse and my husband wanted a housewife. Well, now I'm a nurse. I remarried in 1994, I now have two stepsons and two step grandsons. Although I don't refer to them as such. John Stephen and wife Erin are going to bless us with our fifth grandchild in August. My husband John and I live in Lee Co., Ky. I work at the hospital in Winchester, Ky.
Elizabeth, we call her Liz. She is a nurse and works at the same hospital as I do. She married her first husband Freddie when she was 16, they have one daughter, Brenda who lives in South Carolina. Freddie got killed in a construction accident when Brenda was 9 years old. Liz married Jack Davis from South Carolina, they are now divorced and she has moved back to Ky. She is a single mom. Liz and I were always close. We had never been away from each other. When she moved to South Carolina I greived as though she had died. She joined the Army and was sent to Iraq during the Gulf War. Her son is there now. How ironic, that she would be there and 10 years later her son would go there. We have all kidded her that she had to send her son back to finish the job she started. Liz has three children by Jack Davis, Little Jack as we call him, Samantha, and Logan.
Marilyn, the baby. She is more like my child than my sister. I have always been there with everything she has gone through. Her divorce from Jeff, her surgery, her marriage to Rothel and the birth of two beautiful girls, Katie and Miranda. I love these two little girls so much. Katie will always be the closest to me though. She use to call me mommy. She grew up with my two and hearing them call me mom she did to. Miranda calls me Nanny, because she is growing up with my granddaughter and hears her call me granny. Katie though was my baby long before any of the others came along. I never wanted her to feel like she was being replaced with the new babies. Katie is growing up and turning into such a beauty. She started staying at my house when her mother worked. She was such a joy to have around. My parents would keep her on the days that I worked and all of us just laid claim to her. Katie is still my mothers closest grandchild, even though she loves them all, Katie will always be a baby to mom.
This is my family. I love them all dearly and would do anything for them. |