She was born in Spearsville, Louisiana. She married a local boy, by the name of Odus Farrar, from Lillie, Louisiana. She told me once that the first time she saw him he was riding a big white horse. Somehow I can picture that day. Her with her jet black hair and snappy black eyes, and him with his light hair and beautiful, huge, blue eyes. I don't recall how long they courted, but they were married on August 25, 1924. They had one son, Homer Malcom Farrar, and one daughter, Rose Marie Farrar.

I came into acquaintance with Ina in 1965 when I was dating my childhood sweetheart, Homer Dwayne Farrar. I called him Dwayne. I went to Lillie on several occasions while dating Dwayne. We went to church with the family in Spearsville. It was nice having a whole family together in church. It was an experience I had never known, or at least hadn't remembered in my life.

Dwayne and I married after a year of dating and had a son, Michael Dwayne Farrar a few short months later. I was almost seventeen and he almost eighteen when we married. From the time Mamaw and Papaw Farrar met their great-grandson, they loved him. Papaw thought Michael was the grandest thing around. Over many years, Dwayne and I brought Michael and our second son, Gregory Wayne Farrar (Greg) to visit, and eventually started worshiping each Sunday and Wednesday with Mamaw and Papaw in Lillie. In fact, I boast that on Mamaw'sand Papaw's 50^th Wedding Anniversary, I gave them their second grandson. I don't think anyone gave them a better gift. I didn't make it to the party, but I did my best to make it a memorable occasion!

It was because of the influence and love of these wonderful people that I became a Christian in 1982, only a couple of months after Papaw died with cancer. Dwayne and I divorced in 1987, after 21 years of marriage. Through the long divorce, which I contested, Mamaw stuck by me and supported me. We stayed in touch long after the divorce. It was only when I saw that she was shunning Dwayne's new wife, Ann, in allegiance to me, that I backed off and kept my distance from her. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

The last time I saw her, we were at my ex-fathers-in-law's funeral. It was a particularly hard time for both of us, because we had both lost sons in a matter of three days. Michael died in a car crash on June 10, 1995, and Homer, his grandfather and Ina's son, died on June 13^th from complications of diabetes.

Amazingly, I felt Mamaw's presence the night she died in her sleep. I dreamed that she came to me and took me in her arms. She told me that she loved me and that she would always love me. The next morning, I got the phone call that she had died. I believe she came to tell me goodbye because of the bond of love that we shared. She knows I loved her, and always will.

It was a joy to know her. I learned much from her. I only hope to mean that much to a granddaughter some day. Thanks, Mamaw.

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