Memories

It's me,Jackie.I have made this page for my own enjoyment.

• Childhood
• Teenage Years
• adult years
  CHILDHOOD I think the youngest picture I have of me is when I was 9 months old. I was standing under the old cottonwood tree in my grandma's yard. Mom said I had run away across the street to a lady named Mollys' house.
  

  I have an article from the Lincoln,Nebraska newspaper.In it,it says that I almost died at the age of three. It seems that Dad had an old car that leaked from the muffler and I was sitting on the seat between Mom and Dad and couldn't get any fresh air. So I breathed the fumes and just went to sleep.

  Before that,they had stopped at a little store and bought me a peppermint stick with red and white coloring on it.Also,a quart of milk. They gave me the candy and when I was thirsty,gave me the milk. I guess I got really sick to my stomach,vomiting everything up.

  And here is another one taken when I was about 3 and Raedene was about 6-8 months old along with Mom and Dad.

  

  This is Oscar Morris,wife Eva(Billie) and daughters Jackie,2,and Raedene,about 6-8 months old.

  

  We were on our way to see Mom's parents in Lincoln. When we got there,Grandma took me,to go in the house and I wouldn't wake up.They finally took me to the hospital and the Drs. there were able to bring me to.He said the dye on the peppermint stick was probably old and poisoned me,but the milk acted as a antidote and made me throw it up in time.Then he told Mom I probably would be set back,in my development,about 6 months because of the carbon monoxide poisoning.It seems that before all this happened,I was very outgoing and recited nursery rhymes,talked on the phone,and more. But after this incident, I was very shy and quiet.

  
  

  Grandma Morris

  Mom said when I was little,grandma would keep crackers down on the bottom of her cupboard and let me get them myself. One day she forgot she had put eggs down there and I broke several.Then she got mad at me.Mom said she told grandma it was her fault because she always let me get in the cupboard and get crackers. I suppose she kept her eggs somewhere else,after that.

  I have a picture taken with my younger sister when I was about 3 or 4.

  

  I started school in Walnut Grove School. I remember being very embarassed once when I wet my pants at school and I hid in the bathroom till someone came and found me.

  My Dad worked as an electrician in the substation in Council Bluffs,Iowa. He took us there sometimes and we would meet some of the other men that he worked with.I think one of them was named,Mr. Babbit.

  

  While we lived at the house on Ave. "C" my youngest sister,Janice,was born. Mom's Aunt Ella came and got my sister and I and we got to have lunch with her and Uncle Jimmy. When she took us home, on the bed was a little baby in a white batiste baby dress.She seemed to be about 3 months old but it was our new baby sister.Mom had given birth at home,for the third time.

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  I remember while we lived there we would go roller skating with one skate each.Then we would decide to play hopscotch,so we would find some chalk and make a hopscotch. We always tried to find a good rock or piece of glass or something to mark our square.One day I threw a brick into the air to break so I could use it to mark on the sidewalk.When I saw it was going to land on my head,I bent over so it would miss me,but it landed on my back and I was sore for a long time.I didn't tell Mom.

  Dad must have been making pretty good money for those times,because he bought some land from his Mother and started to build a house,but he built the garage first so we could live in that while he built the house.We lived there for a long time. He dug the basement for the new house but he must have run out of money because he never did get anything else done.

  We had some great times there. In the winter,the hole would fill up with snow and we would dig tunnels in it and crawl through them and have snow ball fights,build snowmen,etc. In the summer we would run around that hole playing follow the leader. One day,when I was the leader,I started yelling words and the other kids,my sisters and cousins,would repeat them. Soon,I was saying swear words and the kids were repeating them. When our parents heard us, they made us go in to the house and of course, since I was the oldest, and the leader that day,I got in the most trouble.Soap in our mouths and bed for me.

  

  In the late spring,when it was warm enough,we would get to go barefooted.We could hardly wait for that day.When it rained,we'd go out and play in the rain or wade in the puddles.A few times we would wade in the ditch along side the road,but if we cut our feet on glass,then we would get in trouble for wading in the ditch.

  When the kitchen garden would start producing,I enjoyed that because I liked to eat the vegetables right out of the garden. I remember pulling a carrot or radish or maybe some rhubarb,get some salt,and climb up in the big cottonwood tree we had in grandma's yard.

  Sometime during late summer,the canning would start,and we would get the wash tub and boiler full of water and we would have to stand out in the yard and wash the cobwebs and a years dust out of the jars.

  Then Mom,Grandma,and my Aunt Zona,would take them in the house,wash them with hot soapy water and then pour hot boiling water over them to sterilize them and then fill them with tomatoes or other vegetables that they wanted to use during the winter.

  It seemed like there was always some kind of work to do,but when several of us did it together,it wasn't to bad.

  Several times during growing season, we would have to take cans and go out and take the tomato worms off the plants,or if they had planted potatoes that year,we would have to pick the potato bugs off the plants.

  I think the job we disliked the most was pulling weeds out of the strawberry plants.When Dad would plant corn in the big garden,then we would pick corn as soon as it was ready and we would have a big fire outside and have 'roasting ears'.Nothing else but corn on the cob with plenty of butter and salt.
  When Christmas would come,we would get one item from Santa Claus and our long stockings that we had to wear in the winter,we would hang up and 'Santa Claus' would fill them with tangerines,nuts and a little candy.I think I was about 8 when Mom told me who 'Santa Claus' was. I was really disapointed but she helped me with that because she said we would keep it a secret from the smaller kids.She told me about the 'easter bunny' too.And that was a surprise. I was a very innocent little girl and hadn't gotten around to thinking about the fact that rabbits didn't lay eggs.
  
  

  I think one of the worst memories I have early on,was when I was 10 years old. My grandma Morris developed cancer and eventually went to the hospital where she died. I felt so bad I had a terrible time.I couldn't quit crying.She and I were very close because I had lived by her all my life.She was only in her very early fifties.

  I guess it was the first time I had been exposed to a loved one dying.And I had never gone to a funeral.

  

  By the time grandpa Morris died,he was married to someome else and living in Idaho,I think.

  

  Our family members were all very close.We spent every holiday together,had big family dinners, and we were all very happy.I think moving out here to the west coast was a bad choice because from then on,our families started breaking up.Mom's parents moved out here with us,but after awhile,there was a lot of tension between our families. Eventually,Mom and Dad separated and that was a bad start to my TEENAGE YEARS.

  TEENAGE YEARS I celebrated my 13th birthday in Bremerton,Wa.We came out here from Council Bluffs,Iowa when I was about 12 years and 6 months old.Dad wanted to go to work in the ship yard and so did my grandpa.Dad's sisters,Aunt Fae and Aunt Gloria were living in the Bremerton area so we came out and stayed with them until we found a nice big house and then grandpa sent for grandma and his children that were still home.
  We eventually decided to get separate homes and then we all got along better.I and my sisters and maybe even my parents,were all homesick for Iowa,so mom took us kids on the train back to visit. Dad was supposed to come out in 2 weeks but when the time came,he said he couldn't come. So we stayed the rest of the month,and then went back home.
  We had a good time while we were there and I got my first boyfriend.We spent the weekend on a farm of my Uncle Farrells sisters,and there were two boys there. They gave us a lot of attention.Laurence was the oldest and so was I so we kind of gravitated to each other.One afternoon he came and got me and we went to the show.My first date and I was so nervous I couldn't relax and have a good time.I think some of that was because I was so shy.

  We would meet the breadman at our door and buy pecan rolls every morning for breakfast,and every Sunday we would have a big, fried,chicken dinner.I remember that was the summer I found out how babies were made.Mom and Aunt Zona were discussing some rather personal things and I overheard them. I was shocked at what they were saying and then I asked point blank about it and Aunt Zona told me that you didn't have to have a baby every time you slept with a man.I was shocked at that too. What an innocent I was,even at 13 years old.

  By this time dad had bought some land again. I don't know how much,but we enjoyed it back there in the woods at Gorst,Wa. I think he only paid $35.00 per acre. Anyway,he started to build a house and when it was livable,we moved in. It had an upstairs and that is where the bedrooms were. Aunt Fae was living back in the same woods.

  She had a big "tom" turkey that was like a watch dog. He would try to attack anyone that came around,so we would have to have a stick with us whenever we would go outside for anything.He was a real stinker. He would eat any eggs that he found. I don't know if they finally had him for thanksgiving dinner or what.

  At the same time,I got to have a dog. I named him Cookie.He was my pal.Went with me wherever I would go and I remember I would talk to him about things I couldn't talk to anyone else about.I can't remember what ever happened to him.

  There was an earthquake while we were living there.It really rattled the house and everything in it.Raedene was on the stairs at the time and dad teased her, saying she shook the whole house when she ran down the stairs.

  We girls had a really good time while living there in the woods.It was so quiet and mysterious. It was like a magic place.When you got back in the woods a ways,there was a log bridge you had to go over to get to our place.The road was a one lane road and we walked it to catch the school bus to school and then again when we came home from school.It was like a time of peace and happiness.We would run around in the woods and play or find some kids we knew and play games,etc. A fine time for kids to start out their teen years.Aunt Fae had canned a lot of black cherries and she let us have all that we wanted of them. They were so good.

  

  Then one summer we went to Iowa for the vacation I previosly mentioned. When we got home,things were never the same again. Mom and dad had a terrible arguement over him having an affair with her sister-in-law while we were gone.He brought her to our house and they slept in mom's bed and when he came to meet the train,she was with him.I don't how Mom found out about it unless there were signs of her being there or something,but they separated after that and we kids went with mom and moved.I don't remember where we moved to at that time. I remember living in Mt.Angel,Oregon when my brother was born. I was 15.Mom had a harder time having him because she was older,I guess. Anyway,she named him Billy(after herself). Not William,just Billy.

  

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  While Darold and I were married,we adopted two children,brother and sister.Their names are Michael Edward and Karen Fae.

  Karen and James were married in 1997Tthey have no children yet.

  In 1998,Mike and Christy were married and then a few months later,Steven Kyle was born. Mike and Christy had twin baby girls on November 6th,1999.So now they have 3 babies in diapers and Mike has 4 babies to take care of since Christy is in a wheel chair and not able to do the things that need to be done,mostly.They like to think she can,but Mike has the bulk of work on his shoulders. They didn't want my help,so now I am living In Puyallup and loving it.I have a mobile home in a senior park and it is very nice,and quiet and affordable.I bought it and moved into it in March.I have lived here all summer and now it is November,and it is getting cold outside. It is the year 2001 now and I have lived here for over a year and I like it more then ever.I have done a little bit of repair on the house and am making a little change in the yard but not much. I did replace the washer and the hot water tank. center>

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