relatives

The two sisters of Mater (Auntie K said I could no longer call her Mrs S. We tried all sorts of names. I could not call her mother for my mother was alive. So we settled on Mater. S.s Stepfather remained Mr S till the day he died.) Auntie K and Auntie A were real characters. Both were well read, both had wonderful personalities. And a great sense of humor. I loved spending time there when later, after S had gone overseas, I lived with his family. The house of the Aunts and uncle Phil was warm and cozy. There were two armchairs, one on each side of the fireplace. They had a fire almost daily and the bed of ashes reached almost half way up in the fireplace. Auntie A always sat on one foot. She was a small woman. Auntie K was larger and had had a stroke a year before I met her. She would get up from her chair and with her high heels trip up and out of the livingroom every so often. When she returned she had a little more powder on her nose. Toward the end of the day it looked as though she had stuck her nose in a bag of flour. They were interested hearing about my life and work and the house was filled with good feelings

We usually ate lunch with them on Sundays. It consisted of a simple casserole, a loaf of French bread with camembere cheese, a salad and icecream for dessert. And with that many laughs and many stories of their youth. Phil and Auntie K had two daughters, Jane who was married to Jack who was in the Navy and Kitty who was still in high school. And then there was cousin C with wom we were going to spend Cristmas evening. More about them later.

S's sister B. was a burden for him. He had always tried to introduce her to his friends. And she was shy and unresponsive to his macho friends and nothing came of these introductions. And so to make up for this he invited her to return with us to Texas.

Our aparment was not really conducive to house guests. I think I told you, one entered into the livingroom. Our bedroom was in the room that once had been the dining room. There was not a solid wall between the living room and our bedroom, And B would have to sleep on the sofa in the livingroom. Can all of you understand my chagrine when I heard of this development. We were still on an extended honeymoon and having someone practically in the same room with us would wreak havoc in our lives. My motto was DO YOUR BEST. And so when Christma was over the three of us returned to Mineral Wells.