My Many Years

About the Book

About the Author

Even though I was the youngest of three, our mother did not believe in spoiling - maybe because she had to always hold and cater to her baby sister. My only brother was 13 months older than I and he was so smart, so when I won the contest at school for the best poem, he was livid. He was in the 6th grade and I in the 5th, but we were in the same class room, as there were so many children our ages. In high school, I worked my way through a very expensive all girls school and won 2nd place in typing (98 words p/m with no mistakes - the winner typed 102 words p/m with 2 mistakes). My first job after graduation was at an Insurance Company as a clerk typist. They soon learned I was also good with Short Hand and Filing. World War II had broken out when I was 14, so my sister, Lucy, and I joined the Civil Air Patrol. We held back crowds when there was reason to - after all we had Uniforms on and people did seem to respect the uniforms at that time. They also taught us to change a tire and some mechanical stuff that I wasn't interested in, so I didn't learn - but Lucy did. She was tops. We went to the Canteen's (later) to give out food and danced with "the boys" - now this I enjoyed. It was after holding back crowds for a parachute jumping event that I met Tom Nance. We married in July 1946 and built our life together and started having children. When the drug scene first came about, I volunteered to help the kids. Some were also pregnant. I was running a Credit Union at the time and ran myself ragged. Tom wanted me to quit my job so we went to Germany to see Peggy, Dennis & the kids (my 2nd daughter). They took us all over Germany, Austria and Rome. When we got back I volunteered to help the poor and homeless. Later they voted for me to be a Silver Haired Legislature. That took up more than two years and when Tom retired from the Rail Road, he wanted to move back to his hometown of George West, TX. We had 11 children, 42 grandchildren and 60 great grandchildren with 2 more on the way. (I still say WE because all the kids have his and my blood in them. Tom died on June 1, 1995. On June 20, 1998, I married Harold Ivey (Tom's distant cousin). I knew he had Alzheimer's and needed care. He is a very sweet and kind man.