I’ve written alot about my Father and the war years.....but how about my Mother.
Mom was of Native American ancestry...from Oklahoma and northern Texas and liked to remind us kids that her Grandmother was a full blooded Choctaw and spread among Mom’s relatives were names like “Barefoot”.
I had an uncle who was named B.B. Barefoot and he was a big wheel judge on the Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals. He had an office, over an oil well, at the state Capital building. He had me sit in his chair and told me I was sitting on top of an actual producing oil well and you could see the rig just outside his window.
The Judge and I were walking down the corridor and the Governor came by and the Judge dutifully introduced me as his nephew from Illinois. I forget which Governor it was.
Judge Barefoot took a one way street home everyday...the wrong way! He said there were alot of stop signs but they were all backwards so he ignored them. Safe to say no police officer would stop the Judge from doing that.
You may have read in an earlier post about my Peoria girlfriend, Sharon and I, having the run of a nice department store after hours and picking out stuff for free?
Well just happens that another Uncle..my Uncle Dwight was chief buyer for a big Oklahoma City department store chain, CR Anthony, and my sister Sallee and I would be given free reign to pick and choose stuff there. This was a kids delight!
I had a cousin named Barefoot Sanders who ran for the US Senate in Texas. Despite his great bumper stickers which were just a red footprint on white...he lost. But later he became a federal judge and very important.
My Mother, Claire Major, loved the Mount Prospect (Chicago) home. She started a bridge club and the neighbors were all younger but very cordial. I think when Dad decided to move lock stock and barrel to the small Stone House on one of our three farms her heart was broken. He let her stay in the nice house in Mt. Prospect for sometime and my sisters (Jeanne and Sallee) wondered if a breakup was coming...but she relented and moved to the Stone House.
I took care of that problem unwittingly when I accidentally burned the place down. Dad got a good insurance deal and designed a nice new house for us so it worked out well for Mom in the end...me too!
Mom and Dad had a house warming and a whole bunch of Mt. Prospect neighbors came all the way out (2 hour drive). This was a kind tribute to my Mother and was not lost on me.
My Mother passed away a few years ago along with my sister Sallee and my daughter Kathy. All three died too young...and I miss them.
All...done too soon.
Jackie and her three sisters Debbie, Laurie and Liz (oldest) came with their parents Jean and Len. That was the highlight for me, of course. Just a few years ago Jackie IM’d me wanting directions to the Stone House farm. She said she might take a ride out there for old times sake...
She liked it.
So did I, Jack, so did I.
-A thousand kisses deep-
stanmajor@aol.com
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