Elbert & Lillie, 1942
"When I was about 15-16, mother lost her health and had to have some help all day, so one night dad asked me what I thought of staying out of school for a while to help her. But since I had caught Mildred in her grade at school he didn't think it fair to take Mildred out. "Let me go on to school and even be ahead of her," I remember saying to him. "Just take us both out." He did just that. Margaret was going to Merkel High then and was a senior, so she continued in school."
"In the meantime, we kids had begun to go to church without mom and dad. We met our future husbands, John and J.E., at church. After dating off and on for 2 years or so, both the boys said we might as well get married. No more school again as of September 1 of the second year out of school, so we planned a December wedding. Mom and dad didn't know about it for a while. We hesitated to mention it as dad was sick as well by then with an ulcerated stomach. There was no laughter in his life with so many problems, but as we had to let it be known, we announced it. So on December 24, 1939, we decided to drive to Sweetwater, Texas, to be married by the pastor of the Sweetwater Baptist Church. We got ready, and as we started to leave, we looked for dad. After a while, we found him hiding from us out behind the chicken house. He couldn't stand to see us go. Needless to say, it did ruin my happy attitude about marriage." (memories by Maureen Dean Jaynes)
Elbert & Lillie