Ha! The first time I ever heard her curse was when Don was selling the shrimp boat in Corpus.

He came in the house and said, with that devilish grin: " Well Juanita, I got rid of that damned boat. The fella had a plane he traded me for it."

She looked at him with a disgusted look, and just shook her head and said: "Shit, Don. Just shit."

He laughed so hard I thought he would fall down.

I never heard mom scream but I do remember the first time I remember her cursing. It was a Saturday and Mom was trying to get the three little ones to clean their rooms. They, apparently, weren't really rising to the task. This was in the house on the hill. I was coming upstairs from the basement. Mom was flying down the short flight of stairs from the second floor. "Little shits" she was uttering tightly between her gritted teeth only loud enough for me and her to hear it. She flashed a quick and slightly guilty glare at me as she flew past me to head down to the laundry room. I was only mildly shocked but yet it sticks as a memory for me. I remember thinking that it was the first time I had heard her curse.

Mom: "Dishes. It was hard the way we had to do them, a hard time keeping the water hot. We had a great big tea kettle always going on the wood stove. In the summer we had a kerosene stove to heat water. As long as June was home we'd do them together. We'd get into figst because one would accuse the other slowing down. I couldn't do anything else until I did the dishes. We tried not to tarry because if Mom had to tell us dad would get in the picture and all he had to do was say 'girls, get on that.' Wade didn't help but he would come in and twist up towels and snap them at us. If it got too bad dad would holler out one time and it would all come to a screeching halt!"

Mom: "'Gone with the Wind.'" I found the old plantation homes, the grouns and the beautiful trees very fascinating, as were the people. I saw it again as an adult and realized all the work was done by slaves who weren't treated so well so then I saw it in a whole different light."

Toots. "Dad started it, when I was a little kid."

Mom: "We had an old shovel without a handle. We'd sit on it ans away we'd go. My dad had to haul the wood for our winter heat and cooking on the wood cook stove, so he built a big sled he could hook up to the horses and pull a load of wood up the hill."

Kelley: When I was little I was always fascinated by old, abandoned houses and barns, and I remember the time mom said she was fascinated by them and wondered what stories they could tell. It's my first memory of sharing a sensibility with a grown up, and I knew from then on our imaginations were traveling in similar circles when we saw these homes. I still pull over and get a picture of them when I can.

Also, my memories of mom "making" Christmas - the anticipation as she whipped up fudge and other sweets. I also remember special nights throughout the year, like when The Wizard of Oz was going to be on TV in October, and word went around among the siblings that mom would be making fudge.

Something harder to define was just the deep happiness I felt to have her near.