I was born in our farmhouse, and delivered by the only doctor in Denham Springs, my uncle. He was the country doctor. I grew up on that farm. My mother was Irish American from Mississippi. My father was in Liszt, Irish, and Indian from Louisiana.

We had a truck farm that grew strawberries, sugar cane, cotton, peanuts, and beans, just everything!

We used to take our wagon and mule and cart our crops to the railroad. We packed our crops in ice, put them on the train, and sent them to New York or Chicago.

I had two older brothers. My parents married shortly after my mother turned fifteen. She never finished high school. My father was eighteen, and a high school graduate. He was an only child. My parents had two boys, one right after the other, and then the Depression hit.

When the Depression hit they had left town with their two babies and they came back to the farm and lived with their parents. My father got a job as a welder. My mother and grandmother cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the people who worked in town, in addition to farming.

The farm was 36 acres near the middle of town. In addition to that we had hundreds of acres for ranching. My grandfather used to plow with a mule. He was 6ft. five, and strong enough to plow all day without stopping.

The farm was fantastic. We had pecan groves, mandarin oranges, bees. We sold milk and butter and cheese. We’re really merchandised our farm products. We took in boarders, and people would sleep in our living room so that we could make extra money.

My parents were wonderful people. We lived with my grandparents on the farm. My other grandparents were in the lumber business and they lived not too far from us.

There was always a competitive situation between both sets of grandparents, and they were so different from one another. I had the great fortune of having them all!

It was a wonderful time to grow up. At the most, our town had 3000 people. Everyone knew everyone. I used to run through town barefoot in the early days, play, and just generally get into trouble.

My mother had twelve brothers and sisters. All of their children became our aunts and uncles.