Aunt Laura and Uncle George raised four sons (James, John, Dean, Knealin) and an adopted daughter (Barbra Ann Esterline) and one adopted grandson. They had one Biological Daughter named Brenda Sue Wright. Brenda Sue was stillborn. Aunt Laura & Uncle George used to paint houses for a living. They owned their own painting business. As the years passed and they grew older and were no longer able to do such hard work they found other things to do to make money on the side. Uncle George used to go to the Handle mill there in Bernie and Dexter and get the leftover scraps of wood handles that they could not sell. He would bring them home and rework them and make tools with them. On the weekends he could be found at the Sale Barn in Poplar Bluff, Missouri "Peddling his wares". Aunt Laura sure knew how to save money. She & Uncle George raised a big garden every year and she would cook and can all day sometimes.
Some of my best memories of my growing up years were spent at Aunt Lauras house. Sometimes we would go over there after church on Sundays and she would cook a big dinner. It was nothing for her to fry up three to four big platters of Fried Chicken or Fried Rabbit and Gravy. My mother hated to fry chicken so it was an absolute treat when I got to go to Aunt Lauras and eat Fried Chicken. In the summertime she and Uncle George would go fishing and bring home a big washtub full of Catfish. He would skin and clean them outside and Aunt Laura would fillet them and sometimes we would have a huge fish fry out in the yard. The neighbors would come join us and we just had a good time of food and fellowship. One thing about it. You never left Aunt Lauras house hungry. If you did it was your own fault. She always cooked a spread fit for a king. She made the best sweet hot pepper relish. She called it "Chow Chow" but it was more of a relish consistency. We loved it. We enjoyed it on Bologna Sandwiches or Sausage Biscuits. When we would get ready to go home for the day, Aunt Laura would drag out her step stool and climb up in the attic. We all waited in anticipation because we knew she was going to give us something good to take home with us. She would give us jars of the relish and plum jam she made. I loved the plum jam. She had big old plum trees in her back yard and she turned those plums into jam every year. Aunt Laura & Uncle George attended the United Pentecostal Church there in their hometown of Bernie, Missouri for years. Back in the early 1970`s Rev. Denver Kirby was the pastor at that time. Both Aunt Laura and my Mother were Sunday School teachers there and active members of the church as was I up until the time I married and moved away. |