The day finally came and we left Buena Vista at 5 A.M. There were six men in three trucks hauling dogs, supplies, campers and a tent. We drove on the interstate and stopped only for gas and food. We switched drivers after each tank of gas and drove straight through to New Mexico. It took 34 hours to get there.

The land was very different from that in Amherst. There were lots of open flat land and canyons. The oak trees were much smaller than ours. There were fewer rivers and streams. They had man-made watering ponds. The climate was also different. Rain storms rose quickly and severely. The sun dried the muddy roads back within an hour. The temperatures were cold at night and hot in the day.

Our camp was 75 miles from the nearest store. It was located in the forest and we had to use four wheel drive to get there. We were met at camp by our guide. He helped set up camp and unload the dogs. The dogs were very happy to get off the trucks.

The guide had a cook, who fixed our meals. The food was hot and spicy. Most of it was cooked over an open fire. The guide and his friends made camp lots of fun by telling stories about their lives and the area.

We hunted every day starting at daybreak for two weeks. We got up at 3:30 A.M. to eat breakfast and load the dogs. We would drive to a watering pond to look for bear sign. There was a lot of bear sign. The strike dogs were turned onto the bear sign. When they began to trail, we would turn the other dogs loose. The bear was usually treed within an hour. We kept track of the dogs by using tracking collars. No dogs were lost.

The hunt was successful and lots of fun. Everyone was tired and ready to go home. The drive back seemed much longer and less exciting because we were exhausted. I was glad to get home. My family was glad to see me even with two weeks of whiskers and 15 pounds lighter. Maybe I should do this every year.

It is so important to stay in school because you can experience all the things that happen. The proms, graduation, these things only happen one time in your life. If you drop out, you will be throwing it all away. You will never be able to think back and say "Hey I did that!" The memories -- you will never have all the memories of friends, parties, dances, etc.

Everything starts with your diploma. You have to think about the effects of not having your high school diploma. You can't go to college to further your education. If you go to college, you will be able to choose what kind of career field you want to go into. After graudating from colleges, you will be able to get a job that you enjoy, you wouldn't have to work at one of those dead end jobs. You may know how to do certain things, but there will always be something that you don't know and would have if you stayed in school.

There are many opportunities for those who decide to go back to finish school The schools offer classes for G.E.D. The G.E.D is just like the high school diploma. There are many other classes you can take to further your education. You don't have to be any certain age, you can enroll at any time. All because you made the choice not to finish school when you were young, you now have the choice to go back and make it right.

Talking from my own personal experience of not finishing school, it would have been a lot easier if I had stayed and finished. I wouldn't be where I am today. I would be in college, so I can have a good job doing something that I like to do, instead of something that I have to do. "I wish I would have finished high school."

Over the next three years, we came often, with a picnic lunch, just to walk through the trees and plan where the house would be built. Finally, in late 1990, we sold the big house in Richmond, where we had raised our twelve children, and headed for the hils. We had to live in an apartment for six months while the house was being built. Then at the end of April, 1991, we finally moved in.

We left a park-like area of trees in front of the house for a bird sanctuary. It didn't take long for the birds to discover our feeders. Bluebirds have nested yearly in our little birdhouses. We have enjoyed the Juncos and doves, the purple finches, yellow finches, tufted titmice, the chickadees and nuthatches, and when the weather is especially severe, we see cardinals and bluejays.

Out back we have a good sized plot cleared for a garden. John bought a tiller and tilled the land. He grew the vegetables -- tomatoes, cucumbers, butterbeans and stringbeans, squash and zucchini. He planted and tended, and I canned the harvest. We visited the nearby orchards when the peaches were ripe and in early fall we were back again for the apples to add to our larder of canned foods for winter.

We had seven and a half years of peaceful country living. We made many good friends, enjoyed the historical sites, the festivals, and trips to the vineyards. The slower pace of living, the clean air, and the tranquility have been spiritually uplifting.

Then, on an early October morning in 1998, it all came to an end with John's death in a tragic accident. Now there are only the memories, but how sweet they are. As I now make my plans to return to the city, I will carry with me memories of all the wonder and delight we shared in the past few years. Those memories will be my consolation and comfort.

After that some of us went to another store to buy spiritual tapes. We were through shopping and we decided to go eat lunch. We went to the Wooden Grill, all you can eat. We had prayer and every one was joking and enjoying the food.

Our president, who has resigned because of his health, went with us. He had always hoped for a trip like this. When we got to Charlottesville, every one went their separate ways and ended a very enjoyable day.

We arrived that night. Our reservation for our room wasn't to start until the following morning. We checked to see if we could go ahead and get in because we had a van full of children and no place to sleep! They said that we couldn't check into our room then because it was still occupied until early the next morning. We were stuck with a ten-month old and a sixteen-month old for the night. All of us were crammed in a van to rest the best way that we could. Of course, the babies had slept the whole trip away. They were wide awake and were not going to let any of us get any rest. On top of that, I was four months pregnant!

Melissa and I decided to take the babies and go sit on the lawn outside of the hotel. We grabbed our blankets and went to the lawn chairs. The men and the other two children, Robert and Samantha, slept through this but it is something she and I will never forget! We got ourselves comfortable and all bundled up in our blankets with our babies. It was chilly that night becaue the wind was blowing and we were right on the beach. Then, it happened! We heard a noise. We both just sat there and looked at each other at first. Neither of us had any idea what the strange noise was or where it was coming from. All we knew was that it was close to us. Then, all at once, water started shooting through the air. The sprinklers had come on right beside where we were sitting so comfortably. We grabbed our blankets and babies and ran as hard as we could to keep from getting soaked. We were already cold and were trying to keep the babies warm. That was the last thing we needed to happen to us. It was fun, though. We moved to a set of chairs that weren't in aim of the sprinklers! We never got any rest that night so we just talked the night away. We wondered what it would be like sitting there facing the great big ocean and seeing a tidal wave coming at us. We just thought and wondered crazy things like that. We enjoyed our time together with our precious little Colton and Chrissy snuggled in our arms.

During the week there, everything was pretty normal and calm. We enjoyed the pool while our husbands went out and swam in the ocean. Near the middle of our week, Tony and Gary had rented a boat to go fishing for the day. They were going to take Robert and Samantha with them on their trip, while we kept Colton and Chrissy with us. We spent the day shopping and strolling the babies. We went out to eat and went in several stores. We were taking our time and enjoying the day. It got later and later. There was an announcement on the store's radio that said Hurricane Fran was headed for the area. They mentioned possible evacuations but we didn't catch all the details. Melissa and I looked at each other and her eyes were as big as a quarter. I could tell she was scared and so was I. We were both very excited. We were just plain ol' country girls and we had never been in a situation like that before. We ran as hard as we could with those baby strollers. When we finally got back to our room, our husbands had beat us there. Their boat trip was cancelled because of the storm. Well, after we got there, we found out that we were being evacuated. We got real nervous then because we knew then that things were getting serious. It took a lot of time out of our vacation and we couldn't get a refund on our rooms, either. That was pretty bad, it felt like a lot of money wasted. It was something we had paid for in advance and it was gone down the drain.

When we were leaving, there was so much traffic that we didn't think we were going to get away from that place. While we were sitting in traffic, we saw a car that our brothers would've loved to have been there to see. We took a picture of it for them because they didn't get to be a part of our trip. They really missed out on a lot of excitement. We had sent our mom and dad a post card the day before all the excitement began, thinking we were going to be there the rest of the week. We got home before the post card did!

When we finally returned home, we dropped off Gary, Melissa, and their children at their house. Then we headed to our house only to find out that we were evacuated from home! We lived close to a river and the weather had gotten really rough. We went to my parent's house that night and the storm was awful. I guess I would say that vacation was one of the wildest adventures I had ever had in my entire life! It was one that I'll never forget.

am a black woman
tall in hope, strength and understanding,
knowledge, and wisdom.

I can be anything I choose to be
I have a choice today.

Still searching and experiencing
al the wonders life has to offer
by being patient and understanding to myself
and taking inventory of the inner beauty
of this black woman.
And looking at the circumstances
I find that it's not too late.

I shall continue to strive
with my head held high
with much determination and much confidence,
knocking all obstacles out of my way.

Not looking back upon the past,
knowing my higher power has forgiven me.
He gives me the strength I need
to soar and role model for the oncoming generation.

Thoughts of nothing but our future. Knowing with the faith, trust, that love was so true and real. We knew it was for eternity.

Four years down the road it starts to get really quiet. Like sitting in a room. The only sound heard was each other's breath.

I speak but he's not listening. Like I'm not even there.

Memories start to pop up out of nowhere.

I'd search and search for what was there, but that picture that was so picture perfect. It wasn't so perfect anymore. The memories that were cherished weren't cherished anymore.

They get darker and darker every second the clock ticks. Every time the hands on the clock move is a tick further and further away from love.

Trust, faith, that love -- it is so hard to tell if that love is still there. I try to hold on tighter and tighter. It's like someone comes in your memories and rips them up like it was trash. The heart he once gave you, he now wants back.

Trying to hold on, everything is covered in gasoline with fire at the end of the line. The love starts to burn further and further away. Until one day everything is completely gone.

The sale was only for Sunday and Monday, but I wanted to talk to someone about it first. By the time I spoke to my teacher on Wednesday, the sale was over. However, I still went back to the store to see if the sales person would give me the sale price we had discused on Sunday. He said he could not do that for me.

So we looked at other stores and other computers, and we found one that was just as good as the NEC for about the same price. We are very happy with the computer we got and it has been a fun learning experience.

It all started when she woke up throwing her guts up. I was in the same room at the time, so I went in and woke up my mom and dad. They rushed in the room and started trying to help her get better. This all went on for about three hours. Finally, they took her to the hospital to get her looked at by a doctor. She stayed in there for four hours. I sat there and sat there, it seemed like forever. My mom and dad were in the room with Angela for most of the time. So I was a little scared but I tried not to let my mom and dad see that I was, because they were already upset enough as it was. All at once I heard some people walking up the hall crying their eyes out. I looked and it was my mom and dad. I ran up to them and asked them what was wrong, but they wouldn't tell me. I was getting more and more frightened. My dad looked at me and said, "Son you're going to stay at your grandmother's for a while."

So we went to my grandma's house and on the way there he told me what went on in the doctor's office that he couldn't tell me before. He told me about how my sister had cancer. The doctor gave her around six months to live.

I went into shock. I didn't know what to say or what to do. I just started to cry. I didn't know what else to do, but cry. Finally, we got to my grandma's house and Dad told her about it. She seemed to have the same reaction that I had in the car. Dad stayed there for a while and then he left to go back up to the hospital to see my sister again.

All that I could think about was me trying to live without my sister. I couldn't see it happening. It just seemed too hard to do. I still have a hard time when I think about it.

You can learn about presidents, too, because a lot of their images were placed on coins and paper money. Franklin D. Roosevelt's image was placed on a dime in 1946. It was called the Roosevelt dime. The Mercury dime was made before the Roosevelt dime, in 1916; the last one was made in 1945. The one Mercury dime to have is the 1916-D; in good condition, it is worth $420, and I have one. They only minted 294,000 of them and a lot have been lost or destroyed.

The half dollar that we have today is still the John F. Kennedy half dollar made of 90% silver in 1964, one year after he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

I really enjoy collecting coins and currency. In addition, I have learned a lot about history and the presidents of the United States!

I told my son to go and get the shotgun but he refused, thinking I would shoot the cat rather than the tree limb. Next, I tried to cut it out with a pole saw, but I could not reach the limb. After that, I sent my son for the power saw. It seemed the tree would fall away from the power lines, but a gust of wind caught it and it fell on them anyway.

When the tree hit the lines, sparks flew, and so did the cat! About that time the tree caught on fire and melted the wire in two. I told my wife to call the fire department. At that point, my wife informed me that she was in the middle of fixing supper when the current went out, and there'll be no dinner tonight. By the time the fire marshall came, the tree had burned itself out.

It was about 5:30 P.M. when we called the power company; they didn't arrive until about 2:30 A.M., which meant that all my neighbors were without electricity also.

Now about dinner...I wasn't about to go hungry and I knew my wife wasn't going to cook it because she had just informed me that she wanted a divorce. I got the grill out and finished cooking supper.

In the meantime, the kids spent three and a half hours coaxing the cat from under the house. The cat was fine, dinner was good, my wife and I made up, the kids were happy and the cat has never climbed another tree.

Some people have asked me if this story is true. If you have any doubts, ask my wife!

Getting pregnant made me want to further my education for my child. I wanted to give myself the opportunity for a decent job and a better future. I feel more self-confident when I study and attend GED classes.

Without an education many people, who advance in society, look down on you. Many of my friends have started college or found better jobs. The longer I wait to further my education, the faster my peers advance before me.

Once I wised up, I realized what I needed to do, and that was to start classes which I did. After I finish the GED classes, I want to go to a community college, starting in the spring. The decisions I make now will affect the rest of my life. Now is the best time to advance in life and do the best thing for my child.

Living in society today without an education makes me feel as if I am not as important as those who have an education and a good job. I want to do the right thing and start my future. Even though I am starting it a little late does not mean I cannot succeed as far as those who have finished early.

My father was a drunkard, and he drank all the time. Sometimes he even hurt my mother when he was drinking.

My father, Charles Mustard, and my mother divorced soon after I was born. My mother claimed I was in my crib soaking wet and screaming at the top of my lungs while my dad sat in the other room with his buddies getting drunk and smoking cigarettes and marijuana with a loaded gun setting on the table. They were playing poker. My mother said she had to leave him at that point. My mother and I went to live with my grandparents. I didn't see my dad that much, and when I did he was too drunk to know who I was anyway.

After a while I started noticing my mother going out a lot. I knew something was up but I was only six and I couldn't do anything about it. Soon my mother got married again to John Smith. We moved into a house in Scottsville. I had two step sisters and a step brother; I didn't like them too much. They seemed snotty anyway, so I stayed to myself.

John would leave all the time because of his job. He worked in North Carolina a lot of the time. My mother woke me one night while he was out of town. It was around three o'clock in the morning, and I had school the next day. We went all the way to town, and some men got in the car and I remember their words, "Hey you want some of this?" My mother answered, "No, I have my child." I didn't understand. When we got home it was around 6:00 A.M.; she didn't make me go to school that day. After a while my mother was waking me almost every night, and I was missing school all the time. I flunked out of first grade.

I would soon find out my mother was hooked on a drug called "Crack." My step-father had brought the drug to her attention. She was hooked! Things got worse from then on. We lost our house and we moved to a little white house in Fork Union. In three weeks time we lost that house, too. We finally ended up moving to a camper that was parked beside a garage. It was awful! My step-father never came home any more, and when he did my mother and he would argue and fight; he would just get into his Redneck car and drive away.

My mother got to the point where she was leaving me every night. My body had gotten used to it, so I would automatically wake up in the middle of the night, and she would be gone.

I would scream and cry and cut my hair. I always had short hair, because every night I woke up I would get so mad at myself I would cut my hair, and bang my head into my pillows and sometimes the walls. Finally my neighbors got wind about what was going on over at my house.

One rainy, stormy night I woke up and my mom was gone; so I went outside to see if I could catch her. When I turned around I had locked myself outside of the house. I had had it! I screamed to the top of my lungs crying, "Somebody help me please!" There was nothing left that I could do.

My neighbors heard me; they called my grandparents and they came to get me saying I could never go back again. I didn't hear from my mother for six months. Finally, she called saying she was just about to kill herself until she heard my voice. She came to see me and I was so happy. She looked bad, very bad. She looked like a train had run smack over her one hundred times.

For a long time my mother stayed at a drug dealer's house. Sometimes I would go visit her, but only for a few minutes.

When I became older, around fourteen, I started to feel like my grandparents were smothering me; so I went to live with my aunt and uncle in Fredericksburg. I stayed there for about three months until I heard my mother was living with a man. So I went to live with my mother. I was fifteen when I went back to live with her. I started hanging around with a bad group of kids that did drugs, stole and drank. I started doing drugs real badly for about three months. I noticed how my attitude had gotten. When my mom left to do drugs, I would fight her instead of yelling. So I decided to stop.

My mother told me that she wanted me to meet somebody. I said okay. She took me down a long dirt driveway. It was one of her crack buddies. He had a son who was older than me, but we got along great. Our parents would smoke crack all night, and we would talk. We started to date; I ended up pregnant. He beat me from head to toe. I guess he followed in his daddy's footprints. I finally had my beautiful baby Hunter. I left that nasty man, and I am going to make a different kind of life for my baby. Parents today just don't know how much a kid needs a stable environment, school, love and discipline. I promise my baby I will be the best mother that I can be.

On hot days the place to be was on Aunt Sara's front porch, swinging in that old squeaky swing, feeling the breeze, and watching the butterflies that stopped by only for a moment. It was so quiet there, for you see, my uncle had passed away and Aunt Sara lived alone.

The joy of my day was to spend it with Aunt Sara. We would gather apples and peaches from her little orchard behind the house, feed the chickens, churn the milk, and do her everyday chores. All the while she would be telling me stories about her young days, how life was back then. To me, the old lady with her long dress and apron, salt and pepper hair, became young again. Her eyes and smile, the way she expressed with her hands, her voice as she spoke, made the stories come alive.

I could see her stories, feel the excitement of the horse and buggy rides and walking on dirt roads for miles. I could see the color of her dress she wore on her first date with my uncle. She would smile and say "Samuel," in a special way. Everyone else called him Sam, but she always called him Samuel.

With all the joy Aunt Sara brought to my life, she made sure I got to know the saviour, Jesus. You see, Aunt Sara was a Servant of the Most High, a born-again Christian baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire, she so often said.

I remember one day I had come up to visit her. She was having lunch on the back porch. I saw a piece of fry bread, a little butter and jelly she had made and a Carnation can by her plate. She offered me some lunch. I said I didn't want any, she only had a little of each. To my surprise, she poured water in the milk can, rinsed it out, and then poured it into her glass. It was just milky water. She then bowed her head and gave God thanks.

Later we were talking and she said to me, "We don't always get what we would like to have, but God said he would provide and what he provides we must be thankful for." Then I remembered the milky water, the fry bread with its dapple of butter and jelly.

My family moved away. I returned years later to hear that Aunt Sara had become ill and her sons moved her to New Jersey. I never saw her again. I was told that she had died and was not brought home for burial.

Aunt Sara will never know how much she shaped my life. Even to this day when I think of her, I smile. Sometimes, the tears fill my eyes. Because today, I am the tree that grew from the seed she planted, striving to follow the road map she said would lead me home -- the Bible.

One of the first things that had to be done was to fix the roof. Lee, my husband, and my son, Edward, replaced and painted the roof.

Then we all worked together to put a new furnace in the house. After that my daughter, Renee and I helped to paint and replace the walls. All of us had a hand in doing the floors. We sanded, buffed, and cleaned them. In addition, my husband, Lee, replaced water pipes to the bathrooms and the kitchen. All of us helped to replace window panes and reputty them. Then we had to rewire and add breakers for electricity.

Lee, my husband, and I still live in the big, old house. It no longer leaks. It turned out to be a nice cozy country home. My son, Edward, and my daughter Renee, have moved into homes of their own.

hat hell is this love that burns me so deep from within?
Is it in you that I see no tomorrow and no release from this tortured
Life we share?

It looms deep within your soul the sweet dreams of the past. In the
Present, you know not what you kill with your words.

For what bitter fruit is this that I must bite to endure your love?
You long to have my soul that is so deep within that even I can not
Find it.

The love of obsession is what draws you to me, the desire to have what
You can not. Sweet words and pretty lies is what you tell me.

Where is the truth that you promise to me? This thorny rose that I
Prick my heart upon waits for me.

What hell is this that I must endure in your name? This
Rough beast whose name is love calls to me.

emories, we all have them.
Memories are something that you never forget.
Some memories are special, some are just remembered.
But there is not just one kind of memory,
There are many different kinds.
There are happy memories, sad memories, good, bad, and even embarrasing memories.
Memories never go away.
They stay with you forever.
And when you're gone, the memory of you will still be here.
Memories are forever.

With Ruby no matter who you were if you were wrong then you are wrong. She was always there for her kids when they needed her. Even though they may have been wrong she would help them, butshe let them know how she felt about the things they did. Ruby was the same way with me. She accepted me into her life and her heart. I was treated just as if I were her own. If I did something wrong I was told about it.

Ruby became a lot of things to me. Not only was she my mother-in-law, she was a friend, confidant, and the rock I needed to lean on every now and then. I could tell her and talk to her about anything. Because she was so open I always felt the need to tell her everything, even stuff I didn't feel I could tell a soul. She always had the best advice and she was usually right. I loved her even more, if possible, because she helped me through some of the worst times in my life. Even though some of them involved her son, who was my husband, she was still fair. Most of the time she was on my side when he was in the wrong, although she also knew somehow when to stay out of it.

I can hardly believe we became so close over the years. We were such different people in a lot of ways. Ruby was always there for me and I in turn tried to be there for her when cancer was slowly killing her spirit and taking her life. It was not out of a sense of duty but because of a loving need. I was more than proud to be the main person she saw all the time in the last days of her life.

I was also afraid and confused. It felt awful to be the person to make the decisions about her life and death. Although I loved, and still love, her and felt like I was her child, I felt I was making decisions I had no business making. What if I were to make the wrong one? What if it wasn't what she or her real children wanted? It was a hard burden to bear but one I bore lovingly. The worst thing about it was on her last night on earth, her last hours were alone. She died when I wasn't there by her side and that's what hurts the most. I also never got to properly say good-bye, or tell her I loved her, my biggest regret. I learned from that never to take anyone or anything for granted. It may not always be there.

I would say Ruby made the biggest impression on my life. Both her life and death taught me good lessons that I will never forget. Her memory and my love for her are forever embedded in my mind, heart, and soul. Good-bye Ruby Johnson until we meet again.

Four of my sons had gone to bed early. I had just taken a shower and laid down across the bed, and started to doze off to sleep. All of a sudden my oldest son Pooh (that's his nickname) came down the hallway running and screaming, "The kerosene heater is on fire!" Pooh has a different sleeping pattern from the rest of the family because he is a diabetic. Thank God he was up watching television.

Shawn and I went outside because the smoke was strong and it was hard to breathe. My son Floyd had to jump out the window. The kerosene heater was still burning in the middle of the dining room floor. Pooh took Lamonta and Jamie to the window while Shawn broke the bedroom window out. Then Pooh handed the little ones to Shawn. Pooh had to come out the same window. I did not know that Pooh had the little ones outside. I went back in and I couldn't find them. Then I went back outside and they were out there.

I was worried about my purse and my car keys. While in the house I dialed 911 and couldn't get an answer, so I got in my car and drove to the pay phone at Skyview Motel. I needed to keep the car warm because we were in our night clothes. We didn't have any shoes on. Pooh finally got hold of the fire department. They came and put the fire out.

We were scared to go back into the house after everything was over with. There was a lot of smoke damage. We had lost some of our furniture. The fire had melted a lot of stuff in the house like our T.V., our smoke alarm, and all my home interior stuff.

I thank God that we all made it out safe and sound. I can replace material things, but I can not replace my precious sons. God, I want to thank you for sending me such a wonderful family. I love them all very much.

he boy dropped out of school.
He thought he was cool.
When you become a teenager
For a while you think
You become a young man.
All the time he thought
He could do it on his own,
But he could not.
So he started back to school
To get what he missed
Like reading writing and math skills, too
So he can get his job done right.

(John Hay, English Proverb)

When I walked into my front yard there was a beautiful humming-bird hovering at my petunias. The sun felt so good; other little creatures were enjoying it too. There was a brown lizard lying on a warm brick; a preying mantis on my bench and grasshoppers everywhere. The air was like a tonic and I breathed it in deeply. How wonderful it was to be alive in this world!

By November there was a little snow on top of "my" mountains, the DePriest and Three Ridges. Soon freezing weather came and I changed my summer pajamas to flannelettes. How good they felt!

On Nov. 10, 1963, after attending church and having dinner my husband and I went for a walk up towards the Three Ridges where we hiked on the Appalachian Trail up to the shelter. We picked up some locust honey pods and recalled how as children we would eat that sweet goodness inside. We came down a lovely road and then we saw garbage and trash which had been dumped over the embankment. My husband exclaimed, "Nature certainly has a hard time keeping pretty, doesn't it?"

When we returned home my Mother and Daddy came over and we played my Dad's favorite game -- dominoes. He had little education but he was a real whiz when he played. He could figure out the multiple of five in a flash and almost always beat us. After we ate a light supper they went home to their trailer, which was near our back door. They soon went to bed.

The next day, Nov. 11th., which was Armistice Day we were still in bed when we heard a loud explosion. We hurriedly put on our robes and ran out our back door to see what happened. Daddy was sitting in a lawn chair outside his door and his clothes were smoldering in several places. When we opened their door the trailer burst into flames. My Mother was still in bed so she wasn't burned except on her face and one hand which was out of the covers.

We called the Fire Department and the Rescue Squad. When the firemen arrived the trailer was burning furiously and they lost everything they had. Daddy was carried to the Medical College in Richmond to the burn unit. He had one half of his body area burned with 25% third degree burns. My Daddy died the next Monday. My Mother had Alzheimer's Disease and she died in a nursing home at the age of eighty-seven.

Daddy had a good mind but we think that what happened was that he turned on the gas in their heater the night before, but decided not to light it but didn't turn off the gas. The next morning when he lit it the explosion happened.

This was a very sad time for me and my family. Even though Daddy was almost ninety, he was a healthy, virile man. Even in my sadness, however, I cannot express the gratefulness I felt for the many deeds of kindness, love and concern when both parents died. There was so much food brought in, so many words of sympathy and encouragement and prayers were offered to us.

As I am writing this my thoughts go back to my parents. They were married in 1900 and had three sons and two daughters. All five of us were married to their spouses for fifty years and over. I myself was married for sixty-one years until my husband died at age ninety.

My parents had weathered many storms in their sixty-three years of married life -- especially the "Great Depression." While we didn't have much, materially, we had more important possessions. I never felt deprived as everyone was in the same boat. I know how they sacrificed for us and kept us fed and clothed as well as they could. We never went hungry but we ate a lot of beans and potatoes! We had a garden and Mama canned (no freezers then) everything she could. Our clothes were not plentiful -- Mama said, lovingly exaggerating, that I wore out a pair of shoes every week. I didn't really, but I did have to put cardboard in them quite a few times before they could afford to buy more.

They had stability, affability, and patience. I never heard them argue over anything -- they gave in to each other. They were good examples as I never heard them, or my family, ever use profanity, only "Pshaw." They taught us by precepts to be honest, polite and well-mannered. They helped others when they could; they gave to others even though they didn't have much. They showed fortitude and strength of character. This all sounds as if we were paragons of virtue but we weren't. I think we were a typical family.

I think my children have proven they have inherited those good traits. I am really grateful for what my parents have passed down to me.

Most of all they inspired me to give of my best to family and friends. I could never hope more than that for my heirs!

There was no electric in those days. My father would cut wood in the woods and haul it to the house on a ground sled that he made. He had a crosscut saw that he would saw the wood with and we carried the wood into the house. We got our water from the spring. I remember that my first bucket was a Karo syrup half gallon bucket that we had bought syrup in at the store. My father rasied sugar cane to make molasses, but when we ran out of molasses we would sell eggs to buy Karo syrup and whatever else was needed.

I remember we had two cows named Beauty and Bessie. I used to milk at a very young age, I had a small white enamel cup with a blue edge I would milk in. As I filled it up I would pour it in my older sister's milk bucket. After she finished milking her cow, she would do what we call stripping my cow to make sure we got all the milk.

We went to school some. I remember the last school I attended was Pine Hill School. After I became eighteen years old I moved to Washington, D.C. I enrolled in Garnett Patterson School in the second grade and stayed in school until I finished high school. The reason I enrolled in the second grade was I felt unqualified to meet the challenge of the world. In the later years I returned to school and became a dressmaker.

After retiring I moved back to Nelson County. Since I returned to Nelson County I have continued to be active in church. I am a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and work with the Ladies Guild, Church Council and as a Eucharistic member. I also work with Habitat for Humanity, the NAACP, and the Voter's League. I attend a social club once a month, and I also do thirty to fifty hours a month volunteer work. I attend the Senior Sites three days a week.

I am blessed because I am almost 88 years old and still active.

After World War II, Japanese economics had rapidly grown, because most Japanese businessmen had worked hard, even on the weekends and holidays. My father had worked for almost 45 years as a reconstructor of Japanese post war economics, like other businessmen.

His company transferred him to Singapore 35 years ago to set up new business between Japan and other Asian countries. At that time, it was very difficult for Japanese to go abroad, because there were still the after effect of the war and the Japanese government restricted taking Japanese money outside of Japan. There were few Japanese who lived in other countries. In these days, we can get useful information such as how to live in other countries, how to adjust to new circumstances, from friends, colleagues and neighbourhood. However, at that time, my parents must have experienced trials and errors in doing his business and their living under new circumstances. I used to listen to their stories about their living in Singapore, when I was a little girl.

When I was a high school student, my father had spent 7 years in Thailand as the president of a company. At that time, he was responsible for the quality of the product, which the company made. It was the fabric made by cotton.

One day, while the fabric was drying outside the factory under the sun, it rained suddenly. My father suggested to the staff who worked there that they take this fabric product into the factory in order to avoid the wet damage. But they said they did not mind the rain and this fabric would become dry soon after the rain stopped. He was surprised at their comments and he felt a kind of culture shock, because Japanese people see that we can not sell this product if it is damaged by rain.

Another Japanese colleague, who was in Thailand longer than my father, recommended to him that "When in Rome do as the Romans do." He suggested that my father should make an effort to follow the local customs and not to expect them to behave as he expected in Japanese customs. When he began to follow this advice, he could communicate well with his staff much more.

I was interested in my father's story, because Japanese is almost a single race society, we seldom meet foreign people in our countryside even now. Of course in city area, many foreign people visit Japan and live there. So I was interested in how Japanese can have good communication with people from other countries and then I studied in my university about the communication gap between the different cultures.

Now I have been in U.S.A. for four months, and the things that I studied in my university are a great help to me. I have never experienced a serious culture shock and I have enjoyed being with my friends who come from many countries. I think if I hadn't studied about this subject, I would have suffered serious culture shock.

Although my father passed away several years ago, I think he taught me the importance of carrying out his appointed job and the pleasure of sharing the different cultures with people from other countries. I enjoy talking about different cultures with my friends and I'm glad to tell them about Japan now. I appreciate him very much for teaching me the important things.