- Chapter Two -
Before I Was, There Were . . .

Both of my parents were part of large families; my mom's family had seven kids and my dad's family had ten children. My father, Ed, was born on July 19th, 1949, and my mother, Marjorie, was born on August 8th, 1949. My mother has been in three marriages-of which I know not the dates-each resulting in one child. In her first marriage, Marie was born on July 8th, 1974. Then, two years later in her second marriage, James was born on Halloween Day. I was born ten years after Marie, in 1984, on April 7th in her third and final marriage.


Old pic of Dad
My dad grew up in a small town called Okeene in western Oklahoma. After graduating high school, he went to Oklahoma State University and attained a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering. When I was born in 1984, he was working at Total Petroleum in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I lived there for four years until he was laid off from Total, and he received a job at Staley in Decatur, Illinois. We lived there for five years and then he was transferred to Staley's Lafayette north plant. He was let go from there less than a year later, and he now has a job at Shambaugh and Son, Inc. as a project manager and electrical engineer.


Mom and James
My mom was born in Garnett, Kansas and grew up around the town of Leroy. After she graduated from high school, she did not go to college. She met Ed while she was working at Total Petroleum in Ardmore. When we moved to Decatur, she did not get a job, but became a full time mother and housewife. After moving to Lafayette, though, she was hired by Purdue at the Interlibrary and Loan in Stewart Center. She still works there and has had the same job for about five years.


Marie, playing Atari
Both my brother and sister were born in Ardmore, and stayed with my family for most of their life as a child, though James did move to live with his father for his last three years of high school. Marie has lived at home off and on after high school, but has recently purchased a house in another part of Lafayette. James is now living in Cincinnati, Ohio, but I have yet to visit him there.

I do not know most of my other relatives, but my favorite cousin is AJ Evans who lives in Iola, Kansas. We visit him and his parents each year on vacation and have lots of fun. My dad's dad is a farmer in Okeene, Oklahoma, and he has been living there for about all of his life. I think my mom's dad is also farmer, and her mom works in a sewing factory.

Without my grandparents and their kids, I would not be alive today. They have shaped my parent's lives just as my parents have shaped my life. This all leads to the early beginnings of my life.


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