Memories Of Old Les In Time
Continued
Memories ~ Page 6
We were raising babies along with teenagers!!
The older ones were going to proms
and the little ones were starting school
or learning to walk!
It wasn't long before they were graduating
and getting ready to start their own lives.
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 (Bussie) |
Tammy our baby, was about 4 years old.
Jadienne was about 10.
Time went flying by!
We had so many great times
I could write pages and pages.
Tammy and Jadienne.
In 1966 Una's Mother died.
We were so glad she had decided to come down and live with us
for her remaining years.
We knew she was very sad after her husband died,
and I thought that her being with us
might help her overcome some of the loneliness.
(I found out after Una died...... nothing really helps.)
My son was working
with me at Award Winning Crafts until he joined
the Army in 1967.
I really enjoyed having him working with me
and once he was gone,
the shop wasn't that important anymore.
Annette and Tina got married
and were starting their own families.
When Bussie came home from the army,
he returned with a wife and two kids!!
By 1973 we already had 6 grandkids,
and we were still raising the last two of our own!
It wasn't long before we had babies everywhere!
We loved it!
Holidays were such fun!
Una just loved Christmas!!
She would put up a "sugar plum tree"
in the family room for the little ones.
She had candy, nuts, oranges, and candy canes all
over that tree for them to help themselves to!!
She would play Christmas carols on the piano
and everyone would sing!
Every year, whichever new child that was old enough,
got to carry the baby Jesus statue
to the manger under the tree, while
the rest of us sang "Silent Night".
The youngest always being the one chosen
to place baby Jesus in the Manger.
One year our son dressed up like Santa
and came knocking at the door!
There was always something going on!
We were so busy going from school plays to music
recitals, graduations, sports, you name it,
with each of our kids or grandkids in different places
in their lives, keeping us very busy!!
Children of all ages!!
Grandkids in the front!!
After my son returned from the Army,
I wanted to go into business with him.
My partner was having marital problems,
and he wanted out of the business.
That worked out just fine, because I wanted
my son to be my partner.
We closed down the one business and opened
our new one. We called it "Willson and Son Industry".
My son was a skilled craftsman.
He grew up helping me and was quick to grasp on.
Along with being skilled,
he was an excellent businessman.
He was and still is as honest as the day is long.
He is one of the hardest working men
I have ever known!!
I was really never that good on the business end.
I would give things away on a whim and
never charge for things I should have.
As far as good business went,
I was generous to a fault,
and got taken advantage of so many times,
I couldn't even count them.
My son was smarter.
He knew the value of a dollar and was fair both ways.
He didn't take advantage of anyone,
but he was smart enough not to let anyone
take advantage of him either.
He still has the business today.
He alone brought it from what we were doing then,
to building custom furniture handled only through decorators today.
The business is
something I am very proud to have my name on.
I cannot begin to tell you
how proud of him that I am.
We worked together until 1982
when I retired.
I was 64 years old.
Our two youngest children, Tammy and Jadienne,
had now grown up and gotten married.
They were moving on with their lives.
Jadienne 1974 |
 |
 Tammy 1979 |
Tammy, our youngest, moved to Colorado
and then to Germany while her husband was
in the service there.
After retirement, I just puttered around
the shop and kept myself busy. I had
never NOT worked before and didn't know
what it was like to just wake up with
nothing planned to do!
Una decided
it would be nice to have a room addition
on the house so she would have a place to
keep her doll collection. I was more than
happy to do it. It felt good once again
to have a hammer in my hand!! haha
Una did alot of writing over the years.
She wrote stories, songs, and anything else
She could think of to write.
She was just a natural at it!!
She would edit my poems for me whenever I wrote one.
In 1987 Una won an award from the
Miami Herald for an article she had written for them.
We went to a luncheon where they presented her with the award.
I made a frame for her for it and I have it on the wall.
I think of how much fun we had that day everytime I look at it.
She was so excited about it and we had a good time!
I got my first computer around that time and tried
to convince her to type out her stories and such
on the computer.
She would have NOTHING to do with the computer!! haha
She said she was afraid she might break it.
No matter what I said, trying to convince
her, there was no way....
She just wanted to use her old Underwood typewriter!!
but she would have me bring up the game for her to play!
Haha..she was soooo cute!!
In the summer of 1986 Una and I
decided to take a long trip around the United States.
We had friends all over the USA.
Some were still from our early years,
some we had made as the years went by.
Wherever they had settled,
we decided we would make our trip include a visit to them.
All our kids were grown,
and now it was just Una and I once again.
I bought a conversion van and we started out!
We video taped everything!!
Everything we wanted to see we stopped to see.
We liked camping so we stayed in camp sites alot of the time.
There was no rush and we were not in any hurry to be anywhere.
Una said she had waited for this day for a long, long time!!
Looking back on it all now,
I am sure she did!!
We were gone for about 3 months!
We had the best time and I have so many
videos of all our travels! I think that
little trip gave us a taste of the travel
bug though, and we decided we had really
loved North Carolina.
In 1988 we decided to back up to North Carolina
and look for a piece of property to buy.
We thought it would be a great place to go every summer.....
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