 |
| Donna Kay February 13, 1962 |
On Monday,
February 12, 1962, Dr. Bradsher told us it was time to go to the hospital. I think Danny and Dennis stayed with Uncle
Wayne and Aunt Nell while we were gone.
Again labor was long and Loran was just about ready to go home and see
about the boys when Dr. Bradsher told him to hang around awhile because he
thought something was about to happen.
That was
around 9:30PM and at 11: 45, our Donna Kay finally came into our lives. She looked like Danny did when he was a
baby. When they told me she was
girl. I remember when they took me to my
room, as I went by each door, I would say, “We got our little girl.”
Each of our
children is very special to us, and each one is different in different
ways. When our baby’s came into this
life, I could hear Loran as soon as he started down the hall. His heels would just click away. The pride on his face and love in his heart
was very easy to see. It was always hard
for Loran to say, “I Love You”. Some people just can’t say how they feel, and
that was the way Loran has always been.
We always knew he loved us anyway.
When we
came home from the hospital, Faye Cleveland, a friend of ours came and spent a
few days with us and took care of us.
Danny now had a little sister and he could hardly wait to get hold of
her. Dennis was only 17 months old, so
he really didn’t care that much. He
would just look at her and go on about his business.
Lana Smith
was born in July of the same year and her mother, Bonnie May, was working at
the shoe factory. So when she went back
to work, I started keeping Lana. Lana
seems like she almost belongs to me. She
would call me “Momma” and Bonnie May, she called “Bonna Momma”. Danny was in school and the little children
played in the house most of the time. I
cleaned out the closet and they would play house in it. They always played real good together.
There was a
cotton patch out in the back where the school is now and in the fall, Danny
would pick cotton. He would pick and put
it in the smokehouse. The little kids
and I would go out and help him. When he
had a big pile, Mr. Duckworth would come up and weigh it and pay Danny.
Loran
started to work for the Arkansas Highway Department in November 1962. His starting salary was $1.40 an hour. Things were looking up for us now. He went out and bought us a yellow Chenille
bed spread. On Saturday night, he would
go to town and get us a half-gallon of ice cream, apples, and Pepsi. Those days were very special.
