September 9, 2014 (Tuesday)
When I was a little boy, from the age of four I loved to look at the pictures in my grandmother’s trunk. Every time I opened the lid and saw them, somehow it was a brand new experience. I always had questions about some of the photos. The picture below was one of those pictures:
This family photograph was made some time around 1920, I believe. It was made in East Texas in front of a railroad section house, somewhere between Humble and Lufkin, the part of the railroad my grandfather and his section gang maintained. The little girl is Jessie, my mother; the older boy my uncle Lloyd and the younger boy my Uncle “Mack” (John Forest, Jr.). In this photo my grandparents, John Forest and Mary Gladys, are proudly displaying their family for the photographer. Years of birth, left to right, 1882, 1885, 1909, 1912, 1914, so you can sort of figure out the ages and when the picture was made. I’m not sure about the photo date. The photo was about 15 years old when I used to rummage through the old trunk filled with photographs. Everyone in the picture has now passed on.
John Forest Lowe was born in Arkansas. Mary Gladys Ross was born in Leon County and as a child moved to Lufkin with her family in a covered wagon. They grew up in hard times and life was never easy for them. This couple became our grandparents and took us into their home for most of the years of World War 2. I did not realize it then, but that was quite an undertaking for grandparents. Raising three growing children is never an easy task, but being 60 years old makes it a little harder. I was in the fifth grade and my twin sisters were in the second grade when we began our three-year stay with them. All of the cooking, washing, and caring for children in so many ways became part of the lives of our grandparents. As a child, I never was aware of how much they were doing for us. But we did know very well how much they loved us. And we loved them. I wish I could thank them now.