Mother Turned Thirty-Five

Mother and children approximately April 13, 1955. That was Mom's 35th birthday. Dad probably took the picture. Mother loved family photos. Mother sometimes got upset when one of the boys "ruined the picture" by making funny faces. Fama is 13 years old in the photo. Mother thought it wasteful to take pictures of babies; she'd say, "Save your films." I was always very proud of Fama. She started college when Mary started high school and I started first grade, so it is very hard to recall Fama living at home.  Mother wanted six children. This, she thought was the perfect family: three daughters and three sons, but God in His wisdom later added a seventh--a son that we all treasured tremendously. Mother was 21 years old when she married. She had me in 1954, so that is six children in 12 ½ years. Samuel, her caboose, was born January of 1959. All seven children were born in the first seventeen years of their marriage.