Mom was the eldest of three children having one sister and brother who were twins. The boy died at birth as did her mother. She told me that she was raised by her uncle but according to the dates of his marriage she was raised for a few years by her Grandparents. After his marriage he did keep them but at age eleven mom went to work taking care of a sick lady by the name of Harrison, where she later met my dad who was working with a half- brother Tom Truelock, who had married one of the Harrison girls. After dad died mom took in washing and ironing to keep us fed along with the garden she always raised. In the winter she would do quilts to sell for extra money. Later Cecil and Hurchel
moved us to east Texas to the town of Hull Texas. She and Cecil ran a laundermat there for the rest of my freshman year of school. We returned to Texico where both Nadine and I finished high school, Nadine moved to Chowchilla, California, and after I entered the Marine Corps, Mom moved to California, to be near
two of her daughters, Marie and Nadine. She later moved down near Cecil, who
is the oldest daughter, who was living in Seagoville which is not far from
where she was born. It was during this time she and Aunt Mattie found Charlie
and Ada Hogue who were living near Dallas. Charlie was a half-brother from John
Hogue's second marriage. On the holiday before she died she told Cecil she was
coming home for Christmas and not to look for her back as she might just save
them the trouble of shipping her home for burial. It turned out she took sick
and died and was buried on Christmas Eve next to Dad in the Texico Cemetery.
Jim, the ninth child recalls as a young child of about 10, my mother would
have him follow her around in the desert land looking for a certain type of
flower and root. She would cook up into a brew to drink. At the time it was
explained to me that the brew was to prevent a belly ache. It was never
explained why she was the only one in the family to take the brew. Recently in
May 1994, I was reading a book on the wildflowers of the Llano Estacado, when I
ran across this article with the flower she had me dig for her. It named the
flower and had this decription along with it: (Apache Tea, Puccoon)
(Lithospermum incicum). " Apache Tea, Puccoon, This delicate lacy-edged yellow
flower is among the earliest to appear in the new year. Flowering begins in
late Feburary and ends in early May. The plant is about 7 inches in height and
flourishes in hard packed caliche soils. It is found along roadsides and in the
sand hills. Tea brewed from this plant was thought to serve as a birth control
measure. Interestingly, several hormone-like molecules have been indentified
from its juices; one inhibits the action of gonadotrophic hormones and one
lowers blood thyroid hormones. Both actions make pregancy more difficult to
achieve. The generic name refers to Rock Seed.