Family Stories (Part 6) Gary, Karon and Mickey

These are the final three siblings, Gary, Karen and Mickey. Mom is in there, too, as No. 13. But she skipped over herself, writing she would return to herself later. Mom also left quick notes at the end of Gary and Mickey's stories, suggesting she wanted to return to those stories, as well.

Of note here, I love the story about Gary and his wife Jo getting a lawn mower and getting hand controls on it so Mom could operate it.

The larger photo is of Mom's brother Nick and sister Dard, then Mom, and sisters Mickey and Karon. The tall photo is of Mom, Gary and Mickey.

(Sis and Vern | Loren and Bernice | Bud and Elmer | Hun and Nick | Terry and Dard)

We come now to Gary. He can also be Greg or Pike. He was quite handsome and could easily look like James Dean. ... For some reason, Dad watched Greg more then the other boys. Terry was still a few years older, so maybe Dad assume he had sense. Around town, he and Terry were called "Shep." I don't know why, but it made my mother very angry. If anyone called on the phone for Shep, she would say "there is no one by that name here" and hang up. That is the only time that I ever heard her hang up on anyone.

Terry got his girlfriend, Sharon, so I suppose Dad thought he was getting some sense. Then Greg started bringing this girl out to our house. Her name was Josephine, or Jo for short. She was fun. After a while, she even managed to convert Dad. Then Greg and Jo would often come out on Sunday and help us with things around the house. Moving furniture or fixing the lawn mower or mowing the lawn. With Dad's permission, he even got a riding lawn mower and hand controls put in. She showed me how to drive it. This was fun. This was the first time I ever drove anything. By this time, I was home alone with Dad. So I welcomed anytime anyone came.

Greg did a lot of road construction. In the winter, he spent time cleaning the machines in the shop, which wasn't very far from us. So when Mom was still alive, she asked him to drive out for a big lunch. We have big dinners (lunch) on the farm. So the next year, she was gone, so I asked him. It really broke up the day nice. It helped me more than him.

Las Vegas.

Then came Karon. She is a year and a half older than me, so in school we were in the same classroom every other year. While we grew up, she worked in the fields driving tractor. When she was little, she played with Mickey and I. She never seemed to be on the same plain with us. Like I said, she was outside a lot and as the top ones left, we moved to this small house, which connected property with brother Loren.

This was nice as I finally had my own room that I can get to easily. The house had two bedrooms on the main floor, so I got one. Karon and Mickey were upstairs.

Karon loved music. She dreamed of being a writer for country music stars. She played guitar and could sing. Her dream took her to Nashville. So of course Mickey went along. We all graduated high school by now. I stayed back. I knew Mom wouldn't want me to go.

I am next, so I will do that later.

Mickey is next. She is 2 years younger than I. When we were little, we played together. When you live on a farm, you don't have neighbors close by to play with.

I remember one time we were playing doctor, with our dolls in the machine shed. We decided to actually give the dolls a sore then we would heal them. I say "we," I think it was Mickey. I'm sure she would say the opposite. When Mom saw the dolls, to say the least, she was upset. I don't remember that she ever scolded us, the look was enough.

Then - old stove in grove - farm in grove - boys making machinery