Guy Humphries, “The Early Years.”
Mother had a “normal” pregnancy until December 11, 1933. When labor began. Daddy enlisted a neighbor to go two miles to the nearest telephone to summon Dr. Felts, asking to hurry over the nine miles of very rough gravel/dirt roads. Mother and a neighbor, Mrs. Esther Finley, had been repeatedly requested to help with births in the community. Mrs. Finley arrived shortly. My birth was less difficult than Juanita’s. I was born prior to Dr. Felt’s arrival. Daddy had transported Juanita, Neal and Earl one/half mile to Grandmother Moore’s home. He retrieved them almost immediately bringing them home to listen to me cry.
I was born before Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s modern medical technology for treating babies with yellow jaundice and colic. My severe case of jaundice was treated only with what little December sunlight shined on me by Juanita moving my cardboard box crib from window to window. They had no special formula, so my persistent colic made my stomach hurt resulting in constantly crying. My five years older sister, tried to soothe me into quietness, to no avail.
Uncle Lester and Aunt Mamie Humphries lived nearby. Since they had no children, they pleaded with my parents to permit them to adopt me. They graciously refused. I spent many happy hours in their home being treated like their child. Even if he had not subsidized the purchase of my pony and saddle, He would remain my favorite uncle who taught me many things such as trading farm animals. At 13, Daddy left a permanent excuse for the school to permit me to go with Uncle Lester to the cattle salebarn. There, he gave me $100, $1012 in 2025, to buy animals from farmers waiting in line to unload one animal. When they were auctioned, I learned if I had a profit or loss. At age 16, He died owing me $13.75 [worth over $150 today].
UNCLE BERT Some years after Grandmothers death in 1917, Uncle Bert vanished with no trace leaving Aunt Ora and three children. She scraped by on earnings as a seamstress in Searcy plus produce from our farm and Uncle Lester’s. She was widely admired for her sewing skills, tenacity and positive attitude under severe circumstances. When Uncle Bert’s books were audited, no discrepancies were found. Although Aunt Ora and Daddy expected him to return, he was never heard from again. Others speculated that his bones remained in White County.
FARM. Mother worked beside Daddy in the fields. It was a natural part of growing on a farm to be placed on a pallet in the shade at the end of the row of cotton while Mother hoed or picked. When I developed enough to crawl off, I began eating dirt. Probably a mineral deficiency or just plain meanness. About age five, Mother fashioned a 3’ cotton sack. Being naughty by disobeying when I could, I began “big bollin” (picking only the largest bolls) the row she was picking. I felt grown up. Doing farm work to help the family living.
CROPS. Our other cash crops were cotton, strawberries, cucumbers and okra. At age 5, Daddy constructed a two quart rack to give me the opportunity to earn two cents per quart for picking strawberries. At age 6, my favorite uncle, Lester Humphries, bought me a short handled hoe at an auction to equip me to join the family hoeing cotton and strawberries. I felt like I was contributing.
My sister Juanita and I sometimes argued. After I had grown enough to use a long handled hoe, I used it to hit her hoe handle and break it. I spent the remainder of that day bent over hoeing the what was left of her hoe handle.
OKRA At age 16, a typical July day started at daybreak as Mother, Daddy and I picked three acres of okra which would easily snap off but became almost impossible to pull off by noon. Okra production was contracted with Birdseye Frozen Foods plant in Searcy that processed and froze it. When Daddy’s weakened legs resulted in not cultivating okra, Birdseye contracted with him to teach farmers how to produce okra on Ozark foothill farms.
After the okra was picked, I adjourned to the 2 1/2 acre cucumber patch to pick by myself. I could not hire anyone stupid enough to bend over rows of cukes in July & August heat.
We transported the okra and cukes to a grading station operated by my sister Juanita and Carl at Pinegars Providence store. It separated them by size with the small ones bringing the highest price per pound The proceeds from the cukes was mine to manage with my first checking account. I wrote many checks for $1. Picking cucumbers resulting in a life changing decision never to farm.
FFA STRAWBERRY PROJECT. At age 13, as part of a Future Farmers of America project, my parents permitted me to cultivate and harvest my own half acre strawberry crop. Meticulous records were necessary to earn a good grade on the project. They were key to earning the Arkansas Farmer Degree and being elected a state officer at the end of my junior year. I served during my senior year at Central High School. All other state officers were in college.
Migrant workers came to Providence each Spring to harvest berries. When delivered to the shed, they were paid by a “ticket” with the number of quarts picked and my name printed on it. At the end of the week, they would bring their accumulated tickets to get paid up to 5 cents per quart. In later years, they demanded cash upon delivery to the packing shed.
CENTRAL SCHOOL was created by consolidating my school at Providence with Joyce’s school at Plainview. In 1951, I graduated from White County Central High School that Daddy had been President of the Board. He was instrumental in creating it by consolidating my school at Providence with Joyce’s school at Plainview. For that I am deeply grateful else I would not have been blessed to be her classmate from ninth grade and sweetheart from 11th grade.
UTILITIES I was born 7 years prior to electricity coming to our home. Kerosene lamps provided dim light but, in the living room, we were blessed with one Aladdin kerosene lamp with a mantle which harnessed and amplified the light. It was about equal to a 20 watt light bulb. In early 1941, we were blessed when Arkansas Power and Light, for a small fee, installed a “hi-line” by our home. Crude wiring was run through the attic with a wire extending down in the center of each room with one bulb attached. We had no other appliances except a radio but we did have electric light something our neighbors 1/2 mile away did not have until about 1947. Very few people had a radio much less television. The nearest A M radio station was in Little Rock, 60 miles distant.
Some years after I started my banking career in 1951, the phone company finally provided a 4 party line service to Mother and Daddy. Most of my growing up years, the nearest phone was in Judsonia 20 minutes away by rough and muddy gravel roads.
ROOMING HOUSE. On June 11, 1951, 2 months after graduation, at 17 and a new $135 per month clerk’s job at Little Rock’s Worthen Bank, Arkansas’ largest.
I was exposed to the “adult world” while living in a boarding house with 25 men who were an amalgamation of Jesus-rejecting-children-of-satan like Jesus clearly defined in John 3:18a …he that believeth not IS condemned already, (why?) because he hath not [trust in/exercised faith in] believed in the only begotten Son of God.”. They were immoral, drunks who would drink hair tonic, gamblers, closet homosexuals, mentally deficient, smart, honest, dishonest, vulgar talkers, cursers, and some heaven bound believers, children-of-God, that strived to be Christ-like. They were from every background and life experience imaginable. Not having TV to fill our time, hearing them talk was an educational experience.
If you were late, you went hungry because they consumed 100% of the two family style meals that was part of our rent. First come, first bathed in three bathrooms. Waking at my usual 5 AM, I had little difficulty being first to bathe in an old fashioned bathtub while another man shaved.
At 18, Joyce and I married on January 5, 1952. The only affordable ($18 per month) apartment available was at 1602 Scott which contained one bathroom for four families. At least, that was one more bathroom than we had on the farm where we “enjoyed” an outhouse stocked with an old Sears-Roebuck catalogue or the barn where much more efficient corncobs were available.
The one room/small kitchen apartment was in an old residence. We had no problems although we were one block away from a juke-joint that “rocked” especially on weekends and next door to a black doctor.
We rode a Greyhound bus to Judsonia as often as affordable. Once, while Joyce visited her family, I listened in horror to a neighbor couple in the hall threatening to shoot each other. Thank goodness, He had the gun but she had the box of bullets.
Mom Hulsey was visiting us WHEN when the March 22, 1952 tornado devastated Judsonia killing well over 100 people in its total path. My brother Earl’s 73 year old father in law, Lindsey Johnson, died at their home but God saved his family that were shopping at Searcy.
JUDSONIA BANK JOB. That tornado killed an officer of the bank which was totally destroyed except for the vault. By October 1, 1952 the new building was completed. This 18 year old eagerly accepted a job as Assistant Cashier at $150 per month.
From Joyce’s uncle Elmer, we rented a two room “shotgun” berry-picker lean-to house since it was near Joyce’s folks. A 1939 Ford sedan was financed at $18 per month. It was parked on a hill from which to push it when it refused to start. When birth pains began in the middle of the night, it ran like a new car.
TIM BORN. April 11, 1953, Tim was born. What a joy!! He laid in his bassinet so much that the back of his head began to flatten. On July 17, my right lung collapsed at National Guard drill. That night,I received my PFC stripes. Dr. Edwards prescribed one month of bed rest which successfully healed the hole. I spoiled Tim by keeping him on the bed with me so I could fan him because of the 100+ heat. Airconditioning was extremely rare. Only the bank and a few very “rich” people had it. Walking to the out-house proved exhausting with only one healthy lung of a six year smoker. I quit for over two years.
DEBBIE BORN. Eleven months after the lung collapse, Debbie was born during a record heat wave. It was 110 in the shade the day we brought her home. Our “air conditioning” was a 1940 12” fan I bought for 50 cents from the Little Rock bank.
Both children could not tolerate mother’s or cow’s milk. Very expensive Semilac was required which created unpaid bills at Stott’s drug store. Years later, Mr. Stotts let it slip that Daddy had guaranteed payment.
This and much more happened before age 21.
BIRTH. My birth to Lillie & Edgar Humphries, was a late life accident in the midst of the Great Depression. I thank God they wanted me.
Five years before, Mother had a very difficult delivery of my sister Juanita. When she learned that I was expected, my old maid/spinster Aunt Tyna Moore berated Daddy unmercifully for fathering me. Aunt Tyna had a sharp tongue that she enjoyed exercising. Childless, she remained single until age 40, she married her childhood sweetheart who just retired after 20 years in the Navy. That marriage lasted less than one year.Mother had a “normal” pregnancy until December 11, 1933. When labor began. Daddy enlisted a neighbor to go two miles to the nearest telephone to summon Dr. Felts, asking to hurry over the nine miles of very rough gravel/dirt roads. Mother and a neighbor, Mrs. Esther Finley, had been repeatedly requested to help with births in the community. Mrs. Finley arrived shortly. My birth was less difficult than Juanita’s. I was born prior to Dr. Felt’s arrival. Daddy had transported Juanita, Neal and Earl one/half mile to Grandmother Moore’s home. He retrieved them almost immediately bringing them home to listen to me cry.
I was born before Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s modern medical technology for treating babies with yellow jaundice and colic. My severe case of jaundice was treated only with what little December sunlight shined on me by Juanita moving my cardboard box crib from window to window. They had no special formula, so my persistent colic made my stomach hurt resulting in constantly crying. My five years older sister, tried to soothe me into quietness, to no avail.
HOUSE Like most early 1900's two room homes in the community, a kitchen and sideroom increased it to four rooms. The living room was heated by a fireplace resulting in baking on one side and freezing on the other.
CHURCH We worshiped at Providence Missionary Baptist church where Daddy served as Deacon over 50 years. Many of Mother's students lovingly recalled that she taught them about her Savior from God's Word. At church, I was placed on a pallet on the floor near the big stove in the center of the building. 12 years later, I was responsible for starting that fire by 7 A M.
Brother John A. Pettus, from whom I heard my first sermon vowed that he could “out holler” any crying child. In his 90’s, he testified that he could still preach louder than I could cry then. They were loved and respected so much that the church was full.Uncle Lester and Aunt Mamie Humphries lived nearby. Since they had no children, they pleaded with my parents to permit them to adopt me. They graciously refused. I spent many happy hours in their home being treated like their child. Even if he had not subsidized the purchase of my pony and saddle, He would remain my favorite uncle who taught me many things such as trading farm animals. At 13, Daddy left a permanent excuse for the school to permit me to go with Uncle Lester to the cattle salebarn. There, he gave me $100, $1012 in 2025, to buy animals from farmers waiting in line to unload one animal. When they were auctioned, I learned if I had a profit or loss. At age 16, He died owing me $13.75 [worth over $150 today].
UNCLE BERT Some years after Grandmothers death in 1917, Uncle Bert vanished with no trace leaving Aunt Ora and three children. She scraped by on earnings as a seamstress in Searcy plus produce from our farm and Uncle Lester’s. She was widely admired for her sewing skills, tenacity and positive attitude under severe circumstances. When Uncle Bert’s books were audited, no discrepancies were found. Although Aunt Ora and Daddy expected him to return, he was never heard from again. Others speculated that his bones remained in White County.
FARM. Mother worked beside Daddy in the fields. It was a natural part of growing on a farm to be placed on a pallet in the shade at the end of the row of cotton while Mother hoed or picked. When I developed enough to crawl off, I began eating dirt. Probably a mineral deficiency or just plain meanness. About age five, Mother fashioned a 3’ cotton sack. Being naughty by disobeying when I could, I began “big bollin” (picking only the largest bolls) the row she was picking. I felt grown up. Doing farm work to help the family living.
CROPS. Our other cash crops were cotton, strawberries, cucumbers and okra. At age 5, Daddy constructed a two quart rack to give me the opportunity to earn two cents per quart for picking strawberries. At age 6, my favorite uncle, Lester Humphries, bought me a short handled hoe at an auction to equip me to join the family hoeing cotton and strawberries. I felt like I was contributing.
My sister Juanita and I sometimes argued. After I had grown enough to use a long handled hoe, I used it to hit her hoe handle and break it. I spent the remainder of that day bent over hoeing the what was left of her hoe handle.
REFRIGERATION Due to war time rationing of gas and tires or my parents could not afford 25 cents for a block of ice. A favorite way to preserve our unpasteurized milk taken (I wonder why it was said that a cow ‘gave’ milk?) directly from our cow was placed in a jug and lowered to the bottom of our water source, a 26’ deep by 5’ diameter hand dug well with its cold stream of water at the bottom. A rope threaded through a pulley facilitated withdrawing two gallon buckets. That well provided drinking, cooking, bath, laundry and water for the horses and cows.
During the wet season, that well contained a great amount of water but not so during the usual Summer drought. Then, water had to be hauled from a similar well near the old home in the pasture that had once been occupied by Grandmother Humphries, Daddy and Uncle Bert after Grandfather John C. Humphries died in 1914. To prevent contamination, it
It was not unusual to return from working in the field to find friends sitting on our front porch enjoying that cold milk. Due to rationing of gas and tires during World War II, most neighbors walked to Yarbrough’s, later Pinegar’s [Juanita and Carl], country store for their staple groceries that they could buy “on the ticket.” We were delighted that they refreshed themselves in this manner.
WASH DAY included drawing three number 3 washtubs of water plus enough to fill the thirty gallon water pot in the yard that was heated to a boil by a wood fire. Eighteen inch blocks of wood were cross-cut sawed from precut logs then split by driving a steel wedge through the block with a sledge hammer. The sticks fueled fire under the pot to heat wash water. Mother’s favorite wash water was rain caught in a barrel under the eaves of the house. It was “soft” and produced double the suds of the “hard” water from the well. The “washing machine” was Mother bent over a #3 wash tub rubbing dirty clothes on a scrub board.
REFRIGERATOR. In l946, our first refrigerator seemed like a miracle. Mother frequently froze delicious ice cream in an ice tray. It was made from extra rich cream that floated to the top of the milk container. It kept food from spoiling so readily.
We could not afford a freezer so meat, fruit and vegetables were “canned” in hundreds of glass fruit jars.
GAS AT STORE. That country store had Regular and HiTest gas pumps. The customer or store owner had to hand pump the quantity of gasoline from underground storage into the tank atop the dispenser. That glass tank had markers to measure the required gallons which cost less than thirty cents each. Then, the nozzle was placed into the vehicle and the gas drained into it. During WWII, gas and tires were severely rationed
TRANSPORTATION Our feet were our primary mode of transportation especially to church and school. An old stagecoach road from Little Rock to Batesville had deteriorated to a path that took us through the cemetery to Providence Missionary Baptist Church. A wet weather branch was traversed by stepping stones. I usually missed one stone thus suffering a wet foot throughout a warm worship service, not so physically warmed by the big wood stove in the center of the church but spiritually warmed by the love and fellowship of the worshipers. That walk was 1/3rd mile by lantern or flashlight. The church was lighted by white gasoline lanterns. Brother Simpson would “permit” me to pump it to create air pressure that enabled the “white” gasoline to burn brightly. Hanging the lanterns about the sanctuary provided ample light and some heat in Winter and Summer.
One Saturday each month, we caught a bus that ran from Pleasant Plains to Searcy. We carried a 6 dozen crate of eggs to trade for the bus ride, haircuts and staple groceries like salt, flour, coffee, etc.
HOUSE HEAT. In Winter, our home was warmed by a fireplace. It was finally replaced by a wood burning stove [coal later] in the living room and a wood kitchen range. By age 6, it was my job to carry wood from the area where Daddy had split it into small pieces for the range and larger pieces for the heater. When I grew in strength, I helped saw and split wood. By age 6, it was my job to carry in wood that Daddy had split into small pieces for the range and larger pieces for the heater. As I grew in strength, I graduated into helping cut and split the wood.
Insulation did not exist. The walls of our home were vertical 1” by 10” boards with no studs. We were fortunate that Uncle Lester had added white clapboard covering to the outside which made it more attractive but also required frequent painting which we could not always afford. It was not unusual to wake up to ice frozen in the bedroom. Although making it almost impossible to turn over, numerous quilts helped us to sleep warmly
After a good 1948 strawberry crop, Carl Moore, Mother’s brother, who was a carpenter like his father, helped us remove the old fire place and install uninsulated studs on the inside wall of the large living room. That improved the fuel efficiency of the new heater fired by hot burning anthracite coal trucked from western Arkansas.
Heat in Summer was unabated by air conditioning. A favorite mode of sleeping was to move my mattress to the big front porch that seemed to catch every breeze. Nine miles into the Ozark foothills, we were not plagued by mosquitos.
MOTHER came in from working in the field at 10:30 AM to prepare our 11:30 dinner on that hot wood burning range. After dinner, mother washed the dishes without the benefit of a dishwasher except me or my sister Juanita Humphries Pinegar. Then, Mother retired for a 15 minute nap rising refreshed and directing us to sharpen our hoes so we could return to tending the crops usually until near sundown.
From her large garden and truck-patch produce, mother canned hundreds of jars of delicious food. For a time, we had a peach orchard that was finally decimated by insects. We sold the surplus but Mother canned hundreds of quart jars of delicious peaches. We did not go hungry. Until President Johnson defined it, net farm cash income of less than $1,000 was not labeled “poor.” “Poor” people did not have enough food, clothing and shelter.
COTTON PICKING Mother taught us how to pick cotton stressing that we must not include any leaves or burrs. It was pretty but that process was extremely slow. Later, I hired out to help our neighbor, Roy Bell, pick his cotton. He had good cotton but all I could pick was pick in one day was 125 pounds. I picked one row while he picked two. That resulted in his teaching me how to “get” cotton resulting in my first 200 pound day. His rule was, “If it comes off the stalk, put it in the sack, the gin is designed to separate the seed and the trash.”
OKRA At age 16, a typical July day started at daybreak as Mother, Daddy and I picked three acres of okra which would easily snap off but became almost impossible to pull off by noon. Okra production was contracted with Birdseye Frozen Foods plant in Searcy that processed and froze it. When Daddy’s weakened legs resulted in not cultivating okra, Birdseye contracted with him to teach farmers how to produce okra on Ozark foothill farms.
After the okra was picked, I adjourned to the 2 1/2 acre cucumber patch to pick by myself. I could not hire anyone stupid enough to bend over rows of cukes in July & August heat.
We transported the okra and cukes to a grading station operated by my sister Juanita and Carl at Pinegars Providence store. It separated them by size with the small ones bringing the highest price per pound The proceeds from the cukes was mine to manage with my first checking account. I wrote many checks for $1. Picking cucumbers resulting in a life changing decision never to farm.
FFA STRAWBERRY PROJECT. At age 13, as part of a Future Farmers of America project, my parents permitted me to cultivate and harvest my own half acre strawberry crop. Meticulous records were necessary to earn a good grade on the project. They were key to earning the Arkansas Farmer Degree and being elected a state officer at the end of my junior year. I served during my senior year at Central High School. All other state officers were in college.
Migrant workers came to Providence each Spring to harvest berries. When delivered to the shed, they were paid by a “ticket” with the number of quarts picked and my name printed on it. At the end of the week, they would bring their accumulated tickets to get paid up to 5 cents per quart. In later years, they demanded cash upon delivery to the packing shed.
CENTRAL SCHOOL was created by consolidating my school at Providence with Joyce’s school at Plainview. In 1951, I graduated from White County Central High School that Daddy had been President of the Board. He was instrumental in creating it by consolidating my school at Providence with Joyce’s school at Plainview. For that I am deeply grateful else I would not have been blessed to be her classmate from ninth grade and sweetheart from 11th grade.
UTILITIES I was born 7 years prior to electricity coming to our home. Kerosene lamps provided dim light but, in the living room, we were blessed with one Aladdin kerosene lamp with a mantle which harnessed and amplified the light. It was about equal to a 20 watt light bulb. In early 1941, we were blessed when Arkansas Power and Light, for a small fee, installed a “hi-line” by our home. Crude wiring was run through the attic with a wire extending down in the center of each room with one bulb attached. We had no other appliances except a radio but we did have electric light something our neighbors 1/2 mile away did not have until about 1947. Very few people had a radio much less television. The nearest A M radio station was in Little Rock, 60 miles distant.
Some years after I started my banking career in 1951, the phone company finally provided a 4 party line service to Mother and Daddy. Most of my growing up years, the nearest phone was in Judsonia 20 minutes away by rough and muddy gravel roads.
ROOMING HOUSE. On June 11, 1951, 2 months after graduation, at 17 and a new $135 per month clerk’s job at Little Rock’s Worthen Bank, Arkansas’ largest.
I was exposed to the “adult world” while living in a boarding house with 25 men who were an amalgamation of Jesus-rejecting-children-of-satan like Jesus clearly defined in John 3:18a …he that believeth not IS condemned already, (why?) because he hath not [trust in/exercised faith in] believed in the only begotten Son of God.”. They were immoral, drunks who would drink hair tonic, gamblers, closet homosexuals, mentally deficient, smart, honest, dishonest, vulgar talkers, cursers, and some heaven bound believers, children-of-God, that strived to be Christ-like. They were from every background and life experience imaginable. Not having TV to fill our time, hearing them talk was an educational experience.
If you were late, you went hungry because they consumed 100% of the two family style meals that was part of our rent. First come, first bathed in three bathrooms. Waking at my usual 5 AM, I had little difficulty being first to bathe in an old fashioned bathtub while another man shaved.
JOYCE, SUPPORTIVE WIFE OF 74 YEARS
With a keen desire to see my future bride, Joyce, almost every weekend, a quarter bus fare took me to my favorite hitch-hiking spot in Jacksonville. After a short wait, I was always successful.At 18, Joyce and I married on January 5, 1952. The only affordable ($18 per month) apartment available was at 1602 Scott which contained one bathroom for four families. At least, that was one more bathroom than we had on the farm where we “enjoyed” an outhouse stocked with an old Sears-Roebuck catalogue or the barn where much more efficient corncobs were available.
The one room/small kitchen apartment was in an old residence. We had no problems although we were one block away from a juke-joint that “rocked” especially on weekends and next door to a black doctor.
We rode a Greyhound bus to Judsonia as often as affordable. Once, while Joyce visited her family, I listened in horror to a neighbor couple in the hall threatening to shoot each other. Thank goodness, He had the gun but she had the box of bullets.
Mom Hulsey was visiting us WHEN when the March 22, 1952 tornado devastated Judsonia killing well over 100 people in its total path. My brother Earl’s 73 year old father in law, Lindsey Johnson, died at their home but God saved his family that were shopping at Searcy.
JUDSONIA BANK JOB. That tornado killed an officer of the bank which was totally destroyed except for the vault. By October 1, 1952 the new building was completed. This 18 year old eagerly accepted a job as Assistant Cashier at $150 per month.
From Joyce’s uncle Elmer, we rented a two room “shotgun” berry-picker lean-to house since it was near Joyce’s folks. A 1939 Ford sedan was financed at $18 per month. It was parked on a hill from which to push it when it refused to start. When birth pains began in the middle of the night, it ran like a new car.
TIM BORN. April 11, 1953, Tim was born. What a joy!! He laid in his bassinet so much that the back of his head began to flatten. On July 17, my right lung collapsed at National Guard drill. That night,I received my PFC stripes. Dr. Edwards prescribed one month of bed rest which successfully healed the hole. I spoiled Tim by keeping him on the bed with me so I could fan him because of the 100+ heat. Airconditioning was extremely rare. Only the bank and a few very “rich” people had it. Walking to the out-house proved exhausting with only one healthy lung of a six year smoker. I quit for over two years.
DEBBIE BORN. Eleven months after the lung collapse, Debbie was born during a record heat wave. It was 110 in the shade the day we brought her home. Our “air conditioning” was a 1940 12” fan I bought for 50 cents from the Little Rock bank.
Both children could not tolerate mother’s or cow’s milk. Very expensive Semilac was required which created unpaid bills at Stott’s drug store. Years later, Mr. Stotts let it slip that Daddy had guaranteed payment.
This and much more happened before age 21.
