Of these women, it was actually Wyvone who first accepted I was here to stay. She had once said that I was good for Billy because he had finally attempted to take better care of himself. Diabetes runs rampid through this family...and has affected Pat, James Elvie and Billy. James Elvie was her brother who died as a teenager in an accident. Wyvone herself would later develop a form of diabetes caused by overuse or production of predisone, a medication which she took for her underlying medical condition, Crohn's Disease. She had a colostomy in the late 70's. The very surgery which was suppose to save her life, almost cost her the same. Thyroid disease was another problem with the women of this family. Tye, Pat, Wyvone and Beverly all had a thyriod issue.
The men of the family had their own skeletons...but they didn't reside in the closet, nor did they wait for the wives to leave before they would dance openly on the front porch with their skeletons. Bill and Russ were notorious for going 'fishing' and coming back hammered. Elvie didn't strike me this way. I, like Beverly and Billy, respected him. He was a quiet man, hard working and honorable. There are moments in life that catch you so off guard that you don't realize how funny they are until later. Elvie was this kind of man. Apparently he had a wickedly entertaining sense of humor. I still can't imagine that man dressing up like a black man on Halloween, but I was told he did. I can't imagine him dressing up for Halloween PERIOD!
I haven't said much about Pat. That's because if you be quite you could probably hear her. She was LOUD and obnoxious and had absolutely NO business driving a car, let alone a great big stationwagon. She was cold as ice...literally. Touching her arm was like feeling the arm of a corpse and she required a blanket or jacket year round. Living with Billy, I know it had nothing to do with the diabetes. Pat was just a cold natured person. She was a terrible cook!!! I didn't understand how this could be?! After a lifetime of me being too thin, it took Wyvone's homecooking to put some meat on my bones. I assumed the homemaking gene ran in the family. Billy has since taught me that when you assume anything there is the distinct possiblity that you make an ASS of U and ME.
Pat quilted, but not with the precision that Wyvone did. She wasn't the brightest crayola in the box either. I will never forget Josie age 2, had huge water blisters covering her extremely delicate fair skin. God only knows why Pat thought the blisters were tick bites and covered her with Watkins Lintament! I could hear Josie screaming at the top of her little lungs from down the road as Pat unknowlingly commenced to torturing her neice.
Russ was in the Air Force Reserves and was one of Bill's closest friends. A day out working with either one of them may involve some hard core labor, lots of beer, a fishing pole or a combination of the three. Josie called him Uncle REW (Russell Eugene Ward). He had kids from a previous marriage that he didn't get to see much, if at all. He and Beverly's relationship resembled the relationship I had with my own step-dad in the since that she felt out of place. A girl wants to know her Daddy. Nevertheless, Russ was good to her.
Beverly wanted me to search for my dad as she searched for her own. She, however, had an actual name to go on..Richard Rose. All we were ever told was that he and Pat 'were too young'. Some called Pat's streak in her younger days a rebellious one, but I think it was more for attention than anything. She wanted to do the exact opposite of what she was suppose to do. Pat was told it wasn't a good idea for her to get pregnant. She did it anyway. At any rate, whatever happened between her and Richard was a mystery that would remain unsolved. Beverly put some pretty smart hypotheses together as to why her Dad never came looking for her. Most of it revolved around her grandparents.
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